After Tiberin finished speaking, the entire vault chamber fell into a suffocating silence.
It was the kind of silence that settled over a battlefield after the first arrow had been loosed, when every soldier instinctively knew that the next few moments would decide who lived and who died.
Every noble, every royal, every servant and every guard stood rooted to where they were, their eyes fixed on only one man.
King Valerian.
No one dared interrupt his thoughts, no one dared speak on Daeron's behalf again.
Prince Soren had already done what he could. Lord Tiberin had reminded the king of the law before the entire court. If Valerian chose to ignore both of them and execute his brother here and now, there was not a soul within the chamber powerful enough to stop him.
