Chapter 124: NO REASON TO STAY

DIANA’S POV

By evening, Valence had begun disappearing from Blackharrow.

Diana noticed because the guest wing looked wrong.

For eleven days, the southern delegation had filled it with document cases, temporary writing tables, servants carrying messages, officials arguing over schedules, and enough red-and-gold fabric to make the dark Blackharrow stone appear offended.

Now half the tables were gone.

Temporary office seals had been removed from two doors. Valence clerks carried locked document chests toward the lower stair while Blackharrow household staff checked each room against the departure inventory.

Tomorrow, the delegation would leave.

Diana crossed the upper gallery with Alma beside her.

She had left Lord Rovel less than an hour ago and was still thinking about the conversation when Alma stopped near the household passage.

"I need to see Mistress Hale before the Southern linen count is finalized."

Diana looked at her.

Alma sighed.

"No, I do not think the delegation is stealing Blackharrow’s sheets."

Diana raised one brow.

"Deliberately."

Better.

Diana took out her slate.

I CAN FIND MY OWN ROOMS.

"I have seen evidence."

Diana stared.

Alma wisely escaped toward the household offices.

Diana continued along the gallery with her two Household Guards behind her, intending to return upstairs until she saw Raigoro at the stone railing overlooking the entrance court below.

A Blackharrow clerk beside him held the baggage inventory while servants loaded the last Southern document cases into a waiting carriage.

Raigoro had not seen her.

Diana stopped.

Work gave her no reason to approach him. She carried no report, no Household Relief question, and no problem involving wardstone, restitution, roads, Vharos, or something on fire.

She looked toward the household stair, then back at Raigoro.

Her feet settled the matter.

Diana crossed the gallery.

Raigoro heard her approach and turned.

"Your Grace."

His greeting was formal without being cold.

He had become very good at the distinction.

Diana wrote:

GOOD EVENING.

"Good evening."

The clerk glanced between them before returning to the inventory.

"One final personal trunk remains, Your Grace. Lord Rovel’s. The inspection is complete, but Records has not returned the baggage entry."

Raigoro looked down toward the court.

"Then finish the entry."

"Yes, Your Grace."

The clerk bowed and left toward the records passage.

Raigoro remained beside the railing, and Diana stayed beside him.

Below, two Valence servants attempted to fit another narrow case into a carriage compartment already containing several objects that apparently refused to acknowledge physical limits.

The first servant pushed until the case stopped. The second tried harder and achieved exactly the same result.

Diana wrote:

THERE IS NO ROOM.

Raigoro looked down.

"No."

The first servant removed the case, rearranged two others, and tried again.

It still did not fit.

Diana turned the slate toward Raigoro.

I WAS RIGHT.

Raigoro looked down at the failed arrangement.

"Yes."

Diana returned her attention to the carriage.

The servants finally surrendered and carried the case toward a second wagon.

Reason restored.

Wind moved through the open arches.

Diana tucked one hand farther into her sleeve. Raigoro glanced at the movement before returning his attention to the court.

He said nothing.

The entrance court continued emptying.

A Blackharrow servant removed the temporary Valence direction marker beside the east passage. Another carried three unused lamps toward storage, while two Southern clerks crossed beneath the gallery arguing about whether one chest contained commercial copies or diplomatic duplicates.

Apparently leaving Blackharrow required nearly as much paperwork as entering it.

Diana rested her slate against the stone railing.

Raigoro did not ask why she had come.

She should have appreciated that.

Instead, she found herself looking sideways at him.

He was watching the activity below.

Perhaps he genuinely did not care why she was there.

Diana disliked that possibility immediately. The alternative was more troublesome.

She picked up the chalk.

WILL THEY LEAVE AT FIRST BELL?

"Yes."

ALL OF THEM?

"The delegation."

Diana looked at him.

Raigoro seemed to understand what she meant.

"The Valence personnel attached to restitution review leave with them. Blackharrow keeps the evidence already under our custody."

Of course he gave her the practical answer.

She wrote:

PELLOR TOO?

"Yes."

HE WILL ENJOY THAT.

"I expect a complaint before he reaches the first relay."

Diana kept her amusement to herself and erased the slate.

The quiet returned.

It differed from the silence in Vharos’s cavern, where every breath had once been counted, and from the quiet that followed an argument or accompanied Raigoro waiting for an answer she had not yet chosen to give.

Here, they simply had nothing they needed to say.

Diana stayed.

Below, Lord Rovel appeared briefly at the guest-wing entrance. A servant took his travel case, and Rovel disappeared inside again.

Tomorrow he would go south.

Raigoro shifted beside her.

"Do you intend to attend the departure?"

Diana looked at him.

His question carried no judgment.

She wrote:

I HAVE NOT DECIDED.

He nodded and left the decision with her.

Diana looked down into the entrance court again.

She had once spent entire days arranging her movements around decisions other people made for her. Having this choice entirely to herself was still unfamiliar enough to be inconvenient.

The final document carriage closed, and one of the drivers checked the wheel straps before walking away.

The court grew quieter.

Diana became aware again that she was standing beside Raigoro for no reason she could defend with paperwork.

She picked up her chalk.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

Raigoro looked at the slate.

"Waiting for the final departure inventory."

Before Diana could answer, footsteps came from the records passage.

The clerk returned carrying the completed sheet.

"Lord Rovel’s trunk is accounted for. That completes the list, Your Grace."

Raigoro read the entry before handing the sheet back.

"Good."

The clerk bowed and left.

Raigoro looked toward the upper passages.

"It is getting late."

Diana wrote:

YES.

Raigoro looked at the slate for a moment before saying, "Good night."

Apparently that was all.

Diana wrote:

GOOD NIGHT.

Raigoro inclined his head and turned toward the passage leading to Government Terrace.

Diana watched him go, then caught herself.

Unnecessary.

She turned toward the Inner Keep, and her Household Guards followed.

At the household stair, Diana looked down at the slate still in her hand.

It held no evidence, decision, or confession. She had spent part of an evening standing beside Raigoro while servants packed trunks.

Nothing important had happened.

Diana continued up the stairs.

Duty had given her no reason to cross the gallery. Raigoro had been there because work required it, while Diana had gone to him because she chose to.

Tonight, she had gone to Raigoro.