The council chamber looked exactly as Mercer remembered it, the same half-circle of dark wood chairs raised above the chamber floor, the same smell of wax and old paper hanging in the air. Seven seats faced the room this time instead of the men who had once condemned him. Mercer forced himself to breathe evenly as he took his place beside Isla and Renner near the center of the floor.
Councilor Priest sat at the head of the row, exactly as he had fifteen years earlier in a life Mercer alone remembered. Beside him sat the six other council members, including a pale, visibly nervous Rendal near the far end, and Darius Hale himself, composed and unreadable, seated close to the center.
"This session is called to address formal accusations brought against Councilor Darius Hale," Priest announc
