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the activation button.

“No…no, that would look tawdry. More family squabble.” Seraphina breathes a sigh of relief. Dido’s eyes glitter over at me. “We’re not Lunes, after all. She is my mother-in-law. No. Search for Goroth, centurion.” His men swallow nervously behind him. Dido doesn’t notice, but Seraphina seems to have a better gauge on the pulse of the men. “Even with one arm, I don’t like the idea of a Stained in the walls. And not a word of this to anyone. Last thing I need is all our new allies shitting themselves for fear of being skinned in their sleep.” The soldier waits expectantly. “Something else? Pray tell.”

“I don’t have clearance for the tunnels, domina. Or maps.”

“Did you know they existed before today?” Seraphina asks.

“Only rumors. And I was born in Sungrave.”

“I can go, Mother,” Seraphina says. “I know most of the—”

“No, I won’t risk you chasing a Stained in the dark. Who else knows the damn tunnels?”

“Some Dragonguard,” Seraphina says. “But most of the centurions are loyal to Father.”

“Goryhell. Isn’t there a map in the servers or something?”

“There was,” Seraphina says. “When Fabii’s hacker battalions corrupted the mainframe, the tunnel maps were casualties of the data purge.”

“You mean they’re lost and we’re strangers in our own gorydamn home?” Dido laughs to me. “See? Always at siege.”

“Marius was mapping them with the Krypteia, but I don’t know how far he got,” Seraphina says.

“Of course he would.”

“He won’t help us, not without Father’s permission.”

“I know. I know.” Dido rubs her fingers into her temples, thinking. “Sera, summon Kurath. I want a hundred Obsidian bloodstalkers and kuon hounds in the tunnels by morning. Let them hunt their own.” The Grays breathe a sigh of relief.

“And Marius’s maps?” Seraphina asks. “There’s thousands of kilometers of tunnel.”

“I’ll deal with the maps and your brother.” Dido dismisses the Grays. The centurion asks if he should take me to a cell. “Let him stay.” The Grays leave and Dido fondles the transponder that I gave her while looking me over.

I stay silent, knowing the die is already cast. Seraphina closes the door behind the Grays and looks at the transponder. “Are you going to summon Vela?”

“Perhaps.” Dido purses her lips. “It seems the only proper move in the game. I can recall the legions I sent to take care of Kardiff and Iola. Under that shield, Vela can last for years. We lure her into the Waste, we can destroy her legion in an hour. Solidify our control. Without Vela who will they rally around once Romulus sees reason?”

“You think he’ll see reason if you kill Aunt Vela?” Seraphina asks. “You kill her, you lose him. That’s not what I agreed to. We’ve done this without tearing our family apart. That is a victory to build our war on.”

I watch Dido for her reaction, gauging.

“Yes…” Dido’s thumb continues to trace over the activation button. “Yes, of course you’re right. We shall reason with Vela.” She tosses Seraphina the transponder. “Do something with that.” She turns to me. “Now, young Lune. This is the second time you’ve helped me. Considering the death of the Bellona, I am curious to know why you chose to betray my mother-in-law. Was is that you could not simply bear to be an honorable little boy?”

“Cassius died for his honor,” I say.

“No. He died because he murdered my brother, my daughter. Are you too cowardly to follow him?”

I look past her to Seraphina. “Death begets death begets death. It’s something my grandfather once said. And it’s why I did not free Romulus. Gold blood would spill, and there’s precious little of it left. Lorn au Arcos once said it is the duty of every man to listen to his enemies. When you spoke I listened. Your war is just. Cassius did not believe that, but he is gone. And to honor the dead at the cost of the living is a vanity none of us can afford.”

Seraphina has had some difficulty in looking at me since I entered the room, even when I recounted my story, but now I have her attention.

“I saw the Rising claim Luna. And I have watched for ten years as their supposed liberty gave way to anarchy. It is time order and justice return to the realm of man. That is why I helped you.”

“Not because you wish the Slave King’s head on a pike?” Dido asks.

“The worlds would be better without him in it,” I say.

“If you wanted that, you would have tried already,” Seraphina says. “You would have gone to your godfather in the Core. But instead you hid.”