Elara began writing, her letters carefully crafted to each recipient. To Sister Catherine, she wrote with emotion and genuine affection, appealing to their long relationship and the older woman's obvious doubts about Aldous's leadership. To junior clergy, she wrote about opportunity and reform. To wavering senior officials, she wrote about legacy and the chance to be on the right side of history.
Each letter was a small act of manipulation, calibrated to its target.
Damien would be proud.
Actually, looking over at him drafting the public announcement, he looked focused and determined – the corruption temporarily managed, his brilliant strategic mind fully engaged.
This was what he was meant for. Not just surviving, but winning. Taking impossible situations and finding the pressure points that made them shift in his favor.
And now he was using that brilliance to help her.
