Chapter 267
Felix
I'm so exhausted.
It's a tiredness that has nothing to do with sleep, and everything to do with the weight slowly crushing me from the inside out.
My uncle's face floats behind my eyelids every time I close them. Not the publicly respectful mask he wears in council, but the look in his eyes when the doors shut and the guards are mine: a flat, gold-flecked hunger.
He doesn't see a nephew. He sees an obstacle. A rabbit in lion's fur.
During my time at the academy, he was here, in the capital, spreading his wings and sinking his claws into every ministry, every garrison, every quiet backroom where loyalties are traded like coin. Luckily, not everyone is under his thumb. The Moonfoxes, for all their social ambition, have kept their distance from his circle. But at the end of the day, they're only a marquis family.
Their influence is a spice, not a main course. They can't shift the balance of power, only flavor it.
