---
That landed hard. Everyone felt the meaning of it. Mihos was angry at first. The guards felt it. Even a fool could feel it. Inside Mihos mind the pleasant cruelty felt like a joke and his expression tightened by a fraction.
Mihos's eyes cooled further. "A low born dares to threaten me. How entertaining."
He took one small step closer, enough to make the hierarchy of the camp seem to lean inward around him.
"You wear the Dawn house name," he said. "That is already more generosity than your blood deserves."
Bat Bat's fingers twitched. Elena did not look at her, but Bat Bat somehow still felt the warning and remained silent.
Sekhmet's face did not change.
Mihos continued, voice now quieter, which made it crueler.
"You and I may share a little blood somewhere behind us. That does not make us equals. Your father was banished from the family. He lost his standing. He lost his place. He even lost the right to matter in the way true lines matter."
