Kaireth hadn't responded when they told him. Hadn't nodded. Hadn't objected.
But something cold and tight had settled just beneath his ribs.
He wasn't naïve. He knew how the games worked. Connections mattered. Favors mattered more. And if a small hit to his trial evaluation got him one inch closer to the Crown Prince's inner circle, then—
So be it.
But that didn't make it less annoying.
Annoying how Lucavion just stood there, like none of it touched him. Like he hadn't come up from gutter districts and still walked like the ground was his to claim.
Annoying how his record remained clean despite the pressure.
And most of all—
Annoying how it felt like Lucavion knew all of it. Not guessed. Not assumed. Knew.
Kaireth exhaled once, slow and silent.
"Positions," he muttered.
Dain cracked his knuckles, already forming a sigil in the dirt with his heel. "Finally. Thought we'd get through this without any excitement."
Then—
The ward beneath their feet shuddered.
