The chamber was empty.
Every seat vacant. Every table cleared. Just the curved row of seven chairs at the far end and a single one placed in the centre of the floor facing them.
Kane was already seated. Without any lawyers or Council members flanking him.
Just him.
"Sit down, Miss Blackwood."
I sat.
He looked at me for a long moment without saying anything not uncomfortable. Just the particular silence of a man who had decided to say something true and was taking his time choosing how to begin.
"How old are you."
"Twenty three."
"Your mother was twenty three when I met her."
I went very still.
"You knew her."
"I knew of her. There's a difference." He folded his hands on the table. "Elena Blackwood came before this Council thirty eight years ago. Seventeen years old. She'd just
