The Iron Circle closing ceremony was a Dominion social event.

Formal dress. All four houses in attendance. The kind of occasion where political positioning happened during dinner and everyone pretended it was just a celebration.

I arrived with Ronan. He'd handed me the suppressant compounds that morning with one quiet instruction: cycle properly.

"Ready?" he asked as we walked through the doors.

"No."

"Good. Me neither."

I almost smiled.

Ronan adjusted the collar of his formal jacket as ...