Liam, Arik, and Mezos arrived at Lab V less than half an hour later.

Fortunately for everyone involved, neither the Crown Prince of Agaron nor his newly announced fiancée had been seen entering the technical university grounds together.

Considering the state of Wrohan’s media ecosystem, that counted as a minor miracle.

The transport route had been changed three times. Two separate decoy vehicles had crossed the eastern bridge, and Mezos had personally rerouted surveillance around the lower canal sector with the terrifying efficiency of a man who considered national infrastructure merely a suggestion.

Even so, Alexander still looked deeply suspicious when the secured elevator doors opened.

The Lab V security guard stood near the central checkpoint with his arms crossed, his dark uniform immaculate despite the late hour and the industrial heat lingering through the lower corridors.

His gaze moved first toward Liam, automatically checking for any reason to take him from the prince that gave him the shivers.

Only afterward did he look toward Arik, and unfortunately, that was where the problems began.

Because Alexander had spent years shielding both Lab V and Liam from Wrohan’s aristocracy, intelligence divisions, industrial competitors, opportunistic journalists, and approximately six hundred varieties of political stupidity.

He had maintained a delicate balance of rumor around Liam very intentionally.

Brilliant engineer.

Difficult personality.

Questionable sleep schedule.

Possibly married to caffeine.

Nothing more.

Now George had announced an engagement to the Crown Prince of Agaron using royal stationery and catastrophic timing, and suddenly every media outlet in Wrohan was trying to uncover details about Liam’s private life like starving animals discovering fresh blood in the water.

Alexander strongly disliked this development.

His eyes narrowed slightly as Arik stepped fully out of the elevator beside Liam with the ease of a man already considering the omega his.

Alexander immediately developed the expression of a man reconsidering several life choices simultaneously.

Liam noticed at once.

"Don’t start."

"I said nothing."

"You’re thinking aggressively."

"That is because I am under emotional attack."

Arik looked faintly amused by the exchange while Mezos remained near the elevator entrance scanning the corridor with quiet attention.

Alexander pointed once toward Arik without looking away from Liam.

"The royal announcement caused three separate media drones to appear near the outer canal district this morning."

"I know."

"One reporter tried to bribe a technician."

Liam frowned, his red eyes narrowing.

"How much?"

Alexander looked offended.

"That is not the point."

"That means it worked on someone enough for the number to circulate."

"It did not work."

"But there was a number."

Alexander stared at him in betrayal.

Arik’s mouth curved slightly, very much amused by the situation.

Mezos, traitorously, looked entertained.

Alexander noticed immediately and decided that this was not the day for him to lose his composure because of a younger generation apparently determined to treat international political tension like a personality trait.

So he redirected the conversation toward matters significantly more important than bantering.

"There is some news about... your father’s family."

Liam stalled instantly. The pause was brief, one that happened when someone already knew the next sentence would irritate them before hearing it.

"What happened?" he asked carefully.

The atmosphere shifted in less than a second.

Arik moved closer without seeming to move at all.

One moment he stood beside the elevator corridor; the next he occupied the space near Liam’s shoulder naturally enough to look unintentional.

Alexander noticed immediately and, to his immense credit, recovered from the surprise fast enough not to visibly react.

"Ray Canmore attempted to enter the sector this afternoon," Alexander said evenly. "He believed you were here and requested access."

Liam closed his eyes briefly.

"Then Cain arrived roughly twenty minutes later," Alexander continued. "They argued with security separately. Neither managed to bypass the wards."

Mezos’ expression sharpened slightly at that.

"They tested the wards directly?"

Alexander nodded once.

"Cain did."

Liam let out a slow breath through his nose, already exhausted by the situation.

He sincerely hoped Felix and his sons would remain occupied with George trying to leverage Agaron’s interest in Liam for political gain and leave Lab V out of their ambitions entirely.

Unfortunately, Liam had been alive too long within Wrohan’s aristocracy to believe in that kind of luck.

"My mother will keep them occupied for a while," he said at last. "She sent me a message earlier. Apparently Felix is already trying to gain additional leverage from the engagement."

Arik’s expression cooled slightly.

"Leverage," he repeated softly.

Liam noticed the tone immediately and regretted the phrasing.

"He’ll try to strengthen Canmore’s positioning around George," Liam clarified. "Public alignment with Agaron increases their market value politically."

"That was expected to happen," Arik said, placing his right hand lightly at the small of Liam’s back. "We will deal with it. Agaron still has the advantage."

The touch was restrained enough to pass as courtesy.

Unfortunately, Liam had become far too aware of Arik for courtesy to remain harmless.

He glanced down once, then back toward the central chasm.

"Your confidence is offensive."

"I’m a crown prince."

"That does not make it less offensive."

Alexander made a faint sound under his breath but wisely chose not to comment. He led them through the secured corridor toward the inner platform, where the walls shifted from polished industrial stone to reinforced black metal lined with sensor strips, pressure indicators, and old emergency markings that had been repainted too many times to look comforting.

They had used this route before.

Not officially.

Officially, the Crown Prince of Agaron and several members of his diplomatic corps had never stood inside Lab V’s controlled ether zones to relieve the strain caused by Wrohan’s owl brooches.

Officially, the yellow square near the inner walkway was merely a marked maintenance field attached to one of the Vanguard’s auxiliary relays.

Officially, Liam was not allowing foreign arcanists to absorb refined white-grade ether from an illegal civilian grid hidden beneath Wrohan’s noble infrastructure.

Officially, Wrohan was a functional country.

Liam had become increasingly hostile toward official things.

Mezos moved with familiar precision as they approached the platform, his gaze already sweeping the upper railings, relay junctions, and access doors. The Shadows posted discreetly along the perimeter had been here before as well, enough times now that they knew where to stand without interfering with the lab’s systems.

That familiarity irritated Alexander.

It reassured him too.

He did not say either aloud.

Beneath them, the Vanguard turned steadily in the open chasm.

It was impossible to see the machine and not feel it.

The turbine rings moved with vast, deliberate grace, pulling unstable red ether through the lower intake channels. The raw current pulsed like exposed heat, restless and almost violent as it entered the first containment lattice.

Then the Vanguard caught it.

Red folded into blue.

Blue sharpened into white.

By the time the purified ether rose through the upper relay spine, it was clean enough to make the air taste different.

Liam looked toward the yellow square painted across the black floor plating near the relay junction. The paint was deliberately ugly, practical rather than elegant, bordered by warning sigils and manual cut-off levers.

"You know the procedure," he said.

Mezos nodded once.