Alpha Ethan
Their attention never wavers from me, as if Ethan’s threat is a known quantity, already accounted for.
“You felt it,” the woman continues. “The shift.”
“Yes,” I say. “You knew I would.”
She studies me for a long moment, gaze sharp but not unkind. “We needed confirmation.”
“Of what?” Blake asks, moving to my other side.
“That the Crown still remembers how to be afraid.”
The words land like a stone dropped into deep water.
The woman lifts her chin, eyes distant. “We call it the Reverent.”
The name settles into the clearing with weight, the air itself seeming to pause around it. The Crown tightens reflexively, authority bristling, and I bite back a gasp as heat flares down my spine.
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