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Another hard swallow, and a short nod. Again, his lip quivered, tears erupting down his cheeks.

“We’ll get crystals together, and we’ll begin extracting them by the day’s end. Gradually, we’ll move them into the abyss to be reborn.” Pa brushed past me, starting around the table to Lux. “We’ll keep them within the Elder’s Hall for safe haven.”

Again, Lux nodded.

Damn it.

Remorse. He felt true, genuine remorse. This hadn’t been an evil ruse to conquer the world. He fucked up, and he did want to fix it.

“You still have to pay for this,” I said.

Lux turned to me. “I know—”

“Why?” Michael asked.

“What do you meanwhy?” I asked. “He killed billions. That can’t go unpunished—”

“Unpunished by who?” Gabriel stepped up, putting a hand on Pa’s chest to keep him from getting closer to Lux. “You? The four of you? The twenty-four of you?”

“Yes.” Venark joined me at the head of the table. “Because there used to be a council for things like this, but he fucking killed them all.”

Suddenly, Barachiel stood before Venark, only a few inches from his face. “Watch the way you speak in a house that isn’t yours.”

“Fuck off,” Venark snapped. “Let the adults handle—”

He flung a hand around Venark’s throat.

Lux rushed to his feet. “Keep your hands to yourself, esiasch.”

I lapsed behind Barachiel, circled my arms around him, and lapsed again, this time to the table beside Lux. Barachiel lifted his elbow to jam it into my gut. I grabbed his wrist and slammed him face first to the table beside Lux.

Meeting my brother’s gaze, I said, “Get your sons under control before I have to.”

“Truly.” Hana grabbed Venark’s face, examining him for injuries. “We’re only trying to discuss—”

“No, you’re trying to arraign.” Michael’s hand fell to the blade on his hip, closing in behind me. “And it looks like you already have, Uncle. Release him.”

I snorted a laugh. “This doesn’t concern you. Any of you. Leave so that we can discuss—” Suddenly, cold metal touched my neck from behind. Uriel said, “You’re attempting to arrest the King of Heaven. It does far more thanconcernus.”

Again, a faint laugh.

This was humorous, truly.

Each of these men, I’d held as children. I’d taught the boy behind me to hold a blade, and he had the nerve to raise one to my throat?

“That’senough,” Lux spat, eyes darting around the room. “You’re acting like children—”

“We’re acting like the men you raised us to be,” Jegudiel said, somewhere out of my line of sight.

Could I argue with that?

“He doesn’t deserve punishment for this.” Gabriel still held a hand on Pa’s chest, not turning to look at the rest of us. “He killed people who committed treason. They deserved what they got.”

“The innocent civilians did not,” Pa said. His tone was more level than the rest of ours’. “There have to be repercussions.”

“There are always casualties in war,” Michael said. “If he hadn’t done what he did, our people—the ones of this world—would die at the hands of those who betrayed us.”

“I’m failing to understand what this has to do with you,” I said. “You were a child when we founded this world. You—”