The Reborn Sovereign of Ruin, Bound by His Star

Liam considered that, then glanced down at the notes accumulating across his tablet.

"How did he open the Trial?"

Cassian’s expression changed to the immediate, absolute vigilance of a man who had governed Nuria for nearly two centuries while waiting for Goliath—or someone carrying his blood—to return.

"No."

"I asked a question." Liam tried to maintain a neutral tone, knowing Cassian could smell his curiosity.

"And I answered the intention behind it."

Liam settled farther into the leather chair. "You said the Core opened the passage at sunrise. Was that automatic, or did Goliath activate something in the sanctuary?"

Cassian reached across the narrow table and switched off Liam’s recording projection.

"Cassian."

"You are already the mate of a recognized sovereign. Whatever qualification the Trial was designed to establish, you possess its authority through your bond with Arik."

"Borrowed authority."

"Shared authority," Cassian corrected. "The palace recognized you before Arik completed his oath. The Core protected you in the Golden Court. You have no reason to seek another claim."

Liam looked toward the suspended model of Deira, keeping his expression deliberately neutral.

Unfortunately, Cassian had raised Goliath. He recognized calculated silence.

"This is about Felix’s ether."

Liam’s gaze returned to him.

"The Trial rebuilt Goliath’s channels," Cassian continued. "Arik’s body underwent a similar transformation after opening the Gate. You believe the same process might remove what Felix left inside you."

"I believe anything capable of permanently restructuring ether deserves investigation."

"You may investigate the records."

"The records contain less useful information than the warning label on a turbine."

"Then your investigation will be brief."

Liam’s mouth tightened. "There must be a mechanism. A formation, a blood seal, a sequence that signals intent to the Core—"

"There is."

The answer came too quickly.

Liam straightened. "So you know how to open it."

"I know enough to prevent you from doing so."

Cassian rose, smoothing the front of his long charcoal jacket. The subtle gold embroidery following its asymmetrical fastening caught the daylight as he moved. His age made the motion slower than it might once have been, but there was nothing fragile about the authority with which he looked down at Liam.

"I failed to stop Goliath because he was my emperor and had the legal right to overrule me. You have neither that right nor a need to take his Trial."

"I wasn’t proposing that I enter it."

"You were determining whether you could."

"That is an important technical distinction."

"It will comfort Arik enormously when I explain that you died for technical reasons."

Liam opened his mouth, but Cassian continued before he could object.

"Or perhaps you will not die. Perhaps the passage will close behind you, and I will have to inform the sovereign that his mate is trapped somewhere inside the Core because I provided the activation sequence."

A transport platform passed beyond the windows, briefly throwing a line of reflected gold across Cassian’s face.

"I governed this empire while waiting for Goliath or his heir to return," he said. "I will not spend my remaining years justifying to that heir why his mate is dead—or why you disappeared into a Trial from which I cannot retrieve you."

"I would take precautions."

"Goliath entered with the best protections Nuria possessed. The Trial stripped every formation from his body before the passage finished closing."

That removed several of Liam’s developing arguments.

Several, but not all.

"What if the Core recognizes me through the bond?"

"What if it considers your presence an attempt to challenge its chosen sovereign?"

Liam went quiet.

Cassian picked up Liam’s tablet, entered a command, and returned it. The notes remained, but the recording controls had disappeared beneath a red administrative restriction.

"Did you just limit my access?"

"To the lower sanctuary."

"Can you do that?"

"I have been prime minister since before your great-grandparents were born. I can do many things you will find irritating."

Liam stared at the restriction notice.

"Does Arik know you can do this?"

"He is about to."

Liam looked up from the red restriction notice, his face filled with betrayal. "You called him."

"I informed the sovereign that his mate was investigating how to enter a Trial that can kill him." Cassian said with no trace of guilt.

"That is an inflammatory interpretation."

The gallery doors opened before Cassian could answer.

Arik crossed the room in the black suit he had worn to council, golden eyes moving immediately from Cassian to Liam and then to the restriction glowing across Liam’s tablet.

"What happened?"

"He asked how to open the Trial," Cassian said like the traitor he was.

Liam frowned. "I asked how Goliath opened it."

Arik’s face went blank in the particular absence of expression, which meant he had already followed Liam’s reasoning to its inevitable destination, and as usual, he highly disagreed.

"You are not taking the Trial."

"I never said I was."

"You are reverse-engineering it."

Liam hesitated. "Technically—"

"No."

Cassian looked satisfied and maybe a little smug.

Liam sighed and leaned back. "Felix researched sovereign ether, rebirth, and the Core. If the Trial is what gave Goliath that level of control, then Felix may have studied it too."

That finally changed Arik’s expression.

"I don’t need to enter it," Liam continued. "I need to understand what Felix could have learned."

Cassian considered him for several seconds before giving a reluctant nod. "You may have the preparation records, witness accounts, and surviving measurements taken before and after Goliath’s Trial."

Beside Liam, Arik was quiet.

Then he exhaled slowly.

"I can try to remember more."

Liam’s head snapped toward him.

His crimson eyes widened with such immediate delight that Arik visibly regretted speaking.

"You can?"

"I said try."

"That means there is something there."

"It means there may be fragments I have never deliberately searched for."

Liam shifted toward him in the chair, tablet forgotten against his thigh. "From inside the Trial?"

Arik’s face went blank again.

Cassian looked between them and sighed.

"Do not encourage him."

"I am not encouraging him," Arik said.

"You just offered an engineer access to two-hundred-year-old suppressed memories concerning an undocumented ether mechanism."

Liam was already smiling.

"He is absolutely encouraging me."

Arik looked down at him. "I am offering information so you stop considering entering it yourself."

"That is an excellent strategy."

"I do not like how quickly you agreed."

Liam caught Arik’s wrist before he could move away, fingers closing over the gold sovereign mark.

"When?"

Arik’s golden eyes narrowed.

"Not here."

"Tonight?"

"Liam."

"After dinner?"

Cassian picked up his cane.

"I believe my usefulness in this conversation has ended."

Liam barely noticed him leaving.