The road back to Veskara felt entirely different than either journey she had made along it before, not the frightened uncertainty of her original exile, nor the deliberate resolve of her return to confront the court, but something closer to genuine homecoming.
Rhosnyn rode beside her for much of the final day's travel, Elder Maribel and the other witnesses having already peeled off toward their own villages, each carrying home considerably more than they'd brought to the capital: formal crown recognition, promised resources, and the quiet satisfaction of people who had helped dismantle a conspiracy shaping their province's suffering longer than most had understood.
"You're quiet," Rhosnyn observed, as Veskara Keep's familiar silhouette finally rose against the horizon.
"I'm considering
