Page 77 of Maksym

The cursor blinked after Kazimir Kozlov — Eastern vampire territory / King of Kings / ?

“Are you suggesting divine right?” her eyebrows lifted.

The words were careful. Too careful. She was restraining herself from making at least three remarks.

“Is that ceremonial? Symbolic? Like a monarch whose signature matters because tradition says it does? Or can your father actually override the other vampire kings around the world?”

I met her gaze.

There were many ways to answer. I could have offered history. The ancient Blood Trial that only he survived. The divine appointment by the Goddess. The first oaths sworn in the old countries. The wars that ended when my father took the field. I could have spoken of ancient magic, the terrifying legitimacy that settled around Kazimir Kozlov like winter accepting no argument from spring.

Grace did not need poetry. Not yet.

“It is not ceremonial,” I said.

Her fingers returned to the keyboard. She typed only one line.

Kazimir can override vampire kings. Treat as actual sovereign authority.

Then she looked up at me again.

“Does Lucian sit on your father’s Elder Council?”

“Yes.”

“Which means this entire thing has teeth on both sides.”

“Many.”

Grace’s mouth tightened. “Good.”

Remy lowered her book. “Good?”

Grace did not look away from me. “If a system has teeth, it can bite the wrong person. But it can also bite him.”

A slow, fierce warmth moved through my chest.

“Yes,” I said. “That is precisely what we intend.”

Grace Marlow had begun to learn the shape of our world.

“What you are telling me,” she said, fingers hovering above the keyboard, “is that the Council is simultaneously a legislative body, diplomatic assembly, a court of last resort, battlefield deterrent, and social club for people too old to admit they enjoy procedure.”

Remy did not look up from her book. “That is the clean version, cher.”

Grace typed: Horrifying.

“Accurate,” Taras said, after returning to the room.

I leaned back in my chair, studying the line of Grace’s profile.

“Enough Council law for now,” I announced.

Grace’s fingers stopped. Suspicion entered her face immediately. “Why did that sound like the part where things get worse?”

“Because you are learning quickly.”

“That was not a denial.”