Chapter 83: The Gilded Cage
The Citadel was not a cage of bars, but of history and implication. It was the oldest part of the Palace of Dawn, a fortress within a palace, all stern grey granite after the blinding white marble and gold of the main courts. Their assigned quarters were a series of spacious, high-ceilinged rooms on an upper floor, with a view of a walled courtyard below and, beyond the battlements, a dizzying slice of the city's endless, smoky tapestry. It was comfortable, even lavish by their standards thick rugs, a large hearth, separate sleeping chambers but every tapestry depicted martial victories, every piece of furniture was heavy and immovable, and the air smelled of old stone, beeswax, and a faint, persistent scent of incense that couldn't mask the underlying odor of power.
