Page 125 of A Kiss of Hammer and Flame

‘And Atriposte? The Ozumbre twins, King and Commander?’

‘The same,’ Sullian rasped, his voice likewise raw from Hael’s blows to his throat.

In the light of the man’s interior sun, Sullian could see hair of brown, tinged with the russet of desert earth, and discerning slate-grey eyes. The man smiled.

‘You are the last, then,’ the man mused, quiet pleasure in his voice, as he turned to light the walls of Sullian’s decrepit cell.

Sullian supposed he was, but the last of what? A people who had rejected Cahra’s rule, this horrid, heretic peasant Empress? And the Seers, their foul magicks – plus the malignant, daemonic magicks of their ultimate weapon, Hael?

If this was the future of the realm, then Sullian wanted no part in it, he bristled.

The man burst into laughter. ‘Oh, my dear Commander,’ he sighed, then straightened. ‘How entertaining you shall be. Well met – I am Nektro. And this is no place for you to die. I offer you an opportunity. Now,’ Nektro said, gesturing to the portal shimmering behind him. ‘Shall we leave Hael’stromia to its downfall?’