Chapter 18: The Concord

Linnea's POV

The Great Hall was full again by noon, and nobody had eaten.

Ambrose walked up the aisle with the summons in his fist.

He laid it on the little table, over the dry stain of my tea.

"I did not sign this," he said.

"The seal is yours," Ottoline said from the dais. "It is in the wax."

"My ring has a chip in the left edge. My father's did. It leaves a nick in every seal I press."

He held out his hand to the front row, and the dark ring caught the window light.

"Look at the wax on the summons. It is smooth."

The eldest councillor leaned from his chair and looked.

"It is smooth," he said. "I received my own copy this morning, and I came regardless."

He sat back.

"I wished to see who wanted this hall to sit early."

Ottoline's face did not change.

"Then there is a forger in the house," she said. "A tragedy. We will find them."

She spread her hands.

"In the meantime the Concord is here, and so is the charge."

"Then read the test," said the old councillor.

He took two tubes from the inside of his coat.

Nobody in that hall breathed.

"These were drawn in my presence by a registered nurse," he said. "I carried them to a laboratory myself."

He held up an envelope.

"The report is sealed, and I have not opened it."

He broke the wax with his thumb.

He read in silence for what felt like a long time.

"The three children in the lady's body are the king's," he said.

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