The revelation hit Ethan like lightning on a clear day, not during some dramatic moment of crisis, but while he was sitting in his study reading the morning intelligence reports with a cup of coffee growing cold at his elbow.
The reports themselves were routine—House Stormcaller was negotiating a new trade agreement, House Ironwood was developing enhanced metallurgical techniques, House Crimson Phoenix was dealing with internal succession disputes.
Normal family politics, the kind of thing that happened every day across the continent.
But as Ethan traced the connections between different pieces of information, he suddenly understood something that changed everything about how he viewed power itself.
Direct action was for amateurs. Information was for masters.
