Damon’s POV
The crown felt heavier today.
Not physically. Not in a way anyone else would notice. To them, it still sat perfectly, still completed the image they expected to see when they looked at me, still carried the illusion of control I had built so carefully around myself. But beneath that—beneath the surface—I could feel it. The pressure. The weight of everything that had shifted without permission, everything that had begun to move just outside my reach no matter how tightly I tried to hold it in place.
The council chamber was full, voices low but constant, alphas speaking in measured tones that sounded respectful enough on the surface but carried something else underneath. Something sharper. Something questioning. I sat at the head of the table, my gaze moving over each of them
