One of the Empire's most decorated military commanders, a man whose name carried weight in every corner of the realm, whose presence at court was rare enough that his sudden appearance produced a silence different in character from the silence that had followed Haryntha's display — this was the silence of people trying to understand why one of the most respected military figures in the Empire had just walked into a hall he had not been summoned to.
He walked the length of the hall without hesitation, his pace unhurried but absolute, and stopped at a position near the dais, where he bowed to the Emperor with the precise formality of a man who had performed that bow ten thousand times across a long career.
"Your Majesty," General Akopa said.
His voice was deep and carried easily, the voice of a man accustomed to being heard across battlefields.
