The Queen of Thalorien moved through the palace corridor like she had built it herself and was simply returning to check on the stonework.
The attendants who had been sent to escort her were technically walking ahead of her but anyone watching could see that she was leading and they were following and the distinction was not subtle. She was dressed exactly as one would expect — gold that caught the torchlight and threw it back at you like a challenge, fabric that moved with her in the way that expensive things moved, unhurried and certain. Her face was arranged into the particular pleasantness of a woman who knew fourteen things you didn't and was not yet deciding whether to tell you any of them.
The court of Arameor watched her pass and did what the court of Arameor had been doing for weeks now which was hold its breath and wait.
She did not ask for Kaelis.
That detail moved through the palace faster than she did.
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