With the gold for the coronation and its accompanying revelries strictly partitioned, only the final business of the morning remained to be directed. Well, two final items, technically, after all, there was still the shadow budget for Lucius.
Not that he would discuss it with the others.
That sum was kept an absolute secret from everyone else in the council, as it was a dark matter that only the King himself could decide upon.
As for why the Carrion Raven did not possess a grand, high-backed seat within this chamber, it was simply because Alpheo preferred to deal with his spymaster entirely alone. If a rot was uncovered in the realm, he, and he alone, would decide whether to reveal it to the others or quietly excise it by his own hand.
Now, it wasn't a matter of loyalty; Alpheo trusted almost every man at this table unconditionally with his very life if the need arose. They had all proven themselves worthy of that trust ten times over in the mud and the blood, or in life.
