The Executed Empress Proposed to His Scarred Brother novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Vessmoor Keep
Vessmoor Keep stood on a black ridge in the snow, with its gate open and its walls lined with people.
The first Council grain wagons had come ahead of them.
They stood in the yard in a long row, canvas white with frost, and women in grey shawls were unloading sacks hand to hand.
Iseult rode through the gate beside her husband with the border hound trotting at her stirrup.
Nobody cheered.
The yard went quiet, one face at a time, until it was silent from the gate to the stair.
"They know who you are," said Ilarion quietly.
"They know my name was on the levies."
"They know what you did in the courtyard."
She dismounted into the snow, and her knees were not steady.
The great hall was long and low, with a hearth at each end and a table that could seat two hundred.
It smelled of woodsmoke and wet wool and bread.
The soldiers of the March stood along the walls, and the families stood behind them.
Ilarion walked up the middle of the hall with his wife on his arm.
At the dais, an old woman in black stepped out of the crowd.
She held a folded paper in both hands.
It was worn soft at the creases and the ink was nearly gone.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Executed Empress Proposed to His Scarred Brother are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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