"You talk about me like I'm a virus you need to cure," Zaeryn said, his voice calm and steady despite the weight of every gaze in the room. He looked directly at the four councilors who had sided with Thorne, noting how they recoiled slightly under his scrutiny. "Parasite. Threat. Liability. You're throwing words around, but you're missing the actual point."
"And what point is that?" Thorne snapped, arms crossed over her chest like armor. "That you're not an abomination?"
"That I'm an opportunity," Zaeryn corrected. He raised his hand, letting a faint wisp of golden Vitae dance between his fingers, controlled, precise, beautiful. Not a threat. A demonstration of competence.
To the more reasonable council members, even to Thorne, the display showed mastery. Control. Potential.
But Zia's expression darkened further. Watching him wield power he had no right to possess made her jaw tighten with visible disgust.
