Music and polite laughter filled the banquet hall like steam. Toasts rose and fell on cue. I stood at the edge of a small constellation of elders while Alexander spoke with a visiting Beta about winter feed. He didn't touch me; he didn't need to. The shape of the room knew where I belonged by the way he turned his head when my glass moved.
Across the tables, Evans watched everything and pretended to watch nothing. He wore his cordial smile like armor. Every time someone said “alliance," the tendons in his neck drew a little tighter and then went slack again as if obedience could be practiced.
I set my glass down. “I need air," I said to no one in particular, and stepped through the side door into a corridor cooled by stone and absence.
The door eased shut behind me. The quiet was a clea
