“She outmaneuvered everyone.”
The words are repeated so often that they feel like a clunt, a reminder of just how much I’ve underestimated her.
How did she pull this off? She had every reason to fail, every reason to crumble under pressure, but instead, she walked into that room and flipped the tables on everyone.
The news of Siena’s diplomatic traumph spreads quickly–impossible not to notice, impossible not to hear the whispers.
Who is she, really?
My senior council member admits it reluctantly, his voice tight with the tension of having to acknowledge what he didn’t want to. “She’s something else, Raiden. Who knew she had it in her?”
1 watch him, and the question echoes in my mind: Who indeed? Did I never see it? Was I blind to her strength all this time! Or has she really changed?
I’m furious, more at myself than anything else.
She’s turned what should have been an easy loss into a massive win. And it gnaws at me.
It’s not just the success. It’s the fact that, somehow, she did it without me.
Without me ever having to lift a finger for her.
