Shock rippled through the noble families like waves across a disturbed pond. Aristocratic houses whose bloodlines stretched back centuries stared in disbelief at the unprecedented honour being bestowed upon a merchant.
"Impossible, I've served the crown for forty years and never received such recognition," whispered the Duchess of Westmarch, her voice barely audible in murmurs of the crowd.
Count Alderton's face had gone pale as he witnessed honour that exceeded anything granted to his family's generations of loyal service. "No one receives the king's hand. No one."
But there it was, happening before the eyes of the entire kingdom, their sovereign treating a shopkeeper with the respect typically reserved for foreign royalty or legendary heroes.
Noah, still processing the magnitude of the moment, reached out and clasped the king's offered hand.
The simple gesture established a relationship of mutual respect that elevated him far beyond his new noble rank.
