Eli did not wait for an invitation to speak again.
She walked back to the central table in the Kess compound while the maps were still being shifted and the armsmen moved with the tight, practiced energy of men who expected street fighting before the night ended.
Duke Kess looked up first. Duke Renn's face stayed cold. The other two—Varr and Solenne—stood on the far side of the table, neither fully in nor fully out.
"Atlas is already inside the palace," Eli said. Her voice carried across the room without force. "He went to the Wizard King directly. He will not leave until the man is broken or dead. That is not a request. That is what is happening while we stand here arguing over banners."
Renn's jaw tightened. "You cannot know that."
"I know my husband," Eli answered. "And I know the weight he still carries. The Wizard King has already miscalculated once by treating our son as a finished transition. He will not survive the second mistake."
