Lost & found: A Sister Reclaimed
For a long moment after Victor Hale spoke the word Nursery, the entire hall seemed to stop breathing, like the air itself had been shocked into stillness, like oxygen had become optional.
Even the chandeliers above the black marble table felt too bright, their crystal facets catching light in ways that made them seem almost aggressive.
Too loud in the silence.
Because that word was never spoken not here, not anywhere that records could be kept or witnesses could testify.
Never.
The Syndicate's deepest secret had always existed as rumor, implication, shadow a project whispered about only in the quietest corners of power, discussed in euphemisms and code words that let people pretend they were