Lucian had knelt before the empty throne.
Not to Albert.
To Evelyn.
The report waited on Albert’s desk when the representatives of Ravencrest entered the council chamber.
Give me an order as sovereign, not as general, and see how many of Ravencrest obey.
Albert folded the report and placed it beneath the proposed coronation charter.
Lucian’s surrender had recognized Greyhaven’s military supremacy during occupation. It had not transferred Ravencrest’s courts, taxes, clan authority, or civil crown. The ceremony was meant to do that, and the people entering the chamber knew the difference.
Across the room, Evelyn stood beside the territorial map in her dark uniform. The gray blanket given to her in the street had been cleaned and folded over the back of an empty chair.
She had not acc
