The Council Chamber of the Federated Kingdoms of Ashmar had been built to project strength.
Marble pillars rose to a vaulted ceiling. Military banners lined the walls, each one representing a constituent territory and its proud history of resistance. Soul-force lamps cast deliberate, dramatic light that made every speaker seem larger, more important—figures of destiny rather than politicians.
But today, the chamber radiated something else.
Total confusion.
High Chancellor Meridith Kaine held a letter; the letter as though it might detonate in her hands. The seal of the Republic Senate gleamed on the parchment—it was official, unmistakable.
And impossible.
It had arrived through channels that the Republic intelligence should not have been able to access.
"What is this?" Chancellor Vorgan demanded. His military background showed—he treated problems like enemies to be confronted head-on. "Who sent this? How did they even—"
