~Laurent
They gathered in the Hall of Blades.
That was what Katya called it as we walked through the echoing corridors, her steps whispering against the stone. The air here felt heavier than the rest of the castle—dense and reverent. The double doors opened to a wide chamber lined with runed pillars. Scars marked the floor, burns and fissures preserved instead of repaired. It smelled faintly of smoke and iron.
The council was already waiting.
They sat in a semicircle above the dueling ground, their robes casting long shadows down the tiered steps. Warriors stood behind them, each one a statue of tension, their hands never straying far from their weapons. The room hummed with quiet curiosity as I entered, that kind of stillness that always precedes judgment.
Katya moved ahead of me, he
