"They crave prophecy, but only the kind that flatters their hunger. Truth is a poison they cannot swallow, yet I will pour it down their throats all the same.
NIKO'S POV
The chamber doors groaned shut behind me, sealing in the stench of schemes and ambition. I breathed in the corridor's cooler air, but it did little to wash away the cloying taste of Seraphine's plans. My footsteps echoed against the stone, deliberate, measured, though my skin prickled with the weight of what I had just done.
I had warned them, had shown my teeth. And judging by the silence that followed me, they had heard me well enough. The shadows of the corridor clung to me like old friends, though I knew better than to believe in safety. Sure enough, a voice, sharp and cold, slithered from behind.
"Niko."
