Power does not like being optional.
When it realizes it is, it reaches for whatever still looks irreplaceable.
⸻
The Ministry changes language overnight.
Jason sees it before the sun clears the horizon, not as an alert but as a tonal shift rippling through every official channel that still bothers to speak.
No more threats.
No more fines.
No more warnings.
Just one word, repeated until it feels like oxygen.
Safety.
“They’re pivoting,” Jason says quietly, fingers flying as he tracks the new phrasing. “Everything’s being reframed as protection again.”
Zane stands near the gate, the heir awake and alert against his chest, watching a pair of traders exchange supplies without comment or oversight.
“Of course they are,” Zane replies. “When authority loses relevance, it pretends to be
