The betrayers choice.

There's no such thing as a clean decision.

Only the ones you can survive and the ones that haunt you.

Two masks.

Two kneeling bodies.

Two lives in my hands.

Cam: kind, invisible Cam, the one who had nothing to do with any of this.

Ezra: dangerous, brilliant Ezra who once saved me from the fire, and then disappeared into it.

And me.

Nova Reed.

A girl with a knife in her hand and a system in her blood.

The Adjudicator's voice cut through the silence like a scalpel.

"You will choose.

One walks out. One is left to the dark.

If you refuse… both die."

The crowd didn't flinch.

This was normal for them.

This was tradition.

I stared at the blade they gave me.

Thin. Surgical. Engraved with the word:

Veritas - Truth.

I turned to Ezra.

His mouth was bloodied. His wrists bound.

But he didn't look afraid.

He looked… ready.

"Choose me," he mouthed.

Not to be spared.

To be sacrificed.

I shook my head.

But Cam… he whimpered. His body trembled. He didn't understand.

And it was worse.

I stepped forward.

Every breath felt like glass in my throat.

"I'll choose," I said.

The Adjudicator inclined his head.

"Speak it aloud. Mark the name of the one who will die."

I swallowed hard.

Closed my eyes.

And whispered:

"Ezra Hale."

Gasps. One or two.

But most remained still.

Ezra smiled, just barely, as if he knew this was the plan all along.

The Keeper moved in swiftly, blade glinting.

I turned away.

But the sound of the knife never came.

Instead:

"Test complete," the Adjudicator said. "She chose the impossible and survived it."

I turned back in shock.

Ezra and Cam were both gone.

Vanished like mist.

I was shaking.

"Where are they?" I asked. "What..what happened?"

The Adjudicator's silver mesh mask turned toward me.

"They were never in danger. This was never about blood.

It was about whether you'd follow orders or play god."

"And you chose both."

He stepped forward. Reached into his cloak.

Handed me a key.

Silver. Cold. Engraved with the same word as the knife.

Veritas.

"The Book of the Vote is yours now.

But be warned: once opened, you will no longer be a player in the game.

You will be the board."

Later that night, alone in my room, I unlocked the third book.

Inside were files, dates, and recorded names of every vote the Row had taken since 1921.

Expulsions. Disappearances. Deaths.

All decided in secret.

And then on the last page, a vote marked:

"In Progress."

Proposal: Execute Legacy Nova Reed if loyalty proves compromised.

Voters: 6.

Current result: 3 Yes, 2 No, 1 Awaiting.

The sixth vote?

Isla Moreau.