(At Personal chamber of mine)
The air in my chamber is stifling, the silence following the clash in the throne room ringing in my ears. Lucian shuts the heavy doors with a sharp, final click, and the sudden quiet feels more dangerous than the shouting. Kael takes his place by the wall, a shadow that doesn't breathe, while Lucian turns to face me.
"Cyrina!" he says, his voice strained, pacing toward me. "I told you back there—I would have looked into the matters in your notes! I gave you my word!"
"But you don't know how bad things truly are!" I snap back, my frustration boiling over. I can still see that boy's blistered skin and the mother's hollow eyes.
"On the ground level, it isn't just a ghost story from the past. Even now, while our two races sit together and feast, these policies neglect the very people holding the Empire up! You're building a palace on a swamp and calling it a foundation!"
