Ryn didn't slow as he left the palace district.
The meeting replayed itself only once, enough to catalogue reactions and file away what mattered. He'd learned long ago that lingering on conversations didn't change their outcomes.
Still, Taylor Gremory lingered in his thoughts.
He had served the Kingdom for years in his previous life. Long enough to know how its bureaucracy breathed. And yet, in all that time, he had rarely ever met the crown princess.
She had been sheltered, kept far away from the public eye. Present when ceremonies demanded it but never more.
Tonight had not matched that memory.
Taylor Gremory had listened carefully. She hadn't dismissed him, nor had she accepted his words at face value.
Ryn considered the meeting to be a success. He had planted the idea, and in the process learned more about her than he'd expected.
However, what unsettled him was something else.
She doesn't become queen.
The thought surfaced without warning.
