"Let's move onto Enki's designs, and how I learned what they were up to."

People returned to the study, more so than before, and they brought in blankets for pallets. Snacks arrived, drifting in scents of dips and hors d'oeuvres. Bones offered to top off drinks. By now, everyone was fairly tired and slightly drunk.

I was wide awake and sober. My mind raced with which entries to tell as we steadily marched toward the secrets I feared to unveil.

Little you poked my nose, and I can't help but smile. In doing so, I know it's sad.

"Don't be sad," you say, unaware, or perhaps perfectly aware, of what you're asking of me.

Preteen you pulls your knees to your chest and hugs them, saying, "We only ask that when you're sad, you remember to be happy for what you have. That's how we get by."

You have so much. More than you know, Rayne.

"So do you."

Tumu folded his arms and leveled his stare at me. "Not all of Enki was making designs."

I chuckled, waving him off. "Of course not. Just one half of the remainder of your species."

"Fair," Lamassau said.

I said, "I listened to the conversations between my father and the cloaked Tritans around the Spire, but more importantly, I listened to the conversations they had amongst themselves. They treated me like a child, like I wasn't a threat—Almost as if I was one of them."

Tameka said, "What a dangerous mistake to make."

Tumu chuffed.

Korac smirked.

Earth-age twelve, I wandered around one of father's post-conquest banquets. Bored to tears. At twenty years of age, Nox was forced into diplomacy—mingling, to his disgust, with leaders he despised under Umbra's careful scrutiny. Even Korac, at sixteen, took part in polite conversation. By this point, he was training Cinder's troops for combat, poised as Amolot's successor.

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Sitting only a few feet from me in my study, Karter beamed at her son. "All my doing."

"The simple truth," Korac agreed, a little in his cups.

Moving on.

One night in particular, I found the Tritan I often caught spying on me and zeroed in on him. A shorter Tritan muttered to him, "The mineral we require... Will the atmospheric disrupter be prepared in time—"

The suspicious Tritan, which father called 'Primary,' waved the other off dismissively. "Yes, yes. The Icari are primed to deploy it. Soon."

There was movement in the crowd, as people parted for Nox like rivers around a mountain, drawing their attention.

The sight prompted the Primary to say, "Perhaps it is time to cut the puppet's strings."

The shorter Tritan sounded skeptical. "And crown that beast the next King?"

His words made me wince, but I kept quiet.

"Yes. Send him and his General. We shall test their mettle."

Within the same week, Korac and Nox went with father to L. Capra and destroyed its atmosphere. At the time, Nox had told me a story of how they saved everyone on the planet, so imagine my dismay when I visited there for the first time and they immediately arrested me for war crimes. Simply because I was an Icarus.

Sagan asked, "Is that how you met Kombuchi?"

I smiled at her. "We're not there yet. Let's return to the sample Nox collected for me."

Korac gave me the comm device he stole from the Tritans, unaware of the riches within, while Nox provided me with the means—the beginnings—of all things Progeny.

For my tenth birthday, the Tritans gifted me a special handheld device for my calculations. I agree with Korac's assumption that it was probably some attempt on Remorse's part toward a paternal connection. Regardless, it was the foundation of my first lab. The comms device Korac provided me combined the missing components I needed for soil analysis.

With everything assembled, I tested the sample from L. Capra and discovered restorative properties in one of the minerals. Applied to the right atomic structure, it generated cells. Like a nacre. Only these cells were brand new.

I kept this to myself, but the next time Nox and Korac were sent out on a mission, I'd demand to go.

I waited two more years. In the meantime, the Lyriks visited the Spire and stayed for an undetermined amount of time. Much to father's delight. I understand from reading the Verses that some strife took place between Gale, Nox, and Korac. For the record, she was nothing but kind to me. I was younger and more handsome—

Korac said, "Fuck you, your imperial majesty."

—So it's understandable that I was easier to get along with, but I also appreciate finally learning their sides of the story. It seemed to be as complex as anything else involved in our twisted pasts.

Little you beams, and preteen you says, "I'm glad it's all coming out in the open now."

Me, too, Rayne.

Onward to Monarch 3, where everything started to unravel.