“Told you I’d rise again, didn’t I?”

Leo says it with a half-laugh as he stands in the middle of his grand foyer with an envelope in hand and his shoes still damp from the garden path. He’s glowing. Genuinely. No mask, no bitterness, no shadow of his brother. Just... victory.

The golden seal on the letter cracks as he pulls it open, and his eagerly eyes scan the lines whilea he holds his breath.

Crestwood.

It’s his now.

He clenches the paper in both hands and whispers to himself, “Screw you, Reo.”

He spins on his heel, nearly tripping over a loose corner of the rug in his excitement,...