The auction hall is loud, and the air is thick, and every eye in the room is on me.Ethan Calvino stands in front of me, and his face is white, and his hands are shaking, and the emerald ring he gave Lilith is still on her finger, and she is watching us from the front row, and she does not know what to say.I lift my hand, and I point at Ethan, and my voice is low, and my voice is hard, and my voice fills the hall."You are exiled from the Owens and the auction, I hereby ban you!"The hall gasps, and the sound rolls over me like a wave, and Ethan steps back, and his mouth opens, and no words come out.I turn to the table, and the mystic ring is there, and it is black, and it is cold, and it is waiting for me.I reach for it, and my finger touches it, and the world breaks open.Flashes hit me! Memories hit me! Pain hits me!I see a boy in a street restaurant, and I see a waiter in a dirty apron, and I see a wife laughing at a gate, and I see a black card in an old man's hand.I see a h

"Name, sir, and what can I do for you today?"The bank is cold, and it smells like polished floors and money. The woman at the desk is smiling with her mouth but not with her eyes, and she looks at my face.She sees the bruise over my eye and the cut on my lip, and her smile drops a little. She looks down at her computer like she wishes I would go away, and Mr. Graves stands beside me in his perfect suit, and he does not smile at all."My name is Kael Watson, and I want to check a card, and I want to know how much money is in the account attached to it."I put the black card on the desk, and it makes a small hard sound, not like plastic at all, and the woman picks it up, and her fingers stop moving, and she turns it over, and she turns it over again, and her face goes pale, and she stands up so fast her chair rolls back and hits the wall."Sir, where did you get this, sir, this is not a normal card, this is a black rock card, and we do not see these in this branch, we do not see these

"Mr. Watson, are you sure about this, sir, because this is a lot of money to spend on a street you used to walk to work on?"The lawyer is young, and he is nervous, and he keeps looking at the black card on the table like it might bite him, and Mr. Graves sits beside me in the back office of a law firm I have never heard of, and the blinds are closed, and there are three phones on the desk.They keep ringing, and the lawyer keeps ignoring them, and I keep my voice low, because this is the first time I have ever told anyone what to buy."I am sure, and I want the whole street, every shop, every flat, every empty lot, and I want it bought through a company, not in my name, and I want the sellers paid today, in full, and I want them happy, so happy they sign fast and ask no questions.""But sir, the lawn shop, your old shop, the owner is asking a high price, sir, because he knows Mr. Calvino has been trying to buy it for months, and he thinks he can play you both against each other.""Th

"Where is it, Ethan, where is the money, because I checked the account this morning, and it is empty, and I mean empty, Ethan, there is nothing left!"Lilith stands in the middle of the bedroom, and her hair is wild, and her hands are shaking, and she is holding her phone, and Ethan is sitting on the edge of the bed, and he is still in his shirt from last night, and he looks at her like she is a child who has just broken a toy, and the roses I bought are dead on the bedside table, and their petals are brown and falling."What money, Lilith, what are you talking about, because I gave you money last week, and you spent it on dresses, and you spent it on shoes, and now you are shouting at me like I stole it from you.""The joint account, Ethan, the account Kael and I shared, the account with the money from the shop, and the money from my mother, and it is gone, all of it is gone, and the bank says it was moved yesterday, and the bank says it was moved by Kael, and how could Kael move it,

"Say it again, Mr. Graves, say it again slowly, because I think I misheard you, and I think my ears are still ringing from Ethan shouting at me."The car has stopped, and we are parked outside the hotel, and the engine is off, and the street is quiet, and Mr. Graves turns to face me, and his old face is serious, and his hands are folded in his lap, and he speaks up like a man who has been carrying a secret for so long it has become heavy."I said your real name is Kael Ashford, young master, and Watson was the name given to you when you were hidden as a child, and your family is the Ashford family, and they are old, and they are powerful, and they have been looking for you since the day you disappeared.""Disappeared, Mr. Graves, what do you mean disappeared, because I grew up in an orphanage, and I grew up with no family, and no one ever came looking for me, and no one ever told me I was an Ashford, so how could I disappear from a family I never knew?""You were taken, young master,