Azaliyah didn’t move.
“Interesting,” she said. “And yet somehow all that burden still leaves you dressed better than your guards.”
A sharp laugh broke loose from the Elias side.
Camron bent at the waist, genuinely delighted.
Varos’s jaw flexed again.
Misha rested both hands on her cane and watched the exchange like a woman attending quality theatre. “She learns quickly,” she remarked.
Varos ignored her and kept his eyes on Azaliyah. “You think mockery is leadership now?”
“No,” Azaliyah replied. “I think exposing bullshit is a public service.”
More murmurs. More shifting. The mood of the courtyard was changing in small but important ways. People were no longer just watching a dispute. They were comparing versions of power.
Varos felt it.
So he changed tactics.
His voice lowered,
