Power Gambit

The doors to the Grand Council Chamber of Valeria swung open with a slow, deliberate force.

The air inside was heavy with expectation. The nobles seated at the long obsidian table rose to their feet as tradition demanded, their cloaks brushing against the polished marble floor.

Everyone stood.

Everyone except one.

At the far end of the chamber, reclining in his seat with the confidence of a man who feared nothing, King Kuhan of White Raven remained seated.

It was not an oversight.

It was a statement.

The flickering candlelight glowed against his long silver-streaked hair, the deep lines on his sharp face only adding to the aura of experience and danger he carried.

His fingers tapped lazily against the rim of his goblet, the rhythmic sound filling the tense silence like a slow countdown.

A power play.