Kael Ashenvale knew he was the most hated bastard in the chamber… and the only one these useless fucks couldn't afford to kill.
The High Council Chamber of Drakencrest was only used for this exact purpose. The obsidian table dominated the lower floor. Maddox sat at the head. Ryker sat to his right. Sterling sat on his left. His punishment had been tabled, pun intended.
Kael sat on Ryker's other side.
Forty lords filled the remaining seats.
Behind them, the seconds, captains, and house representatives filled every seat in tiered stone rows.
Lord Thornvale's palms hit the obsidian hard enough to make the lord beside him jump. "I lost four hundred men in my eastern territory. Four hundred, Your Majesty. My wards are the finest money can buy, and these bastards walked through them the way I walk through my own front door."
