Alix lets the silence stretch for a moment longer, eyes narrowing slightly as he watches the nobles shift, unsettled beneath their invisible brands. Then, without looking at them again, he speaks.
"You're dismissed."
The nobles nearly trip over themselves in their rush to bow and back away, the polished floor echoing with nervous footsteps. None speak. None look back.
As the heavy chamber doors groan shut behind them, sealing their fate under the Curse Mage's watch, Alix finally turns his head.
"Come with me," he says quietly to Gander.
The cursed mage inclines his head, the motion eerily smooth, like a marionette guided by invisible strings. He follows as Alix rises from the obsidian throne and strides down the black marble steps, his dark cloak trailing behind him like a shadow laced with embers.
