Black and Silver Chains
an excerpt

The hall was made of marble a shade of blue that made the flickering of the candles seem like eddies and whirlpools to pull the attendees under. Sitting above the milling bodies, a single man sat. It was a vulnerable position, his feet at the level of the shoulders of everyone assembled, the nearest liveried guard more than 30 feet away against a wall. Yet he sat with a somewhat bored expression on his face, chin resting on his mailed fist.