~Alora~

The chair had been moved.

It was the first thing I noticed when I walked into the council room; a chair that had not been there before, positioned to Lucian's left at the head of the long table, close enough to the head that its placement would not seem awkward. Someone had done it before the session, quietly, without announcement. I didn't ask who. I crossed the room and sat in it and arranged the small stack of notes I had brought with the same composure I had been practicing since ...