With a pop of displaced air, Leo appeared on the window of the second story of the inner keep of Haviden Castle. An open window.

He checked inside, saw that no one was present in the room, and moved the table near the window out of the way. Then he leaned out the window and stared down into the water garden below. He stood and pointed to the ground beside him.

With two pops of air, Neha and Queen Felicity appeared next to Leo.

He stared out at the approaching dawn for a second. Even in its infancy, the dawn promised a glorious sunrise, the smoke from the city thick in the air. The red of the sky reflected the fire and blood below in Leo’s mind. That wasn’t just hyperbole—some of the city was still, in fact, still burning, although the vast majority of it was out.

It was also a huge problem. Leo had been nearly sure that he could have convinced Chester to do what was needed from a safe distance, with the Havi Imperium whole and happy.

But with its capital city gutted by fire, and at least hundreds—more likely thousands—of its citizens and soldiers dead, he knew that his mission was a huge risk.

But something was only truly a risk when every other path wasn’t an utter disaster. And every other path was, in fact, utter disaster.

The only option he had thought of that wasn’t this route was going to another dimension and only letting the people he could eyeball directly through, which would likely result in his tiny kingdom falling to pieces. He had no idea how else he would protect those he cared about.

“Dad?” Neha asked.

Leo pulled himself back from the city. “Sorry.”

“What now?” Felicity asked, staring around nervously.

“Let’s go see Chester,” Leo said.

Neha and Felicity both nodded, their eyes wide.

“Where?” Neha asked.

“The place I would be if I had let my enemies escape,” Leo replied. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he was almost certain he did.

They exited the room, Felicity checking first to make sure there were no guards in the hall, and then they made their way to the omnieye room.

Leo motioned for everyone to stay out and then stepped inside.

Chester was leaning over the table, his armored gloves off and both palms on the table’s surface. He was otherwise dressed in the same plate mail he had been, but it no longer shone, blackened by soot.

“Watching the dead tick up?” Leo asked, his voice sympathetic. “I’m truly sorry for how this played out.”

Chester whirled and charged in one motion. Leo held his hands up and didn’t fight as Chester grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the wall, a couple of inches off the ground.

Chester leaned in, his face inches from Leo’s, his eyes intense. “You don’t get to be sorry. You caused this with your arrogance. I offered you a chance, Leo. A chance to get most of what you wanted and avoid war. But you couldn’t leave well enough along. You had to push. You had to kill my king and burn my people! Well, my kingdom will descend into anarchy now, most likely. But everything you love will die as well.”

Leo tapped his throat, unable to talk—or breathe—but didn’t make an aggressive move.

Chester dropped him to the ground and released his throat a bit. “What? What last words could possibly matter?”

Leo rubbed his throat and coughed. “Your kingdom won’t descend into anarchy. I checked. I wanted to get out and send a message to you, because I found the solution. Even now, Chester, I promise. And your kingdom, even with the wounds I—and you and Damien—accidentally inflicted will be far better under your stewardship than under Damien’s.”

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Chester’s hand was at his sword hilt, but his brow furrowed a tiny bit. “What solution?”

“Felicity is pregnant with Damien’s child—who is also the grandchild of the Duke of Green Pale.”

“The Green Pale,” Chester said slowly. He appeared more thoughtful—and less homicidal—now.

Then he narrowed his eyes. “We still lost thousands, and you burned or stole our fleet. How do you justify that such that I shouldn’t kill you?”

Leo motioned—slowly—to the table, where the map and figures still were. “You were planning on destroying me. You as in the kingdom, not you, per se. And you guys grabbed Hugh’s mom and brother and friends. No offense, Chester, but I don’t have to justify anything to you guys from a moral perspective. If you want to kill me for that, fine. But Damien was empowering his army by the outright torture of my best friend’s mother, for all the good god’s sake.”

He tapped his forehead, internally suppressing a brief, near-hysterical giggle. “Think, Chester, think! You saw Damien use the powers of Irkuhkt, the tyrant god! You think that would end well? That it was truly better for the kingdom? He was evil. I also know that Irkuhkt is using every tool at his disposal to come after me and turn my kingdom into some kind of interdimensional nexus of tyranny and slavery and everything bad about the world. Worlds. You know what I mean. The point is, fighting him was the only option, and I’ve done you a huge favor, even with the pain and destruction along the way.”

“Fair,” Chester mused. “But why shouldn’t I kill you now for how you handled it? You still attacked my kingdom and slew my king. That was an act of war.”

Leo ticked points off on his fingers. “Because you’re a good person, Chester. Because then Irkuhkt gets at least some of what he wants. Because then a lot of my people—who were in many cases your citizens before your kingdom betrayed them—will die. If you’re going to give something to the devil, at least make it his due.”

Chester quirked an eyebrow at Leo.

“Sorry, mangled idiom from where I hail from. The point is, I didn’t make the decision to free your slaves until after I had seen the plans to invade me”—mostly true—“and I tried to do it with stealth and get out so there wouldn’t be a conflict. Hell, a war would likely have killed more than even this city fire. And I’m on the side of good. So please, let’s end this as best we can.”

Chester hesitated. Leo was fairly sure at this point he wouldn’t be murdered—but not a hundred percent sure, and he could feel himself perspiring.

Chester stared at him for a bit, then nodded. “I will consider your words, Leo. Truly. But I’m not making this decision myself. I want Laurence in on it. The two of us have tried to keep this kingdom going, and going in good directions, since the death of the primary line of the Haviden, starting with Jason the Second. He hasn’t steered me wrong.”

Leo frowned. “Then go get him.”

Chester grinned a shark’s grin, an expression that, unlike most of his smiles, did reach his eyes. “No, Leo. I’m not just running your errands. You came here, and I respect that. But you’ll do things my way now. You’ll spend the time in the prison until I can bring Laurence to see you.”

“Really?” Leo asked. “I did come here, and I’ll wait. The threat of you is greater than any prison. I doubt the prison could hold me at all, truly.”

“That’s because you haven’t been to our Royal prisons. Now, please, Felicity, come out from behind the corner.”

Oh, right, he can see around walls and under doors and such. I wonder if he was pretending to look at the map in case I attacked him.

Felicity stepped around the corner. “Hey, Chester. Um, I don’t want you to send Leo to prison, just so you know.”

Chester ignored her request entirely but gave a slight bow. “Regent. I assume that everything Leo is telling me is true?”

Felicity nodded. “I mean, I think so. You know that Damien abused me terribly, and he told me openly that he wouldn’t need me alive once I had a kid. I never saw him use Irkuhkt powers, but it makes sense. He was always into hurting things, especially things he had power over.”

Chester grimaced and risked a glance at Leo. Leo suspected he was embarrassed at letting Felicity be abused, and frankly, Leo thought Chester should have been embarrassed. At the very least.

“Well, it’s good to have confirmation. Now, I’m going to take Leo to prison. If Laurence agrees, we’ll put you into the regency and you can free Leo. But until you’re confirmed to the regency, I think Laurence has rulership, so I’ll be denying your request to have Leo released.”

He turned to Leo. “Your teleporting daughter may leave—I doubt I could stop her regardless. I hope she’ll take word that you are, as yet, unharmed, to your forces.”

Neha appeared with a pop of air. Her fists were clenched at her side and her arms were trembling slightly. She leaned forward, her eyes staring hatred at him.

Chester appeared very slightly nonplussed. “What’s with you?”

Neha spoke, her voice shaking to match her arms. “You already killed Nori, which makes you a bad man, Chester.”

Chester flinched slightly at the child’s accusation.

“If you hurt Dad too… Well, I know what you bad things you said to him. So I’ll say them to you now. I’ll grow strong, somehow, and I’ll end you and your family and everything you love.”

Chester widened one eye, but he didn’t directly respond except to say, “Noted.”

Leo knew that Neha would die if he did, but he was fairly sure Chester didn’t know it. He wondered if Neha were simply trying to protect him, or if she was really that mad. He hoped it was just a bluff—Neha had always seemed good, beyond just a child’s innocence, and he hoped it would stay that way.

“For now, though, you’ll carry news of this to your people?” Chester asked Neha.

She nodded, still staring him dead in the face, her anger written across her own face like a tattoo.

Despite her rage, the nod was enough for Chester. He turned to Leo. “If you would follow me, your majesty, the prisons are this way.”