Chapter 144

The council sat at nine the next morning, with the great hall doors open and the snow blowing in across the threshold, because the eldest would not have them shut.

I slept for four hours. Nana had stood over me while I ate, and put a brick in each of my sleeves, and said that if anyone in that hall raised his voice before I had finished my tea she would hear of it in the kitchen. Then she had gone up to the gallery with her knitting, as she did for hangings and weddings, and sat where she could see the whole floor.

The council table had been carried down off the dais and set on the flags, as it was for the Hearth. The eldest sat at its head. The lords who had stayed in November sat down on its sides, with the four empty chairs left where they stood, pushed in, so that everyone had to look at them. Caspian sat at the side, not the head, with his bound arm on the table and his ring on his other hand, because this was the King’s business and he wore the ring for it. Brenna