The Shattered Crown Chronicles Book 2

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The Counterpart Writ The clerk brought the objection in a fresh folder. The petition beneath Kael's hand had spent a day acquiring thumb marks. She watched him put the folder over the route estimates. He squared it with the table, covering the north road first. “On behalf of Comptroller Voren Senn's continuity office,” he said. “Whose local claim remains suspended,” Lyra replied. The clerk stood with both hands clear of the paper. “The filing acknowledges that.” Kael opened it. Beyond the Hall of Measures' lower windows, a cart wheel struck the same loose paving stone twice. The driver shouted at someone to lift the back axle. Ordinary work continued around the room in which her pursuit petition had waited through yesterday's filings. No authority to intercept Voren's files-and-grain convoy had emerged from that wait. No reliable position for it had arrived either. Now there was another page. She read the first paragraph, then pushed her cup aside so she could lay the second leaf flat. “Lantern Docket,” she said. “Where?” “White Gate.” Mira leaned over the table on her good side. Her left arm remained strapped beneath the cloak; the old forearm wrap showed at the cuff. “That is a…