Igor

The ballroom erupted into chaos.

One moment, the music was swelling, the dancers twirling, the laughter rising like champagne bubbles. The chandeliers cast their golden light over a sea of silk and jewels, and the air was thick with the scent of perfume and wine. The next, the air was thick with shouts, the clash of metal, the desperate scramble of nobles trying to escape the violence that had erupted around them. The ambush had been perfectly planned—my men moving through the crowd ...