Chapter 57 Moonlight And Ashes

• Blackstone Manor – Morning Meeting, West Wing Conference Hall
• The air was crisp with dawnlight filtering through the high-paneled windows of the west wing. Fresh firewood crackled softly in the stone hearth, warding off the chill of morning. A long table stretched across the center of the chamber, flanked by thick chairs of dark-stained pine carved with the Blackstone crest.
• At the head of the room stood Alexander.