“Everything truly worth having says the same thing before it falls.”
Lucian’s words remained in the strategy chamber after the doors closed behind him.
Marcus had not followed.
He stood beside the witness table with one hand resting near the weapons he had surrendered before entering. Every line of his body held restraint.
Evelyn gathered the sealed statements.
“He wanted you to strike him,” she said.
“I know.”
“He would have called it proof that his claim mattered.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“I know that too.”
Evelyn looked toward the empty doorway.
Lucian had mistaken refusal for challenge and violence for intimacy. He would continue until the consequences became stronger than the story he had built around her.
“Tomorrow,” she said, “he remains with the Ravencrest delegation.”
