Sophia's POV

The council inquiry lasted three hours.

I had gone in prepared — every argument mapped, every counter-argument anticipated, every council lord assessed for their likeosition and the specific, individual language that would move them. Caspian sat two seats away, steady and present. Leonidas sat at the head of the table, and when Cordelia opened the inquiry with her carefully worded accusation of bloodline fraud, he let her finish, and then he spoke.

He was precise, and he was ...