The Reborn Sovereign of Ruin, Bound by His Star

Chapter 228: Chapter 228: Seizure Rights

Ray was going to die at noon.

Liam knew this because every national channel, every official bulletin, and three of Rex’s new emergency justice announcements had repeated the information with the cold restraint of a state trying not to look delighted.

Ray Canmore, traitor to the crown, would be executed publicly after the tribunal confirmed the charges.

Liam read the notice once at breakfast and felt nothing dramatic.

Then he returned to the six open projections hovering above the table.

The Vanguard adaptation plan was proving far more troublesome than Ray’s death.

The breakfast table had suffered accordingly. Tea had been pushed aside. Toast had become support for a tablet. Two annotated reports lay beneath a map of emergency deployment sites, and one small bowl of fruit had been repurposed to hold styluses because Liam had run out of patience and organizational trays.

He was halfway through a model for converting the Vanguard into a temporary decentralized power source for critical facilities when Arik entered.

He had clearly come from the bath.

His black hair was still damp, pushed back carelessly from his face, and he wore casual dark trousers with a loose pale shirt that made him look less like the Crown Prince of Agaron and more like someone who had decided clothing was a courtesy he was providing under protest.

Liam looked up.

Then looked back down.

Arik stopped.

The silence that followed was very pointed.

Liam did not look up again. "Good morning."

"You looked at me for less than two seconds."

"I am busy."

"I noticed."

"You are damp."

"I am also your fiancé."

"That is not relevant to the turbine efficiency correction."

Arik crossed the room with the slow, dangerous grace of a man who had decided to become a problem before breakfast. "Ray is being executed today."

"Yes."

"I assume you are not distressed."

"No."

"Good."

Liam finally looked up. "Are you going?"

"No."

That surprised him.

Arik pulled out the chair beside him but did not sit immediately. "It is Rex’s day. Let him enjoy it."

Liam stared.

Then, despite himself, he smiled faintly. "That is generous."

"It is tactical generosity."

"You mean you do not want Wrohan watching you instead of Rex."

"That too."

Arik sat, then leaned back with the air of a man who had no intention of leaving the mansion at all. No security files in hand. No expression of duty. Only damp hair, warm skin, and an unreasonable amount of expectation directed at Liam.

Liam narrowed his eyes. "You want attention."

Arik’s mouth curved. "I am wounded that this surprises you."

"It does not surprise me. I am documenting motive."

"I have survived your laboratory schedule, your medical restrictions, my own rut suppression, one public engagement, and an evening of not murdering people who deserved it. I believe I am owed breakfast attention from my mate."

Liam looked at the projections.

Then at Arik.

Then back at the projections.

"My lovely fiancé," Arik added.

"That is manipulative."

"My eshara."

Liam’s hand tightened around the stylus.

Arik smiled.

Liam hated him a little.

"I am trying," Liam said, with great dignity, "to adapt an experimental Vanguard unit into a practical emergency support system in less than two weeks because your friend is about to start cutting diseased families out of the power structure."

"Our friend, and he’s technically your uncle."

"Do not expand my liability."

"Rex will be hurt."

"Rex is executing Ray today. He can have other hobbies."

Arik reached for one of the reports.

Liam slapped his hand without looking.

Arik’s brows lifted.

Liam continued writing. "Do not move that."

"I was going to read it."

"You were going to distract me."

Arik leaned closer and studied the projection anyway. "You are still treating funding like the main limitation."

"It is one of the main limitations."

"No," Arik said. "There is money."

Liam paused.

Then turned his head. "There is what?"

"Money."

"For three pilot units?"

"For five, if you stop insulting the procurement cost and accept that quality components are not personal attacks."

Liam stared at him.

Arik looked far too pleased with himself.

"From where?"

"My estate."

Liam’s eyes narrowed.

"Billed to Rex," Arik added.

The silence lasted one second.

Then Liam laughed under his breath. "You are enjoying that."

"Deeply."

"He is bankrupt."

"He is future solvent."

"You are terrible."

"I am supportive."

"You are billing emotional support to Wrohan’s crown."

"I am billing emergency infrastructure to Wrohan’s crown. The emotional support is complimentary."

Liam looked at him for a long moment, then sighed and turned back to the projections. "Money solves components, installation, transport, housing, shielding, and staff hours. It does not solve missing calibration history."

Arik’s amusement faded into attention. "What is missing?"

"The old thermal-stability curves from the first Vanguard housing. The ones before we moved the assembly to Lab V. The system behaved differently under lower output, and I need that data if I want to make small units stable enough for hospitals." Liam scrolled through a file, irritated. "I thought Mara digitized it."

"She did not?"

"She digitized part of it. The rest must be in the temporary lab."

Arik’s expression sharpened. "Which temporary lab?"

Liam gave him a look because he already knew the answer would annoy him. "Under Canmore Palace."

"No."

"I did not ask yet."

"You were about to."

"I was informing you."

"You are not going there alone."

"I was not planning to go alone."

Arik studied him with open suspicion.

Liam set the stylus down, a pout starting to form on his face. "I am not an idiot."

"No. You are much more difficult."

"I need the data. I also need to see Mara. She may know where the physical notebooks are, and if the temporary lab was not fully stripped, there may be components I can seize."

Arik blinked once. "Seize."

"Yes."

"Legally?"

"That depends on who you ask."

"Liam."

"It was my lab."

"It was under Canmore Palace."

"And funded through state channels, Canmore accounts, stolen public money, or some combination of rot now under investigation. Therefore, I am comfortable seizing what I can carry."

Arik looked at him.

The pride arrived before the concern could hide it.

"That is dangerously attractive."

"It is asset recovery."

"Even better."

Liam pointed the stylus at him. "Do not make seizure romantic."

"You are making that difficult."

The door opened before Liam could answer.

Stanford entered first, expression blank, followed by Mezos, who looked like he had already heard enough to be entertained.

"No," Liam said immediately.

Mezos paused. "I had not spoken."

"You arrived with supervisory energy."

Stanford looked at the table. "Lord Liam intends to leave the mansion."

"I intend to retrieve state assets from a compromised Canmore facility."

Mezos’s eyes brightened. "Seizure?"

Liam gestured toward him. "See? He understands."

Arik gave Mezos a look.

Mezos ignored it. "Canmore Palace is unstable today. Ray’s execution has triggered movement in three branches already. Cain’s people have abandoned two residences. Felix’s unacknowledged children are attempting to erase financial links. The palace is sealed but not quiet."

"I need Mara," Liam said.

Stanford’s gaze shifted. "Mara is currently at Lab V."

"Then we bring her. She knows the storage system better than anyone, and if anyone moved the calibration notebooks, she will know who was incompetent enough to do it."

Arik pushed his chair back. "I am coming."