Chapter 77

*Aria's POV

The formal review brought seventeen suggested revisions.

Corinna's team submitted nine. Our alliance coordinators submitted eight. Remarkably, only two overlapped, which meant we had fifteen distinct concerns to address rather than the nine or ten I'd hoped for when I'd seen the number.

I spread them across the meeting table and looked at them the way you look at a problem you've agreed to solve before fully understanding its dimensions.

"The good news," Beth said, sitting across from me with her own copy, "is that none of these are fundamental objections. They're refinements."

"Refinements take time."

"Less time than starting over."

This was true and I...