For several seconds after Hadrien said those two words, nobody moved. Pellian stared at him across the stone table as if he had spoken in some foreign language, while Kessarine remained silent with one hand resting beside his untouched cup.
The room had already been tense, but this was different. Hadrien had not merely disagreed with Pellian. He had just announced that he was leaving the alliance entirely, and that meant the balance between the three remaining nobles had shattered.
Pellian was the first to react. He leaned forward slowly, disbelief turning into anger on his face.
"What exactly do you mean by 'you're done'?" he asked, his voice low but sharp. "You don't get to throw two words onto the table after everything we've spent and everything we've lost. If you mean what I think you mean, then say it properly."
