Lucian
The office fell into silence after Darian’s suggestion. Everyone was running the same calculations in their heads—casualties, risk, the chance of ending this without drowning the land in blood.
He was right about one thing: a duel could spare lives. But there was no guarantee Alaric would take the bait.
I turned to Martha. If anyone knew him well enough to answer, it was her. “Martha, do you think he’ll take it?”
She glanced at my father, then back at me. The hesitation made sense—this was the first time she’d ever sat in a meeting like this.
My mind wandered, pulling up old memories of her. The shouting matches with my father, the times he’d thrown her out, her bitterness that always seemed aimed at me. Back then, I thought she blamed me because I stood between her and the lo
