CHAPTER 152
The council chamber was sealed before dawn. Heavy curtains were drawn, and the air hung thick with unease. The long table stretched beneath the silver light of the torches, and Grace sat at its head, her posture calm but rigid. The councillors filled their seats slowly, none daring to speak until she did.
Grace's eyes swept over them one by one. The tension was palpable—each man and woman in the room knew the reason they had been summoned. The forged letter, the vanishing courier, the echoes of Robert's old network—none could ignore it now.
When Grace finally spoke, her voice was low but clear. "You all know why we are here. The court is no longer clean. The shadow of a dead man still moves among us."
A murmur rippled through the council. Councillor Vera's fingers twitched over the edge of her papers, but she said nothing. Councillor Honest, seated to Grace's right, leaned forward slightly. "King, do you believe Robert's men are still within these walls?"
