The Great Balcony had been a stage of triumph only an hour ago, but as the heavy oak doors clicked shut behind Kael and Daenery, the victory felt like a distant, hollow echo. The palace interior was flooded with the late afternoon sun, the light catching the opalite dust in the air and turning the hallways into a corridor of shimmering, golden fire. To anyone else, it would have been beautiful, but to Kael, the brightness felt like a physical assault. He squinted, his eyes burning as they struggled to adjust to a spectrum that wasnt bruised violet or ash gray.
Beside him, Daenery walked with a strange, hesitant gait. Her tactical boots, still caked with the black, bone-bone silt of the Void, sounded deafeningly loud against the polished white marble. She kept glancing at the corners of th
