Page 49 of Legacy Found

"I know it's how it works." I look at him. "But do you think it's right?"

And he opens his mouth to answer—the same easy, automatic answer—and then he stops.

Actually stops. I watch it happen. I watch the reflex arrive and then not fire, watch his certainty falter, like a gear that's always turned freely suddenly hitting a tooth it's never hit before. He doesn't say anything. He's thinking—really thinking, maybe for the first time, about a system he's never once had reason to question.

I can't help it. I smile. "I broke your brain."

Luke almost smiles back. "For a second."

"I just don't get it," I say, quieter. "Why someone should get respect handed to them because of who their great-great-grandparents were. That's not the person's doing. They didn't earn it." I shrug. "I'd rather earn mine. I think it means more when you do."

And Luke — Prince Lucian Draeven, heir to one of the three families that built this entire world — doesn't have an answer for me.

"He doesn't know."

The voice comes from the bleachers.

I look up.

Soren hasn't moved. He's still sitting with his forearms braced on his knees, huge enough that the bench looks undersized beneath him, pale eyes on me.

Luke glances over. "Thank you, Soren."

"You're welcome."

I bite back a smile.

Soren's gaze stays on mine.

"You're asking the wrong question," he says.

"Am I?"

"You keep asking whether blood makes someone worthy to lead." He pauses. "It doesn't."

That gets my attention. Apparently Luke's too, because he turns fully toward him.

Soren continues, calm as ever. "Blood determines who is expected to lead. Whether they're worthy of it is another matter."

For a second, I just stare at him.

"That's..." I point at him. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"No." The faintest shift touches his mouth. Not quite a smile. "You're saying the system is wrong."

"And you're not?"

"I'm saying a title is an obligation. Not evidence of character."

The way he says it makes me wonder how long he's been thinking about that. I look at him differently. Until now, Soren has mostly been the enormous silent one. Polite and impossible to read.

But that stillness is hiding more than I thought. And suddenly I really want to know what it is.

"So if you met someone without a title who'd make a better leader than you?"

Soren doesn't even hesitate.

"I'd follow them."