The bodies of eight elders were still warm in the crypt below.
Five replacements. And every single one of the replacements wanted to talk about the girl before the bodies were cold.
Maddox had sworn them in forty minutes ago, in a ceremony that had consisted of one sentence, two signatures, and zero celebration.
Three of them had the slightly dazed look of men who had walked into the Keep as generals and walked out as statesmen inside the span of an afternoon.
Ryker sat at Maddox's right. Sterling at his left.
Elder Varro spoke first, voice calm.
"Your Majesty. With respect. The girl is causing problems we did not have before breakfast. I have respect for your instincts. I have more respect for mathematics. One girl, no dragon blood, no rider training, no house backing, set against forty kingdoms full of women who check every box she does not. The calculation is not complicated. Send her home. Choose someone the continent will kneel for without being told to."
