"Richter smiles, unmoved by their collective realization, as he prepares to finalize his total takeover of the Galileo empire."
The four women stood in the center of the study, their shadows stretching long across the polished floorboards. Outside, the city of Aethelgard roared with the discordant music of its own impending collapse, a symphony of steam sirens and distant explosions that seemed to herald the end of an era. Inside, the silence was suffocating, broken only by the sharp, rhythmic ticking of a grandfather clock that seemed to be counting down the final seconds of their relevance. Diana held the ledger like a shield, her knuckles white, her eyes burning with a mixture of grief and pure, unadulterated rage.
Richter did not move. He remained by the tall, floor-to-ceiling win
