Fear dismantled the amusement of seeing Nash duel against enemies who annoyed us for so long, against the people who once exiled him. Any fight over the villages, even if this obviously wouldn't put the issue to rest, meant death.

Theus forced my hand.

He knew backing down from this duel after Nash instigated wasn't an option. Even if Nash agreed, which he wouldn't, it weakened us politically, and as much as I hated taking politics into consideration, I understood reality. Optics mattered. Optics meant life and death. Our people needed to believe in us and seeing their War Chief back down didn't encourage confidence. So even if I didn't want Nash risking his life today, I couldn't ask him not to do so.

I reasoned with myself to accept the part I played in agreeing to this, but it did nothing to silence the voice inside of me pleading with me to call Nash back. Nothing was worth losing him and no matter how great of a warrior he was, nothing was certain in battle.

With a hard breath, I steeled myself against the thoughts. I felt this every time Nash entered into battle. This was no different.

The two men didn't waste time. This disciple who faced my husband, Jakob, originated from the same side of the Flatlands as Nash. Odd to see them on opposite sides. Odd to see such fierce warriors hailing from a rural area.

Nash rolled his shoulders and waited on his opponent, who seemed in no hurry to make the first move. Instead, Jakob slowly approached, eyes scanning Nash.

"I thought the tales of your twin blades were overblown until I saw them for myself." He didn't smile–didn't look like the kind man who ever smiled–but a flicker of appreciation lit his serious eyes. "I will enjoy this fight."

Nash didn't respond, only smirked. He was enjoying this too, free of the fear that clutched me.

Jakob offered no warming up or slow start. He attacked Nash with intense speed and strength, his sword plowing into Nash's twin blades, both men powering their weapons with their energy.

I'd heard that he was also an excellent swordsman, but I doubted he could ever beat Nash in such a contest.

Their swords moved so swiftly that it was difficult to follow their movements. Jakob matched Nash's skilled footwork, making his attacks look effortless, though I knew they were anything but.

The two men remained on each other as their swords deftly danced, neither able to break the other's guard for several minutes into the fight.

Jakob opened enough space between them to shoot a disc of energy at Nash. He defended against it with an energy shield, not allowing it to distract him from his offensive efforts with his blades.

Nash bashed his forearm into Jakob's nose and caught the edge of the man's bicep as he whipped his sword back.

Red oozed from a surprisingly deep wound to the disciple's arm. It happened so quickly, I'd missed the strength of the attack.

My heart thrummed with hope watching the disciple struggle to regain his footing and take a hard kick to his gut.

The movement shifted him backward though, and even reeling from the hit, he released another disc of energy. Nash jumped to the side and erected a shield. The sizzling red blade shifted its trajectory right before clashing with Nash's shield, cutting through at a sharp angle. Though Nash was in the midst of dodging the blow with great speed, the disc sliced through the top of his shoulder and continued on until it thudded into the barrier of their makeshift arena. Blood poured from Nash's wound down his chest and back. The impact of the hit had thrown Nash to the side, forcing him to lose speed. He blocked a strike from Jakob's sword with his good arm, grunting as he struggled to fend it off.

I didn't realize I was rushing to my feet until Markus caught my wrist.

"Stay seated," he said. "You can't interfere."

I ground my teeth. "I'm not."

"You may think you aren't but you're a few seconds away from losing control. Hold Finn and breathe. Nash has this."

I squeezed my eyes shut, but I still saw Nash's blood gushing, painting the darkness when I closed my eyes. What was I doing? "Piercey."

My friend turned to me with grave eyes.

"Take Finn. He shouldn't be here."

"Of course." He reached for the baby. "I'll watch where he can't hear anything and will return to heal Nash when it's over."

While I worried about Nash, he recovered his position in the battle already, but I knew that blood loss placed a time limit on how long he'd be able to fight like this for.

Nash's twin blades sliced through attack after attack by Jakob and scattered his energy in red streaks and sparks. Every movement of his injured shoulder only pumped more blood from his wound, though. Splatters and streaks of blood from both men painted the floor where they fought.

This fight didn't need to happen today. We walked right into a trap because we allowed Theus's foolishness to distract from the true threat his reign posed and to catch us off guard.

I watched as Nash and Jakob's movements lost their precision and lethal speed, but neither man let up in their determination. They both attacked each other without pause or reservation.

Nash's skirted past Jakob's and pierced a secondary energy shield. It pricked the disciple's neck, but stopped there, as his energy swelled, a mist of red hovering around Nash's blade.

"Enough," Theus said. "You'll both die at this rate. What good will that do any of us?"

I hid my own fear behind a hard voice. "Nash is not dying."

"The floor is coated in his blood."

"Does he look like he's done to you?"

Nash's chest glistened with blood and sweat, pumping with each deep breath. The tip of his sword still dug into Jakob's throat, fighting to break through his defense to drive into his carotid artery.

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No matter how it looked, Jakob wasn't done, and I knew that.

"I can fight, Prophet," Jacob cried. Blood bubbled from the wound at the pressure of him speaking.

I knew Theus's answer before he spoke. Nash didn't grow up with his power. For him to be even remotely competitive against a disciple was a grave embarrassment. If this went further and everyone saw the Prophet's best man actually lose, it might start a war. Nevermind our agreement or the truce. There would be retaliation. Theus couldn't risk losing today.

"I said enough." Theus sat.

Nash withdrew the blade and used it to push himself to his feet. He offered his hand to Jakob. The man stared for several seconds at the bloody palm waiting for him to accept or reject it. Then to my surprise he grabbed Nash's hand and took the help rising to his feet.

They each looked ready to collapse, but instead of returning to sit down for healing attention, dipped their heads at each other.

"I enjoyed fighting you," Jakob said. "I would have liked to see how it ended."

"I feel the same."

They clasped forearms and then turned away from each other. I wanted so badly to teleport to Nash and bring him to sit down immediately, only I knew better than to do that. Warriors walked themselves back from battle. I ground my teeth, forcing myself to stay seated until Nash weakly rounded the table and sank down beside me.

"How bad is it?" I whispered, grabbing his arm.

"Nothing healing won't fix."

Two healers gathered around him even before Piercey returned and began working on the wounds.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." Nash settled his head against mine.

"I'm always scared about you." I sighed. "It was hard to sit here."

"This was good, though. Jakob is unhappy with Theus pulling him out of the fight. I wonder what else he may be unhappy with. A warrior like that cannot be content serving as a disciple for a Prophet like Theus."

"You think we could reason with him?"

Nash paused. "It's possible, if the time comes."

Piercey returned and handed Finn to Wren. He walked toward the center of the temple, stepped over a smear of blood on the ground, and anchored his hands on his sides. Evidently beyond frustrated with the type of battle culture he never experienced living on top of the Mountain of the Gods. "We will take a thirty minute recess to clean this place up. If you wish to speak in private, please go to your designated meeting rooms."

The color already started to return to Nash's cheeks from the healing treatment. Once Piercey joined the other two, they worked quickly on Nash's wounds. We were all quiet, giving Piercey his space as to not provoke him. After ten minutes, Nash raised his hand to say he was healed enough for now and we left for our private room to talk. There he accepted a basin of water and wash rags brought by one of the locals to clean himself off.

Piercey joined us, looking no less annoyed than earlier but not angry enough to chastise us. Not yet. I was sure he planned to do plenty of that later when we finished the summit.

"Speak quickly," I said. "Our recess is short and I want to discuss several more things before we go back out there."

Markus looked around the room and then leveled his stare at me. "Kill him. Kill him as soon as the summit is over."

"Kill Theus?"

"Yes."

"We just agreed–"

"That was for show," Markus said. "We all know it. So kill him already. The report we drafted last month made it clear. His own people are rejecting him as leader. A majority want him out. He weakens all of Skia Hellig and while it's easy to think that a pathetic snake like that is only a nuisance, you can never underestimate a determined fool. Don't give him the time he needs to make us live to regret sparing him."

"I don't care about sparing him. I need more support," I said.

"What more could you need?" Markus looked to Leif, likely for support, but my friend didn't return the look this time. Normally the man jumped at the chance to say we needed to kill Theus, but I also knew Leif took deals made over blades seriously and I doubted he wanted to break the agreement made before all of Skia Hellig today. "The people have spoken clearly."

"Then the people should remove him and choose another."

Wren winced. "Really, Max?"

"They can't," Markus said. "You know how hard it is to kill a Prophet, even a Prophet like him."

Piercey scratched his beard. "If the people voted and couldn't enforce their vote, we could uphold their decision with our force."

"You with the voting." Markus shook his head.

I couldn't speak though. Piercey's willingness to even consider this shocked me. How was I the one holding out on killing and not Piercey? I really had changed.

"It doesn't feel right," I said. "Look at what it took to help the valley recover after we killed Eskel. Are we really prepared to help the Flatlanders through that? Either we support a new leader and meddle in their affairs or we allow them to join our kingdom. But I'm not looking to take in strays. We have enough on our plate."

"Since when are you so cautious," Markus asked.

"I've learned some lessons the hard way."

Nash lifted a hand and spoke quietly, making me realize that Markus and I both started shouting at some point. "The Flatlands are stable and we're at peace, for now. We put them in place in front of Skia Hellig. Let's take this issue up in a few months. During that time, we can use our allies and our spies to support a suitable new leader for the Flatlands. The duel today should humble them, and if not humble them, scare them."

Markus crossed his arms, quiet long enough that I thought he'd given up. "Do you know the problem with you all having power?" He shook his head. "You learn to fear your power more than anyone else's, because you no longer have anyone to fear but yourself." He let out a long sigh. "The powerless never forget the fear of those more powerful than them. That fear doesn't make them weak. It gives them power. It makes them desperate and cunning. Maybe you intimidated them today, or maybe you made them more desperate."

Nash and I shared a look at that as I considered his admonition. Before becoming my top advisor, Markus lead warriors in battle for nearly two decades. Known as one of our greatest warriors and commanders, I knew that ever referring to himself as powerless required more honesty and humility than most people could manage. But when facing an enemy with a neural implant, normal warriors truly were powerless. He was right. I needed to remember how it felt when I suffered beneath the seal that stole my power away.

"Okay." I nodded. "You've made a wise point, Markus. Let me think about this and we'll talk more when we're home. I'm not doing anything hasty, though. We did make an agreement today and I refuse to render my word as meaningless."

"Honor is what's meaningless in war," he said. "At least when you have thousands of innocent lives in your hands. I urge you to kill him. He's proven that he will never surrender."

I clasped his shoulder. "Thank you, Markus."

Though I meant it in all sincerity, Markus did not at all look like a man who won. The reticence I saw in him told me that he believed he didn't reach me. He did. But I wouldn't jump to killing another ruler of Skia Hellig so easily.

"What about all of the Prophets essentially agreeing that Max is a danger to them?" Piercey's entire body looked tense. "That's not good."

"No," Leif said. "People attack what they fear. It certainly doesn't bode well for the peace Piercey so desperately wants."

"What do they really want? Do you believe them that they're simply afraid of Max?" Markus paced the back of the room now, scratching his thick beard. "Something is missing."

"They might be," Piercey said. "Our neighbors are afraid of her taking power, whether she wants it or not. Are they wrong either? It's true that the next enemy or war will come, and then there is no telling what will happen. Max will take care of whoever she needs to care for. We all will."

"I certainly won't put any fears to rest by singlehandedly deciding to murder Theus, will I?" I didn't attempt to hide my sigh.

"Put it to one of Piercey's precious votes," Markus said, and I truly couldn't tell how facetiously he meant it.

"I know you're mocking me," Piercey said, "But it's not a bad idea. We cannot simply vote on whether to kill someone. We can make rules of engagement, though, and formalize the maps of our lands. We set him up to break the new laws that Skia Hellig rulers will vote on here in this summit."

"That's actually a really good idea," I said.

"Actually?" Piercey furrowed his brows.

"You have many good ideas, Piercey." I simpered. "You just don't always understand the culture of Skia Hellig."

Wren looped her arm through his, saying nothing, but offering her own quiet encouragement.

"This is our strategy then," I said. "We do not leave this summit without the rulers of Skia Hellig agreeing to recognize the boundaries of our lands. Maybe it will help them to not be so afraid of me stealing their power from them."

"They'll always fear you," Markus said. "Let them. Just don't make them desperate in their fear."

When we first began working together, I worried about trusting Markus. Now, I couldn't imagine ruling our kingdom without him.

"One step at a time," I said, remembering what Nash said to me about peace starting somewhere.