The doors had barely closed behind the eight heads before the temper of the hall changed. Nobody raised a voice and no announcement was made. Trafalgar saw the change in the place. Conversations that had been held in reserve suddenly started, while groups that had kept their distance from the Great Family heads drifted toward the heirs and relatives instead.
Lyren noticed it too.
"They were waiting."
Trafalgar looked toward the nearest cluster of nobles. "For the heads to leave?"
"For the room to become easier. People speak differently when the person who can end their career with one sentence is standing ten paces away."
"That sounds reasonable."
"It is." Lyren glanced toward three men already making their way over. "Unfortunately, it also means I'm about to spend the next hour explaining that my sister becoming head does not make me her secretary."
"They're coming to you because they think you can get them to Nerith."
