The throne room held the silence from the death duel demand for exactly as long as it needed to hold it.
Then Aldric Jaar spoke.
Not through Eddran — directly again, the second time in one audience the king had gone off the managed agenda, which was already more than Eddran had experienced in a single session in fifteen years of managing it.
"Kain is a summoned Champion," the king said. He looked at Lexel with the careful attention of someone navigating between what he wanted to say and what the court required him to say. "The war is active. The kingdom's military assets cannot be depleted at the discretion of—" a pause, the navigation continuing, "—at the discretion of a civilian request in the throne room. However valid the grievance."
He glanced at Eddran briefly — the instinctive check of someone who had said something and wanted confirmation he'd said it correctly.
Eddran's expression said he had. Barely.
