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“I suppose, my point is…” Elira sighed, glancing at Lux before looking at me. “He deserves a punishment. But for a moment, he was at war. And in war, there are casualties. Ultimately, he was trying to protect us, and protect our world, and protect our land. I understand. And the fact is, if they hadn’t been ourhomes, if we weren’t biased, if Morduaine and Matriaza were only neighboring nations, we would call what he did nothing more than a response to a security threat.”

Damn it.

I hated that I saw every point she made.

“Look, I’m not trying to defend him,” Elira said. “Billions are dead. But as you’ve told me a thousand times, Nix, nothing ever truly dies. And if so, many were ready to turn against us, to have an alliance with our greatest enemy, I don’t know that it’s such a bad thing to burn it all down and start over.”

Véa had said the same thing when she’d seen Matriaza for the first time. I’d disagreed with her then.

“I believe we can build an empire here,” Elira said. “We have the land between the human world, the Land of Light, and Matriax. All those souls, the ones who betrayed us, we can make sure that these people are brought up ready to stand beside their fellow men against our greatest enemy.”

Brynn made a noise in her throat.

“Do you disagree, do gràs?” Elira asked.

“I don’t like that Idoagree,” she grumbled. “The fact is, our own turned on us. An absurd number of innocent lives became casualties as a result of that betrayal. Yes, Lux could’ve handled it better, but his intention does account for something.”

“Fucking stars,” Luna grumbled. “I can’t believe we’re all agreeing with Lux.”

“I wouldn’t say that weagree,” Neia said. “But Elira isn’t wrong. They were a security threat.”

“I don’t mean to interfere,” Rafael said, “but if my father hadn’t done what he did, either army would’ve come here and waged war because he killed their leaders.”

Rion grunted something indistinguishable. “If it came down to it, we’d all commit atrocities to protect the souls we created here.” Disgust washed over his face. “Fuck, I don’t like defending you.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Lux said.

I smacked him in the side of the head again.

“Are you fucking—”

“Just because we can see why you did what you did doesn’t mean you get a voice here. Shut your mouth.”

He rolled his eyes and tightened his teeth to a line.

“What do we think then?” Sanvi asked.

“Five hundred years?” I asked.

“Five hundred is reasonable for the boys, I feel,” Véa said.

“No. Absolutely not,” Brynn said. “Like I just said, intent matters. What Lux did was, at the very least, with pure intentions. What those boys did was out of hunger for power. They killed people they loved, and people who loved them, purely to acquire power.”

“I think intention matters as much as impact,” Luna said.

“I don’t.” Brynn raised a shoulder. “Someone with positive intentions who made an awful mistake is far less dangerous than someone who acts purposely on greedy, hateful intentions.”

Brynn and I didn’t always agree, but this time, we did.

“I’m with Mum,” Véa said.

“What do you propose then?” I asked.

“A thousand years for all of them?” She scanned the room, waiting for someone to disagree. “We could revisit their state then. Assess who is and isn’t dangerous, I mean. If we feel anyone is still a threat, we go from there. A thousand years to an immortal won’t ruin them, but it will give them plenty of time to think, and, as established, we’ll need them when the maalaichte cnihme return.”

Still, no one objected.

“Onto the vote then?” I asked. A few nods. “Those in favor of this punishment, raise your hand.”