Removed node from 2 node cluster, now pve-manager won't reach quorum

I used pvecm delnode <node>, powered off the old node, but my main node still thinks the old node is attached and won't reach quorum. I tried to run a full update and dpkg is stuck at configuring pve-manager, blocking all apt updates/installations.

I've seen advice like "remove the old node directions from /etc/pve/nodes, but I can't, it just says "permission denied".

Any help is appreciated.