“No single faction controls the proof,” Rosalind says. “No single faction controls access to the source. No one goes below until we have a signal-blinding method that lasts longer than the heat purge.”
“And when the people demand food?” Adran asks.
“Then we feed them with what we have,” I say.
His gaze cuts to me. There. A flicker. Too quick for anyone else, maybe. Not for me. I have spent my life reading the tiny movements people make when deciding whether to lie.
“What we have,” he repeats.
“Yes.” Rosalind looks between us. I keep my gaze on Adran. “Existing stores. Emergency allocations. The supplies no one admits exist until the right person needs leverage.”
The silence after that is almost beautiful. Ila slowly turns her head toward Adran.
“Oh,” she says.
Penr whispers, “Oh no.”
Syin’s claws scrape stone. Adran doesn’t flinch. He’s too good for that.
“Emergency reserves are rationed out of necessity,” Adran says.
“For whose emergency?” I ask.
No answer. That’s answer enough.
Rosalind’s face goes very calm. Lady General calm. The kind of calm that makes even stone wonder what it’s done wrong.
“We inventory every reserve,” she says. “Now. Publicly enough to prevent rumors, carefully enough to prevent a riot.”
“If you expose all reserve stores at once, people will empty them,” Adran says, his nostrils flaring.
“If you hide them,” I say, “people will believe you’re emptying them.”
His gaze turns hard. And there it is again. The awful little truth inside the wrong man. He’s not entirely wrong. I hate that most of all.
Kavor’s voice is low beside me. “Then distribute enough to prove the City is not being starved for control.”
Adran looks at him. “And when enough is not enough?”
Kavor doesn’t answer quickly. Fast answers make shallow graves.
“Then we will have bought time without blood on the floor,” he says.
Virn nods. Syin too, after a reluctant breath.
Rosalind points to the map.
“Emergency council until the ground is stable. Myself for Council command. Adran for City civil authority. Ila for routes and civilian oversight. Virn and Syin for Zmaj security and zemlja response. Kavor for deep movement and source risk. And Sera for route mapping and resonance interpretation,” Rosalind says.
Adran’s gaze drops to my arm. Kavor goes still beside me. I lift my chin.
“Interpretation,” I say. “Not experimentation.”
Rosalind’s mouth hardens.
“Yes. Sera is not a sample. She is not a key. She is not property of the City, the Council, the Zmaj, or the source,” she says.
Adran holds my gaze. For a moment, I think he will argue.
