**Anna's POV:**

The word *reassume* sits in the room like a dropped weight.

Karl isn't finished.

"Lady Martha has already left with her legal counsel." His voice stays level, the voice he uses when things are serious and he needs everyone in the room to stay with him. "She said—" A pause. The briefest one. The kind Karl allows himself when he needs a half second before the hard part. "She said if you don't relinquish Anna, she intends to make a ...