Abacus and Crimson Helm

The most dangerous thing two people can do is understand each other first.In the Concord, love is not romance. It is evidence.A Princeps dies in a perfect orbital corridor without a visible strike. The records are sealed. The corridor is corrected. The official numbers are made to behave.But Abacus was built for numbers that refuse to behave.Crimson Helm was built for command under pressure.Separately, they are assets. Together, they become a question the Concord would rather not answer.In a system that survives by alignment, private understanding is not intimacy. It is conspiracy.Book One of the Concord Seryth series.