Chapter 10
The council learned about the succession games two days later.
Not because I displayed Noah’s pain.
I refused to.
Children are not evidence boards.
I told them what mattered.
Elias had been privately conditioning Tyler as an alternate family successor.
Rowan supported it.
Agatha reinforced the household hierarchy through punishment.
Several men looked uncomfortable.
One finally said:
“Tyler is older.”
I stared.
“So?”
“If something happened to you—”
“Something can happen to anyone.”
Silence.
“Do you plan leadership based on birthdays now?”
No answer.
Another man tried:
“Elias may simply have wanted options.”
I almost smiled.
“Options are adults capable of making decisions.”
I leaned forward.
“Not children locked into competition before they understand what the organization is.”
Then I said the sentence that ended the discussion.
“Noah is not my successor.”
The room froze.
“He is my son.”
I looked around the table.
“If one day he wants a role and earns one, we discuss it then.”
Several men shifted.
They did not like uncertainty.
Good.
May you like
Children deserve uncertainty.
They deserve time to become people before adults turn them into positions.
