Chapter 117

Viona's POV

3 weeks later

The meeting room had been prepared with the usual precision-papers aligned, glasses filled, chairs polished until they gleamed beneath the pale light. It was a sterile setting, really, all cold surfaces and neutral tones meant to convey seriousness. I'd walked into enough of these spaces by now to know how the air always felt: heavy with expectation, yet thin enough to suffocate.

Still, I carried myself as I always did-measured steps, back straight, chin ...