Daria's POV

I remained in the shadow of the high gallery and was enveloped in a spell of easy concealment, which made me visible without quite disappearing. I did not want to vanish. I had a desire to see and more to hear. The allied council chamber was cut out of pale by way of stone and old wood and was a broad and circular room made in such a way that there was no voice in it which could prevail. Today, it felt like a cage.

In the middle of the centre was Lucius alone.

He was not crowned, not wrapped in an official cloak, but simply clad in...