Chapter
Then Black set the document down and looked up—really looked up.
His eyes sharpened, catching the torchlight like two pieces of obsidian turning toward battle. His focus snapped into place, the air around him tightening. Everything about him shifted in that instant: his posture, his breath, his presence. A soldier ready to become something more—something colder, calculating, necessary.
He inhaled slowly.
The kind of breath commanders took before breaking the night open.
His voice dropped into a steady, deliberate the tone.
"So now—"
But he didn't continue.
He paused, gaze sliding toward the two officers seated further down the table.
"You two," he said a quietly. "You're the only ones left in the ranking chain now, aren't you?"
The two men stiffened instinctively. Their shoulders rose, eyes flickering toward each other before they both nodded.
