Lucian Moon walked through the gate.
A hundred wolves shifted back into human form. Every soldier in the garrison forgot how faces worked.
None of them commented.
This was the kingdom his parents had built and his parents had lost and the losing had been avenged by a boy who had never set foot in it and already knew where every corridor led because he had found a blueprint before arrival.
House Vaeryn contested it within the hour. Their response was not legal. It was military. Sixty Fae soldiers arrived at Argenvael's western border before the sun set on day one, and their commander delivered a message that was polite enough for a courtroom and threatening enough for a battlefield: vacate the territory pending formal adjudication, or be removed.
Lucian read the message. Folded it. Handed it to his Beta.
"How many wolves do we have on the western perimeter?"
"Thirty."
"Double it. And tell them to shift."
