Chapter 87: Where Power Sits, and Who Is Allowed to Hold It
Elyn's POV
For a moment after Vaelory asked her question, the room felt… off.
Not tense. Not hostile. Just quietly misaligned, as though two different worlds had finally realized they were standing in the same space and didn't quite know how to look at each other.
Morthen stared at Vaelory with a frown on his face.
He adjusted his glasses once. Then again.
"…Why?" he asked carefully. "What do you mean by why?"
Vaelory hesitated, clearly searching for the right words. She didn't look upset. Or offended. If anything, she looked genuinely puzzled—like someone who had just been told the sky was green and was trying very hard to understand how that could possibly be true.
"In Aelthryndivoryssalindria," she began slowly, "women aren't… allowed to rule."
Morthen blinked in shock.
