The Court of Sanctum had become a very quiet place.
The days of loud laughter, drunken toasts, and lively arguments had passed. Now, under Queen Mirabelle, the court was quiet. The nobles walked carefully, as if afraid to wake sleeping vipers.
They had good reason to be cautious. The viper was always watching and listening. They knew one wrong step onto the viper's tail, and they'd be swallowed whole.
Mirabelle sat on the Obsidian Throne with her chin in her hand. She wore a dark grey velvet gown, the color of a storm cloud, and with a blank expression on her face and a distant look in her eyes, she listened to the fiftieth petition that day.
"And so, Your Majesty," Countess Marla said, clutching her pearls, a habit born from nervousness. "We simply ask that the... creatures... be removed from the cathedral roof. It is very distracting during prayer to see a gargoyle cleaning its wings."
