"The girl has to die."

I sat across from Baltazar, the hulking expanse of his desk stretching between us, separating us. Sitting in my beautifully carved chair, with its perfectly cushioned seat, should have felt strange or uncomfortable in the suit. But it felt almost no different than it had the last time I’d been in this office, high in the Tower.

I couldn’t contain my shock. “But it’s… I can’t…”

I gathered myself, trying to collect my thoughts. By law, she had committed a crime punishable by death. She had violated the rules of the tourney and attempted to subvert the will of the Oracle. But I couldn’t stand by. I could still remember how dead she had seemed in the moments after her betrayal, the life gone from her eyes. From the moment she had put her hands on me, she had given up her right to life.

Baltazar continued to gaze blankly at me. I took a deep breath. “Lord Baltazar, what happened in the arena that day was bigger than Leona. She didn’t act on her own. There’s no logical reason she’d try to undo me like that. We were winning; I had every advantage over Lance and Gideon. She was on my team. She was going to win a Flow for her house. And she attempted to undo that.”

Baltazar said, “I don’t doubt there were influences on her, but what she did… her fate is sealed.”

“Think about it, please. What influence could weigh more heavily on her than the prize of that Flow?”

“I have thought about it, Tiberius. I’ve thought long and hard. The execution of a member of one of our noble houses doesn’t sit easily with me. But this is one outcome over which I have no influence.”

“You’re Lord Supreme!” I pressed.

He nodded slowly, patiently, his expression unreadable as ever. “And this was not a violation of secular law. The Choosing is a rite, and the judgment here lies with the priesthood. I have no power to intervene.”

I felt frustration building, penetrating my tone. “But the Choosing is arbitrary! Some cities don’t have one. Cities have changed the way they Choose.”

“Yes,” he replied. “The manner of the Choosing is dictated by the people, or their representatives. But once a Choosing begins, it initiates a rite that invites the Oracle to judge. From the moment you stepped into the arena, you were part of that rite. From the moment Leona stepped into the arena, she was part of that rite. And that means understanding that you are governed by the rules of that rite.”

I rose in my seat. “There must be something you can do. Even if not officially, there must be some pressure you can exert. Hell, I’m Sword now. There must be some pressure I can exert.”

That was enough to trigger the faintest hint of alarm in his expression. He said, “Tread lightly, Tiberius. Yes, your position comes with power and influence, but you need to take time, learn the limits and costs of exerting that power.”

“I have money,” I said quietly.

Baltazar’s expression hardened. “No. You are pure in the eyes of the people. There has never been a Sword more unimpeachable in their eyes. They saw how the deck was stacked against you, and they saw you succeed despite that. They see you as one of their own, as absurd as that may seem considering your fortune.”

I felt such frustration. I was god. I had such power. With more volume and anger than I intended, I said, “I can stop them. I can cut her free; no one could stop me."

Baltazar shook his head. “Tiberius, you know better than that. To act against the priesthood like that would be the same kind of suicidal madness that put Leona where she is. Violate the compact with the priests, and they withdraw their services from you. They won’t heal your suit. You would be a renegade. You don’t mean that. You’re smarter than that.”

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My hands gripped the armrests of the chair. I stopped squeezing when I felt the finely carved wood groan under the power of my grip.

Baltazar said, “Tiberius, why do you care so much? The girl tried to take the suit from you. She betrayed you.”

I said, “She wasn’t acting of her own volition. Leona was a bitch to me, like the others. She mocked and scorned me like they did. I have no special affection for her. I just can’t stand by and see her punished when she was so clearly sent there to do what she did. It wasn’t her choice, and…”

As my words trailed off, Baltazar spoke gently. “You don’t want her to die because of your involvement in the crime. She is being punished because she betrayed you, and that makes you feel responsible for this in some way.”

I felt the breath come into me as he expressed his insight. I was shocked. This was exactly how I felt, though I wouldn’t even have been able to identify it myself.

He said, “That’s stupid.”

“I know.”

There was silence in the room then. We sat there, bathed in the light shining through the window that looked out over the entire city. It was just us, sitting without words, surrounded by art and comfort.

Baltazar said, “I can’t undo her sentence. But I may be able to stay it for a time. That’s the best I can do.”

I was overwhelmed. “You… you would do that?”

He said, “A stay on the execution may allow time for further evidence to come to light. I doubt anything could be sufficient to negate her responsibility in such a heretical act, but it would give her time.”

I started, “Thank y—”

His hand flashed up, palm toward me, silencing me. His hand was not that of a pampered noble or politician. This hand was strong, rough, bearing the calluses of a life spent holding a weapon.

He said, “This is where you will start to learn the lessons of the costs of influence. I can do this for you, but it will cost me. I would be doing this for you, Tiberius. Would you ask this of me without being willing to repay me for the capital this costs me?”

“No…” I said, but I felt myself growing weary. This man had elevated himself to the most powerful political station in the land. He would be an expert in the art of amassing favors. I wondered, not without trepidation, what favor he might ask of me.

Abruptly, he stood. “Walk with me, Tiberius. I want to show you something.”

He walked around the desk toward the door that led to the hallway. I rose and followed him. The door slid open as he approached, and the two knights who stood outside the door fell into step behind us as we walked. They were his protectors, trained to his ways. They walked behind us, close enough to be a presence on his behalf, but far enough back to afford privacy.

Baltazar spoke low as we walked. “A great man needs a cause. You’re not the sort of man who could pass the years without a goal to work toward. You wanted the suit, and you won it. Now that it’s yours, can you imagine yourself being content with what comes next? A century of running Griid-trains, fighting every year for more and more Flows, drinking to pass the boredom of eternity, bedding woman after woman for no other reason than needing something to do.”

His words struck me. They pierced the reservation that had been growing in me. After the madness of the tourney and the difficulty of Father’s passing, I shouldn’t have felt such an urgent need to look toward something else. I should have been content with the idea of banqueting. I was well aware of how attractive I would be to women now, and the thought set a base part of me racing. But even then, the idea of sex without attachment echoed hollowly. He was speaking to a part of me I was only just discovering. The truth was that a dread had started to grow in me. I could feel my excitement for the coming Falling, for the chance to win Flows. But looking beyond that, I had a trepidation about how that excitement could fade after repeating the cycle five times, or twenty, or a hundred.

We entered the elevator, and Baltazar operated the controls. We began to descend rapidly.

Baltazar said, “I believe you can be great, Tiberius. Already level 10, and showing a rare affinity for the suit. Together, we can bring many Flows to the city and usher in a time of plenty. But helping more tractors to work more fields or more refrigerators to chill more drinks won’t give you a place in history. You want a place in history, Tiberius. I’ve seen that in you from the start.”

I wanted to laugh. At the start, at our first meeting, I had been a frightened mouse. I was still only beginning to shed that skin. And yet, I felt his words pulling at something in me.

Baltazar said, “I told you I want us to change the world together. Now, I want to show you how.”