The staircase was cramped.
That was the first thing Kael noticed after descending a few more steps. It was not a passage made for processions, kings, or pretty rituals. It was practical. Ancient. Uncomfortable. The walls scraped against the shoulders if someone walked carelessly, and the ceiling grew low in some places.
"Whoever built this hated tall people," Kael muttered.
Behind him, Sylphie answered:
"Or did not expect visitors."
"That is also a less personal possibility."
Liza came right behind Sylphie. Violet had insisted on staying before her, but the queen refused with a look. In the end, Violet stayed glued to her side, sword already in hand. Irelia and Amelia came a little farther behind, carefully. Umbra did not use the stairs properly. She simply appeared a few steps below, then above, then beside the wall, as if testing every shadow at the same time.
Kael glanced sideways at her.
"Can you stop doing that for five seconds?"
"No."
"That was a rhetorical question."
