"....." Adrian stared forward, his eyes unfocused, trembling faintly as though caught between fear and frustration. His teeth sank into his lower lip so hard that a thin line of blood began to bloom there, the metallic taste filling his mouth.
In front of him, within the vast echoing expanse of the shipyard, Her Highness Zara stood in person—an image of poise and command. She was clearing the area meant for ten Shapers and their resources, giving sharp orders for them to leave immediately. The clamor of metallic footsteps and shifting crates filled the air, yet Adrian remained motionless, lost in a mixture of disbelief and agitation.
Behind him, more than a dozen engineers, overseers, and handlers worked in anxious silence, each responsible for a crucial process in the manufacturing sequence.
