Chapter 120

They opened the doors of the great hall at nine, and by ten there was no floor left.

The pack stood along the walls and up the stairs and out through the doors into the forecourt. On the dais the Chancellor’s chair was still empty, and so were four others, where men had left in the night with Valerian. In the King’s chair sat the King, with his hands flat on the bare wood in front of him. No folder. Nothing under them at all.

On the first bench below the dais sat Odile in grey, and beside her Vivienne, in white gloves, with her hands folded in her lap.

The eldest of the council presided, an old grey she-wolf from the western march. She had sat at my trial. I did not know how she had voted.

They had put a stool for me in the middle of the floor. I asked for a table instead.

Corwin and Finn carried in the long scrubbed table from Nana’s kitchen and set it down in front of the dais. I stood behind it. One table. I had asked for that once, at a ball.