Six Alphas in the formal receiving hall. I sat beside Jasper for the first time in my official role, in the chair that had been placed to his right, and I felt the weight of it not the chair, the position. The specific meaning of being seated here rather than standing in the corridor or positioned politely at the edge of proceedings.
I was not at the edge. I was at the center. I was going to need to act like it.
The Northern Alphas assessed me from the moment I entered. I had been assessed my entire life by people who believed they were deciding my worth before they had any information. I had become very good at the specific patience required to let people look and give them nothing back that I had not chosen to give.
I let them look. I gave them nothing back. I waited.
Alpha Verne spo
