Chapter 12
The incapacity council met anyway.
My decision.
I wanted the procedure tested under truth rather than manipulation.
All twelve senior captains attended.
Katherine was present without authority.
Marcus sat beside her, no family pin.
I stood at the head of the table.
“You were prepared to use this process against me.”
Nobody denied it.
“So we use it properly now.”
I explained the wine.
The prior mild tests.
The fake symptoms.
The plan to move Clara.
The role Marcus expected.
No embellishment.
Facts were ugly enough.
Then I asked:
“Who still believes I am medically incapable of leading?”
Nobody raised a hand.
Katherine laughed.
“Cowards.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
Then toward the captains.
“They were cowards when they believed you without asking me.”
Several men lowered their eyes.
Good.
I continued.
“Who believes Marcus should replace me because he is older?”
Two hands.
Interesting.
Marcus looked at them.
Then at me.
I nodded.
“They’re allowed.”
Katherine stared.
“You’re letting them challenge you?”
“Yes.”
Her expression tightened.
I almost smiled.
That was what she never understood.
Disagreement does not weaken authority when authority can survive being questioned.
I turned to Marcus.
“Do you want the chair?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
Honest.
Good.
“Today?”
He looked toward Katherine.
Then Clara’s empty chair in the corner, placed there because she sometimes visited me during meetings.
His face changed.
“No.”
Katherine snapped his name.
Marcus ignored her.
“I wanted it when I thought you were wasting it.”
“And now?”
He took a breath.
“Now I think I let wanting it make me stupid.”
That was closer.
Not redemption.
Awareness.
The council ended without a vote.
Not because I forced loyalty.
May you like
Because once the manufactured illness disappeared, Katherine’s emergency vanished with it.
Power built on false urgency rarely survives daylight.
