CHAPTER 149
The chamber had quieted since the last meeting, but the tension had only thickened. A faint chill clung to the air despite the torches. The council table, once the seat of order, now looked like a battlefield, papers folded and refolded, notes scratched over, wax seals half-pressed and smudged. Every councillor avoided the others' eyes.
Grace entered early this time. Her footsteps echoed in the vast room, sharp and even. She carried no entourage, no display of rank, only the cold focus that made her presence enough. The guards closed the doors behind her, and she stood at the head of the table, gazing down at the parchment where the name Robert appeared again and again.
"Begin," she said quietly.
