Another wave of suffocating silence swept through the room as everyone's eyes drifted to the men lining the walls. Every last one of Ashley's people had their hands in the air, a few of them visibly smug about it.
The chamber members and their staff were not amused.
Gustav, for his part, was fighting a losing battle against a smile. Lukas just scrunched his nose — their votes didn't count, and the whole thing was absurd, and yet…
His gaze wandered until it found Nikki. Her expression had gone dark. Seeing it didn't satisfy him the way it might have once. Instead, there was a tightness in his chest, because he knew — this time, they were not on the same side.
"Oh!" Ashley turned to the room with a bright smile. "It looks like I have quite a few votes."
"That's not quite how it works." Memphis let out a mild laugh and pushed his glasses up. "The vote for the next Black Dragon is cast exclusively by the members of the High Chamber and a select few outside it."
