The Abstention

Paris, 1819. Conrad Laurent has built his life upon reason.

A scholar of international law and the obligations of neutrality, Conrad understands better than most that refusing to act is not the same as escaping consequence.

Yet in his own life, understanding has never been the problem.

His marriage to Sophie has survived war, absence, and the long shadow of the Congress of Vienna. Now, with a new academic life in Paris and the possibility of a future finally within reach, Conrad finds himself unable to make the one choice that matters most.

Then an object he has repeatedly tried to discard returns to him.

A medallion. A succession of cards. An invitation with no explanation.

Following it leads Conrad from the ordered streets of Paris into a gathering that refuses every category he knows, and to a stranger who seems less interested in giving him answers than in forcing Conrad to confront the ones he already possesses.

Set two centuries before the events of P.X: No Man’s Space, The Abstention is a historical literary novella about choice, consequence, and the dangerous comfort of believing that inaction leaves the world unchanged.