Chapter 82

Aria's POV

The consultation process took six weeks.

Rendell's side moved faster than I'd expected. The seven Alphas of the Central confederation met within ten days of our return from Fenwick, reviewed the outline, and returned a unified endorsement with four clarifying questions that Thessa transmitted formally. The questions were good — precise, addressing genuine ambiguities in the outline rather than expressing doubt about the concept itself. I answered them the same day they arrived.

Our side was more complicated.

Not because of opposition. The alliance coordinators were largely enthusiastic, which I'd anticipated. The complication was Corinna.

She didn't object to the knowledge compact. Her message was measured...