"Your Grace!" Rimea had the audacity to look genuinely affronted by Aurelia's words. She drew herself up, her emerald eyes flashing with a sudden, indignant spark that shattered her delicate facade. "You speak to me as though I were a thief in your halls!"
Cedric did not wait for his wife to recover her footing. He took a heavy step forward, the iron plates of his doublet creaking, his jaw clenching so hard the muscle twitched beneath his scarred skin.
"Because the crown owes us that relic!" he spat, his voice dropping into a low, harsh growl that hovered on the razor edge of losing his temper. "It belongs to House Valecroft by ancient blood and law! It was taken from our keep under a false oath of unity, and it should be rightfully returned to us!"
Aurelia did not flinch. She did not take a single step backward, nor did she reach for any sort of weapon.
