Marcus sat in his office, the envelope still warm from Gerald’s hands lying open before him. The invitation rested delicately between his fingers.
He stared at the parchment for a long moment, reading and rereading the words as though they might shift under his gaze and reveal another meaning. But they didn’t. Alexander had said exactly what he meant.
The Ring of Fire... a death challenge.
Marcus leaned back in the seat slowly, though his pulse thrummed with something sharp and electric beneath the surface. He hadn’t expected this. Not from Alexander. Not even after all the careful pressure, the destabilizing moves, the subtle threats, and the political manoeuvring he had planted around him.
But here it was—a direct invitation to the one thing Marcus had always wanted.
A legitimate ch
