I had positioned myself near the hall's side entrance exactly as I'd planned before dawn, close enough to intervene should the hearing turn dangerous, distant enough that my presence read as simple royal guard duty rather than anything more personal. I'd fought Petra's protests about leaving my sickbed with the same stubborn insistence I'd used against every obstacle since my father's execution, and now, watching Elara's violet silk vanish through the rear doors, I understood exactly why standing here mattered more than any amount of rest.
I moved before conscious thought fully caught up with instinct, slipping from my position along the hall's edge with the practiced quiet of a man who'd spent years learning to disappear inside noble households. No one stopped me, guards recognized me we
