Chapter 5: Ch 5: Retriving the Mother Key- Part 2
The throne room of Clavacis shimmered with excess.
Gold-threaded curtains rippled in the artificial breeze, musicians played high-tempo hymns of conquest, and perfumed nobles lounged across divans, gorging on peeled fruit and vintage liquor.
It was the kind of extravagance only the cruel could afford—one built on chains, silence, and the broken backs of the forgotten.
At the center of it all sat Clavacis III, draped in royal indigo robes trimmed with living silk that pulsed faintly with energy.
His bloated fingers, jeweled and perfumed, curled around a crystal goblet of dark blue wine as he surveyed the line of new slaves being paraded before him.
Eyes glazed from drink, he motioned for the music to lower.
Then he saw her.
Anna.
She stood in line with the others, wrists bound, ankles bruised.
But unlike the others—who stared down at the marble floors in practiced defeat—Anna kept her head up. Her eyes didn’t flinch. There was fury burning behind them, restrained only by the chains on her limbs.
Clavacis leaned forward in his floating throne, intrigued. His lips curled into a smirk.