CHAPTER 127
The council chamber was filled before the bells finished tolling. Robes rustled, chairs scraped, and the air itself carried a nervous weight. Grace entered slowly, every step deliberate, the heavy ledger in her hands.
Elders bowed, though the motion was half-hearted from some. Jonah was already seated among them, her expression calm, her hands folded neatly in her lap. When her eyes lifted to meet Grace's, they shone with a glimmer that was almost victory.
Grace took her place at the head of the table. She let the silence stretch, long enough for every whisper to fall away. Then, with a measured motion, she set the ledger down.
"This," she began, her voice carrying, "is the truth of Commander Robert."
The elders shifted uneasily. Mathew Sterrn stood at her side, his hands clasped behind his back, his posture that of a guard rather than a councillor.
