{Regina}
~**^**~
The lounge was too quiet.
Usually, it was our throne room, a place of power and indulgence. But today, after Kaelis's humiliating little announcement over the speakers, the air felt different. More like thick and stifling.
No one spoke or made any attempt to utter a word.
Thorne kept flipping that damned coin of his, but even he wasn't smiling. Soraya sat with her arms folded tight, her glare promising blood if anyone dared to annoy her.
Nyra looked carved from ice, still and unreadable, and Caleb, who never took anything seriously, was swirling his glass as if he could drink away the sting of being undermined.
But I could feel their gazes continuously drifting subtly toward me just because of Zenon.
Zenon had barged into our authority without even doing so much, and stripped us of control. And Kaelis, Princess Kaelis to be direct, the girl who thinks the entire Academy bows to her had been forced to bend.
