Damian looked at him.
That was the thing about Silas. Quiet. Steady. The one who stayed while everyone else moved. People mistook that for simple.
It wasn't simple.
Damian set his cup down.
"There was a moment," he said. "During the hearing. Before the vote."
Silas waited.
"Malachai looked at her. Not at the panel. Not at the room." Damian paused. "Just at her. And he told her she was going to be extraordinary."
Silas said nothing.
"Not as a compliment," Damian said. "Not performance. He said it like a man who'd spent years trying to stop something and finally understood he hadn't." A beat. "And decided to say so anyway."
The kitchen was quiet.
"That's not how a defeated man talks," Silas said.
"No."
"He's not done."
"He's not done," Damian said. "He lost this round. He knows it. And he's already somewhere else in his head." A pause. "We just don't know where yet."
Silas nodded once.
