The King received the news in his private study, away from the court, with only Jian, Lei, and — after some visible hesitation on Jian's part — Yuan present to deliver it.
The walk there had been tense enough that Yuan half-expected his legs to give out beneath him before they even reached the study doors. Jian had spent most of the previous night rehearsing how to present everything they'd learned in a way that would land with weight but not panic, careful and methodical in the way Yuan had come to recognize as his particular brand of nerves — a man who processed fear by planning, rather than by admitting to it out loud.
