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“When my life is at stake? Yes. I’ve never been fond of the man anyway, so I’m hardly hand-wringing over his fate.” She lifted a shoulder in a dainty shrug. “That’s where you come in. My understanding is that your House is the best hunters and killers in the realm.”

“In any realm.” Daven corrected.

Mannus nodded in a rare show of agreement.

The brothers had been born just forty-eight years apart, so they often functioned like twins. They even looked alike. While Julius was almost pretty in his handsomeness and Rye’s angular face showed off his brooding, the brothers were boyishly charming, complete with dimpled smiles. Before the Fall, they’d been far and away the most popular of the group, because they loved a good party.

“If you’re so skilled at your jobs, it should be an easy task for you to hunt this person down and kill him.” Randa concluded, as if she wanted them to fix her plumbing. “I don’t ask that you like me. I don’t ask that you agree with me. I just ask that you work quickly and with as little mess as possible.”

“Right.” Rye still looked like he half-suspected this was an elaborate trick. “So, uh, how do you want this guy… finished off, then?”

“Oh, I leave the details entirely up to you.” Randa brushed her hair behind her ears. Her hands looked like they’d been made to play the piano and pour tea. Kahn’s eyes followed every graceful movement. “I’m sure you have better ideas than I do on the mechanics of it all.”

Daven nodded like her words were insightful. “Good thinking. You’d be surprised at how many people try and micromanage us on jobs. Slows everything up when amateurs get involved.”

“I’m never slowed up by anything.” Mannus retorted. The two of them argued constantly, so it was no shock that he instantly took the opposite side of his brother.

“You are to!”

“Am not!”

Julius spoke louder to be heard over the bickering, still trying to save Randa from her murderous impulses. “Are you sure you’ve thought this through, Randa? What if you’re wrong about this guy?” He tapped his chest. “If you make a mistake, you’ll carry the stain of this choice for the rest of your life.”

She didn’t look impressed with that warning. “I’ll take my chances.”

“You could go to the Wood House or your buddy Sullivan Pryce or some other do-gooders for protection.” Kahn challenged. “Instead, you’re asking us to be your bodyguards. Why?”

“I don’t want bodyguards.” Randa’s emotionless brown eyes met his. “I just want Saxon, of the Air House dead. And I believe that you do, too.”

That got all the Light Phases' attention.

Hell yes, they wanted Saxon dead! Parald was gone, but there were still a few Air House stragglers left.

The idea of slaughtering Sax was enough to stir even Kahn’s interest. He’d hated that bastard ever since Sax had fled the Cold House rather than fight, when the electricity went out. Saxon was in hiding, though. Everyone knew it.

“Bullshit.” He pushed away from the wall and stalked closer to her. “Why would Saxon be sending you flowers? He has bigger problems than dating.”

Half the realm was looking for Sax, because he’d attacked the Water House, nearly killed Sullivan Pryce, and, according to rumors, was in league with Vandal, formerly of the Light House. Vandal had been Banished for his countless crimes and was now a fugitive. He was on everybody’s shit list, because he was trying to usher in some big war.

“Saxon was my Match’s much, much younger brother.” Randa explained with the serene expression of a Gianisha statue in a church. “Before Hekktor died, they were close.”

Kahn frowned. That was why Saxon had been in the Cold Kingdom, during the Fall. He wanted Freya to cure his brother, who must’ve been Randa’s Phase-Match.

A Match was every Elemental’s ultimate goal. Their true mate. The person born just for them. The one they would love and care for the most. The one whose powers would combine with theirs and make a new whole. That happened during Phazing. The couple had sex for the first time and their individual energies connected into a perfect connection of connectedness. Or some shit.

None of it mattered now.

With so many Phases dead, the odds of finding your one-and-only Match were infinitesimally small. Bad luck, since Phases couldn’t have children outside of a Phase-Match.

The universe was only a few heartbeats away from annihilation, because the Houses couldn’t replace their populations. No baby had been born since the Fall. Only two pregnancies had been reported. The Elementals were in a slow extinction.

In desperation, some of the Phases had turned to humans. It seemed the two species had been interbreeding for a while. Some Matches had been found in the human realm, so that gave most Houses hope. Not the Light Phases, though. They were brutal warriors, lived in a backwater kingdom, and knew nothing about culture. Elemental women avoided them like they carried the Fall. Human women would be the same. All five men knew it.

“So you suddenly need your own brother-in-law murdered?” Julius persisted, still frowning at Randa.

“It’s not sudden. As I said, I’ve never been fond of Saxon.”

“No one’s fond of Saxon.” Daven put in, like her words made a lot of sense. For once, Mannus didn’t argue. Saxon was a massive, murdering, mohawked son of a bitch who got his kicks hurting anyone smaller than himself.