SOVEREIGN

Sovereign has executed rebels with less composure than it takes to stand still right now.

Ra’s proximity is a violation of physics. The Algorithym tries to offer solutions—distance, recalibration, reassertion of dominance—but he rejects them all with a single, furious clarity:

No.

Because she is not prey. Not property. Not a line item in his empire.

She is the one force the system cannot categorize without admitting it has limits.

Her hand hovering over his chest is a weapon. The absence of touch is more intimate than contact would be, because it means she is choosing restraint as a form of control.

He hates how much he respects it.

He hates that he wants to close the distance.

But Sovereign does not take what is not offered.

That is the difference between rule and ruin.

Ra’s breath brushes his lower lip—barely there—and the restraint required not to move feels like a new kind of pain. The Algorithym flags his vitals, his microexpressions, his attention drift.

He silences every alert.

Her whisper is soft. “Say one true thing. And I’ll choose.”

Truth is a blade. Sovereign has lived long enough to know it cuts the speaker first.

He could say: I desire you.

 Too simple. Too human. Too easy to weaponize against him.

He could say: I can protect you.

 She didn’t ask for protection.

So he chooses the one truth that matters.

“You are not written,” he says, voice like a vow. “You are the writer.”

Ra’s pupils widen—just slightly. A crack in her composure.

Sovereign feels the room shift. Even Mehen goes still.

Ra’s hand lowers a fraction closer, almost touching. Almost.

And Sovereign realizes something with the kind of clarity that ends civilizations:

If she chooses him, he will become the man who kneels—

 not because he is conquered,

 but because she is sovereign enough to deserve it.

Ra lifts her chin.

Her mouth hovers near his—one breath away.

The Algorithym throws a final warning across his vision.

IF CONTACT OCCURS: ACCORD BREACH.

Sovereign doesn’t blink.

Because for her, he might let it breach.

And then Mehen speaks.