The Skeleton King title check arrived as heat under Ty's boots.
It came without a voice or crown. The boot mark widened until the line touched both heels, then pressed down through the soles like a hand testing whether the floor could keep him.
Ty let his fingers hang open. The missing one answered first. The ache ran from the empty place into his wrist, low enough to hide, steady enough to warn him that the check had found a path into the body before it had found a legal reason.
Yun-Jin moved close and stopped outside the mark. She studied his hand instead of the floor.
"It is looking for places the title can attach," she said. "Places a title can hook if the Name route stays broken."
Omina kept one hand near the table, not the sword. "Then we set the shape before it counts."
Zunoder stood where he could see Ty's face and the whole room behind him. He had learned how to stand like an honest witness while spending every pause like a weapon.
