"Later." But his eyes are still hungry. "After."
"After?"
"After you kill your father." He crosses to me, crowds me against the table, his hands bracing on either side of my hips. "After you put a bullet in him with the gun I made for you. Aftereveryone knows what you're capable of." His mouth brushes my ear. "Then I'm going to take you apart so thoroughly you won't remember your own name."
My knees nearly buckle.
"That's—"
"Motivation." He pulls back, and his smile is all edge. "Gear. We move in an hour."
Back in his chambers, I strip off his shirt and pull on dark clothes from his wardrobe. Fitted for shadow work. He's doing the same beside me, and the silence between us hums with everything we're not doing.
The shift from lovers to killers happens without thought. We both know what comes next.
"Knife." He passes me a blade. "Backup. Left boot."
I take it and sheath it where he indicates.
"You're very good at this." The words come out drier than I intend. "Arming women for patricide. Regular hobby or am I special?"
"Just you." His smile flashes, quick and sharp. "Always just you."
"Lucky me."
He's armed now too, his own weapons settled into place with the ease of long practice. Coat over everything, hiding the arsenal underneath. He looks like himself again—the Titan who walked into a plaza and killed the head of Faith without blinking. Ancient and dangerous.
Mine.
I'm keeping him.
"Ready?"
I touch the gun at my thigh. Feel the solid weight of it, the green detailing I can't see but know is there.
My father dies tonight. I claimed this kill. I'm going to look him in the eyes and end him for every bruise, every beating, every year of watching Seris learn to flinch.
"Ready."
Night has fallen outside the windows. The compound is quiet, waiting. Somewhere in the city, my father is sitting in House Solyne thinking he has time. Thinking Seris is still his shield.
He's wrong about all of it.
The door opens. Koshin steps through first, and I follow.
Armed. Claimed. Ready.
Tonight, I fix what I broke by leaving.
The God of War is joining us on a murder run. Great. Mysterious divine tagalongs—very reassuring for my first patricide.
Caius doesn't explain. He just falls into step beside Koshin as we leave the compound, his bulk filling the corridor, and says, "I'm coming."
Koshin doesn't argue. Neither does Renan. So I guess that's happening now. Let's make patricide a group activity.
"Does he do this often?" I keep my voice low. "Insert himself into other people's family trauma?"
"He does what he wants." Koshin's hand brushes my lower back, light and brief. "Like everyone else in this city."
