“The throne room occupied the highest floor of the Rajmukut's palace — a vast, circular chamber with a domed ceiling painted in gold and azure, depicting the six surfaces of the world in layered perspective. Sunlight entered through a ring of windows at the dome's base, falling in shafts that caught the dust motes and turned them into tiny, floating stars. The floor was white marble, polished to a mirror finish. Mrin could see his own reflection — distorted, stretched, a man walking toward a judgment he had earned.”