Power is not a blade. It is a mirror. You must carefully control exactly what your enemies see reflected in the glass. Show them a monster, and they will hunt you. Show them a fool, and they will serve you. — Excerpt from The Architecture of Power, by Lady Vespera Thorne.
Lyra pressed the chilled crystal glass directly against her collarbone.
The ice inside melted in seconds. Boiling condensation dripped down her emerald silk dress. Her Overheating Engine raged beneath her sternum, actively cooking her internal organs. The sheer stress of orchestrating a public betrayal on the arena sand had pushed her magic to a catastrophic high. She desperately needed to vent the thermal exhaust.
She sat perfectly upright in a velvet booth inside the Obsidian Lounge.
