Chapter 6
I gathered the six elders the next morning.
Not secretly.
Not violently.
At breakfast.
Peter ate upstairs.
Important.
No children in succession conversations.
Arthur Keene arrived defensive.
Lorraine Blackwell arrived angry.
Thomas Vale looked confused.
Useful.
Not everyone knew the same plan.
Again.
Silas had layered information.
Arthur believed I would voluntarily step down after a health scare.
Lorraine knew I was supposed to disappear but believed I planned it.
Thomas thought the council was being revived only if I died naturally.
Emmett knew more.
Harold knew almost everything.
Different guilt.
Same table.
I placed Peter’s scripted funeral line in the center.
Gwendolyn had written it on a small cue card.
No one touched it.
I asked:
“Who approved this?”
Silence.
Then Lorraine whispered:
“No one.”
Good.
“Who knew Peter was being prepared?”
Only Harold raised his hand.
Emmett half-raised his.
Coward.
I looked around.
“This is your continuity?”
No one answered.
Silas did.
“Don’t let one emotional detail distract from the structure.”
I stared at him.
“One emotional detail is my son.”
“He is also the heir.”
“No.”
Silence.
“He is my son.”
I continued.
“If he becomes anything else later, that will be later.”
Arthur looked surprised.
“You would deny him Blackwell?”
“I would deny you the right to assign it before he can choose.”
That split the room.
Some hated it.
Good.
Then I asked Thomas:
“What were you told about Miles?”
“That he would stabilize operations for three months.”
Miles laughed bitterly.
Silas had told him years.
Another lie.
Harold believed the council would rule collectively.
Emmett thought Silas would.
No unified plan.
Just everyone receiving the future they personally wanted.
That was Silas’s genius.
He did not build loyalty around one truth.
He built it around six different fantasies.
I looked at him.
“You didn’t create a council.”
My voice stayed low.
“You created mirrors.”
May you like
Each man had joined because he saw himself reflected.
Once the reflections broke, so did the coalition.
