Chapter Seven — The Crown You Bleed For
Power was a language.
And today, Sonia Vale decided she would speak it fluently.
She sat up in bed, the black envelope clutched in her hand.
“The game ends when the imposter breaks.”
The message was printed in careful, deliberate ink. No name. No seal. No blood. Just a warning dressed like a fact.
She stared at the words until they blurred.
Whoever sent it wasn’t just watching, they understood the weight of image at Daxton. A crumble would be public. And permanent.
Sonia slid the note into her journal, right between a sketched map of the East Wing and a list of Silas’s least trusted names. Eric’s was still circled. Twice.
She wasn’t sure if she should erase one yet.
At 8:15 a.m., Daxton’s loudspeaker crackled to life:
“Silas Vale. Report t
