Kaelen's pov
I looked around the room. At faces I'd recruited, trained, fought beside for years. At people who'd followed me through danger and hardship, who'd trusted me with their lives and their hopes.
Marcus, who'd been with me since the beginning, loyal and steady. Dmitri, young and angry but committed. Soren and Rachel, who'd risked everything to join our cause. Vera, old and wise, who'd seen more than any of us, who'd lost a son to the crown's cruelty and still had the clearest eyes in the room.
And Lena. Standing apart, cold eyes fixed on me, waiting for me to crumble. Waiting for me to prove her right.
The room was silent. The muffled celebration from the brewery beyond seemed distant, unreal. People were still drinking and laughing out there, celebrating victories they didn't know were about to be questioned. Here, in this small space, everything was on the line.
And I realized that Lena was right about one thing: I had lost control.
But not in the way she thought.
