Chapter 9 Eight

• "My King..." The manor was consumed by a stifling silence as everyone bowed deeply, trembling beneath the tyrant's presence. Elanthia lowered herself into a graceful curtsy, her gaze cast downward in a show of submission that appeared to satisfy Draeven. His cold eyes lingered on her briefly before sweeping across the room, inspecting the others with detached indifference.
• Avelyn, however, remained frozen. Her wide hazel eyes stayed locked on the king, unable to believe what she was seeing. The reality before her was almost too much to comprehend—King Draeven, standing merely twenty feet away, exactly as the book had described. The two-colored eyes, one deep and unreadable, the other a piercing blue, and the unmistakable scar crossing his blue eye—a reminder of his violent past.
• It's really him... Her thoughts reeled as she struggled to process what was happening.