Page 30 of Redline Communion

“Ash isn’t eligible for the claim.”

Dominic doesn’t look surprised.

That tells me enough.

“Because of the girl.”

“Because the attachment was never dissolved.”

“Same thing, functionally.”

“Not to him.”

One corner of Dominic’s mouth shifts. “You’ll have to tell him.”

“I know.”

“Today. Before he hears it from someone with less reason to be careful about how they say it.”

He’s right.

I leave the office with the clause still open on the screen behind me. Dominic turns back to the feeds as though the conversation cost him nothing, while I go looking for my brother with a sentence I haven’t figured out how to make land softly.

I find Ash in the garage, alone this time, running a rag over a wrench he isn’t using.

“We need to talk.”

“About what?”

“The Offering. There’s an eligibility issue.”

He sets the rag down. His jaw tightens before I say anything else, as if he has already decided this is going to hurt and wants to be ready when it does.

“Say it.”

“Your arrangement with Talia is still formally recognized by the house. Under the rite’s rules, that makes you ineligible to participate in the claim.”

He stares at me.

“You’re joking.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re telling me I don’t get a claim on her because of a relationship you arranged.”

“It was never meant to—”

“I don’t care what it was meant to do.” His voice climbs faster than I’ve heard it climb in years. “I care what it’s doing. It’s locking me out of the one thing in this house I’ve actually let myself want because of paperwork you filed.”

“I didn’t arrange it to hurt you.”

“You arranged it to control me. Apparently intent doesn’t matter much when the result is the same.”

The phrasing is close enough to something I would say that I hear the theft immediately.

“Ash.”

“No. You don’t get to Ash me right now.”