Elena's POV
"You should wait here."
Damian paused at the entrance to the council chamber, Ruth already inside arranging the photographs for the emergency session, his expression torn between the urgency of the moment and clear reluctance to leave me alone in the hallway outside. "This might get ugly. I don't want you walking into the middle of it unprepared."
"I'll be fine. Go."
He hesitated a moment longer before pressing a quick kiss to my temple and disappearing through the heavy double doors, leaving me alone in the quiet corridor with nothing but my own racing thoughts and the muffled, indistinct murmur of voices beginning to gather on the other side of the wall.
I told myself I'd wait patiently. I lasted perhaps ten minutes before restlessness got the better of me, my feet carry
