The summons arrived at dawn.

  Not sealed with urgency.Not marked with alarm.

  Just a single line, written in careful hand:

  Need aid at a summit meeting with allied kingdoms. Presence requested.

  Sei read it twice before looking up.

  Councilor Brannic Vale stood across from him in the corridor, hands folded behind his back, posture relaxed in a way that suggested this was not an order.

  It was a request.

  “I thought it better delivered in person,” Brannic said. “Letters travel faster than intention.”

  Sei exhaled slowly. “A summit.”

  “Yes.”

  “With me there,” Sei added.

  Brannic’s mouth curved faintly. “That part was… debated.”

  Sei nodded. He’d expected nothing less.

  “Before we go to the king,” Brannic continued, turning and gesturing toward a quieter passage, “I’d like a word. As a councilor. And as someone who listens when people speak.”

  Sei followed.

  They stopped near a narrow balcony overlooking the lower wards. Morning light spilled over rooftops still bearing the marks of siege and repair. The city moved below them—alive, cautious, stubborn.

  Brannic rested his hands on the stone railing.

  “The majority of Toradol,” he said without preamble, “is with you.”

  Sei blinked, surprised by the bluntness.

  “They may not all trust you,” Brannic went on, “but they understand you now. Your words reached them. Your actions did the rest.”

  He paused.

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  “Some others,” he added carefully, “are less persuaded.”

  Sei didn’t need clarification.

  “Certain members of the nobility,” Brannic said, “and a number of minor authorities whose power depends on being the loudest voice in the room. You unsettle them.”

  “I didn’t mean to,” Sei said.

  “I know,” Brannic replied. “That’s part of the problem.”

  Silence settled between them, filled only by the distant sound of hammers and voices.

  Brannic turned then, expression serious, stripped of all political polish.

  “There’s something else I need to say,” he said.

  Sei waited.

  “The summoning,” Brannic said quietly. “It was done without your consent. And regardless of necessity, that matters.”

  Sei’s shoulders tightened.

  “It was never the king’s intention to steal a life,” Brannic continued. “Nor the council’s. We were desperate. Afraid. And we chose survival over ethics.”

  He bowed his head slightly—not formally, but sincerely.

  “For that,” he said, “I apologize.”

  The words landed heavier than any accusation had.

  “I reacted,” Sei said after a moment. “I don’t know if I would’ve done differently.”

  Brannic looked at him. “That doesn’t absolve us. But it tells me something important.”

  “What’s that?”

  “That you’re not pretending this didn’t cost you.”

  Brannic straightened.

  “You should know this as well,” he added. “The summit is not about war. Not openly. It’s about alignment. Perception. Fear.”

  Sei frowned. “Fear of what?”

  Brannic met his gaze. “Of you.”

  That honesty stung—but it didn’t surprise him.

  “They want to see you,” Brannic said. “Not as a weapon. Not as a miracle. As a variable.”

  Sei exhaled. “And Toradol?”

  “Toradol will stand with you,” Brannic said firmly. “But some would rather you stand somewhere… farther away.”

  A dry smile touched his lips. “That’s the truth of it.”

  They found Eva near the inner gates, already aware something had shifted.

  “A summit,” she said, eyes narrowing slightly. “That’s fast.”

  “Fear travels quickly,” Brannic replied.

  Sei folded the letter once, carefully.

  “So now what?” he asked.

  Brannic looked out toward the city one last time. “Now,” he said, “you step onto a larger stage. One where words matter just as much as actions—and where silence is read as intent.”

  Eva glanced at Sei. “You don’t have to go.”

  Sei looked at the city below.

  The workers.The wounded.The ones who had watched him choose.

  “Yes,” he said quietly. “I do.”

  Brannic inclined his head. “Then we should not keep the king waiting.”

  As they turned toward the castle proper, Sei felt the weight shift again—not heavier, but broader.

  The city was no longer just watching him.

  The world was beginning to ask questions.

  And this time, he would have to answer them—not as a healer,not as a summoned anomaly,

  but as a man who had already chosen to stand.