The colossal double doors swung open.
The heavy, groaning sound echoed sharply across the hall, and all four of them instantly turned, the warm intimacy of the moment shattering.
Standing rigidly in the threshold, was a figure Ren almost failed to recognize initially, simply because he practically never encountered her.
It was Larissa's mother.
The grieving widow of King Dragarion. The reclusive woman who notoriously refused to leave her isolated quarters deep within the heart of the castle, entirely detaching herself from the outside world.
Someone among her staff had clearly sprinted to inform her of the perceived sacrilege occurring in the grand hall. And she had personally intervened.
She was visibly furious.
♢♢♢♢
"Exactly what is the meaning of this?" Her voice slashed across the empty room, remarkably cold and lethally sharp. "Are you... playing? In here?!"
Larissa instantly vaulted off the throne, landing squarely on her feet. "Mother, you are outsi…"
