Chapter 98 — "The War Council" (Part II)
Nobody moved when the Queen Dowager sat down.
She didn't take just any chair. She took the king's chair — the one carved with dragon scales, the one that had been empty since Vaelric's legs had stopped carrying him to war councils. She lowered herself into it the way a blade settles into a sheath. Perfect fit. Like it had been waiting for her.
Roen's mouth opened. Caldan watched his half-brother's jaw work, the objection forming behind his teeth like a trapped animal. Then Roen looked at Ysireth's face — really looked — and swallowed it whole.
Smart boy. First time for everything.
"Grandmother," Vaeren said, his voice silk and honey, "what a pleasure. We were just discussing—"
"I know what you were discussing. I've had a man in the corridor listening for the last twenty minutes." She folded her hands on the obsidian. Her rings caught the torchlight. "You've all made very passionate arguments. All of them wrong. Sit."
