Adrian's POV
The vision came to me at dawn. I had a long night going through company reports and signing the necessary documents for our next project.
So, by dawn, I was still awake; it would have been better if it had been merciful to come through the blur of dreams where images softened at the edges and pain could be dulled by distance.
This one took me awake, and I couldn't go back to sleep.
I was standing at the window of my room, the city still half-asleep beneath a pale, bleeding sky. Mondrovia looked almost gentle at that hour; the streets would be washed clean by night rain, lights flickering out one by one as people woke up to their ordinary lives.
I was thinking of Elena.
Of the way she had smiled at the Union gathering, surprised and shining, wholly herself. Of how her presence had shifted rooms without effort, how people leaned toward her without realizing they were doing it.
I was thinking dangerously of peace.
That was when the world fractured.
