Lucien

The council chamber was never silent. The echo of murmurs, the scrape of chairs, and the restless men who lived by suspicion.

Lucien entered with Nyla at his side, Rhea a step behind him. She looked small against the towering doors, her shoulders drawn inward, her pale hands folded as though she could make herself vanish. The guards who had followed them from the lower halls spread out to the edges of the room, whispering still, their voices sharp.

He hated it. ...