---
But before anyone could fully register what they were seeing— Akayoroi tucked gently into the arms of their Monarch— Kai slowed and stopped at the edge of the meeting circle. Then, with the calm of a sovereign, he bent and eased her to her feet beside a smoothened shellstone pillar.
He held her steady. Just for a second. Then he stepped back. Not into darkness, but into the margin of command. The place where a ruler lets his equal speak.
Akayoroi slowly adjusted her stance, it was deliberate. Her limbs held rigid composure. There was no limp, no flicker of pain. Only focus. Her carapace still bore the sheen of her wash, but her inner glow had faded to a low, warm pulse beneath her lower thorax. A glow only the closest might sense, but one none would dare question.
She looked across the room. Her assassins sisters. Her council. Only surviving legacy of carpenter Ants.
