|| Penelope ||
The chamber felt hollow in the aftermath of the Assembly, as if the very stones had absorbed the tension, now holding it in a suffocating silence. The echoes of raised voices still lingered in my ears, though the hall had emptied. The weight of broken alliances and silent betrayals hung thick in the air, invisible but undeniable. Even the dim candlelight seemed uncertain, flickering wildly, its glow stretching the shadows into grotesque shapes along the cold stone walls.
Richard stood beside me, his presence steady but tense, his gaze fixed on the heavy doors that had closed moments ago, as if expecting them to burst open again. He hadn't spoken since the last of the nobles had filed out, their expressions carefully masked but their intentions laid bare in every calculated
