POV: Ryker

“Hand me the original filing,” I say, reaching for the document on Caius’s desk with barely contained fury. The Household Continuity Statute papers feel toxic in my hands, Dorian’s signature mocking me from the page as I carry them toward the fireplace in the war room. The flames crackle hungrily, casting flickering light across the stone walls, and for a moment I simply want to watch it all turn to ash.

Caius puts a firm hand on my arm, not to stop me entirely but to make me wait. “Not yet,” he says evenly, his voice carrying that calm authority I both respect and sometimes resent. “We draft...