CHAPTER 147
The chamber doors had barely closed on Loram before the councillors stirred restlessly in their seats. The guard's words had left a wound in the room, one that silence could not seal.
Grace sat unmoving at the head of the table, her eyes fixed on the stone floor before her, though her thoughts circled like hunting hawks. Robert's circle. Cloaked men. Meetings within her walls. His treachery reached further than she had imagined.
At last, Councillor Vera rose. "We cannot waste time. The guard's testimony must be tested. If Robert held a circle, then there are witnesses, servants, soldiers, scribes, who saw movement and met with unease but spoke nothing. We must drag them into light."
"Agreed," Councillor Honest replied, his voice steady though his eyes betrayed unease. "The first thread has been pulled. We must follow it."
Grace lifted her head. "Summon the first scribe from Robert's unit. The one who kept his records. Let us see what words remain."
