~ Scarlett's POV ~
The council chamber walls felt as though they were closing in on me, suffocating and cold. Ancient stone loomed heavy and unyielding, flickering torchlight casting jagged, restless shadows that slithered across the floor like vipers.
The air was thick with the stench of old parchment, smoke, and the faint, metallic tang of dried blood baked into the stone over centuries of judgment.
It reeked of old power. Of ghosts who still lingered in these walls, whispering about sins long buried.
And today, it would be my name, they whispered.
I smoothed a trembling hand down the front of my dress, forcing the soft silk to lie flat against my pounding heart. My face, as always, was a mask of calm — poised, polished, untouchable. A woman bred for this very room. But beneath it,
