Natalie POV
The deafening roars of the vanguard warriors still vibrated through the stone floorboards of the grand rotunda as Richard led me out of the ruined gallery. The shattered fragments of the High Council blood-stone lay behind us, a smoking pile of broken obsidian that signaled the permanent execution of the old laws, but the air ahead of us was no less treacherous.
We entered the Imperial Banquet Hall, a vast, vaulted chamber lined with towering pillars of white marble wrapped in gold leaf. Massive chandeliers of pure crystal hung from the cedar ceilings, casting a brilliant, fracturing light over long banquet tables overflowing with roasted venison, spiced winter wines, and silver platters of rare fruits imported from the southern valleys.
Hundreds of high lords and noble she-
