The walls of her bedchamber felt like they were closing in.
After three relentless days of system-clearing fire, her core was finally stable, and the suffocating ice of the poison was gone.
New magic hummed steadily in her veins, but her mind was restless. The heavy, cedar-scented air of the room offered no clarity, and she desperately needed a change of venue.
Lexianna dressed in a sleek, dark violet silk gown that moved like water. It was elegant and functional, covering the lingering bruises on her collarbones while allowing her nine silver tails to sweep freely behind her.
She stepped out of the chamber, followed closely by her new harpy maid, Sybil, who scrambled to keep pace with her head bowed respectfully.
The sprawling gardens of the Great Palace were violently beautiful. Bioluminescent orchids wrapped around jagged obsidian statues, and blood-red weeping willows trailed their heavy branches into ponds filled with blind, silver-scaled koi.
