Vortiger Tower – Executive Boardroom, 8:58 A.M.
Selene smoothed her blazer, palms sweating beneath the soft wool. Her reflection had stared back at her in the elevator glass just minutes ago, chin high, eyes steady, but now that the boardroom doors loomed open ahead, confidence felt like a costume she hadn’t earned.
Inside, the semicircle of twelve shareholders sat behind polished mahogany, each more polished than the next. The long windows behind them bled in the pale morning light of the city, glinting against cut-glass water tumblers and tablets lined neatly before them. Every breath seemed amplified, every shuffle of paper deliberate, like the whole room was a stage where she was meant to stumble.
At the head sat Alaric Fen, interim chair since Cassien’s accident. His reputation pre
