The Queen did not speak immediately.
She watched Jake instead—how he stood, how his shoulders remained tense even without threat, how his mana sat beneath his skin like a restrained storm. She had seen many powerful beings. Most reveled in it. Some feared it.
Very few treated it like a liability.
"You do not understand your own power," she said at last.
Jake didn't argue. "I understand the damage it causes."
"That is not the same thing."
She stepped closer—not invading his space, but close enough that the air between them felt heavier. Not oppressive. Focused.
"You succeed because the world bends," she continued. "Probability collapses in your favor. Outcomes converge. But that convergence is uncontrolled. You are not steering. You are falling forward."
Jake clenched his jaw. "And people get hurt."
"Yes."
She turned away, pacing slowly. "There exists a framework. Incomplete. Experimental. It was never meant for someone like you, yet you are precisely why it must exist."
He looked at her sharply. "You're talking about a system."
She didn't deny it.
"It is not power," she said. "It does not grant strength, speed, or authority. It is a scaffold. A lens. A regulator designed to observe your actions and intervene before excess becomes catastrophe."
Jake frowned. "So it would stop me?"
"It would stop you from destroying yourself first," she replied. "The rest is secondary."
Silence followed.
"Why not give it to me now?" Jake asked.
The Queen stopped walking.
"Because tools reveal character," she said. "And unfinished tools reveal truth."
She faced him again. "Before you are allowed control, you must demonstrate restraint without assistance."
Jake exhaled slowly. "You want proof."
"Yes."
"Of what?"
"That when given the choice between the fastest solution and the correct one, you choose the latter."
She gestured, and an image formed in the air between them—an official's face, ornate clothing, smug expression.
"A human," she said. "Corrupt. Powerful. Protected by systems that make him untouchable. He destabilizes regions quietly. Bleeds cities without drawing blades."
Jake studied the image. "You want him dead."
"No," she said immediately. "I want him handled."
Jake met her gaze. "I don't kill humans unless they threaten lives directly."
The Queen inclined her head. "Then we are aligned."
She dismissed the image.
"Resolve him your way," she said. "If you succeed without excess, the framework will move one step closer to completion."
"And if I fail?"
"Then you will continue as you are," she replied. "Unrestricted. Unmeasured. Watched."
Jake nodded once.
"Fine," he said. "I'll do it."
The Queen's eyes softened—not in approval, but anticipation.
"Good," she said. "Let us see what kind of power you truly are."