Seth kicked his opponent in the chest, decapitated him as he fell, and shouted, “Ged!” He approached at a run. “He had no choice.”
Ged glanced at his brother. “You broke him out, didn’t you? You never did learn how to follow orders.”
Jacen tried to back away, out of Ged’s reach, while his focus was split. But Ged pivoted, lightning-quick, and swung his sword down in an arc that would have taken off Jacen’s head. Jacen barely sensed his intent in time to dodge. Ged struck again—but Seth brought up his own sword, knocking Ged’s out of the way.
Metal clanged against metal. The brothers circled each other, blades in parallel. Ged’s eyes had gone wide with fury. “You don’t want to fight me.”
“Try it,” Seth snapped. He did not lower his sword. “Remember what happened last time we sparred?”
Though few would have dared say it to Ged’s face, Seth had always been the superior swordsman. Even tired, even out of prime fighting shape, he would prove a formidable opponent. Seth knew it. Ged knew it. A shadow fell over his face, and he lowered his sword.
Seth stood firmly between Ged and Jacen. “For gods’ sake, we are all on the same side.”
Jacen did not dare move. He had no right to make demands. He watched and held his breath, the only sound the patter of rain on stone.
“Stand down,” said Seth. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Avram Semira’s voice thundered across the shattered chamber. “Enough!”
The High Lord limped toward them, injured but furious. Trailing after him was Ogden. The old healer briefly met Jacen’seyes but behaved as though they’d never met. He moved at a leisurely pace and said nothing as Avram demanded of his sons, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“We’ve saved you,” Ged snarled.
Those knights, Jacen realized, had not been protecting Avram.
They had been keeping him—and Ogden—prisoner.
“My own honor guard—Captain Armias, all of them, following Church orders—” Avram almost lost his balance on the rain-slicked floor. His clothing was torn, his face bruised, and blood crusted on his tattooed forehead. “The inquisitors will be here soon. The gods have lost confidence in our family. We have held this city together since the Cataclysm, and you’veruinedus.” He stabbed a finger at Ged. “I should have known better. You were never worthy of this legacy. Of course you would be the one to destroy it. And you, Seth”—hurt emanated from the High Lord as he looked to his younger son—“I thought better of you.”
Ged’s face contorted—a desperate attempt to hold in a torrent of emotion for which they had no time. He spat at his father, “What legacy? Our power was never real. If you’d rather mourn that era than build a new one, perhaps you ought to die with it.”
“You don’t understand,” said the High Lord. “We’re all already dead.
Casandra and Damirare dead. I received word yesterday.” Seth’s grip on his sword trembled. “Oh, gods.”
Jacen had never known Ged to be a caring father, even to his legitimate children. He’d left the work of raising them to his late wife Lilaya and only took an interest in the twins when they began their training for knighthood. But now he was overcome with horror. He managed just one word, barely a croak: “How?”
“Your son died by the sword.” Avram’s voice carried the weight of grief, but he left no room for misinterpretation. “Your daughter was burned.”
“Oh, gods,” Seth said again. He reached toward his brother, only to be ignored. “That shouldn’t have happened.” To Avram, he said sharply, “And Neri?”
“You know perfectly well it’d be a miracle if he survived.”
He found the demon,Jacen realized. He searched Ogden’s face for a reaction, and this time, he saw one—the briefest flicker of triumph.
“You never found Neri,” Jacen asserted. “The Church doesn’t have him, do they?”
Avram said nothing.
“He’s with that woman,” said Ged. “When I find her?—”
Avram held up a hand. “It doesn’t matter. You sent your children to the canyon. You started this war. Their blood is on your hands.”
Above, a gap in the rainclouds let in the moonslight. The High Lord’s black metal ring glimmered, and something occurred to Jacen. He pointed at it. “You use that ring to control Zivora’s infrastructure, don’t you?” Ged had said as much. “What else does it do?”
Avram’s face betrayed no emotion, but he was in no state to lie to a telepath. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The polyhedra.” Jacen spoke slowly, puzzling it out. “Can you shut them down?”
