The next afternoon his office didn't look like an office at all but a bunker after a siege. The folders from the presentation had been dumped in one corner, a stack of thank-you notes and debrief memos balanced on top like a precarious tower. Lucas lay sprawled sideways across the sofa with one arm flung over his eyes, shoes still on, and tie somewhere on the carpet. The only sign of life was the low glow of his phone on the coffee table.
A soft chime broke the quiet. He cracked one green eye open, thumb sliding across the screen. The notification wasn't from Serathine or the palace. It was from his own health tracker, the discreet one Windstone had set up for him after the last scare.
Cycle Alert: projected heat window: 3 days.
Lucas stared at it for a beat, brain foggy from too many sleepless nights. Heat. Three days. Right on time.
