The chamber erupted the instant silence was no longer enforced.

The council ignited like flint to tinder after the final echoes of Veylen's coerced testimony hung to the air like smoke. Sharp as claws, voices raised, cries overlapped, chairs scraped stone, and some jumped to their feet. The place was now a lair of wolves rather than a chamber of law, with each whiff of blood igniting the next.

“Proof! She’s twisted proof!” one elder snarled, slamming a fist against the table. “This is ...