The grand council room of the Solaris Palace was suffocating. Seyana stood quietly in the back corner, hiding in the shadows of a marble pillar. She wore a formal dress of crimson silk and a delicate silver crown that felt like a tight iron band around her head. The air in the room was thick with the smell of expensive wine, nervous sweat, and panic.
Dozens of wealthy lords, minor nobles, and merchants were shouting aggressively across the long wooden table.
"We need to double the city watch!" a fat merchant from the eastern district yelled, slamming his fist on the table. "The civilians are terrified! Half of my trade caravans refuse to leave the capital. They say the sky is cursed!"
"Double the watch? With whose gold?" a tall, skinny lord argued back. "We need to build higher walls! We need to buy more siege ballistas! If the Void Era monsters are real, spears won't save us!"
