**Benedict's POV**

Danielle's call caught me halfway across the city to Sam's house.

Tribunal. Parents. Katherine. Susan and John. I turned toward the house without asking for a summary I already understood. At the gate my phone lit again - Mother.

"Come," Mom said.

I almost smiled. "I'm at the gate."

A short pause, then a dry breath that might have been a laugh. "Of course you are."

The line died. I went in.

Father was in the garden with a whiskey glass and the posture of a man who had decided the indoor weather was not his problem. He glanced over when my shoes hit the stone.

"What is...