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Like a gift. Rowan's my gift to myself. Before Dad rips him away.

Unless he's truly innocent, of course, caught in a game where he shouldn't be.

"…Ciaran?"

I blink, then realize that Rowan was talking to me. "What?"

He smiles, and his face flushes adorably. "I was asking if you have national service here on Sero."

I shake my head. "Not anymore. I mean, not for some of us. Dad managed to convince the Imperial that he needed me and my cousins in the business. Some other families managed the same result."

He cocks his head. "But for the others?"

"The local population? Yeah, they have a two-year service."

"I should have known. The Virel family basically rules half of Sero, right?" He huffs. "Every club, company, and even factories are all in your name. Of course you wouldn't go into service like everyone else."

"Hey, can't risk losing my life and our business," I joke lightly, but my mind is spinning.

Because little Rowan here has been digging around.

Sure, there are rumors, but unless Adrian has been blabbing his big mouth, he shouldn't know this much.

Then again, maybe he's simply been doing exactly what I've been doing, looking, paying attention, and trying to figure out who he's dealing with ever since Dad asked me to keep an eye on him.

"People on Sero know who the Virels are," I say. "That part isn't a secret."

His gaze flicks toward the image still glowing faintly on the slate. "So I was told."

I study him. "And who exactly was doing the telling?"

Rowan hesitates. "Adrian, mostly."

My gaze drifts toward the floor beneath us, where the distant roar of the pit still rises every now and then. I should've hit that motherfucker harder.

"Damaris found a newspaper clipping about the event."

"The one you're performing at?"

"Yeah. There was something in it about the Orlovs, and about how Adrian's family was one of the families that lost everything."

"That part is true." I lift one shoulder. "The Orlovs were one of the old ruling families here. When they fell, they took a lot of other people's fortunes down with them."

My gaze drops to my drink. "Vera Orlov most of all. My mother's old rival from the academy. When the family got banned from Sero, she lost everything she'd ever been."

His brow furrows. "So the Voss family really lost everything?"

"Most of it," I murmur, drumming my fingers against the bench. "Wrong investments. Wrong alliances. Wrong time."

Something that looks suspiciously like sympathy crosses his face. "That's awful."

"Hmm, it is."

"Then why did you beat the shit out of him?"

A laugh escapes me, and I lean closer. "That wasn't about his family's fortune, little mouse."

"Then what was it about?"