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“Yes, and now I play a part in ruling it.” Michael shot me a look that could shatter even the strongest of men. “This is my world as much as it is yours, and I will do anything to protect it. I thought you would too.”

“I would, but the little girl trapped in a pile of rubble holding her dead infant brother was no fucking threat.” I grabbed the blade at my throat and flung it away, not caring that it sliced across my brother’s cheek. “Whathedid was the greatest terrorist attack anyone has ever seen. The only close comparison is the maalaichte cnihme, and even it doesn’t touch the damage. At least they preserve the worlds. HeruinedMatriaza and Morduaine. They’re uninhabitable—”

“Then the people can come here when they return,” Gabriel said.

“And be underyourrule?” Venark snapped. “You’ll have to kill us all first.”

Before I had time to think, Jegudiel was behind Venark.

Silver slammed through his chest.

My jaw hit the floor.

Hana screamed something, and then a blade impaled her from behind as well.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Lux rushed around the table.

Uriel appeared before him, stopping him from getting to Hana and Venark. “Doing what you don’t have the balls to.”

Barachiel vanished from my grasp.

Selaphiel lapsed before Pa. “This is the only opportunity I’ll give you to leave.”

Pa pounded a fist into his cheek and appeared behind Hana.

Everything was a blur from there.

I didn’t understand what I was witnessing as the swords started flying, my own included. Clangs and clatters, sprays of crimson, grunts and curses, all happening so fast that I couldn’t register a bit of it.

We all were immortal. Venark, Hana, Pa, Lux, Rafael, and I had all taken from the tree of life. The rest of the boys used other means to expand their lives.

Alongside that, everyone in this room was capable of resurrecting the dead. Killing one another was like playing an endless game of tag. Venark and Hana would revive hours after those blades were removed from their bodies.

This was useless.

That was why each slash I made was not enough to kill, only meant to disable. They were afraid for their father’s life, and they were acting on instinct. I understood that, but these temper tantrums needed to cease so we could resolve the problems at hand.

My blade crashed through Barachiel’s wrist, severing it from his body. It’d be a bitch to heal, but he’d live.

In the reflection of my blood-soaked sword, I saw another flying at me from behind. I whirled around.

Metal clanged. Jegudiel’s brown eyes burned into mine. “Surrender, Nix.”

Not worth my breath.

I lapsed behind him, hooked an arm around his throat, and yanked back with all my weight. When a snap sounded, I dropped him to the ground.

That would kill most, but he was immortal. He’d wake up in a few hours with a sore neck.

Only then, with my back against the wall, did I look across the room.

“No!” Lux screamed, fighting Uriel’s grasp to no success.

Selaphiel stood over my sister. The swirling gray and blue of her soul drifted from her skin into his open mouth.

That was the only way to kill an eternal being. Siphoning our soul from our body.

I lapsed beside him with my blade of Elvan ore, yanking him away from her and Venark on the ground, but an arm jutted around my throat, hauling me backwards.