LUCY
The silence seems eternal. The air is stagnant, frozen by the full weight of Amara's declaration pressing down on every person in the room.
I look at the Supreme King. His face is cracked with a shock so profound it borders on total disbelief.
On the podium, the high-ranking nobles have become statues. My father looks as though he has been struck by lightning, his mouth fractionally open. My mother's hand remains pressed flat against her chest, her eyes wide enough to swallow the hall.
My heart is a frantic, deafening mess. I'm convinced everyone in this breathless quiet can hear it. I dig my heels into the marble and force my knees to hold, force my breathing to stay slow and measured.
I have to be the eye of this storm. I have to be calm even if everything inside me is anything but.
"Yes." Tavric's voice breaks the silence, easy and unhurried. "Exactly this was the shock that held Jaxl and me when we discovered the truth."
