A stunned silence choked the cathedral, heavy and suffocating.
Earl Vex stared at the parchment trembling in his hand, his mouth opening and closing without producing a sound. Ninety thousand Gold was a figure meant to bankrupt high houses, an insurmountable debt built over a decade of predatory lending designed to strangle Starfell Manor into submission.
To hear it dismissed as pocket change… To have one hundred and ten thousand Gold dumped into the provincial vaults with a casual tip for the tellers, shattered the very foundation of their legal ambush.
In the northern pews, Vance collapsed backward onto the wooden bench. His silver goblet clattered to the stone floor, spilling dark wine across his boots as he pressed both hands against his temples, breathing in shallow, ragged gasps.
The leverage was gone. Phallanax Solutions had no claim, no lien, and no legal standing.
