I saw her before she saw me.
That was becoming a habit with Evelyne. She moved through the estate with a confidence that had never been entirely earned, the kind that came not from genuine security but from the belief that someone powerful was standing behind her. Before, it had been the Dowager's shadow that gave her that walk. Now, after the council chamber and my very public performance of defeat, the shadow had grown larger and she carried herself like a woman who had watched her enemy kneel and could not resist the temptation of pressing further.
