#Chapter 129: Unmasking

The hearing chamber was so full it felt like the walls themselves were straining to keep the air inside. Elders sat stiff-backed at their long benches, scribes perched with quills ready, the tally bowls lined along the front like open mouths. Richard stood at my side, every line of him set, and Nathan carried the rusted lockbox to the center table as if he were placing a heart under glass. He opened it and lifted the bronze seal. Even dulled by age, the sigil caught the light. The tracer Nathan had brushed into the grooves glimmered faintly green. A murmur rolled through the benches. One elder made the sign of a blessing, another reached for his ledger as if numbers could erase what he was seeing. Nathan set the seal down. “We recovered this from a hidden chamber beneath the west corridor,” he said. “The stamp matches impressions on historic decrees held in this house. The tracer you see was applied last night.” He gestured and two guards brought Callen forward. Nathan raised a lam