CHAPTER 144
The chamber was hushed, but the weight of decision had already fallen. Grace sat unmoving, her gaze fixed on the ledger that still lay open on the table. When she finally spoke, it was with a calm certainty that carried through the stone-walled hall.
"You will not scatter aimlessly," she said. "Each of you will follow a thread, and you will return with what lies at the end of it."
Councillor Honest bowed his head, his hands still clasped around the worn parchments. "Name our tasks, Majesty."
Grace stood, the fabric of her robe shifting as she moved toward the long table. Her finger traced lightly across the names written in Robert's script.
"Councillor Honest," she said, "you will take charge of the barracks. Speak with the captains, the old guard, and the ledgers hidden in corners. Robert began his rise there; if he planted roots, they will still be in the ground."
Honest nodded firmly.
