Deep within the subterranean bowels of the Imperial Palace, the air was a stagnant, freezing weight, thick with the stench of damp stone and centuries of buried secrets. The dim torchlight between them didn't just flicker; it writhed, casting monstrous, distorted shadows of the two men against the weeping walls.
"Your Majesty, what is the meaning of this?" Mathias demanded.
His voice hit the stone walls like a strike of steel—sharp, echoing, and entirely unbroken. He wasn't on his knees. His posture remained rigid, but a dangerous, intense perplexity narrowed his eyes. "Why am I here? Under what law do you intend to cage me?"
