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“I do not have a TV addiction.”

“You stay up to watch new shows the moment they come out,” the younger Regis countered.

“That’s a perfectly reasonable response to the evil invention that iscliffhangers.” Cassius spat the last word like it was his personal nemesis.

“I’m with you on that,” I told him. Then a thought came to me. “Wait, you have electricity in the manor?”

Everything I’d seen so far was run by magic, and the level of consciousness the house showed ought to have made it completely incompatible with most technology.

“And how do you stream TV shows here? I mean, I know we have internet now, but the connection is so awful I can barely download pictures, let alone actual movies.”

I watched a few shows, but I had to download them on my laptop when I was out of town.

Again, the two men exchange a look, Cassius amused. He turned to his grandson. “Well?”

Lucian rolled his eyes at his grandfather before turning to me. “There’s electricity in a few rooms—including the home cinema and an office or two.”

Naturally, he had a bloody home cinema.

"They’re warded in iron, like the dungeons, though it’s a little less impregnable. As for the speed, give me your phone."

Immensely curious, I retrieved it from my back pocket and complied without question.

My phone was nothing fancy, because they were pretty useless other than to place calls and receive texts. The oldest models on the market would do. It wasn’t that bad, and I could technically access the internet, but I didn’t bother unless I was outside of Highvale.

Our location—in the middle of the Alps, much higher up than any towns, with no human settlement for hundreds of miles—our shields, and the general amount of magic in the air made the connection utterly rubbish. We didn’t have a phone network or internet at all until a tech company opened a connection that worked through the shields about seven years ago. It was a godsend—despite how expensive and inefficient it was. Now, we could call each other and send texts, though they didn’t always reach the intended person right away.

Quickly, Lucian ran through a few of my settings and handed me the device back. I barely even noticed what he did.

“Try a streaming app now.”

I navigating through the screen, and to my absolute shock, it immediately connected, showing dozens of movie options, with zero lag. All I could say was, “How?”

Lucian shrugged. “I own the satellite—and network.”

My jaw fell. By this point, I thought I was pretty desensitized to Lucian’s insane level of wealth, but this latest discovery didn’t compute. He couldn’t possibly have said that. People didn’t ownsatellites. “How fucking rich are you?” I yelped.

He shrugged. “It was a sound investment. It pretty much paid for itself, really. A phone line is something every single person in Highvale needs.”

“Well, your network sucks.” Except it didn’t. It was working just fine on my phone. “Wait a minute, it could be fast likethiseverywhere?”

“Not really. The cable lines have been tricky to install and protect against the level of magic in Highvale. If millions of people used it all at once, the overall connection wouldn’t be as fast as it is now.” Lucian leaned in. “And if you share my details with anyone, I’ll know, Valesco.”

Had he really logged me onto his personal network?

“You didn’t share with Gideon, did you?” I glared.

“Do you want Gideon to have unfettered access to reality TV, shows he won’t shut up about, and porn?”

Come to think of it, I didn’t, but I wasn’t ready to drop it. It felt so damn unfair that the entirety of Highvale would depend on the shittiest of connections while he…didn’t. “Capitalism is evil. You’re way too expensive for shitty service.”

He was completely unabashed. “I don’t bother my pretty head about things such as pricing. I have executives for that. I just own the business. There was a need and I filled it. You could try to say thank you for your twenty gigabits per second, if you’d like.”

“I might when I stop being annoyed with you.”

He was grinning, so it took about thirty seconds for my mouth to curve up in response. I couldn’t help it. It was as hard to stay mad at Lucian for long; he was just like Gideon in that respect.

With a sigh, I grumbled, “Thank you.”