The noble elder shifted slightly.
"Then those assets must be declared, assessed, and distributed under council oversight."
"Distributed?" Atheline repeated softly as though tasting the words.
The noble elder met his gaze without flinching.
"For the stability of the kingdom. We are bound to attract even more attention from the demonic continent since they have a severe shortage of moon crystals."
A quiet huff escaped him.
"Of course."
Lilith took back the crystals, supporting her head on her hand as she stared down at them, with barely concealed amusement.
The sound cut cleaner than the raised voices.
"Let us not pretend, " she calmly said," that this is about stability. "
Her gaze swept across all ten of them.
"You heard the islands collapsed, " she continued, " you heard we walked away from it... and you are now wondering exactly how much we took before it sank."
No one interrupted because they all knew denying it would be pointless.
The noble elder exhaled softly.
