2025-11-18 13:28:59
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Chapter 0151 - Settling In
The routine established itself within the first week. Mornings with Edmund in the training facility. The sessions ran two hours on easy days and closer to three when Edmund decided Declan was ready for the next layer of something. The old man was a demanding teacher, more exacting than The Physician had been and with considerably more depth to draw from. He rarely praised directly but Declan had learned to read the small indicators, the slight nod, the adjustment of a technique that meant the previous version had been accepted rather than corrected. His cultivation was progressing in ways he could feel clearly. The energy he could access was deeper and more responsive than what he had worked with at the Northern Border. The Phoenix Heart Ring was a constant presence, warming slightly each morning when he settled into practice as if it recognized what was happening and was participating in it. Afternoons with his parents in the Steele Corporation offices, which occupied an entire wi
Chapter 0150 - The Ring
"How widespread is it?" Declan asked. "Cultivation. How many people actually practice it?" His father considered the question properly before answering. "More than you'd think," he said. "Significantly more. The general public has no awareness of it because considerable effort goes into keeping it that way, but within certain circles, certain families and organizations and institutions, it's simply part of how things operate." "There are schools?" Declan asked. "Dedicated facilities, yes. Some attached to cultivation families like ours. Others independent, taking students from various backgrounds based on aptitude." His father paused. "There are also hidden communities, places where cultivators live and work entirely within their own world with minimal contact with ordinary society. Some of them have existed for centuries." "And the government knows about this?" Declan said. "There's a specific agency," his father said. "Not publicly acknowledged. It monitors cultivation activity
Chapter 0149 - The Suite
His parents walked him up after the banquet. The main staircase was wide and the upper corridor stretched in both directions from the landing, doors at intervals, the kind of house where you could spend weeks learning its layout. His mother led him to the right wing and stopped outside a set of double doors near the end of the corridor. She opened them and stepped back so he could go in first. Declan walked inside. The suite was larger than the entire footprint of the Reyes family's house. A sitting room first, with tall windows overlooking the gardens, furniture arranged in a way that felt lived-in rather than formal. Beyond it a study with shelves already stocked with books, a desk positioned near the window. A bedroom further in with a ceiling that was considerably higher than any ceiling Declan had slept under before. He stood in the sitting room and looked around at it. "These rooms were prepared for you," his mother said from the doorway. "Years ago. When your father and I
Chapter 0148 - The Banquet
The banquet hall was the largest room Declan had been in that wasn't a public building. Long tables ran the length of it, set with the kind of precision that suggested staff had been working on it for most of the day. Crystal, silverware, flowers arranged at intervals, candles burning in tall holders. The ceiling was high and the lighting was warm and the room was already full of people when Declan entered with his parents on either side and his grandfather's wheelchair moving quietly ahead of them. The room settled into a kind of attention when they appeared. His father guided him through the introductions methodically, moving from table to table, family group to family group. Names and faces came at him steadily. His father's eldest sister, warm and genuine, who held both his hands when she met him and said she had prayed for this day. Two cousins around his age who shook his hand with open curiosity and no visible agenda. An elderly uncle who had been close to Edmund before the
Chapter 0147 - Finally Home
Declan walked up the steps. The staff on either side remained still and silent. His footsteps on the stone were the only sound. He kept his eyes on the three figures at the top and covered the distance steadily, not hurrying, not hesitating. When he reached the top step he stopped. His father looked at him from two metres away with that controlled expression that was clearly costing him something to maintain. His mother had both hands pressed together in front of her mouth now, her eyes moving over his face the way someone looks at something they thought they had lost permanently. Nobody said anything for a moment. Then his mother said, "Welcome home." Her voice broke on the second word and she crossed the distance between them and put her arms around him and held on. She was crying properly now, not the careful restrained tears from the video message but the real kind, and after one brief second of not knowing what to do with his hands Declan put his arms around her and held he
Chapter 0145 - Home
Franklin closed the folder but he wasn't finished."There's something else you should understand before we arrive," he said. "Family politics operates by its own rules. In some ways it's more complicated than anything you faced in Boston because the stakes are more personal and the history runs deeper."Declan looked at him. "Tell me.""Several of your relatives had reason to believe, over the years, that the heir's position might eventually fall to them or to their children," Franklin said. "Your grandfather never formally designated anyone during the years he was incapacitated. Your parents maintained control of the family's operations but the question of succession remained open." He paused. "Your return answers that question in a way that some people won't find comfortable.""How many?" Declan asked."Two uncles in particular," Franklin said. "Your father's younger brothers. One of them has been managing a significant portion of the family's international portfolio and has used th
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