The floor vibrated, and both Tyler and Emily stumbled. As fire alarms went off and shouts filled the air, Emily’s eyes darted to Tyler. “Did you…? Oh god! Father!” she cried, forgetting her initial thought.Emily spun to run out of the room, but Tyler caught her by the wrist.“Hold on! Wait here!” he said firmly, finally getting the jacket off.Emily snatched her hand from his, “Get off me!” she screamed, no longer holding back any volume. There was no need any more. Even as far away as they were, they could hear the noise from the dining hall clearly.Walking backwards, her eyes hot on Tyler, “Are you insane? Must you use violence to solve things? My father is out there!”She spun around, but Tyler was already there, blocking the exit. “Get out of my way!” she yelled, waving her bangled arm dangerously close to his face.Tyler was standing, arms spread wide, barring Emily from moving in either direction.“Whatever it is you think of me, you’re wrong,” he stated calmly – too calmly f

“No. For your house, he would have done more. They would have done more. There is only one central figure in every incident. Even the Baroness is not highlighted more than necessary, and that seems aimed at pulling Lady Kramer’s attention,” Lady Selena continued smoothly.“Another form of attack. Edward Kramer's excesses are not a secret, but the Baroness… given all that was exposed, that is a button that did not need to be pushed.”“This person is spiteful. This matter is personal,” she concluded firmly.“So person… not persons…?” Henry Kramer asked slowly.“We cannot say yet. But we are most certain that this is a personal attack on Lord – on Master Edward,” Lord Maricius stated, correcting at the end as he took over from his wife.Lord Henry glanced to the side. “Rise,” he rumbled, without facing the warrior clan. They obeyed.The old Lord moved back to his seat.“What can be done,” he asked, his voice less steely.“Closer monitoring, which we have begun. A review of everyone and a

Now, Tyler was reviewing everything he knew – and didn’t know.Could this be some sort of ploy by the Kramers themselves, he mused as he stared at the non-news broadcast about the weather.Anyone mad enough to attack the Kramers during a private event with other nobles present is definitely insane.The event was not something known far and wide.How did anyone manage to set up something so big in so short a time?No… it must be a ploy, maybe… to gain sympathy from their noble group?No one appeared to be hurt when I was leaving. So… did it fail? Was it too small? Maybe a scare tactic?But… the Voletra’s were there… that bloodthirsty group won’t let something so stupid happen so close to their masters, he mused as he saw the faces of the four Voltera family members who had attended the dinner – the soldier nob

Lord Quentin Jergens had told his daughter that he had been curious to meet the family she had insisted he help, only to find that they had already left the hospital, and that they were servants of the Kramer Estate.That he had come to the hospital that day to chastise her for getting their family involved in something that was clearly going on between the Kramers and their servants when he had seen her frail state, and the item on her arm that he had never seen before.That he had dismissed it as a trinket until the constant soft glow made him look closer. Only then had he recognized the stones mixed in with diamonds.That when she had told him the source, and the obvious spell work that had been done to it, he had wanted to have it inspected, but that she, weak as she was, had refused to let him remove it, so he had brought in a specialist.Emily did not remember doing such things, but she believed her father’s words. Her heart had told her it wa

Edward had just returned from one of many outings he had had on Wednesday. The former Lord had been coming and going from the Estate since Tuesday morning, and Henry Kramer had not said a word to his son.His grandson had become even more withdrawn than the days following the dinner attack, but his daughter-in-law could not have been more balanced.The old Lord had given up on concerning himself with his embarrassment of a family. His focus had been on the Volteras and his own people from Europe.Information had been coming to him since Monday, and he was occupied enough weighing each one against the other without having to bother with full grown adults who had proved incapable of handling their private affairs, let alone that of an empire.By Wednesday, he had spoken with the Governor of Salvena and the President of Ashrone, both before ten a.m.He had finally left the mansion since his last outing the previous Th