The Council chamber hadn't changed in three years, or three weeks, depending on which version of her life Mia counted from — the same high, vaulted ceiling, the same long table where five elders sat robed in grey, the same cold formality she remembered from a future she was still trying to prevent.
Alaric Draven stood near the front of the room when she arrived, composed, unhurried, the picture of a man who had already won and was simply waiting for the formalities to catch up to him. Seraphina sat near the back, apart from her father, her expression carefully unreadable. Kade stood beside the elders' table, jaw tight, watching Mia cross the room with an intensity that made her chest ache. She held his gaze for one steadying second before forcing herself to look away, to the five faces th
