#Chapter 68: The Return

Amelia They brought her back quietly, but nothing about Elsa ever stayed quiet for long. Word had already begun to circulate before her car pulled up the front drive, whispered in the halls like rumor and prophecy rolled into one. Aides spoke her name as if it might summon her early, and by the time the door to the council wing opened and she stepped out in that cream wool coat, smiling like the world had remembered its proper shape, the entire House was already holding its breath. She moved like she belonged, like the ground had missed the weight of her steps. Sunglasses shaded her eyes even though the sky was dull and gray, and her two fresh-faced assistants followed behind like obedient shadows. Their notepads remained clutched in their hands but unopened, unused. Her heels clicked down the marble corridor in a rhythm that sounded like punctuation, like the final word had just been spoken. The press release came less than an hour later. Elsa was back to help with the final pus