The council convened the following morning.
Every significant player in the new political landscape of Duskmere assembled in Vaelthorn’s great hall, which had not been used for a gathering of this scale in what Caelan said was at least two centuries, the last time being a negotiation that he described as less successful than he had hoped and more expensive than he had anticipated.
The Vael Council representatives. Maren Doss, representing whatever the Hollow Court’s fracturing membership was becoming in the absence of its worst impulses. Senna, who had arrived early and made everyone coffee and was standing against the wall with the expression of someone who intended to be useful and had learned that useful people arrived before they were needed.
Councillor Aine, who had come from wher
