Rex POV
Istha's words follow me down the corridor like smoke.
You'll regret this.
I've been regretting things since I was seventeen years old. I'm practiced at it. Whatever she thinks she's threatening me with, I've already lived through worse.
I force myself back to my study.
This is the rational decision. Selene is angry. I am — not angry exactly, but unsettled in a way that would make the conversation worse rather than better if I go to her now. I've learned, slowly and at significant cost, that walking into a room carrying the dragon's restlessness tends to end badly for everyone involved.
I sit at the desk. Pull the nearest stack of documents toward me. Three pack disputes requiring arbitration, a border incident near the eastern territory, a trade request from a human settlemen
