Maelor's head turned, his gaze meeting Jack's. The King allowed himself to be seen by another being without the masks of royalty protecting him.
"Are you suggesting that mixing bloodlines creates strength?" the King asked. The question was genuine, not rhetorical, carrying the weight of desperate hope and fear of absurdity in equal measure. "That what my people consider vile is actually the source of greater power?"
"I'm not suggesting it," Jack corrected, his tone shifting to something more personal, more direct. "I'm stating it as fact. My power comes from understanding that mixing forces creates resonance. Isolated purity creates stagnation. Evolution requires variation. Strength requires diversity."
He took another step forward.
