Back in the capital, Princess Didi knew something had gone wrong the moment she looked down into the palace courtyard.
Carriages filled it end to end, far more than the usual flow of nobles and petitioners. She recognized the crests on the doors as she counted them, and her unease climbed with every one she placed.
Every Great House in the kingdom had sent a coach, and not the lighter ones their heirs rode around in. These were the grand ceremonial coaches a house only rolled out when its patriarch rode inside.
The patriarchs themselves had come, every last one of them, and on the very same afternoon. Heads of the Great Houses did not travel to the palace in person for anything less than a coronation or a war.
Didi had grown up inside this court, and she could count on one hand the times all the Houses had gathered under a single roof. None of those rare gatherings had ever ended in anything but blood or upheaval.
