The hall emptied slowly, branch by branch, until the last of them had gone and the tall doors swung shut on their own weight. No one lingered to hear what came next. Whatever passed between the patriarch and his second daughter behind those doors was not meant for the rest of them, and they were wise enough to want no part of it.
Rivena waited until the footsteps had faded down the corridor before she turned back toward the table.
"Was the public humiliation not enough, Father?" There was insolence under the calm, held on a short leash but plain to hear. "Or did you want to draw it out in private as well?"
Valttair did not rise to it. He watched her cross the floor toward him, unhurried, and let her come.
