"Kneel before the Council."
The command descended the palace steps with all the cold authority of an order that had been repeated for generations, and beneath the shadow of Regina Palace, where hundreds of citizens had gathered beneath burning lanterns to witness the aftermath of Elara's tribunal, the Queen stood perfectly still with Alessandro at her side and Freya Blackwood a few paces behind them. Elara could feel every gaze upon her, some sympathetic, others suspicious, and a few openly hostile, yet she refused to let the weight of their judgment dictate the position of her spine or the direction of her eyes. The stone beneath her shoes was cold from the evening air, but the greater chill came from the Council officials waiting at the foot of the steps, their ceremonial robes stirring in the wind as though even the night itself had come to witness her humiliation.
