Chapter 31 The Council If The White-gold Flame

• The holographic projection flickered and died, but the image of the Shadow Father remained burned into Anna’s retinas.
• The geothermic longhouse, which moments ago was filled with the sounds of laughter and clinking mead-cups, was now as silent as a tomb. The black oil bubbling in the geothermic pool gave off a sulfurous, rotting stench that seemed to coat the back of Anna’s throat.
• "That’s impossible," a voice barked from the back of the room.