Meanwhile,

Author

The great hall had emptied of most guests, but the air still felt thick with what had happened. The royal scribes had already spread out, their quills scratching furiously across parchment - recording every declaration, every insult, every oath and every withdrawal, so that no one could later claim they had not seen it, or heard it, or known what was done here. At the foot of the dais, Julian sat on the cold stone steps exactly where he had collapsed hours earlier. He had not moved. He had not eaten or drunk. He just stared at the empty space where Aria and Malphas had stood, his crown...