Red lips brushed the rim of a wine cup.
Just as the dark red wine was about to touch her lips, a violent tremor struck.
Arianne's wrist jerked, spilling the entire cup of wine over her face. The cold liquid ran down her cheeks and dripped onto the silk dress over her chest, spreading into a dark wet stain that outlined her full curves.
She lowered the cup in astonishment and froze.
Not because she had spilled wine all over her face, but because of the tremor-the entire council chamber was shaking.
The stained glass in the high windows rattled, and the candle stands in the corners swayed without stopping.
Wine cups toppled across the table, spilling their contents everywhere.
An attendant standing in a corner lost his footing and fell with a cry.
"What's happening?" Earl Dagos Manwoody gripped the edge of the table to steady himself, astonishment written across his face. "An earthquake?"
No one could answer him.
Arianne picked up a silk handkerchief and slowly wiped the wine from her face.
She glanced down at the soaked silk over her chest and frowned slightly, but paid it no mind.
She set down the handkerchief and was about to speak when hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.
A guard stumbled into the council chamber, his face deathly pale. He dropped to one knee, his voice trembling. "R-reporting to Your Highness... outside, there's a..."
"A what?" Arianne asked, a trace of barely suppressed panic in her voice.
The guard swallowed and finally managed to finish. "A golden three-headed monster-it's landed in Sunspear!"
A deathly silence fell over the council chamber.
No one could believe their ears.
The nobles who had been raising their cups in celebration moments before now looked as though someone had seized them by the throat.