The council chamber was still and silent, the weight of the confrontation between Kael, Selene, and Varis hanging in the air like a sword poised to strike. Selene could feel it—the tension that was building, the weight of the truth that had finally been spoken, the lines that had been drawn. It was a moment of reckoning, a fragile turning point where everything they had fought for and everything they had lost could either be reclaimed or shattered forever.
Varis's silence was more dangerous than any words he could have spoken. His eyes flickered with something—fear, perhaps, but more likely anger, and a deep, calculated sense of betrayal. He had lost control. The game had changed, and now, the stakes were higher than they had ever been.
Kael's voice was steady, filled with the authority
