Ashcroft doesn’t beg.
He doesn’t rant.
He doesn’t even look angry.
That’s what unsettles me.
He sits in the reinforced chamber beneath the compound — wrists bound in silver-lined restraints, wards etched into every stone surface.
And he smiles.
“You’re not dead,” he says when I enter.
“That disappoint you?”
“No.” His eyes flicker briefly. “It complicates things.”
Morgan stands to my left.
Kade stands to my right.
Kieran remains near the door.
No one underestimates him now.
Not after the ley-line rupture.
“You destroyed the ridge,” Kade says flatly.
“I corrected a flaw.”
“You nearly collapsed divine infrastructure across three territories.”
“Yes.”
He says it like we’re discussing irrigation repairs.
“You don’t regret it,” I observe.
“Regret is for those who doubt their c
