The voice came from behind him, and it was familiar in the way that old scars were familiar.
"Kaiden Grey."
He didn't turn around.
"We need to talk. Right now."
Selena Ashborn's voice carried the clipped authority of a woman who'd grown up being obeyed. Behind her, Kaiden heard two more sets of footsteps on the stone, and he didn't need to look to know who they belonged to. The twins walked the same way they'd always walked, a half-step behind their older sister, the natural rhythm of two people who'd shared a womb and never quite separated.
Kaiden kept his legs dangling over the edge and his eyes on the basin.
"You've gone too far." Selena's boots stopped a few meters behind him. Her voice dropped to a hiss that was quiet enough to stay between them and sharp enough to cut. "Father is furious. Do you understand what you've done? What that little performance is going to cost you?"
"He was already furious," Kaiden said. To the basin.
