Chapter 21: The Solstice Council

On the morning of the Winter Solstice, every pack in the kingdom came to the great hall.

The benches were full by dawn, and men stood in the aisles and along the walls.

The twelve councilors sat in their dark robes on the dais.

The eldest sat in the middle with his staff across his knees.

Osric stood below them in a grey suit with a guard on either side of him.

Garrick sat on a bench behind his father, with a crutch beside him.

His thigh was bound in white bandage.

The Duke sat on the front bench with his son.

Brenna was not there.

I sat at the foot of the dais with Lucan on my left and Margery on my right.

The Graymoor ledger lay on a table before us under a green cloth.

"The council sits on three matters," the eldest councilor said.

"First, the Graymoor household's keeping of the ward Morwen Ainsley. Second, the Crown Prince's crossing of Graymoor land. Third, the succession."

"We begin with the first."

He pointed his staff.

"The healer."

The palace healer walked to the middle of the floor carrying a small black case.

She set it on the table and opened it.

She laid out three things in a row: a round tin, a cup with a brown crust inside, and a folded paper.

"The tin was pressed into the ward's hands by the daughter of the Blackthorn Alpha," she said.

"The cup came from a tray sent to her room by the Duke's secretary. The paper is my report."

A murmur ran along the benches.

The Duke's face did not move.

"All three hold moonroot," the healer said. "It is a root that keeps a wolf asleep."

"A grown wolf who takes it every night for seven years will not shift. I tested the ward's blood. There is still a trace."

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