SAGE
The hall did not fall silent after the memory play. Not this time. The people were far too restless for silence—too angry, too shaken, too awake.
Voices erupted everywhere at once, crashing into each other like storm waves against jagged rocks. The air thickened with outrage, disbelief, and the electric crackle of betrayed trust finally snapping.
"She lied to us!"
"Monster!"
"All this time, she has been the rot in the community!"
"We trusted her!"
"Is this what she has been doing in the shadows?"
"The blood—gods, the blood…"
My gaze moved slowly across the crowd, taking in the way their fury rolled and built. This was a people on the brink. They won't be manipulated again.
The Queen tried to quell the noise. "Silence!" she thundered.
Magic rode her voice again, but it did not land the same way this time. The authority that once made backs straighten and mouths shut now met resistance… friction… disbelief.
Her eyes flashed toward me.
