CHAPTER 137
The chamber had been closed off for the night. Heavy curtains hung across the windows, muting the noise of the outer halls. A single lamp burned on the center table, throwing pale light across polished wood and deepening the shadows along the walls. Grace sat at the head, her hand resting on the sealed leather folder Mathew Sterrn had carried back from the north.
She had not truly opened it yet. Only enough to glimpse words, testimonies, accounts, dates. Each time she tried to read more, she would close it again, unsettled by the sense that whatever Robert had left behind would not only disturb her but perhaps alter the very ground beneath the court.
Tonight she had chosen not to face it alone. She had summoned those she trusted enough to bring into confidence.
