Ah. There it was. They had noticed. Not affection. Not favoritism. Respect. My father did not respect easily. He weighed people like weapons, balance, durability, cost. Lady Seraphine had passed every test without knowing she was being examined. "She saved my brother," I said. "Uncovered treason. Introduced innovations that strengthen the realm."
"And yet," Avelon pressed, "she remains foreign."
So did the ideas that now terrified them. Merchant guilds had been faster to adapt. Letters arrived hourly, sealed with wax from guilds that once ignored Nothingwood entirely. Proposals flooded the treasury: joint ventures, supply routes, training exchanges.
One letter stood out. A request to open a training route in Nothingwood. Not a trade post. A route. Merchants didn't just want goods. They wanted knowledge. They wanted to learn how Seraphine's people thought. And the old houses felt the noose tightening. I dismissed Avelon with a nod and descended into the council chamber.
