The council chamber felt heavier than usual, the threat made people louder.
The feeling was just… heavier.
Lucien stood near the long table, his attention drifting between the voices around him and the restless tension sitting beneath his skin.
Something was off.
He had felt it since dawn.
A quiet disturbance.
Like the world had shifted slightly out of place.
Seraphine stood across from him, composed as always.
“The delay is no longer acceptable,” she said, her voice steady, controlled.
“We have already lost time.”
Lucien didn’t respond immediately.
She continued.
“The union should be formalized within the next cycle.”
There it was again.
The push.
Constant.
Precise.
Calculated.
Lucien finally looked at her.
“And why the urgency?”
Seraphine didn’t hesitate.
“Because in
