DARIUS
The Supreme Council’s messenger had been a mistake. They sent a boy with the arrogance of a king, delivering a summons I had no intention of answering. I’d dealt with him in the courtyard, the silver-inked parchment now a charred ruin beneath my boots.
I’d forgotten her.
It had been hours. My mind full of thoughts of borders, blood-tithes, and the brewing insurrection in the Outer Rings. The human girl, was a piece I had moved into place and then left to gather dust. I expected to find her broken by the silence of the Great Hall. I expected her to be huddled in a corner, or perhaps weeping in the seat I’d designated for her at the far end of the table.
I slammed the double doors open, the sound echoing like a thunderclap against the vaulted ceiling. The air in the Hall was cold,
