Chapter 90. What Was Sold

Selene waited in the auxiliary observatory just beyond the Forge command level—where the real conversations always happened. Not beneath lights. Not in chambers. But here, in quiet spaces where power confronted itself without audience.

She was alone.

Not waiting like a soldier. Waiting like someone who’d already lost, but wasn’t ready to be erased.

Harper entered soundlessly, wearing the dark navy tunic she’d chosen that morning—not black, not ceremonial. Just hers. Her boots were silent on the slate flooring, but her presence rang out like a note plucked from deep wire.

She didn’t ask Selene why she’d called.

Didn’t demand anything.

Just stood there.

Watching.

Selene shifted. “You came alone.”

Harper kept her arms folded—not in anger, but in precision. “I needed to hear it without Lucien or Knox framing it for me. I needed to hear you.”

Selene hesitated. Then gestured to the curved panel console beside her. T