Maximus crosses the room. Past the lords, past Julian, past the chairs and the console and the dark displays. To me.
He takes my hand.
His fingers close around mine. What reaches me through the bond is grief.
I don’t say anything. Neither does he.
Three chairs are empty. The rest belong to people who chose to stay.
This is what it looks like. The line, drawn. And the people standing on each side of it.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
The lords leave the compound in the order they committed.
Okonkwo first. His guards fall in behind him, and he walks into the night without looking back.
Dmitri stays for terms. I give him twenty minutes in the corridor. He leaves with a framework we can both live with.
Chen leaves without speaking. His guards collect him at the south entrance, the vehicles pull away, and I have no more information about his position than I did when he sat down. He inclined his head. That’s all I have. It will have to be enough.
Lady Santos stands at the gate. Her vehicle is running. She looks at the compound for a long time. Then she gets in and leaves.
Vivienne is already gone.
Marcellus secures the perimeter. Julian archives the footage.
I find Celeste in the conference room. She hasn’t moved. The screens are dark. The chairs are empty.
I don’t touch her. Not yet.
“Dmitri gave me terms in the corridor,” I say. “We have a framework.”
She nods.
“We have the beginning of a coalition,” I say.
“Beginning is enough.”
We head toward the medical wing.
Simone is waiting in the medical wing corridor.
She’s not sitting with the survivors. She’s standing. Arms crossed. Positioned between the wing entrance and the corridor that leads to the conference room.
Celeste is beside me. I feel the shift through the bond.
“They moved them,” Simone says.
Not a question. She heard. The compound is forty-seven survivors, a wolf rotation, a medical staff, and a network of people who talk. Nadia’s revelation reached the wing before Celeste and I reached the corridor.
“Nadia confirmed it during the meeting,” Celeste says. “The other farms have been relocated. Alexei’s locations are empty.”
Simone’s arms tighten across her chest. Her shoulders pull forward. The posture of a woman holding herself in place.
“I told you.” Her voice is low. Controlled. “I sat in that room and I told you. Find them all and hit them at once. Before he can move the people inside. That’s what I said. Those were my words.”
