Chapter Eleven
You Look Disappointing
"The arrogant ones are always the most dangerous. Not because they're strong. Because they're used to being right."
He found Kaito after school.
Not Caius. Someone else.
The boy was waiting by the east stairwell, leaning against the wall like he owned it, which, from the sigils on his cufflinks and the way the air shifted around him, he probably thought he did.
Third-year. House Galatine crest on his lapel. Dark hair, sharp jaw, the kind of handsome that came with centuries of selective breeding and knew it.
He looked Kaito up and down with the leisurely attention of someone inspecting livestock.
"So you're the King piece," he said.
Not a question.
"You look disappointing."
Behind Kaito, Mira's footstep paused. The air in the corridor shifted temperature.
"I'm Soren Galatine," the boy continued pleasantly. "Third son of House Galatine. We hold the third-largest territory in the eastern Underworld." He tilted his head. "You probably haven't heard of us."
"I've heard of you," said Kaito.
Soren raised an eyebrow. Mildly surprised. "Oh?"
"You're the house Seraphina's father said would send an observer when word got out about the King Piece." Kaito looked at him evenly. "You're eleven days late."
A beat of silence.
Soren laughed, short, surprised, genuine. "Hm. She's been briefing you." He straightened off the wall. "The Void Sovereign. House Valcrest's new prize." He said it the way you'd say new toy. "The registrars left your threat level blank. Do you know why?"
"Yes."
"Because nobody knows how dangerous you actually are." He took a step closer. Not threatening, measuring. "A blank threat level means you're either not dangerous at all, or so dangerous they don't have a number for it."
A pause.
"I intend to find out which."
"All right," said Kaito.
Soren blinked. Apparently that wasn't the reaction he'd prepared for.
"You're not going to protest? Tell me to back off?"
"No."
"Ask me what I want?"
"I know what you want." Kaito looked at him. "You want to see if I'm worth worrying about. So at some point you'll create a situation where you can find out. I can't stop that, you're a third-son noble with nothing to lose and an agenda to run."
He met the boy's eyes directly.
"When that situation happens, you'll get your answer."
Silence.
Soren looked at him for a long moment.
Something shifted in those grey eyes.
Not the calculating assessment from before.
Something that, if Kaito had to name it, was closer to interest.
"House Valcrest chose well," Soren said quietly. He stepped back. "I'll be watching the Rating Game."
He walked away.
Mira materialized beside Kaito the moment he was gone. "Okay," she said. "That was cool. That was extremely cool. You know that was cool, right?"
"He's going to be a problem."
"Oh, absolutely. But coolly."
Seraphina was waiting at the bottom of the next staircase. She'd been close enough to hear, he could tell by the quality of her stillness when they arrived.
She said nothing about it.
She fell into step beside him.
And after a moment, very quietly:
"House Galatine has been allied with Phenex for six years."
A pause.
"He wasn't just observing," she said. "He was delivering a message."
"What message?"
She looked at him sidelong. Eclipse eyes in the afternoon light.
"That the Rating Game isn't the only thing we need to prepare for."
Kaito felt the Void Sovereign shift in his chest.
Low. Alert.
Like a door, bracing to open.
End of Chapter Eleven