It was, by any measure, an extraordinary room.
And today it was packed.
Three hundred people had crammed themselves in, dressed in every color imaginable, draped in enough jewelry to fund a small war. Nobles, ambassadors, military commanders, clergy, court officials—everyone who mattered in the empire and several people from outside it who'd traveled weeks just to witness whatever today was going to be.
Nobody was entirely sure what today was going to be.
That was, in itself, unusual. Imperial ceremonies were typically so rigidly scripted that you could predict the next hour of events down to the minute. People came, watched the expected thing happen, applauded at the correct moments, went home.
But something about today felt different.
The whispers started the moment people arrived. Quiet at first, then louder as more guests filtered in and realized they all had the same questions and none of the answers.
'Both of them wearing suits?'
