“Here we are,” Ilkhar sighed, easing into his marble seat and running his hands over the maps and letters strewn before him. “The new Council of Nine.”
Roxanne scanned the council as everyone settled in. This was what Allentria had been reduced to. The empire’s forces were scattered and decimated. Empress Aldelphia was trapped in Noryk behind a blockade of Imperial Guards; three human kings were dead and the fourth served the Shadow; the animal lords, like the phoenix who’d saved her from the slopes of Mount Arax, were occupied in their own states.
Of the original members of the Council of Nine, only Taeleia and Ilkhar remained. Max, Seba, and Effrax had taken their fathers’ mantles and served as representatives for the Erastate, the Galantasa, and the Fironem. Fletcher had become the de
