Callie’s POV
The massive, thirty-foot doors of the Hellgate Assembly didn’t just open. They groaned. It was a heavy, bone-rattling sound that vibrated straight through the soles of my shoes and resonated deep in my chest.
When they fully parted, the raw, unfiltered opulence of Veridia City’s elite hit me like a physical blow. The grand hall was a cavernous nightmare of dark glamour. Sweeping staircases carved from pale bone spiraled up to shadowed balconies, and the ceiling was lost in a swirling, artificial storm of violet lightning and trapped Miasma.
Thousands of floating obsidian chandeliers cast a dim, sensual light over the sprawling floor, illuminating hundreds of demons dressed in silks, leathers, and sharp, tailored suits.
The moment we stepped across the threshold, the low ro
