Weeks had passed since Lilith's first real strike on the city. The Regency still stood, but nothing felt the same. The streets pulsed with shadow veins under the pavement. Buildings grew darker, sharper, as if the city itself was learning to hunger.
Selene had grown again. She looked fourteen now, maybe fifteen, with a face that carried no softness and eyes that weighed every soul in the room.
She sat on the throne that used to belong to the council. Clara stood to her right, arms crossed, jaw tight. Atlas stood to her left, his right arm hanging heavy at his side.
The corruption had spread past his elbow now, black veins crawling under the skin like living cables. It moved sometimes when he didn't tell it to.
"Every citizen will receive a mark," Selene said. Her voice was calm, adult, final. "A small connection to the web. It gives strength. It gives clarity. It removes weakness."
