Chapter441:

###Chapter 441 XENOIS The stack of paperwork on my desk had reached a height that made me seriously consider setting it on fire and blaming Jerome's ghost for the arson. Two years of relative peace should have meant less paperwork, not more. Instead, the opposite had proven true—territorial agreements to renegotiate now that Jerome's old holdings had been carved up among the surviving allied packs, trade routes to reopen, a dozen smaller disputes that had been shelved during the war and were now clamoring for my attention like children who'd been told to wait too long and had run out of patience. I signed off on a grazing rights dispute between two border territories, initialed a request for additional training resources from the youth division, and was halfway through a report on the reconstruction of the eastern barracks when my phone buzzed against the desk. Zade. "Please tell me you're calling with good news," I said, answering without preamble. "Because I've had exactly zero good