Jasmine's hands kept trembling, even after the chamber doors banged closed behind her. The Council’s decision continued to throb in her mind like a tolling bell. They hadn’t criticized her—not verbally—but they hadn’t cleared her name either. She’d walked out alive, technically proven by the Soul Trial, but the weight in their eyes told a different story. To them, she wasn’t Luna, wasn’t a leader in waiting. She was something else entirely. A weapon. A mistake. A question of how ...