The words around the table had started to sound different.
Veyra had barely been listening to what the discussion was about …..
scouts, troop movements, and the eastern settlements.
Most of it had faded into meaningless details while she sat quietly, letting her attention drift around the chamber.
But now…
They were talking about her.
She slowly lifted her gaze.
The council members weren’t saying it directly, but the meaning behind their words was becoming clearer.
‘They think I’ve heard too much.’
Her eyes moved toward Eryndor.
He hadn’t ordered anyone to take her away.
He hadn’t even looked at her as though he had decided she was a threat that needed to be eliminated.
‘So he isn’t planning to kill me.’
‘At least, not right now.’
She remained silent.
Getting involved now would only make things worse.
If she argued with the council again, they would probably use her words against her.
So she simply sat there, watching.
She remembered pieces of what they had discussed.
Scouts.
The number of soldiers available.
The eastern border.
Which territories might help them.
Some of the information sounded important enough that she instinctively knew she shouldn’t repeat it.
‘Better to pretend I didn’t hear anything.hmm…
That window looks good’
She started pretending to admire the furniture
She lowered her gaze again, becoming unusually quiet.
Across the table, Eryndor watched her from the corner of his eye.
‘Still nothing.’
He had deliberately allowed her to remain.
He had let her hear the reports about the scouts, the garrisons, the shortage of troops, and the possible support from other territories.
‘Information no spy should be able to ignore’
‘Information that would make any enemy drool’
If she truly belonged to someone outside the kingdom, surely she would find a way to report at least some of it.
Yet She Hadn’t Shown Excitement.
Hadn’t even seemed particularly interested.
She was simply sitting there.
‘Why is she sitting there looking at the decorations?’
His fingers tapped once against the arm of his chair.
‘Her arrival.’
She had appeared inside his private chambers without warning.
No guard had seen her enter.
No door had opened.
No alarm had been triggered.
He still had no idea how she had done it.
‘What if it wasn’t limited to one person?’
His gaze hardened slightly.
‘What if an entire army could appear inside the capital without warning…
just as she appeared in my chambers?’
The thought alone was enough to make his expression turn cold.
Killing her would not solve that problem.
It would only remove the one person who might know how it happened.
And if someone else could do the same thing…
‘We could all be sleeping peacefully while an entire army appeared inside the capital from nowhere.
Just imagining the disastrous of the situation …..’
His fingers stopped tapping.
No.
Until he understood how she had arrived, Veyra was more valuable alive than dead.
And keeping her close was the safest way to find out.
Darius’s fingers drummed against the dark wood table.
His eyes remained fixed on her—the way she sat perfectly still, attention directed elsewhere while they discussed her fate.
‘She’s not even listening.
Doesn’t care what we think.’ His jaw clenching
“Your Majesty.” His voice carried measured frustration.
“Keeping her close creates more problems than it solves.”
Eryx shifted in his seat, his tired eyes moving between Eryndor and her.
“She’s already caused disruption—”
“She exposed traitors.” Eryndor’s jaw tightened.
His chest rose with controlled breathing.
“That’s not disruption.”
‘They want her gone.
But sending her away means losing control of what she knows.’
The morning light shifted through the windows, casting new shadows across the circular table.
One of the remaining council members cleared his throat softly.
“Then what do we do with her?” Darius leaned back in his chair.
“She can’t stay in guest quarters unsupervised.”
Eryndor’s green eyes flicked toward her briefly—the way she maintained that careful distance from the conversation.
‘If someone had managed to place her inside my chambers once, keeping her somewhere else would accomplish nothing.’
‘Until I understand how she arrived, keeping her close is safer than letting her out of my sight’
‘If she truly is a threat, there is no safer place for her than within my reach.The strongest should never fear keeping a potential threat close.’
“She stays in my chambers.”
“Your Majesty, that’s—”
“Final.” Eryndor’s voice was flat.
His green eyes swept across the remaining council members.
“Meeting dismissed.”
The council members exchanged glances.
Eryx stood slowly, his tired eyes lingering on Eryndor before he moved toward the door.
The others followed, their footsteps echoing through the chamber.
They bowed respectfully in unison before leaving, careful not to turn their backs on the king.
‘They’ll talk.
Spread rumors about what keeping her in my chambers means.’ he sighted internally
Darius remained seated for a moment longer, his jaw tight.
“Your Majesty—”
“It is okay, Darius.
Leave.”
The door closed behind him with a heavy thud, leaving only her, Eryndor, and the guards surrounding the chamber.
Morning light filtered through the windows.
Eryndor turned toward her fully.
“Stand up.”
She looked at him and stood as he had told her to.
She started yawning, covering her mouth with one hand while wiping the slight tear that appeared at the corner of her eye.
She admired his mental stability for a few seconds before pitying him for having to deal with things like this, which probably felt like intensive lectures he had been attending his whole life.
The chair scraped against the stone as she stood.
Eryndor’s green eyes tracked her movement—the way she rose without hesitation, without question.
‘ she follows commands.
When she wants to.
So why didn’t she just stay silent moments before?’
His jaw tightened as he stepped closer.
“You’re staying in my chambers.” His voice was flat.
“Not as a guest.
As a prisoner who happens to have more freedom.”
The morning light shifted through the windows behind him, casting shadows across his scarred face.
“That means you go where I go.
Sleep where I tell you to sleep.”
“And you don’t leave without permission.”
‘She needs to understand the rules.
Before she causes more problems.’
His hand gestured toward the door.
“We’re going back now.”
The chamber was now empty except for the two of them as the guards began to leave one by one when the council ended..
“Walk.”