The northern tier was on its fourth rotation.
The Emperor moved through the senior delegation the way water moved through channels — not forcing, just present, each conversation brief and complete before he turned to the next. The delegation members walked away from him with the expressions of people who had been told something they already knew and had been waiting to have confirmed.
Vane watched this from the eastern margin and drank something from the chamberlain's tray that he couldn't name and didn't ask about.
Then Casren Voll crossed the floor.
The Vanguard insignia at his collar. His eyes on Vane before he had covered half the distance. He came through the room without adjusting his line for anyone in it, and the people in his path stepped aside without being asked to, which was the kind of thing that happened when a man moved with enough certainty about where he was going.
He stopped two metres away.
