They left within the hour, Osric insisting that lingering too long near a dead Circle operative invited exactly the kind of attention none of them could afford. Garrick lingered only long enough to help Cedren settle more comfortably against the log, guilt plain on his face despite the captain's insistence that he'd manage well enough alone until he regained enough strength to travel."You should go with them," Cedren said, watching Garrick hesitate near the fire's cold remains. "Whatever's waiting for you, it's bigger than anything I can help you carry from here. I've done what I set out to do. Found you. Proved to myself, and hopefully to the king, that the story this kingdom told about you was wrong.""You could come with us," Garrick offered, though even as he said it, he understood the impracticality of it, a wounded man in no condition for wilderness travel, duties waiting for him back at the capital that none of them could simply abandon."You saved my life," Cedren said instea

The throne room filled quickly the following morning, nobles and court officials gathering in numbers Serelis hadn't seen since the original hearing, whispers filling every corner of the vast chamber as word of some announcement concerning the fugitive continued spreading despite no official statement yet reaching the wider court.She stood near the front of the assembled nobles, Mira a careful distance behind her, and watched her father take his seat upon the throne with a stiffness she hadn't seen from him before, something rigid in his bearing that unsettled her more than she could immediately explain.Zephar stood at his customary position near the throne's right side, and beside him, close enough to draw curious glances from the gathered court, stood Darian, dressed with more ceremony than the occasion seemed to call for."This court is convened," Evandor announced, his voice carrying with a flatness Serelis didn't recognize, "to address the confirmed conduct o

Zephar requested his audience that same evening, and Evandor, still turning over the morning's court session in his mind, granted it without particular suspicion, the day's exhaustion leaving him less guarded than he might otherwise have been.The candles in his study had burned low again, casting the same familiar shadows across the shelves of accumulated records, and he found himself, not for the first time, wishing for a quieter kind of evening than this palace seemed willing to grant him lately."Your Majesty," Zephar said, once the study door had closed behind them, "I wished to discuss a matter that occurred to me following this morning's session. A matter concerning the throne's stability, going forward.""Speak plainly, Chancellor," Evandor said, settling into the chair behind his desk, rubbing briefly at his eyes. "The day has left me with little patience for careful circling.""Princess Serelis's convictions, however well intentioned, have placed her i

Serelis chose the following morning's court session deliberately, arriving early enough to claim a position near the front of the gathering nobles before the chamber had fully filled, her resolve hardened overnight into something considerably more calculated than the raw fury that had carried her out of her father's study. She had barely slept, turning over every possible approach in her mind until sheer exhaustion finally settled her thoughts into something resembling a plan.She had not come to argue about Garrick this time. She had come to refuse a betrothal in front of enough witnesses that quiet dismissal would prove considerably harder to manage, and she had dressed carefully for it, composed and dignified rather than desperate, understanding instinctively that how she appeared would matter almost as much as what she said."Your Majesty," she said, stepping forward the moment the session's opening formalities concluded, before Zephar or anyone else could redirect