NEVA POV
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There was a specific kind of silence that came after an announcement nobody had expected to need to process.
This was that silence.
Holt Mallen had named himself my character witness. Against Edric Castell's petition. On the public council record. The man who had arrived at this compound as the obstacle — as the weight on the other side of the scale — had just put himself between me and a legal attack that, if it landed, would strip me of the standing I needed to stand beside Ryke at the ceremony at all.
"He didn't tell Ryke," Mitch said, reading the room correctly. "There's nothing from Ryke's line in the last hour. He acted unilaterally."
Everyone in the diner looked at each other.
Ziko was the first one to speak, which was predictable.
"I like the father," he said.
