Chapter 15 - The Weight of the Charter
The silence in the grand hall was heavy enough to crack glass. Ethan stared at the embossed seal on the injunction, feeling a cold spike of adrenaline race through his veins. For a moment, the old fear—the terror of being locked in a room, of being monitored, of being treated like a specimen rather than a person—threatened to pull him back into his childhood.
Then he looked past Sterling, out the tall glass windows where Elara’s luminous blue eye watched him steadily from the lawn.
"You think a piece of paper signed by men who died two centuries ago overrides federal law and modern emancipation?" Ethan asked, his voice chillingly quiet.
"Federal law respects corporate succession trusts when national security is invoked," Sterling replied, his smile never faltering. "And our friends in Washington are very concerned about what happens when an unstable teenager holds the keys to Newport's energy grid. You have twenty-four hours to vacate the premises, or federal marshals will enforce the repossession."
The marshal looked uncomfortable, clearly aware that enforcing this particular writ on a boy who commanded a dragon was a dangerous gamble, but protocol bound his hands.
"I won't be leaving," Ethan said simply.
"Then we will return tomorrow with a full federal detachment," Sterling said, turning toward the door. "Enjoy your last night under this roof, Ethan."
As the black cars sped down the driveway, Ethan felt the subterranean pulse beneath the estate quicken. The obsidian core in the lower vault answered the tension in his blood, whispering promises of absolute destruction.
May you like
Let them come, the dark voice echoed in his mind. Show them what happens when the cage breaks.
Ethan closed his eyes, drawing a deep, steady breath. "No," he whispered to himself. "Not like them."
