LYRA

The guards who escorted me from the antechamber weren't the regular castle patrol but specialized warriors who moved with the kind of aura that came from years protecting royalty, their hands never strayed far from their weapons and their eyes tracked every movement I made like they expected me to transform into a threat at any moment.

We walked through corridors that had been cleared of other people, everyone else apparently ordered to stay away while they transported the confessed ...