Dean had seen Arion hold authority before, enough times that it should not have felt new.
He had watched him command soldiers in the forest, had seen entire groups of infected beasts still themselves under the weight of his presence, had sat through council meetings where Arion dismantled arguments without raising his voice, and had watched older nobles discover too late that his patience was not the same thing as indecision.
Even as Crown Prince, Arion had never been someone people could easily ignore.
Being Emperor changed something anyway.
Dean noticed it most clearly during an autumn reception held for representatives from several southern provinces, nearly two months after Naomi's birth and far enough into Arion's reign that the title should have started feeling ordinary.
It had not.
