I nodded slowly, then thanked him. My voice barely carried. The name rang in my chest like a bell.Not an hour later, I was summoned to the infirmary. Elder Thorne, who’d collapsed again early in the summit, had asked for me specifically.The light in the room was low. Clean. His eyes were open and
The morning broke to whispers—thick, low murmurs curling through the halls of the council chamber. Adam’s name hovered like smoke in the air, never spoken too loud, never spoken too soft.Officially, it was a “health-related withdrawal.” Unofficially, everyone knew better. The word ‘resigned’ wasn’t
I watched her retreat. And then I walked back inside.Emma and I took over the data room that afternoon. We pulled our chairs close, logged into the internal systems, and ran security audits until our eyes stung and our spines ached. We didn’t talk much—just low murmurs, shared glances, the occasion
The folder hit Adam’s desk with a crack that echoed through the room, loud enough to make him flinch.“Care to explain,” I said, voice sharp and clipped, “why your credentials were used to rewrite voting logs?”He blinked at me, slow and stupid. Or pretending to be. His fingers tensed where they res
“And let me make one thing very clear: I’m not trying to be Richard. I’m just trying to help people. And if your mind immediately equates that with Richard, then maybe that’s the best compliment a leader could hope for. Because if compassion, clarity, and conviction remind you of him, then maybe we
I kept expecting to hear the knock. Even after I’d showered, changed into something soft, and stared at my board for twenty straight minutes pretending to read. I expected it like I expected morning—quiet and inevitable.But it never came.Not at midnight, not at one. Not even when I left my door sl