She capped her pen.
Straightened the documents.
Stood.
Adjusted her jacket — the white suit, which had become, without deliberate decision, the thing she wore when she needed the room to understand immediately who it was dealing with.
"She's here," Mahir said.
"Alone."
"One attendant. Stayed in the corridor." He paused. "No knight."
Elara looked at him.
No knight was a significant choice. The Even first princess went nowhere significant without her personal beast knight. Leaving him outside was a statement — 'I came without weapons' — which was either genuine or the most sophisticated kind of weapon available.
"Send her in," Elara said.
---
The entered the way she did everything.
Quietly.
