The council chamber was never this quiet when it mattered.
Elara stood outside the heavy doors — not because she had been summoned, but because she had heard the echo of her own name spoken in a room she was never supposed to enter. The guards had not stopped her from lingering in the corridor. Perhaps they thought she already knew. Perhaps they simply did not care enough to move her along.
Inside, Lord Valdren's voice carried with the particular confidence of a man who had rehearsed this speech many times before delivering it. The people were restless. The alliance was fracturing. There were three kingdoms threatening to pull their banners, and every single one of them had cited the same grievance — a foreign consort with no title, no bloodline, and no business sitting at the center of a king's attention.
"She is a disruption," Valdren said, and Elara heard it as clearly as if he had said it to her face. "And you, Your Majesty, must choose."
She waited for Kaelis to answer.
