Money-Minded and Plot-Aware novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Gold Crowns on the Floor

They counted it out on the floor of the great hall, because the Queen wanted a witness for every coin.

Twelve clerks carried in the sacks and slit them open one at a time.

Silver crowns poured across the polished stones and spread in a bright tide.

The court stood around the edges and watched, and nobody left.

"One thousand," the treasurer called, and a clerk swept a pile into a chest.

"Two thousand."

I counted along under my breath, because I could not help it, and Betsy counted on her fingers.

By ten thousand the Prince had stopped pretending to be bored.

By thirty he had sat down on the dais steps with his head in one hand.

At sixty, one of his friends in blue silk slipped out of a side door, and several people noticed.

Sorrel stood behind him with her ribbon crushed in her fist.

She was no longer watching the coins.

She was watching the faces watching her, and I saw her do the sum I had done on the first night.

Every person in that hall now knew what her fainting cost, and who had been counting.

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