David did not argue with the map.
He stood in the quiet room long enough to watch the new White Spire orders overwrite the eastern districts and the Brotherhood banners solidify along the river. The updates came in clean and final. No ambiguity left in the lines. Then he looked at Atlas and Eli.
"I need to go back."
Eli's expression tightened. "To the palace."
"Yes. There are still private seals and contingency records that answer only to me. If I leave them, someone else will force them open. I will not hand the last clean accounts to whatever replaces the seat."
Atlas studied him without moving. "The palace is no longer yours. The people who declared the reign over will not treat a returning emperor as a man closing his books."
"I know," David said. "That is why I go alone. A group makes a counter-move. One man moving quietly looks like someone finishing his own affairs."
Lara's voice was flat. "It also looks like a man walking into a prepared kill zone."
