Yolanda's single bond had broken under the pressure of her first major manifestation. The power had spilled without direction, and the Elders had stepped in before it could be recovered.
There was a line in the third document, translated carefully by Adrian, that Lilian read a few times before she understood it.
The hybrid's nature is not a threat to the Court. It is a threat to the fear of the Court. This distinction was never made.
She stared at that sentence for a long time.
"Adrian," she called out.
"Yes?"
"Who wrote this?"
He checked the seal at the bottom of the document, then his expression shifted, becoming more careful and complex.
"The record lists the author as an Elder of the fourth seat," he said. "Writing in private dissent, approximately ten years after Yolanda's death."
"So someone knew it was wrong, even then," Lilian said.
"Someone always knows," Dante chimed in, not looking up from what he was reading. "That doesn't mean they say it loud enough."
