Chapter 113 - Seraphine's Gambit

The throne room doors groaned open like the gates to another world, their iron hinges shrieking as if protesting the weight of what lay beyond. A gust of cold air swept through, carrying the scent of ash and ancient metal. Valerian stepped inside, his boots echoing sharply against the polished obsidian tiles that gleamed like a frozen midnight sea. The chamber stretched impossibly vast, its vaulted ceiling lost in a haze of shadow. Above, chandeliers of crimson crystal hung like bleeding stars, their light casting a bloody hue across the walls, where tapestries of forgotten wars flickered with threads of silver fire. Each step forward felt like crossing a threshold into a place that did not belong to the mortal world.