I Sold the Cursed Duke One Hundred Nights, and He Never Counted Them novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Council Again

The Council chamber was fuller on Thursday than Odalys had ever seen it.

Every bench was taken, and the gallery was packed to the rails.

The Dowager sat in the front row with her cane across her knees and an expression of grim satisfaction.

Odalys sat on her right.

Jorrin sat on her left, in a borrowed black coat, with his hair slicked down and his eyes enormous.

Below them, in the open floor, Caelan stood in plain black with a paper in his hand.

He had shaved.

The Lord Chancellor struck his staff.

"The Council sits," he said, "upon the matter of the Grand Duke of Drevoss. Your Grace has laid before us an instrument of abdication."

"I have."

"In favor of your cousin."

"Yes."

"Before the Council receives it, Lord Halcourt has asked leave to speak."

There was a rustle.

Halcourt rose from a seat at the end of the second bench, in a coat of deep green, with his rings on and his warm face ready.

He had a paper of his own.

"My lords," he said. "I will be brief. I am a plain man, a lender, and I deal in what is written. I hold a copy of a contract signed in the Grand Duke's own study, which the whole city has heard of." He drew breath. "I wish to read one clause of it. It's the last, and it is in the Duke's own hand."

"Read."

"The Duke keeps the tally."

A murmur went around the horseshoe.

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