The announcement was made at dawn.
Not quietly.
Not cautiously.
It rang out across enforced channels with the confidence of something rehearsed.
> Aurelia, known as the Linebearer, has been detained.
The destabilizing anomaly is contained.
Order is restored.
The words traveled faster than truth ever could.
Aurelia heard it from a ridge overlooking the old southern road, the sound carried by a relay horn that did not know it was lying. She stood still as the echo faded, the bond beneath her skin tightening—not in fear.
In disbelief.
"They're claiming they have you," Seris said quietly beside her.
"Yes," Aurelia replied. "And they're going to prove it."
"How?" Lio demanded. "You're standing right here."
Aurelia's gaze sharpened. "By killing someone who looks like certainty."
The implications settled like ice.
"They're staging it," Seris whispered.
"Yes," Aurelia said. "A body. A trial. Something public enough to feel final."
"And you?" Lio asked.
