While Kaiden Grey lay in a warm tent with a purring Pharaoh on his back and five women who would die for him sleeping within arm's reach, a very different scene was playing out in the New Dawn command quarters.
Magnus Ashborn's communication artifact activated.
Three seconds of silence. Then the connection accepted, and the face of Eleanora Voss, Senior Director of the Awakened Association's Competition Division, materialized in the air before him. She looked exactly as she had at every briefing, every podium address, every formal interaction Magnus had endured in the past: composed, unhurried, and utterly indifferent to the emotional state of whoever was speaking to her.
"Guildmaster Ashborn," she greeted. "How can I assist you?"
"Did you think I wouldn't find out?"
