Grey hooked a thumb toward the white-haired man whose lips were still stretched apart by white-gold threads and looked toward Elowen.
"Who the hell is this guy?"
Elowen finally seemed to recover enough from everything that had just happened to remember she was supposed to be ruling a room full of former monarchs, even if the lingering flush across her cheeks still betrayed how badly Grey had thrown her off.
After clearing her throat and straightening on the throne, she introduced him as Emperor Vaelor Ren of the Asterion Territory.
Grey nodded once as though that explained everything, snapped his fingers, and the white-gold hooks immediately vanished from Vaelor's mouth. The former Emperor stumbled back while rubbing his lips, his eyes carrying considerably less confidence than they had a few moments earlier, while Grey rolled one shoulder and gave an exaggerated yawn that had nothing to do with actual fatigue.
