"My Lords and Ladies," Ashlynn said as she stood up to address the assembled court. The gathering was smaller than it had been the night before, but this time, there were no divisions between those who stood for Ashlynn, those who stood for Owain, and those who stood aside.
Hugo's seating arrangement had blurred the lines between the camps. While some people, like Serge Otker, looked intensely uncomfortable sitting next to Sir Padraig Wyndan, who had stood for Loghlan Dunn, most of the hall seemed to have found a reasonable peace with their neighbors.
"The first person to die for me was a guardsman named Andrus," Ashlynn said, taking many people in the hall off guard. "I should have been safe that day. I was sightseeing with Heila, my lady-in-waiting, and a local lord with only two soldiers to stand guard over us. It was bitterly cold that day, and we'd cut a hole in the ice for fishing…"
