Kaelen's POV
I walked into the council chamber and the world narrowed to her face.
Ten feet away. Seated at the head of the long table, her crown on her head, her hands folded in front of her. The composed face. The still hands. The particular quality of attention she brought to everythingthat way she had of listening like nothing else in the room existed.
She was listening now. Really listening. The way she always did.
I made myself not think about that.
Behind the mask, my heart was pounding. My palms were sweating. But the Voice was steady. The Voice was calm. The Voice did not have a history with the woman sitting at that table.
I Focused. Became the mask.
The council members were arranged around the table. Petrov at her right hand, his face flushed, his eyes hard. Corvus near the wall, arms crossed, unreadable. The others, Harwick, the minor lords, the clerks with their pens ready, all watching, all waiting.
They had agreed to hear me. They had not agreed to believe me.
