Felix’s smile grew sharper.

"I need my grandson for an hour," he said. "Either he comes with me, or everyone around him is going to bleed their lungs out before Stanford takes his second step."

His light purple eyes moved to Liam.

"You choose."

Liam felt the world stop around him. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The sunlight on the polished black side of the ether car seemed to linger coldly. The white knuckles of Enia’s hand around Liam’s wrist. Mirelle’s breath, sharp and controlled beside him. Andreas frozen in the doorway with two assistants behind him, all three pale enough to look already half-dead. Stanford standing several paces away, one hand raised slightly to hold back the shadows who had appeared from places no normal person would have noticed.

They had surrounded the car in a very subtle way.

One on the opposite roofline. Two by the side alley. Another near the streetlamp, dressed like a passerby and holding himself like a blade. Stanford had moved fast. The Shadows had moved faster.

They were ready to die for him.

Liam hated them for it.

No. That was not true. He hated that he cared enough for it to hurt.

Felix’s gaze drifted lazily over the street, acknowledging every hidden position with faint amusement.

"Very impressive," he said. "Agaron trains them well."

Stanford’s face remained empty. "Step out of the car."

Felix smiled.

The assistant behind Andreas coughed.

Once.

Softly.

Then again, harder.

A thin line of red slipped from his nose.

Enia made a small sound.

Liam’s stomach went cold.

Felix did not even look at the assistant. "I gave my word."

Mirelle’s hand tightened around the hidden blade beneath her sleeve. "You call that a word?"

"I call it a demonstration."

Stanford’s eyes changed.

It was slight, but Liam saw it. The moment the man stopped calculating survival and began calculating acceptable casualties.

"No," Liam said.

Stanford did not look at him. "My lord."

"No."

"If you enter that car—"

"If I do not, he kills them."

"He may kill you."

Felix laughed softly. "No. I said an hour."

"And after that?" Stanford asked.

Felix’s light purple eyes returned to Liam with terrible calm.

"After that, it depends on whether my grandson remembers that intelligence is more attractive when applied."

Liam stared at him.

Grandson.

The word sounded obscene from his mouth. Not because it was false. Because Felix said it as if blood gave him shape, as if he had not been a poison stain across Liam’s life long before Liam had known his name.

Enia stepped in front of Liam again. "He is not going anywhere with you."

Felix’s smile did not move.

The assistant behind Andreas choked.

This time, the blood came from his mouth.

Liam felt Enia’s grip tremble.

Felix kept his eyes on Liam. "One hour. Every refusal costs someone a channel."

The poison pulsed through the pheromones around Liam.

Liam felt it move through the air like an invisible net drawn tight around everyone he loved and everyone unfortunate enough to be nearby. It was not wild. It was not uncontrolled. Felix was not flooding the street.

He could keep his word.

He could kill them in order, slowly and precisely, and leave Liam alive to count.

Liam stepped forward.

Enia caught him harder. "No."

"Mother."

"No."

Her voice broke on the second word.

That nearly undid him.

Liam turned to her and, for one second, forgot the car, Felix, Stanford, the Shadows, and the poison spreading in delicate threads through the air.

He saw only Enia.

His mother, who had not always understood him but had still come. Who had sat through fittings and argued over sleeves and smoothed his hair like he was something precious instead of difficult. Who was standing between him and a monster with nothing but love and the absurd belief that love should count as a shield.

It did not.

Not against Felix.

Liam gently pried her fingers from his wrist.

Enia shook her head.

"Arik will come," Liam said quietly.

Her eyes filled with a terror she refused to let fall.

"So will Stanford," Liam added. "So will Mezos. So will everyone who has ever decided I am their problem."

Mirelle let out a broken, furious laugh. "You are everyone’s problem."

"Yes," Liam said. "Exactly."

"Liam," Stanford said.

This time, there was something in his voice.

Liam looked at him.

Stanford was still as stone, but his jaw was tight, and the Shadows around the street were waiting on his breath. If he ordered it, they would move. If Liam stepped back, they would die trying to stop Felix.

Felix would keep his word.

That was the terrible simplicity of it.

Liam gave Stanford the smallest shake of his head.

"Do not make me watch that," he said.

Stanford’s expression did not change, but something in his eyes went cold enough to promise murder later.

Liam accepted that promise and turned toward the car.

He walked before anyone else could touch him.

Every step was measured. Not because he was calm, but because if he hurried, Enia would break. If he hesitated, Mirelle would move. If he looked back too long, Stanford would choose death over obedience.

So Liam walked like an engineer crossing a damaged bridge, aware that every careless shift of weight could collapse everything beneath him.

He stopped beside the open car door.

"One hour," he said.

Felix’s gaze gleamed. "Yes."

"If something happens to them after I get in, if even one person on this street collapses because of you, I will assume your word means nothing."

Felix looked amused. "And?"

"And then I stop cooperating."

"Brave."

"No," Liam said. "Mathematical. You came because you need me conscious, alive, and willing enough to speak. If you did not, you would have poisoned me already."

Felix’s smile thinned.

Liam leaned slightly closer to the open door.

"So keep your word."

For a moment, they stared at each other.

Then Felix lifted one elegant hand.

The sweetness in the air receded.

The assistant behind Andreas collapsed to his knees, coughing, but the red stopped spreading. Andreas caught him with a startled sound. Enia took one involuntary step forward, and Mirelle caught her arm before she could cross the invisible line Felix had drawn around the car.

Felix looked at Liam.

"Get in."

Liam did.

The door shut beside him with a soft, expensive click.

It sounded worse than a lock.

Outside, Enia surged forward.

Stanford moved at once, not to stop Liam, but to stop Enia from crossing into whatever poison Felix still held coiled around the car. Mirelle grabbed her from the other side, both women bracing her between them.

Liam did not look long.

He could not afford to.

Felix sat across from him, pale and composed, his light purple eyes bright with satisfied cruelty.

"There," Felix said. "That was not difficult."

Liam folded his hands in his lap.

His watch sat cold against his wrist.

His hair was still down around his shoulders because Andreas had liked the visual line, and the absurdity of that almost made him laugh.

"You kept your word," Liam said.

"I always keep the useful ones."

"Good."

Felix’s smile became curious. "Good?"

Liam looked out the window as the atelier began to slide away, Enia and Mirelle shrinking behind the dark glass, Stanford already speaking into his communicator with the expression of a man about to unleash hell with proper authorization.

Then Liam turned back to Felix.

"Yes," he said. "It means Arik will know you can be negotiated with."

Felix’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Liam’s voice remained calm.

"And he hates wasting time on things that do not work."

The car turned onto the main road.

Felix studied him in silence for several seconds.

"Oh, your prince won’t negotiate anything with me like he didn’t negotiate with himself to tell you the truth."