The Great Hall of Shadowfang had never felt so vast, nor so cold. Cassian stood at its center, flanked by two royal guards, his hands bound loosely before him in a token gesture of restraint, no chains, not yet, but the message was unmistakable. Above him, the stained-glass windows that had once glowed with morning warmth now filtered only a thin, grey light, as though even the sun refused to fully witness what was about to unfold. Every noble house had been summoned. The benches lining the hall were packed shoulder to shoulder with lords and ladies who rarely rose before midday, drawn now by the promise of scandal too rich to miss. Cassian felt their eyes on him like a physical weight, felt the way conversations hushed and then hissed back to life the moment he passed, whispered words like traitor and whore and, worse, pregnant threading through the crowd before a single piece of evidence had even been presented. Kael sat upon the obsidian throne, and if Cassian had hoped for some
Last Updated : 2026-07-15 Read more