The Vael Council sent four representatives.
They arranged themselves on one side of Caelan’s long council table with the precision of people who had done a significant amount of sitting in significant rooms and had developed strong opinions about the geometry of power.
The Ambassador I had met at the gate, whose name was Councillor Veth, sat in the center. Flanking her were two others whose names I catalogued and filed: Davan, who represented the shadow wolf faction, and Pireth, who spoke for the fae half bloods.
The fourth, a small quiet woman at the end of the table who had still not introduced herself, represented something that nobody had mentioned yet, which meant it was either very minor or very significant.
I sat beside Caelan. Not across the table with the council, not at a se
