CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ulren stood in the council room of the Five Stones, and a faint ache of dissatisfaction gnawed at him. He’d thought that he would be perfectly content as soon as he became the First Stone. The truth, it turned out, was different.
“Did you ever feel like this, Irrien?” he asked the empty air, but quickly composed himself. A First Stone didn’t show weakness or doubt. He stood waiting for the others to arrive instead, standing impassively until Vexa and Kas came in their dark robes of office.
Ulren watched to see which chairs they would take. As he’d guessed, as they had since he’d taken the First Stone’s seat, they took the third and fourth chairs. It still felt like a slap in the face. They didn’t dare move up, because they felt that Irrien might return, and they didn’t w
