The throne room looked exactly as Elira remembered it, the same high windows casting pale light across marble that had once witnessed her sealing ceremony, the same ministers and courtiers arranged along its edges with the hungry anticipation of people who sensed something significant was about to unfold.
She entered through the main doors rather than the side chamber reserved for minor nobility, Rhosnyn and Elder Maribel flanking her, the small delegation of Veskara witnesses following behind, and felt the chamber's attention shift toward her with a weight that would have unsettled the woman she'd been six years ago. It did not unsettle her now.
Kael stood near the throne, and something in his expression, watching her cross the chamber with the same steady composure she'd worn during he
