Rivena did not lower the gun even after the screen in Emma's hand went dark, the last trace of light fading from her fingers as though it had never truly belonged to her in the first place. The silence that followed was not empty, nor gentle, but something heavier that settled into the chamber with intention, pressing against the walls and the people inside it until even breathing felt slightly altered, as though the chamber itself had begun to listen.
Rivena stood within it with a faint smile that did not belong to warmth or humor, but to something quieter and more dangerous, something that suggested she had already accepted the outcome of whatever came next.
"You should have sent me away when you still had the chance," she said softly, as though the words were not an accusation but a conclusion she had reached long ago.
