CHAPTER FORTY-THREELuther was halfway through a glass of scotch, celebrating a win he hadn’t actually secured yet, when Rachel’s team came through his front door without knocking.“Luther Voss.” Rachel said, badge already up, two uniformed officers fanning out behind her like she’d rehearsed the entrance in the car on the way over. “You’re under arrest for fraud, conspiracy, and accessory to attempted murder.”The glass slipped from his hand and shattered against the floor, scotch spreading dark across the hardwood the same way blood had spread weeks earlier in a very different room.“This is absurd.” Luther said, backing against his own bar cart, color draining fast from a face that had spent all day looking pleased with itself. “You have nothing. Whatever Rhys told you, it’s circumstantial, it’s revenge, it’s—”“Save it for your lawyer.” Rachel said, already pulling cuffs free. “Hands behind your back.”“I’ll fight this.” He said, voice climbing as the cold metal clicked shut aroun

The circle had been carved into the stone floor long before anyone alive could remember who’d carved it. Mera told him that on the walk in, voice low, trying to steady nerves that weren’t hers to steady. Rhys barely heard her. He was watching the flames lining the circle’s edge, waist-high and perfectly still, waiting the way a held breath waits. The four elders sat above the arena on a raised dais carved from the same black stone, torchlight flickering off robes that had seen more centuries than Rhys could comfortably imagine. Kraven stood opposite him already, stripped to the waist, his skin marked with old burn scars that looked less like wounds and more like trophies. “You came.” Kraven said, sounding almost disappointed. “I half expected you to run.” “Disappointing you seems to be my new hobby.” Kraven’s mouth twitched, not quite a smile. He crossed the stone floor slow and unhurried, closing the distance until he stood near enough that Rhys could smell smoke clinging to his s

Mera found him in the corridor outside the chamber, still catching his breath, knuckles split and drying dark against his skin. She didn’t say anything at first. She just looked at him the way someone looks at a number that refuses to add up no matter how many times they run it. “A-grade.” She said finally, shaking her head. “That’s what I’m reading off you right now. Do you understand what that means?” “Enlighten me. You’re good at that.” “It means Kraven, a two-hundred-year veteran of the Ember Rites, just got beaten by someone who’s had his powers for what, a few weeks? Maybe less?” She crossed her arms, something between disbelief and genuine awe fighting for control of her face. “I’ve seen trained masters spend decades trying to reach A-grade and fail. You stumbled into it mid-fight like it was nothing.” “It didn’t feel like nothing.” “No, I imagine it didn’t.” Her mouth twitched, almost a smile. “You’re amazing, Rhys. I mean that as an actual assessment, not flattery. T

“Get him on the stretcher, now.” The lead guard barked, two officers already hauling Luther up by the shoulders, his head lolling at an angle that made Rachel’s jaw tighten from across the room.“Wait.” Rhys said, pushing forward. “I can save him.”The guard, a heavyset man with a nameplate reading GRIEVE and an expression that suggested he’d heard every kind of nonsense a precinct could produce, turned to look at him like he’d just announced he could fly.“You can save him.” Grieve repeated flatly. “You. Some ordinary guy with a good face who wandered in off the street twenty minutes ago. Sure. Step aside before you get in the way of people who actually know what they’re doing.”“I’m not asking permission.”“You’re not getting the choice.” Grieve’s hand dropped to his belt, not quite reaching for anything, but close enough to make the threat obvious. “You touch him again and something goes wrong, I will personally see you locked up for interfering with a medical emergency in my own p

“We weren’t invited.” Alisha said it like the words tasted bad, pacing her mother’s living room with her phone clutched so tight her knuckles had gone white. “Every firm that matters in this city got an invitation to the Halverson reveal. Every single one, Mom. Except us.”“That has to be an oversight.” Fiona said, though even she didn’t sound convinced. “Our name should be on every list worth being on. Call them. Demand an explanation.”Alisha was already dialing, pacing harder now, heels clicking sharp against the hardwood. The call connected on the second ring, a receptionist’s voice bright and clipped on the other end.“Halverson Dynamics, Events Division. How can I help you?”“This is Alisha Ferro. I need to know why my firm didn’t receive an invitation to the reveal party. We’ve been business associates with half the companies on your guest list for years.”A pause, the sound of typing, distant and unbothered. “I’m showing no record of your firm being on the proposed guest list,