Transmigrated Into A Women Dominated World

Chapter 293

Eva Rostova gave a single nod. "How soon," she said. She wasn’t pushing anymore. The argument was already won, and only the details remained to be settled."When it suits Sector Seven, and not before that." Athea’s voice stayed even. "I don’t want this looking like an emergency."

"With respect, Your Highness... isn’t that exactly what this is? An emergency?" Councilor Merane asked. "For hundreds of years, Vitae expression has only been possible with women."

"I understand your concern, Lady Merane. But it’s best if we keep this as classified and not attract any unwanted attention until we can decide what to do with him. Therefore it’s best if he comes in quietly, on a schedule that looks like nothing more than an ordinary visit," Calyra said.

Lady Merane accepted that without further comment, and the rest of the table let the matter go along with her.

For the next hour, the council dragged itself back through the ordinary business of keeping a Queendom alive, the same as it did every session, whether or not something impossible had just been spoken aloud at the same table.

Supply routes to the outer sectors were reviewed and adjusted. A budget expansion for the Aegis Division’s armor repair bays passed with barely a question raised against it, the kind of expense nobody wanted to be seen opposing while border raids were still fresh in everyone’s memory. Someone from the agricultural bloc spent several minutes complaining that delayed mag-rail convoys were cutting into protein harvest deliveries from the southern grow-vaults, and no one else in the room could summon the energy to sound as concerned about it as she clearly wanted them to.

Athea gave the same unhurried attention to supply routes, convoy delays, and armor budgets that she had given to the report about a male wielding Vitae.

Nothing in her bearing suggested that, less than an hour ago, she had agreed to place Zaeryn Noctis within reach of the Imperial Council.

She adjourned the session exactly on time. She rose and walked out.

★★★★

Only once Athea had walked into her chamber did she unfasten the ceremonial clasp at her shoulder and set it down on the desk.

Eighteen and a half years of careful invisibility, and she’d just told six of the most powerful women in the Queendom that she’d personally deliver her son into a room built for evaluating threats.

She didn’t regret the words. She never said anything without meaning it. But meaning every word had never once made a decision easy to carry.

She’d barely sat down, one hand still at the clasp, when the door opened behind her without a knock.

"What was that," Calyra asked.

Athea didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. "I take it you have an opinion."

"You just agreed to bring him here." Calyra crossed the room, and the door sealed shut behind her. "That’s going to have consequences. And I thought you were trying to avoid that?"

"I did," she admitted.

"And you’re going to do it." It wasn’t really a question by the time it left her. She already knew the answer. She only wanted to be told she was wrong.

As much as Calyra herself wanted to see her nephew, it was common knowledge that if Zaeryn came here, it could be the last time she’d ever see him. "You’re smart enough to know, so I won’t tell you why your decision is the worst one you’ve ever made."

"It is indeed one of the worst mistakes. But the mistake wasn’t made today," Athea said, swiveling her seat. "It was made the day I let Ysmeine talk me into allowing him to go to the Lyceum." She said it plainly, the weight of the better part of two decades pressing into her words. "Eighteen and a half years keeping him invisible, and I gave that up in one conversation because she wouldn’t let it go, and I was tired of being the reason she couldn’t sleep at night. That was the real decision. Everything happening now is just the world catching up to it."

Athea folded her hands on the desk. "If I had fought Eva today, the council would have demanded to know why. By agreeing, I remain above suspicion. And by bringing him here, to the Capital, I ensure that when he is evaluated, I am the one controlling the room."

Calyra looked away, ready to argue again, but the words failed her. Beneath the fear, beneath the anger, something warmer had begun to rise, something she almost hated herself for feeling.

He was coming here.

After eighteen and a half years, Zaeryn Noctis was coming to the Capital.

Her mouth softened before she could stop it.

"I suppose," she said, trying and failing to sound detached, "the one good thing about this disaster is that I finally get to meet him."

★★★★

Arriving at Leia’s home, Zaeryn climbed out of the cruiser.

He crossed the rest of the drive on foot, past trimmed hedges.

He reached the entrance and a thin blue light swept over him once, head to foot, and a calm, synthesized voice followed it. "Visitor detected. State your identity and the purpose of your visit."

"Zaeryn Noctis," he said. "I’m here for Leia. We have a project."

The light lingered on him a second longer than it needed to, as though the system had caught on something it didn’t quite know how to file, before the voice returned, unbothered by the delay it had just caused. "Processing." Another pause followed, longer than the first, and Zaeryn found a small private amusement in the idea that even a house’s front door needed a moment to work him out.

"Visitor logged. Please wait."

He waited.

Finally the door opened.

"Identity confirmed," the voice said, a beat behind the door itself, as though it needed the extra moment just to admit what it had already done. "You are authorized to enter."

Zaeryn stepped through into a hall that still carried the same warm light he remembered from the last time he’d stood in it, and he’d barely cleared the threshold before he found Hela already there, leaning against the archway into the lounge.