CHAPTER 30 : BLOOD AND MONEY — TEARS OF THE EMERALD CAVES
THE EXPLOSION OF TRUTH IN THE HALL OF DAWN
The silence that followed Ian’s words was heavier than the granite of the Citadel. It was a silence charged with static electricity, like the stillness that precedes a lightning bolt before thunder tears the sky asunder. Ian stood motionless, yet his body seemed to expand, his royal aura as an heir of the Sun-Bearers radiating a suffocating heat that made even the most seasoned guards recoil. In his right hand, the fragment of Mia’s dressing gown, the velvet she had been wearing that very morning, was crumpled like a bloody reproach.
Lord Barnaby did not flinch immediately. His face remained a mask of polished marble, a relic of arrogance sculpted by centuries of prejudice. However, besi
