The Seventh Generation
Emily walked toward the Council table.
“You thought paying a weak man to marry me and isolate me would keep me from discovering who I was.”
She gestured toward her children.
“You forgot my father didn’t raise me to be fragile.”
Then she formally presented them.
Leo Christian Vance.
Noah Alexander Vance.
Maya Elena Vance.
The children represented the next generation of Christian Vance’s direct line.
One of the Swiss banking representatives acknowledged the bloodline.
Julian exploded.
He tried to invalidate the children because David was their father.
Harrison Cross placed genealogical documentation on the table.
Under the succession provisions being invoked, the relevant lineage passed through Emily.
Then Harrison produced another set of evidence.
Financial data had already been transmitted to Swiss authorities.
It allegedly documented transfers connecting Julian to David.
Payments tied to shell entities.
And financial inducements connected to Council members.
Pierre Laurent collapsed into his chair.
Henrik Sterling removed his signet ring.
Julian looked around.
His security force had been disarmed.
The bankers were distancing themselves from his documents.
The Council was no longer behaving like an audience he controlled.
Then his eyes fell on the granite altar.
He grabbed the gilded key.
“If I cannot have the Chair…”
He rushed toward the authentication mechanism.
He inserted his key.
Twisted.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
The system remained dark.
“Why isn’t it working?”
Emily approached.
“Because your key is fake.”
She reached inside her jacket.
And removed the true Prometheus Key.
The blackened metal caught the candlelight.
The ruby at its crown glowed dark red.
“My father knew what you were capable of.”
According to Emily, Christian Vance had entrusted the genuine key to Alexander precisely because Julian could not buy him.
Emily reached the granite altar.
She inserted the key.
Click.
A deep harmonic tone traveled through the chamber.
The ruby illuminated.
Then hidden terminals began rising from the floor around the Great Hall.
Live global telemetry appeared across the vaulted ceiling.
And that was where the available story stopped.
