Chapter 100: Shadows Over Dravos
>>Aelin
At first, no one noticed.
It was only a faint dimming of the lights—a strange flicker in the magic lanterns that lined the domed ceiling of the ballroom. A subtle shift in the energy that stirred the hair on the back of my neck. I blinked up, confused. The music faltered, and then a sharp chord from the quartet snapped off mid-note. Murmurs rose, confused voices overlapping like ripples in water. And then—
A scream.
It echoed through the great hall like a whip crack. Panic bloomed instantly. Nobles in glittering robes shoved their way through the crowd. Chairs scraped against marble. Glass shattered. The crowd turned on itself, fear a living thing in the air, thick as the incense smoke now curling to the floor.
I was pushed once. Then again. A hard shoulder slammed into mine and I stumbled. Hands flailed around me as lords and ladies scrambled for doors, windows—anything. I was caught in the crush of silks and claws and pheromones. Panic clawed up my throat. I could feel the rising energy—dark, ancient magic, pulsing through the floor beneath my heels.
I tried to breathe. To remember where Draegon was. But people screamed. The ballroom doors flung open with a loud bang as guards came rushing in. Someone else shouted that the outer walls had been breached. That something was coming.
The darkness deepened. A cold wind swept through the palace, though no windows had opened. Magic frayed at the edges, a wild, uncontrolled energy stirring.
Then his voice came.
"SILENCE."
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