After I'd tucked Stella into bed with an extra story and an extra security sweep of her room, I went back to my office and found the rest of my inner circle already waiting.
The change from father to Guild Master was getting easier with practice. I still wasn't sure whether that was something to be proud of.
Rose sat at the conference table with a tablet in front of her and her auburn hair pinned up the way she wore it when she meant to work late. Elias had taken his usual place at the far end, his notes laid out in neat columns, his glasses pushed up on his forehead. Reika stood behind my chair, as she always did, with the bright, contained look that meant she'd spent the day collecting things she wanted to tell me.
"The market's taken it better than we expected," Rose said as I sat down. "Ferraclysm's old clients are relieved, if anything. Especially the Imperial military. They don't have to manage two suppliers who hate each other any more."
