Chapter 19: No Vote Was Held

Rolf Lund's chair was empty when the Council sat.

It stood at the middle of the long table with his silver watch gone from in front of it, and nobody looked at it.

The three other lords sat with their hands folded.

The old lord with the bad hip had brought a cushion.

Garrick took the high chair at the head, and I took my place by the wall.

Behind me, through the open corridor door, the women filled the stairs again, silent, in their coats.

The room smelled of wet wool and cold coffee.

At sunrise the young man from Lund Hold walked in.

He was in his good coat.

He had slept very little, and the left side of his collar stood up where he had missed it.

He stood at the foot of the table, holding a letter in both hands.

"I'm to speak for Lund Hold," he said. His voice cracked, and he cleared it. "My hold has set my father down from the table.

"The stones were eighty-eight to six, and Hester Petherton counted them. The hold named me to the chair this morning."

He swallowed.

"I'd like to read his motion into the record."

"Read it," said the old lord.

The young man looked at the paper in his hands.

"That the Count of the first frost be set aside, because the woman Hartigan seduced the king for the chair."

He folded it.

"I withdraw it."

Nobody moved.

"I have a wife and a son who are alive," he said.

"I have no reason left to ask you to take that woman's name off the Hearth.

"I'd like the motion struck."

"Does Lund Hold withdraw?" said the old lord.

"Lund Hold withdraws."

"The motion is withdrawn. There's no vote to hold, and none to break."

The old lord glanced down the table.

"The chair of Lund Hold is open. Does anyone object to the hold's choice?"

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