CHAPTER 136
The chamber was too quiet for Grace's liking. The walls, once a comfort, seemed to close in on her as she stared at the folded papers Mathew Sterrn had laid on her desk before leaving. They were not many, just a handful of notes, testimonies, and fragments copied from older records, but they carried a weight her hands almost trembled to touch.
For hours she had let them sit there, refusing to open them. Her fingers brushed the edges several times, but each time she pulled back as if the parchment might burn her skin. She was not afraid of words, she had read council edicts and war decrees without flinching, but this was different. These were Robert's remnants, pieces of his past, whispers he had left behind.
She leaned back in her chair, exhaling slowly.
"Why do I hesitate?" she muttered. Her baritone voice rang low against the chamber walls. "It is only parchment. Nothing more."
