Time/Date: TC1853.01.12 (Afternoon)
Location: Brenner Estate → Garrick's Study
Imperial Heir Kael Xuán arrived at the Brenner estate three days after swearing blood oaths that had burned through his spiritual channels like liquid fire. The phantom ache in his palm had finally faded to a dull throb, but something else lingered—a cold, methodical fury that came from spending seventy-two hours piecing together exactly how thoroughly he'd been manipulated.
The carriage rolled through gates designed to announce wealth with all the subtlety of a war drum. Gilded salamanders twisted through ironwork that probably cost more than most families saw in a lifetime. Kael watched them pass with the detached assessment of someone trained from birth to recognize status displays for what they were—desperate declarations of worth by those who'd clawed their way up from nothing.
Merchant princes playing at nobility, he thought, jaw tight. And I almost let them play me.
