What holds an alliance together when its strongest member wants something that belongs to a partner? This fictional political allegory follows an American soldier and a Danish woman from postwar Copenhagen into a vault built by twelve partners, each promising to protect what the others hold dear. Her emerald seems insignificant to him until it becomes something he wants.
Published in January 2026, The Emerald explores alliance, sovereignty, and the point where protection becomes possession. The woman remembers the promises she kept and the sons she sent to defend his torch. He remembers who paid for the locks. Beneath their story runs the question of the Leviathan: what can hold a powerful ally to a covenant when he decides the covenant no longer serves him?
Read the story: https://joelkdouglas.com/2026/01/20/the-emerald/
