The heavy oak doors of the foyer didn't just open; they were thrown back with a lack of ceremony that bordered on an act of war. The sound echoed through the high-vaulted ceilings, a sharp crack that vibrated against the marble floor beneath my feet. Kasper stood a pace in front of me, a wall of broad shoulders and rigid tension. His shadow was long and jagged, cast across the polished stone by the flickering light of the hearth. I could see the muscles of his back bunching beneath the fine silk of his shirt, a silent, lethal warning to the men spilling into the entryway.
