VALERIE
The room was suddenly electric. The look Caeser had given me did not settle. Rather, it curdled in my stomach like bad food. Suddenly, I was no longer hungry. The music had stopped playing, and the crowd had gone quiet, confused by the confrontation between son and father.
But Xavier looked as composed as always.
“If you would not mind taking a seat, father,” Xavier began. “I have more details to—“
Suddenly, a sound like thunder rolled through the entrance of the banquet hall. The tables turned their attention to the entrance door, where a guard stumbled inside.
Something was terribly wrong with him, by the look of it. His eyes were glazed and distant, his lips turning blue. He stumbled in on weak legs and collapsed to the floor, veins scrawling up the side of his neck.
Sever
