“It goes against the goddesses to alter oneself like you have done.”
“Every one of us is a sinner in some way,” Jin Kol says. Each of his movements coming a fraction before my instincts. It must be the predictive subroutines firing inside his nervous system. And for the first time in years, I have to fight defensively. Thankfully, Rafe has been particularly brutal these last months during our sparring.
“Yes, but to sin in that particular way, to defile your body daily, is a greater sin. It’s no wonder that no one wants to be near you.”
The crowd around us gasps as Jin Kol drives me back toward the mess’s wall, but then I think of Eve, and push back harder.
He feints low, then high—my blade answers and I nick his forearm anddraw blood. In my mind, I can hear Kellen from the Spire call the point. Here, the crowd surges closer, but I don’t let them distract me.
“You sold the video,” I say, so it’s on record that everyone hears. “The one of me, Rafe, and Eve at the Obsidian Palace. You sold it to seventeen buyers. You made a market of her pain and punishment.”
“Business—” I cut him off with my sword. But he continues, “She’s a criminal and is guilty of a crime…”
I lunge at him, barely holding my anger in check.
He throws a cup of Arcus Flare into the air to blind me—the kind of small theatrics a coward tries. Foam and liquor splatter across the floor and wet my bare feet.
Then he lunges back at me. “You think this is justice?” he sneers between strikes. “You’re just another Reima Two Outcast who wishes he was still Imperial and born of a legitimate line. It’s no wonder you and your brother love a human. You’re both degenerates yourselves.”
“You talk too much,” I say, slipping beneath his next cut. The pattern of his augments flickers—every surge of red light is a command pulse from the implanted core behind his heart. I realize now he’s only running himself through an algorithm of sparring. And all algorithms can be broken.
I shift my tempo, giving him chaos instead of rhythm. The next time I see the red light, I catch his wrist and twist as hard as I can while I use my sword to cut and watch as bone and metal shear apart. Followed by a fountain of bright sparks and coppery blood that sprays the floor all around us.
Jin Kol stumbles, breathing hard. “You can’t—stop—law—I am better than you. I always will be.”
“The law doesn’t bleed,” I tell him. “But you do.” Then, I drive my blade through his chest with a satisfying slicing sound that ends with metal hitting metal behind his heart. Then I watch in fascination as the light beneath his skin erupts, circuits beginoverloading, and the smell of burned flesh surrounds us. “I hope you’re greeted properly in the Afterlife by all those whom you have wronged.”
Jin Kol opens his mouth to say something, but only black smoke and blood escape his lips. Then the sparking and the lights within him fade, and Jin Kol is just a man again—naked, smoking, mortal and most importantly dead.
No one around us makes a sound.
I look down at his burned flesh and say, “That was justice for Eve.”
Vo breaks the silence by marking the time.
I draw my bloody blade free and then turn to my men. I don’t speak. There’s no reason to. I’ve done what I came here to do, and I don’t think anyone is going to stop us from leaving. This was all legal. And even if they don’t think it was, they obviously don’t care if Jin Kol is dead.
We return to the ship in silence, once there, I give the order: “I want an emergency trajectory locked into the Celestial Spire. Chain the jumps. Ignore the degradation warnings. If the hull screams, let her scream. I want to be at the Spire by tomorrow morning.”
I’m coming to get you, Eve. Just hold on a little bit longer.
74
THE TRUTH ABOUT ZIRA , RAFE
I put away my IC,content with how Jin Kol’s death has been handled.
News of the duel reached me before Lorian’s ship even cleared hyperspace. The IGC feeds were already spinning it as “an ancient Imperial rite, tragically revived.” But I have to congratulate Zira, as House Serath moved fast—her lawyers filed that Jin Kol hadacceptedthe Rite of Restitution challenge, making the outcome a ritual execution rather than murder before anyone could say differently.
But it came at a cost; the Ascendant Alliance paid a fortune in silence. But it was worth it. After what Lorian showed me, I also wanted Jin Kol dead. But unlike Lorian, I would have done it quietly. I would have waited for the opportune moment, even if it would have taken years.
I walk into ourpseudo-shared suite in the Spire. "It's done. The last signature has been signed, and everything's in place."
Zira sits up in bed. “Are we talking about Lorian being cleared of Jin Kol’s death or the personhood laws and Eve’s new sentence?”
"Both. Dealt with done. Passed. Ratified. Legal." I sink onto the bed—the bed we all shared for appearances once, but never forintimacy. "Six months of planning, of this sham marriage, of careful political maneuvering, and it's all finally done."
Zira scans the documents on her IC. "We actually did it. The marriage served its purpose exactly as designed. And Lorian got to kill Jin Kol. I must admit, the footage from Ariel Stationalmostmade me regret we never consummated our marriage.” She smiles.
