I meet his gaze.
“I know.”
He holds that for a moment, searching for something, maybe doubt, maybe hesitation.
He doesn’t find it.
“You’re changing the board,” he says.
“I already did,” I reply.
Behind us, the estate erupts further into chaos, voices rising, systems conflicting, the structure beginning to fracture under the weight of competing priorities.
“Then we need to move,” he says.
“Yes,” I agree.
But I don’t move yet.
Because I can feel it now.
The shift.
Not just here.
Everywhere.
The weight of what I did settling into place, not as consequence, but as leverage, something real, something tangible, something I can use.
“This is bigger than him now,” I say quietly.
Tyrok nods once.
“It always was.”
“No,” I correct. “Now it’s visible.”
That lands.
He looks back toward the estate, then back at me.
“You realize what you just did,” he says.
“Yes.”
“And you’re alright with it.”
I hold his gaze.
“Yes.”
A moment passes between us, not silent, not empty, but full of everything neither of us is saying.
Then he nods.
“Alright,” he says.
CHAPTER 31
