The weeks after the incident at Felix's palace settled into something Liam reluctantly had to call productive.
Arik kept his word.
Liam did not get within sight of the palace again.
The operations team continued working with isolated equipment, disposable drones, and storage systems physically removed from the imperial network before anyone examined the data. Severin controlled access personally. Mezos, whose hand had finally improved enough to discard the brace for several hours a day, supervised the technical teams with the enthusiasm of a man who had discovered a new battlefield.
Liam received reports.
Only reports.
Arik had apparently decided that was sufficient.
Liam disagreed.
Arik possessed sovereign authority.
That settled the argument rather efficiently.
Unfortunately, the future emperor had discovered several additional methods of keeping his mate occupied.
Professionally, Liam's days filled almost completely.
