The next pressure arrived in a silk folder. Of course it did. I was back in the capital less than a day when the succession committee requested a private audience. Three councilors sat across from me. Mara stood near the window because I had asked her to. Cassian w

Six months later, I stopped noticing the weight of the crown. Most days. The cross-pack treaty council had been arguing for forty minutes about winter freight routes when I finally closed the folder in front of me.

"Enough."

The room went quiet. Not because I used dominan