Elara processed the timeline. Less than eighteen hours. Arrest, sentencing, and execution compressed into a single cycle—designed to prevent exactly this kind of intervention.
Efficient. Predictable. Exploitable.
"Prepare an escort," Elara said. "I'm going to the training ground now."
"Your Highness, the beast prison isn't—"
Elara looked at him with the same empty expression she'd used in boardrooms when firing incompetent executives. "That knight serves under my household authority. He was punished under my name. I will conduct an interview before the sentence is carried out. Unless you're informing me I lack jurisdiction over my own staff?"
The knight's posture shifted immediately. "No, Your Highness. I'll arrange it."
"Do it quickly."
They left.
