The shift in the chamber was immediate Cold and Decisive.
Nicole felt it in the way their gazes hardened, in the way the word threat still echoed in the silence. The air itself seemed to tighten around her, as if the room had already begun deciding her fate.
Jasper stepped forward with finality.
"That is enough."
His voice cut cleanly through the chamber, low but carrying an authority that did not ask to be acknowledged it was.
The council's attention snapped to him.
Nicole felt his presence at her side shift no longer restrained for appearances, no longer distant.
He reached for her and this time, he didn't let go.
His hand wrapped firmly around hers, pulling her just slightly closer not for comfort.
For declaration and protection just in case his members tried anything.
"She is not your specimen to dissect," Jasper said, his gaze sweeping across them, colder now. "Nor is she a threat for you to decide."
