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Dialdon and Selvanna led Mathus through the Grand Temple with four guards following behind them. Though the guards dressed in clothes reminiscent of the rest of the temple—soft yellows, flowing fabrics, modest attire—they carried long, slim sabers belted at their hip and something like brass knuckles slipped over the fingers of their left hand. A conduit, with jewels on each knuckle.

Mathus tried to memorize the layout of the temple as they moved through it, even if he had no clue how to get out of the Emerald Ward. The air this high up was noticeably crisper, thinner. Mathus felt no exertion from it, but it prickled around the edges of his lungs.

They set Mathus up in a suite just a hallway down from Dialdon and Selvanna's rooms. Two of those temple guards posted at the door, and all the windows sealed with magic.

On that first day, Selvanna and the guards waited outside the suite while Dialdon showed Mathus to his bedroom. The room had a four-poster bed big enough for him, Karniel, and Cathka to all sleep comfortably on. Its sheets were more buttercup yellow, a large circular rug stitched with Mortel's crest dominated the marble floor. A chest waited at the foot of the bed, with a wardrobe and vanity not far from it. A bookshelf next to a small tea table and sofa completed the room's furnishings. It was much warmer in the temple than outside, and Mathus guessed something magical was responsible for that.

Dialdon told him as he took the room in, “Servants will check in on you regularly, and if you need anything you can always ask the guard."

“Do you really need to keep me that long? When I was in the hands of a lich he didn't have any trouble stealing my body," Mathus asked as he went to the sheets. He ran his fingers along the silk, and added, “You really want to give me more time to try and escape?"

“The Church needs time to prepare for Mortel's reincarnation," Dialdon said. “We have all the means and resources, but there is no reason to rush things." He stood at ease, hands behind his back and clasped together in the sleeves of his robes.

“I kept my word and said I would return peacefully as long as my companions were left alive, but what's to stop me from forcing my way out of here right now?" Mathus asked. He did not mean it as a threat but wanted to know what had surely been prepared for him.

“This suite," Dialdon answered. “Your rooms are enchanted with a few different wards meant to block magic out and detect any magic cast from within. If you so much as sign a glyph, you'll be sedated by ten different sleep spells and an alarm will be broadcasted to several leaders of the temple, including me. Most of whom sleep on this floor, all of which are far more skilled and knowledgeable mages than you."

“No magic then."

“You can always test it if you wish."

“When I call your bluff you'll know I was desperate."

Dialdon smirked. “Hmm, given the disdain my father spoke of you with, I expected you to be much more meek than this."

“Is Mortel really someone you think should be back in the world?" Mathus asked.

“My father is a bastard and a narcissist. It's why he and Karniel made such a good pairing, and why he made an even better god."

That answer caught Mathus off guard. He licked his lips and said, “You know Selvanna thinks it's better he stays dead."

Dialdon's tails whipped backwards a bit, as if reeling from a blow. He sneered and asked, “Trying to sow discord between my love and I?"

Mathus went to a small shrine in the corner of the room, with a Mortel figurine set in front of an incense burner. He nudged it with a finger, testing the weight of the brass figurine. He entertained a brief fantasy of bludgeoning Dialdon with it before turning to ask, “You seem to run things here and you don't like your father anymore than I do. So why would you want to revive him?"

When Dialdon cocked his head, the tips of all nine tails cocked as well. “And what do you suggest we do with the Heart?"

“Not use it?"

“Hah!" Dialdon's laugh was a higher pitch than Mathus expected, startling the human. He backed into the shrine and scrambled to catch the figurine as it wobbled. “No, no, if we don't use it someone else will find a way to make another Heart and tap into all those souls in Mortel's afterlife. Would you rather it go to some power hungry mage or to someone with a vision of how this world should be run."

“Isn't Mortel just a power hungry mage?"

“Yes, but different from the kinds that become liches."

“So you really think the best thing to do is bring your father back?"

“Psh, hardly," Dialdon dismissed the notion with a flick of a tail. “But it is what the Church wants, what the people want, and unlike Mortel or Karniel I am not a despot."

“Just the one who puts despots in power," Mathus snapped.

Dialdon shrugged. “I will give you some time to get settled, then return with a few of our finest mages to diagnose whatever this spell is that has taken root in your chest." He shut the door and left. Mathus wanted to chase after and keep arguing with him, but knew it a waste of time.

He touched the spot on his chest where the dagger had been sunk and whispered, “Karniel, you need to get here soon."

***

That spell on the Vessel's chest could prove vexing, but Dialdon did not let it get under his fur. He had waited so long to get the Heart back and some spell was not going to keep him from it. He took a moment to compose himself in the vestibule to Mathus' room before opening the door.

He said to the pair of posted guards there, “See to it the Vessel is fed in the next half hour. I will be returning in two with Cardinals Vestrid and Gaulantine to examine him."

One of the guards gave him an affirmative, and Dialdon returned to his rooms to find Selvanna already out of her armor. She wore a slimming evening gown that hugged the curve of her hips and leaned against the open doorway to their bedroom, a sultry little grin on her muzzle.

“I missed you."

Dialdon growled and crossed the den of their suite, throwing off his robe and gorget onto a loveseat custom built for the two of them. She took him in a kiss, yanking him into their bedroom with all the ease her great strength gave her.

Dialdon said, “I was worried you wouldn't get my message."

Selvanna fell back into their bed with him in her arms. The sheets flapped up then down as she landed on the mattress. “You mean rubbing all your tails along mine while we walked through the temple?"

“Wanted to make sure you felt me." He scooted up her chest, resting his elbows on her collarbone. He took a deep breath, nostrils sucking in Selvanna's soothing scent. The smell of rose hips had soured slightly from days spent marching on the road. “I've really wanted you here."

Selvanna traced a single clawed finger up and down his spine. “Have you now?" she purred.

“Yes. I've been thinking of the cabin, like you said, and I agree. I want out of this blasted place. All the pomp and ceremony is driving me up the wall."

“Hehehe, but you have such a talent for it!"

“So you want me to stay?"

“Mortel's tails, no!" Selvanna kissed him again. The lips of her muzzle soft and supple against Dialdon's. He tried to deepen the kiss, but Selvanna pulled away. “How soon until Mathus is sacrificed?"

Dialdon's brow furrowed. “A week perhaps? Depending on what that little spell on his chest is doing. Why are you asking? We won't be off into the night soon as it's done, you know."

“I know, I know, I was curious how much more time he had left."

Dialdon's tails perked up. “Grown attached to him, have you?"

Selvanna earfrills dipped a little. “I… do not think he is a bad man."

Dialdon sighed. He tapped her clavicle with a claw and asked, “Is this really something you want to talk about right now? When we could be kissing?"

“Now you're just being unfair," she pouted.

“Fine, fine," Dialdon said with a dramatic sigh. “What is on your mind?"

“I know we must eject Mathus' soul from his body, but is there any reason we can't transfer his soul to something else? He's a good man who seems the victim of circumstance. He has no honest clue how the Heart came to be in his body, and it feels like we're punishing him for it."

“Mmm, I suppose we could find a conduit or cadaver for him. We will need to consult him to see what his wishes are, but he will be fairly harmless once we remove him from the Heart."

Selvanna hugged Dialdon tight to her chest. “Oh thank you love!"

“Easy!" Dialdon wheezed in her grip.

“Oops! You'd think after three and a half centuries I'd learn my own strength."

Dialdon kissed her on the snout. “If there's one thing I've learned about you, Vanna, it's that you're always finding ways to surprise people with your strength." He shoved himself up on his hands, glared down at her, and said sternly, “Now, are we done talking all this nonsense about the Vessel? Because I've waited long enough to have your tongue in my maw."

“Hehe, come here, you brat."

“Brat? I'm two years older than you—"

Before Dialdon could protest more, Selvanna silenced him with a forceful kiss.

***

Dialdon scowled at Mathus' near hairless chest. They had the Vessel lying back in his bed without a shirt. Mathus had his head turned to the side while Vestrid and Gaulantine did their turn inspecting the spell. It left no scarring on his skin, but when one used their sense of magic it existed like a sunspot against the backdrop of Mathus' body and soul.

“What do you two think?" Dialdon asked.

“It is concerning," Vestrid, a skink, said as she ran her clammy, smooth fingers along his chest. “It is… like a second conduit in him."

Gaulantine asked, “Where did you say the spell came from?"

“Pterodea," Mathus said sullenly.

Gaulantine stroked his beard. “The mages there must have an interesting, if primitive relationship to magic. I can't imagine how much energy it took to bond his body like this, all for a scrap of soul."

Mathus sat up, grabbed the linen shirt he'd been wearing, and asked, “Can I dress now?"

Vestrid and Gaulantine looked from each other to Dialdon. He said, “You may, Vessel," then opened the door to the bedroom and waved inside the den. “Cardinals?"

They followed him through the door. He shut it. Selvanna waited inside the den, sitting on a stout, lacquered bench put against the wall with a tapestry that depicted Mortel's creation of the Heart. She looked up at Dialdon, and he told her, “We will interview Mathus in a moment."

Vestrid and Gaulantine drew close, and Dialdon whispered only for the three of them, “Do we think he can still be sacrificed?"

“He claims the bond is with the Scourge?" Vestrid asked.

“Yes," Dialdon said, “Lady Selvanna confirmed he isn't lying about that. She and I will interview the Vessel later to get the exact details of how the spell was performed."

“It really is quite stunning. I would never have thought of forming such a bond," Gaulantine said.

“Yes, well, we understand that a body of flesh makes for a poor conduit," Vestrid said. “Why would we ever bother to make someone's body a conduit for a single fragment of another's soul?" Vestrid shook her head. “It is fascinating, and I would love to research it further, but for now I'm not sure we can sacrifice him."

Dialdon rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing. “That was what I feared. My intuition told me the same. There are too many variables in terms of what can go wrong."

“We must find the Scourge and bring him here. If he is as weakened as your hunters claimed, Dialdon, then it should be no trouble to trap him."

“And he will not be far," Dialdon said. “Selvanna says the spell was partially inflicted to ensure their proximity. Karniel is likely skulking about the city as we speak."

Vestrid shuddered. “I still remember when he ruled the City of Tiers."

“They were dark times for us all," Dialdon said.

Gaulantine asked Vestrid, “Do you want to bring the Scourge here to reverse the spell?"

“It certainly cannot hurt to try, and having both ends of the connection will give us a better sense of its construction."

“Gaulantine, can you organize the search for Karniel?" Dialdon asked.

“Of course, we will turn over every inch of the city."

Vestrid said, “I will contact the surviving members of the Asher family. Perhaps Karniel told them about Pterodea at some point and they've just happened to keep his secret all this time."

Dialdon nodded and stepped away from them both. “Go with Mortel's Grace."

They bowed. “You as well."

The two cardinals shuffled out of the suite, and once the door closed behind them, Dialdon said to Selvanna, “You failed to mention that saving Mathus' soul meant letting Karniel live."

“Truly, love, I'd hoped that it didn't," Selvanna said quietly as she stood. She wore the same evening gown from before. “You know my knowledge of magic is limited in comparison to yours. I wanted to believe when he lost connection to his body the Scourge would become irrelevant."

“What if there's no way to save Mathus without saving Karniel?"

Selvanna opened her mouth, but closed it, wings and tail slouching, eyes cast to the ground.

Dialdon took a step back. “You can't actually think it's right to save him?"

Selvanna glanced at Mathus' door then back to him. “I can't change the fact he feels innocent, Dialdon."

“He chose Karniel, the Scourge, knowing what that bat is, knowing what he's done to the peoples of the Emerald Cities, to the world!" Dialdon snapped. He lifted his arm, his sleeve falling down to expose his scarred wrist. “What Karniel did to me, Selvanna," and Dialdon quickly stepped closer to her, touching her arm, “What Karniel did to you. He's the reason you can't fly anymore."

“I know," Selvanna snarled. She pulled away from him, which hurt. She only did such things when she really wrestled with her anger. She held out her hands, looking at her palms. “I had him, Dia. I was a breath away from avenging all of us and killing the Scourge once and for all." She balled her fist. “And Mathus stopped me with a single truth."

She turned on him and asked, “What if you have to let Karniel live to revive Mortel?"

“Then we will keep Karniel in a bleak cage, drop food into it once a day, and let his suffering in darkness be his torment," Dialdon answered. “We can do the same for Mathus, but something tells me you don't want him to be your little pet on a leash."

This time Selvanna staggered backwards. She tried to make herself as big as possible before demanding, “What are you implying?"

Dialdon was unphased. “You fancy him, don't you?"

“Mortel's tails, Dia!" Selvanna's stance faltered immediately, mortified by what he suggested.

“Well? You've not answered my question."

“Do you expect to catch me out on a lie?" Selvanna snarled. He did, but when she said, “No," Dialdon did not notice any characteristic twitch of tail or wing. Selvanna stepped closer, now looming over him as she said, “I don't fancy him, but you should know dragons are drawn to those who share their moral character. It's how I found you, believed in you when you were just a shell of a man, and it's why I want to protect Mathus. Regardless of what led him to be with Karniel, he is like us, Dia, and I would die to protect you, so the least I can do is try to give Mathus a chance."

Dialdon's tails went slack against the floor. He had let his anger get the better of him. Just the thought of Selvanna choosing a stranger over bringing justice to the person who caused them so much pain… Dialdon should have been better than this.

He cleared his throat and dryly said, “I'm sorry. I… I let my temper speak for me. I didn't mean to call your trust into question."

She placed a hand on the tapestry and ran her fingers and palm through the fabric. Grounding herself, Dialdon knew. He let her recover until her other arm lifted up towards him. Dialdon moved in and she hugged him to her, scritching him behind the ears.

“I'm sorry for getting mad at you, too," Selvanna whispered. “This situation is complicated. I have these instincts in me telling me one thing, and all my rational thought has been warring against it. It's been exhausting, to say the least."

He nuzzled into her chest and said, “I shouldn't be pushing you to do this. We can interview Mathus another time. You must be tired."

“I want to help you. I can rest after we do this," Selvanna said. “I just missed you so much while we were on the road back." She chuckled. “Normally everything gets simpler when I have you around, and I longed for that."

He leaned back to look up at her face. “Me? Simple?"

“Heh, it's just simple for me. I protect and take care of you and let you worry about the fate of the world."

“Mmm, long as you remind me that the world I'm building is for both of us," Dialdon said. He stepped back, his hand in hers. “Let's get this interview over with, and then we can take the rest of the night off together, hmm?"

“I'd love nothing more."

They went back to Mathus' rooms and found him sitting on the chest at the foot of his bed. His eyes went wide at the sight of Selvanna in her evening gown, ears blushing red, a sudden stutter to his voice. All the bravado and defiance he had shown Dialdon before had shattered to a shy boy when faced with Selvanna's beauty.

Perhaps a little petty, especially after Mathus caused a fight between them, Dialdon made sure that during the interview he kept touching Selvanna: a brush of the knuckles here, a kiss on the shoulder there, teasing her with his tails, occasionally sweeping them under the hem of her dress.

An hour later, they finished their business and shut Mathus in his room again. Selvanna waited until they had almost reached the vestibule to Mathus' suite before she shoved Dialdon against the wall, growling, “What was with you in there?"

Dialdon laughed and told her, “You might not fancy Mathus, but he certainly has an eye for you. I just wanted to taunt him a bit."

Selvanna's flinched. “I'd hoped I was just imagining that." She glanced back at the bedroom door. “I don't understand why he is so interested in me of all people."

“Who isn't interested in a beautiful dragoness?"

“Dialdon I gored his lover in front of him. Besides," Selvanna hissed, earfrills flattening to her head, “you and I both know all most men do when they see me is run in fear, whether in the battlefield or bedroom."

“Hahaha, are you flustered now?" Dialdon gave her a toothy grin. “Maybe I should be concerned. I can't remember the last time someone got so under your scales."

Selvanna folded her arms over her chest. “If you're just going to be a bully, I'm going to go find two jugs of wine, drink them, and pass out for the night."

“Alright! Alright! I'm sorry, forgive me Lady Selvanna."

Selvanna, of course, did, and Dialdon knew that as long as her trust in him remained, Mathus had no actual hope of charming the love of his life.

***

Karniel and Cathka reached the Drunken Sage after sunset, when the City of Tiers lit up in lanterns powered by the city's magic. Enough lights filled the streets to dim the brightness of the stars, and the churn of people hardly dampened. Sunward Lakes was one of the twelve neighborhoods tucked against Lake Umbra, and the Drunken Sage one of the many competing inns along the streets and avenues named after mollusks.

“Not too shabby," Karniel said as they moved onto the deck that ran along the face of the building. Inside someone played piano rags. The building was polished wood on its front with glass windows tinted green, the rest made of brick. They passed inside and found the furnishings lined with green and yellow accents. The common room was packed full of tables with people playing card games, eating, drinking, and talking. In one corner was a stage with the piano player banging out rags. A group of fellow musicians lazed nearby, tuning their instruments, waiting for their chance to perform.

Not far from the door, a narrow walkway took someone up to the bar with nearly every stool taken. Karniel noticed at the end of the bar his pup, but Cathka grabbed the bat's arm when he tried to head that way.

“Let Korlyon come to us," she said. Cathka looked like she had dyed her fur and feathers in a layer of cool colors: oranges, reds, and peaches replaced with turquoise, teals, and blues. Her clothes matched the fashion of the climate with short sleeves, stark coloring, and flare in the form of high collars, ribbons tied in loops along the hem of her skirt. Karniel did not have clothes to pull from a purse, and so wore the same roughed up road wear he got from Pterodea, only now with the illusion of being a tall, broad anthro bull with scar along his jawline, and one horn snapped off near the base.

Cathka, who had been scanning the crowd, pointed at a table along the west wall, where three people played dice. She said, “Follow me and let me do the talking."

“You say that like I would get us in trouble," Karniel complained, raising his voice to be heard over the din.

They wove their way to the table, by then catching the attention of its occupants. Karniel heard one of them pointing out they had company, but the room's general commotion made it difficult even for his ears to make things out. Truly Karniel loathed places like these, loathed mixing it up with the rabble. They were just so loud it often gave him a headache getting blasted with this much noise.

Cathka reached the table and signed a glyph without channeling the magic needed for the spell. All three occupants looked at her: one a dainty fox with ears looking too big for his head, another a raven-headed gryphon with his wings finely groomed and his black hair a tangled mess around his face, and the final a dark skinned human woman lined with intricate tattoos.

The woman said, “Name's Gilloi," she gestured to the fox and gryphon, “This is Mink and Konkan," finally her hand waved to an empty chair Karniel hadn't been able to notice until Gilloi pointed it out. “Have a seat."

“Thank you," Cathka said, “Cathka Emberplume." She took a seat and used a wing to wave back to Karniel. “You already know my companion."

Mink cackled, and Karniel picked up that Cathka no longer wore her illusion, and the rest of the tavern existed in an opaque curtain around them, even the noise muffled. “The Scourge! She brings us the Scourge!"

“And what is so amusing about me?" Karniel asked.

“It's rare to see the lion come to the lambs for help," Konkan said. His voice was soft and fine, in contrast to Gilloi's gruffness and Mink's jaggedness. “Though, word has spread you aren't much of a lion anymore."

Before Karniel could protest such an assessment, Cathka asked, “What word has spread?"

Gilloi answered, “About the hunters who bested you? About the Vessel who's going to revive Mortel? I can tell just by your faces it's true. The city hasn't learned the whole story yet, just the Emerald Ward. We have ears there."

“Any good mage does," Cathka said. She unsheathed Calth and set him down on the table. “This is what's left of my brother."

“Shit," Gilloi reached, hesitated, and asked, “May I?"

Cathka nodded.

Gilloi picked Calth up carefully, a sadness clouding her features. Cathka had told Karniel Calth was their real lifeline to this group. The Society of Lace and Lattice was one of the hundreds of secret mage societies and cults that existed in the Emerald Cities. Functionally, they were mutual aid networks for mages who wanted to live and work outside the regulations of the guilds and Mortel's Church. These networks had been around as long as people had tried to enforce order and rules on mages, and Karniel had never cared to track or follow the different ones.

Gilloi set Calth down after muttering a prayer. “Thank you," she said to Cathka.

“He says hello," Cathka said, grief now touching her features, “and he's sorry he never got to make that garden for you both."

Gilloi blinked back tears and, voice dry, mumbled, “Sage save me... fuck you, Calth. I know you can hear me, you, you…"

“We're going to find some way to get his soul out of there," Cathka said, reaching across the table and squeezing Gilloi's hand.

Karniel cleared his throat. “After we solve our current predicament."

Mink said, “Scourge wants to be first. Always first."

“I'd say stopping Mortel from coming back is a benefit to us all," Karniel snapped.

“He's right," Gilloi said as she pulled her hand from Cathka's. “The last thing the Church needs is even more power over the Cities."

“Or the world," Konkan added. “You have a plan to get the Vessel out of the ward? I'm sure there are a dozen different factions who'd love to take him and are scheming just that."

“We have help on the inside," Cathka said.

“You mean the Faceless at the bar?" Gilloi asked. “Don't know how you would trust one of them."

Karniel said, “I can be very persuasive to my point of view if—"

“The hunter loves Mathus more than his order," Cathka interjected, adding quickly to cut Karniel off before he could protest her rudeness, “Mathus, the Vessel, has that effect on people."

Mink said, “Has that effect on you two."

“Yes," Cathka said with a sigh, “But that's hardly relevant."

“I can smell it on you. Smell four smells on Scourge."

Karniel tossed a thumb over his shoulder to the bar. “I told you, I can be quite persuasive."

Mink snickered while Konkan asked, “What do you need from us?"

“Safe harbor until we free Mathus," Cathka said, “And a conduit for Karniel to attune to."

Gilloi stared at Karniel, then pointed at him and asked Cathka, “You're serious?"

“I wouldn't have walked through the door looking like a bull if I couldn't conduct magic," Karniel said. “And yes, if mages can use whatever spell on me they wish, I would very much like to have my own conduit to balance that inconvenience."

Mink laughed again.

Gilloi shrugged, “We figured you enchanted something he wore or some other work around."

Konkan took one of the dice on the table and tossed it to Karniel. He caught it deftly as the gryphon said, “Take that upstairs. You'll need it to get access to the attic, plenty of space to stay. Can't be scried or teleported into."

“I'm already warding us from divination, but I appreciate giving my conduit a break," Cathka said. She had started doing that after the night they were attacked.

Gilloi said, “I'll see about the conduit, but something nice won't be easy to get on short notice."

“It's fine," Cathka said. “He ideally won't need it for anything but emergencies."

“What makes you think I'm going to restrict my extensive knowledge of spells down to what gets us out of danger?" Karniel asked. “Do you know I've been living with mages and learning magic far far longer than any of you have been alive?"

Cathka turned on him and said flatly, “You won't and don't need to turn a drink you don't like into some favored blend of wine. Mathus is right about some magic being superfluous."

Karniel scoffed. “What is the point, then?"

“You two are a cute pair," Gilloi said, and when Karniel's ears shot up at the same time as Cathka's, Mink laughed at them both.

“If we're through we're going to go up to our rooms," Karniel said with a little huff.

Cathka got up, grabbing Calth and returning him to his scabbard. “Once we are settled and rested, feel free to find me. I'd be happy to tell you what happened to Calth, and how we came to be here."

Konkan reached over and twined his scaly fingers with Gilloi's. “We would appreciate that."

They stepped backwards, and the common room's noise snapped back into place with their illusions. Cathka signed a message spell and said into it, “We're going upstairs. You won't find us if you don't meet us up there now."

Across the room, Korlyon's ear flicked, and he called the bartender to settle his tab. While he did, Karniel gladly led them over to the stairs, taking them up while complaining about the insufferable amount of noise. “This is why I never left my palaces, you know," he said after climbing one flight of stairs and mounting the next, the noise receding.

“Can you not talk about yourself for five minutes?" Cathka asked in a whisper. There were people still about, and an inn like this was not built with privacy in mind.

“I do not talk about just myself," Karniel complained as they reached the third floor. It was split into a T with rooms lining the three hallways, and at the end of the longer hallway was a small table with another dice board conspicuously set out.

“It can seem that way," Cathka complained while massaging the bridge of her beak. “You're always happy to tell someone about yourself."

“I can't help that most people are boring, Cathka darling—" Karniel froze, and the pair exchanged a look. Cathka knew for a long time “darling" was a word Karniel saved for Mathus and Mathus only, a term of endearment meant for the people he felt extraordinarily close with.

He cleared his throat and glanced down the stairs. “Korlyon is certainly taking his sweet time."

Cathka touched his arm and just whispered, “I love you, Karniel."

Grumbling, still watching the stairs, Karniel hooked his arm around her and pulled Cathka close. “I don't like talking about this without Mathus here. I didn't—it was a slip of the tongue, but… my tongue wouldn't slip if I didn't feel that way."

“I love him, too, you know."

“Yes, well, who doesn't love Mathus?" Karniel asked.

“You're really trying to avoid this aren't you?" Cathka pried herself away from his side. “Are you embarrassed?"

Karniel's ears folded back and he hissed, “Obviously not." He shook his head and whispered, “I just… I feel guilty feeling this way when Mathus is in the hands of Mortel's cult of sycophants."

“He's my priority right now, too," Cathka said, leaning back against Karniel. “But I'm glad you feel that way."

“I'm... glad you're glad," Karniel said obliquely, even as he resisted the urge to hold her closer. The warmth of her at his side had this effect of making his heart feel a little lighter, made him want to do all manner of things to her and with her. And it conflicted with the guilt of separation. He already felt bad for taking a night of pleasure with Korlyon; a weight in his chest had built and branched through him in Mathus' growing absence that made him want to shirk all love and lightness.

Even when Korlyon began to climb the steps, Karniel did not let Cathka go. The wolf said as he reached the third floor, “Is this part of your disguise?"

“Pardon?" Karniel asked.

“Being a couple."

Cathka pulled away from him, saying, “Yes, now let's go."

Karniel knew she lied for his benefit, and almost felt the need to protest, but he kept it to himself. They would have time to sort out their feelings later.

They went down the hall, and the dice in Karniel's hand began to warm. The dice table began to collapse against the wall, breaking down into a ladder with a trapdoor now in the ceiling.

“A secret room?" Korlyon asked.

“There is a reason we came here," Cathka said. “This will be our safehouse for the time being."

Cathka climbed the ladder, turned the latch to the trapdoor and shoved it open. She climbed inside, followed by Korlyon, and Karniel joined them last. The attic had a ceiling lined with a sliding panel, currently opened to reveal a window that looked up at the floating layers of the City of Tiers. Moonlight wafted into a room with four beds, a stone table meant for enchanting, and, next to a dining table, a shelf full of books, playing cards, and board games.

“Not a bad place," Korlyon said as he stepped deeper inside.

“Beds are a little small," Karniel complained.

Cathka's tail stroked up his hamstring, across his thigh, and to his crotch as she walked past him. “We can always push the beds together."

Karniel was certain they would do that, though he still wished Mathus might be here. He could hear Mathus chiding him for punishing himself for nothing. Taking comfort and strength in his companions wasn't wrong, but Karniel could not help the guilt he felt, and the weakness that was the simple fact that, had he his old powers, he might be able to free Mathus right now.

They all took seats at the table, and Cathka spread her legs so her knee rested against his. It almost annoyed him how comforting her touch was, but it occurred to Karniel that Cathka might be seeking his comfort in the face of Mathus' absence, too. Strangely, caring for her made him less guilty about leaning into her touch.

“Were you able to see him?" Cathka asked Korlyon. “Is he well?"

“I've not seen him. Selvanna stopped me before I could." Korlyon undid the straps of his helm and mask, setting the stiff leather down before he said to them both. He took a deep breath, then said, “Mathus told her about me."

Karniel cursed, but Cathka asked, “And you're certain you weren't followed here?"

“Unless it was a very skilled mage, I doubt someone could tail me without me noticing," Korlyon said.

Karniel asked, “Why didn't Selvanna run you through, exactly?"

Korlyon shrugged and recounted his encounter with Selvanna on the road. Ending with, “By the time I got to you three getting trapped in Pterodea, she got called back to her post. I never got to see Mathus in the stagecoach, but Selvanna had him sedated. My best guess is she's the only one who knows about me."

“How deeply disturbing," Karniel said.

“I only know about Selvanna by reputation. Do either of you know what is going on here?" Cathka asked.

Korlyon said, “Just that she's beloved by the church. People only have good things to say about her."

“Ugh, perhaps that is it, then," Karniel said. “She recognizes a kindred spirit in Mathus."

“She seemed conflicted," Korlyon added. “Like she wanted to help Mathus, but didn't know what to do aside from ease his suffering."

“You did say she didn't want you getting hurt for Mathus' sake," Cathka said. She blinked and glanced down at Calth. She asked Korlyon, “Calth wanted to ask if you think she's still going to show you where they're keeping Mathus."

“I would assume so, although we were already briefed on his rooms. They have us taking eight hour shifts to patrol the temple. Every competent hand is being put to use to protect Mathus. The suite they have him in might as well be a vault for all the wards around it and the Grand Temple itself."

“We can worry about breaking in later," Cathka said. “Calth thinks we have a chance to convince Selvanna to help free Mathus."

Karniel stroked his jaw. “Hmm, an interesting thought. You know, it has been curious to me, this whole business to revive Mortel."

“Why?" Cathka asked.

“Dialdon despises his father, and I imagine he would see Mathus as the key to escaping Mortel's influence once and for all while getting the power he sees as his birthright."

Cathka and Korlyon just stared at him.

Karniel laughed, “Right, you have no clue what I'm talking about. Like you said Cathka, I'd rather talk about myself, so why would I ever bring this up?"

She nudged his leg with hers. “Just get on with it."

“Very well," Karniel cleared his throat. “After Mortel and I made the Heart, we recognized that Mortel was not necessarily immortal in the same way I was. A skilled enough assassin, for instance, might sneak up and under his defences and kill him before he had a chance to draw on all that godly power. So Mortel created Dialdon. They are not just father and son, but Dialdon is an exact replica of Mortel."

Cathka's hand strayed to Calth's hilt. “Meaning a conduit attuned to one would also be attuned to the other."

“Yes, and more," Karniel said. “You see, Mathus' irksome connection to Mortel through the second Heart was by design. Our thought had been, Dialdon would have a Heart inserted in him, and because of their matched bodies, it would be easy to overtake the soul inside Dialdon and reincarnate himself in this new body. The plan had been to create a line of succession that would guarantee the two of us could live eternally through the millennia no matter what happened."

“But?" Cathka prompted.

“But the bastard decided I cared too much about us and not enough about the world he wanted to shape in his image. When Mortel left me, I told Dialdon what he was made for and that I could free him from that fate. I had no such intention, I just captured Mortel's heir to draw him out. I had no clue Mortel had made the second Heart already. We had made all these plans, but Dialdon was barely old enough to take the Heart inside him when everything went sour."

Korlyon's ears folded back and he frowned. “Do we still not know how Mathus ended up with the Heart?"

Karniel shrugged. “Mathus remains the greatest mystery. The second Heart disappeared for centuries then turned up in his body."

“No scars or memory of the Heart being inserted. No clue if he had it put in at birth or not?" Cathka asked

“That would be quite hard to fit in a human child," Karniel said. “That conduit is not small."

“And he of course knows nothing," Cathka said.

Karniel dismissed this line of thought with a wave. He set his elbow on the table and said, “Regardless, I do not believe for a minute Dialdon wants to revive his father. It is likely he has his own plans for the Heart, which he would likely keep very close to himself and his accomplices."

“You think he'd actually hide anything from Selvanna?" Korlyon asked. “They're partners and have been for centuries."

Karniel gave the wolf a wry grin. “I had thought the same of Mortel and I, but if Selvanna has Mathus' moral fiber, then, knowing the cost of these things, I doubt she would ever approve of what is needed to make it so someone other than Mortel or Mathus can wield that power."

***

They could not sacrifice Mathus without Karniel first, or at least, this is how Mathus understood the conundrum the Church faced. It was, perhaps, the only thing keeping Mathus from contemplating suicide. He had not been lying to Selvanna, after all, when he said he'd rather die than let the Heart fall into Mortel's hands.

The first full day in his suite had gnawed at him. Servants came in to leave food in his room and clean up after him. Aside from that, the only visitor he received was Dialdon with two guards. Dialdon did more probing and studying of his chest, taking notes, while Mathus lay back in his bed, shirtless, until Dialdon determined “A more thorough examination needs to be performed."

They sedated Mathus against his will again. He woke hours later, ribs sore but otherwise still as intact as ever.

His second full day of imprisonment he expected to spend entirely alone. He reclined on the sofa in his bedroom, reading one of the book's left for him that told a history of dragons and their role in founding the Emerald Cities. The Emerald Sage had quite literally been a dragon with scales resembling polished emeralds, and each city was centered on a well the Sage created. The text said “These wells created a gravity that draws the raw magic of the world inexorably to the cities, making them the most magically charged places on the planet."

Mathus set down the book, feeling a little sick, for he knew it was not “magic" being dragged into the cities, but the souls of the dead.

Through the open door to his bedroom, he heard the door to his suite open.

“Mathus?" Selvanna announced from the other room. “Are you here?"

He called over his shoulder, “Where else could I have gone?" Mathus did not expect to hear someone rush through the den to his bedroom, their tread not as heavy as Selvanna's. A figure burst through the door, already peeling off his mask as he did.

Mathus started, scrambling to get up and tripping out of the sofa. Korlyon caught him, hugging Mathus tightly to his chest.

“Mathus!"

“Korlyon, thank the gods..."

Mathus nuzzled into Korlyon's chest piece as he kissed his brow, tail wagging furiously. Palm brushing past whiskers, Mathus caressed his cheek and whispered, “I missed you so much. I was so scared—"

“Hush," Korlyon whispered, kissing him. The wolf's lips against his brought back so many memories that Mathus melted against him. Korlyon teased his tongue across Mathus' lips, just tasting him before he pulled away and breathed, “I love you, Mathus."

“I love you, too, I'm sorry I didn't let you say it back—"

“Shhh, stop apologizing silly. I found you, that's all that matters."

A very loud throat clearing from the door. Selvanna had stood outside the room, but now dipped inside. She wore a blouse and skirt spotted in places with flour. She said, “I would love to give you two privacy, but I can't knowing what I know."

Too happy to stay reserved, Mathus moved to Selvanna and grabbed one of her large hands in both of his, shaking it. “Thank you for not telling anyone. Thank you."

Selvanna turned her head, muttering, “It was nothing. I just didn't want you to be hurt."

Korlyon asked, “Have you really not told anyone?"

Selvanna pulled her hands out of Mathus, back straightening a little. “I've not. I meant it when I didn't want to see you killed." She told Mathus, “He's here to see if he can still find Karniel's scent on you so we can track the Scourge again."

“You've not been able to find him?" Mathus asked.

“Divination hasn't turned up anything, and no one has seen him, though, a simple illusion would hide him easily," Selvanna said before gesturing to Korlyon. “Hence, more direct ways of tracking. However," and her eyes narrowed at Korlyon, “I expect you already know where to find him."

Korlyon did not shrink under her glare. “I do."

Mathus stepped between them. “Selvanna please."

Her fists clenched at her sides a moment, but she sighed, turning away. “Mortel's tails," she cursed, “What am I doing?" She faced them again, gesturing to Korlyon's maskless face. “The fact he stripped his mask for you, Mathus, is enough reason to throw him into a dungeon and strip his mind of all the information he has. Much less everything else."

Korlyon quietly suggested, “It sounds like you're more concerned about Mathus than Mortel."

“Don't assume you know what I feel," Selvanna growled. “I've already persuaded Dialdon to find some way to spare Mathus' life when the time comes to give up his body. We will find another vessel for his soul to occupy." She sneered at Korlyon. “That's more than you could hope to accomplish, or did you expect that a middling mage, a now harmless bat, and the Faceless Order's most inexperienced warrior would be able to breach all of the Church's defenses and free Mathus?"

Korlyon offered Mathus a smirk before he answered, “That is the plan."

Mathus' chest thumped, legs wobbling at that.

“And none of you plan to even use the Heart?" Selvanna asked.

“We just want to save Mathus. The Heart is his to decide what to do with."

Selvanna said to Mathus, “Please talk some sense into this wolf. I can't protect you or your companions if you fight the Church every step of the way."

He stepped to Korlyon's side. “I'll wait for you, Karniel, and Cathka. For as long as it takes."

They exchanged another kiss, Mathus not even caring that Selvanna watched.

***

Selvanna waited at the door to Mathus' suite while Korlyon donned his mask again. Him taking it off in front of her without a care told more to Selvanna about his devotion to Mathus than any words could. It shook her, to know someone could not only inspire that, but turn the Scourge, by degrees, into something history had never seen before.

Mathus had dogged her thoughts despite her best efforts. She wanted to see him, but knew better than to visit without an excuse. Korlyon had been that excuse, but the meeting had not gone the way she planned. Not that she had any hope something might happen; it was just… as they exited the suite and moved down the hall, disappointment weighed heavily between her breasts.

They reached the end of the hall, near a stairwell that led down into the temple. Dialdon and her rooms across the way, and another hallway stretching to their right with more rooms. At the end of that wall was a heavy, stained-glass window of Mortel's crest, the one that looked out over the Grand Temple's grounds. Each of the rooms along the hall had doubled up with occupants: the all cardinals of the Church here for Mortel's resurrection.

This afternoon, the hallway was empty enough that Korlyon whispered, “So what will you do?"

Dialdon was elsewhere in the Emerald Ward, coordinating the hunt for Karniel with the Order and other forces of the Church. Selvanna had the answer to that search standing right beside her. She shoved Korlyon toward her rooms. “Not here," she snarled.

Korlyon walked. The enchantment on Selvanna's door responded to her touch, and the lock turned. She opened it and forced Korlyon inside. Shutting it behind her, she noticed Korlyon backing off, widening his stance, and putting a paw on one of the swords at his hip.

“Even barehanded in a blouse I can take you, pup, so don't start something you can't finish," Selvanna said, her claws extended from her fingertips.

Korlyon did not let down his guard. “You can't blame me for thinking that's the way this is going to go."

She lifted her hand between them and retracted her claws. “You wanted to talk, so talk."

Korlyon relaxed his stance, but kept a paw on the hilt of one blade. “Way I see it, you have two choices: tell Dialdon about me, or let me walk out of here so we can plan Mathus' escape."

“Or, I let Dia know Karniel is going to come to us, and we only need to wait. There are only three of you, after all, and you have to get into Mathus' suite and get him out without using magic. I'm pretty sure I can handily kill the mage and you and subdue Karniel before that happens, but Dia will happily lend me his warriors to help."

Korlyon grimaced. “You really don't find us threatening, do you?"

Selvanna folded her arms over her chest, widening her shoulders. “If rodents scared me, I wouldn't suffer to let them run around this temple freely."

“Alright, you don't believe we're a threat."

“Because you aren't."

“But what about Dialdon?"

Selvanna snorted derisively. “What about him?"

Korlyon said, “You're not curious what his plans are for Mathus?"

“Tsch, if you're trying to sow doubt, you should get out now."

“Karniel doesn't think he plans to bring his father back."

“Karniel knows nothing about Dialdon," Selvanna snapped.

Korlyon asked, “What if I could produce evidence to the contrary?"

“You are towing a dangerous line, pup."

Korlyon held up both paws placatingly. “Fine, let me test something. Then I will go in peace. You won't have to see me again afterward."

“There are so many reasons I should take that tiny neck of yours between my teeth," Selvanna growled. “What is it you want to do?"

“Simply allow me to search this room."

Selvanna scoffed. A surge of anger told her to throw Korlyon out, but something else nagged at her. Something about the way Dialdon spoke of the resurrection always threw her off. No one knew better than Dialdon how to spin a lie past her. Questions about the resurrection Dialdon always answered without specificity, or by deferring answers with things like, “It won't matter if we don't find Karniel first."

“Fine. Search this room, but I will be watching your every move."

Korlyon hoped Karniel knew his stuff. They had discussed what might sway Selvanna to their cause, and all three of them agreed if Dialdon could be caught hiding something from Selvanna it would do more for them than anything else. Even if Selvanna didn't help them, keeping the dragoness out of the action would make the task monumentally easier. Especially if she kept her secret about Korlyon.

Korlyon did not waste time overturning the drawers of Dialdon's writing desk or checking for some incriminating letter in the loose stack of parchment on a table. He went to the walls, leaning in closely and sniffing. Selvanna's scent permeated much of the room, with all the little things of living: the smell of pages from books, a used mug, the fabric of the tapestry against the wall, and under it all the smell of marble and stone. The sharpness of the stone softened with the warmth of the room, and faintly, under that, the oxidized scent of magic.

The whole temple coursed with it. Mathus' room was so warded it practically stank, but most of it could be nothing more than a faint undercurrent unless…

Korlyon stopped in the corner adjacent to Selvanna's bedroom. He rapped a knuckle on the stone. It sounded no different from the rest of the wall, but Korlyon smelled the scent of magic coming off this slab. He stepped back and pointed at the spot. “This is either a doorway or the wall here is just an illusion entirely."

“What?" Selvanna asked, looking appalled. She stomped over, saying, “Do you really think if Dia had something to hide he would just put it right here? There are places in this temple I never go, he's smarter than this."

Korlyon stepped back from the wall so she could inspect it, saying as she touched it and ran her palms along the marble, “Maybe Dialdon knows you're the one person in the world who won't go looking into his things, and that's why keeping it close to you is safer than in some place a stranger could stumble upon it."

That's what Karniel said Mortel had done to him.

Selvanna couldn't remember the last time anxiety took hold of her this quickly. Her palms moved up and down the wall, and she felt it, the undeniable pressure of magic shuddering against her scales, as all magic did. It recoiled against her touch, having to be forced upon her in order to have any effect at all. She put more force against the stone, and knew soon enough what this was.

Her claws extended again, as she felt out the boundaries of this spell, saying, “It's a door." A part of her wanted to stop what she was doing, throw Korlyon in a dungeon, and forget about this secret room Dialdon kept from her. She could not do that anymore than not notice a lie, however.

She felt out the boundaries of the spell with her fingertips, mapping where the edges of the door were before running her claws around that boundary. They caught on a seam near the top of the wall.

Selvanna crossed to the other corner of the room, where her armor hung from a mannequin and her poleaxe was mounted on the wall. She grabbed the axe, barking at Korlyon, “Give me room."

She barely cared or noticed him scrambling out of the way as she hefted her weapon and stabbed its speartip into that hidden seam. Like a pickaxe going into the wall, chunks of marble were cleaved from it as she wedged the spear all the way to the head of her axe.

Korlyon flinched and said, “Could you at least wait until I left before making all this noise?"

“You want to know what's behind here, don't you?" Selvanna snarled. “Besides, I can be loud, so Dialdon always makes sure our rooms are sound proofed."

Korlyon gawked. How loud did she need to be that it could be heard through solid stone? He watched her use her wedged poleaxe to crank the door down, forcing it just enough that her weapon came loose. Selvanna tossed it aside, the heavy thing landing on a tea table and snapping it in two pieces. She didn't notice, already getting her hands into the opening. She grunted, straining a moment before the stone budged.

Korlyon kept his distance, feeling it dangerous to get too close to the dragon in this state.

Muscles straining, Selvanna forced the stone slab down until she could put a little more leverage and weight into it. Beyond she saw a small study with books in shelves, journals laid out, and diagrams sketched on a canvas. She did not manage to get the hidden door all the way into the floor, but enough that she could step sideways over it. The entrance was not wide enough for her shoulders.

She had never been meant to find this place. She was inside the secret study before she even caught her breath, unsure what she wanted to find or search for. A thick rug covered the floor. Her horns scraped the ceiling. This place was barely bigger than a horse's stable, every piece of space stuffed with books, writing, diagrams, and parchment. A glass of wine rested on the desk. Selvanna recognized it as the same glass he drank from the night she returned to Sepulcher of Dawn. After she had happily passed out, drunk and aglow from an orgasm, he had skulked into here to finish his glass and plot whatever he planned to do with the Heart.

Careful to not get too close to the entrance of the study, Korlyon said through the door, “We'll be coming for Mathus tonight. If you truly believe your loyalty in—"

“Get out," Selvanna whispered. Korlyon knew better than to test an angry dragon's patience. He scampered away just like the rodent Selvanna compared him to earlier.

Selvanna opened a journal on Dialdon's desk, but found it bound in some spell that scrambled the words into nonsense. Of course, but Selvanna did not need to read Dialdon's notes to feel her heart start to sink. Some of these diagrams were maps of the city, with specific points sketched out, in what Selvanna quickly realized made the pattern of a spell. A diagram of the Heart wasn't there to puzzle out how it worked, she realized, but how its construction forged the gateway to an afterlife. The container for all the souls the Heart could draw on. Dialdon had no intention of reviving his father, but making a new container, big enough to swallow the original whole.

***

Purpose and optimism lightened Dialdon's stride as he walked back to his quarters. Yesterday he had been able to pry open Mathus' chest and examine the Heart up close. That lump of beating amber in his chest looked so simple on the surface, but when examined under the lens of magic, it became a complex of anchors and siphons to Mortel's afterlife. Keys Dialdon had been missing his entire life suddenly became clear and apparent.

He reached the top floor of the temple and spared a glance down the hall to Mathus' suite. Nothing seemed out of place, not that anything could be without him knowing about it. So many wards protected and sealed the temple that trespassers would be detected in a matter of seconds. He offered a hello to one of the passing cardinals and went down to his rooms.

As he opened the door he called, “You in here Vanna—"

A massive, black hand closed around his face and yanked him inside. Selvanna slammed the door closed with her tail, her claws shredding the fine clasp to Dialdon's gorget and ripping it off his body. Panic took Dialdon, and he tried to draw on his conduit, but even as he started to siphon energy from it, Selvanna tossed it across the room.

He was helpless.

Selvanna threw him into their loveseat. “Sit down." Dialdon scrambled to get up, but she forced him back into the cushions with a shove. “I said sit!"

Dialdon froze. Behind her, he saw the mess made prying open his study. How long had she known? How did she even find out about it? Dragons had no sense of magic beyond touch, and she had no reason to suspect—

She squatted before the chair, tail swishing back and forth as she seethed. “If it were any other man keeping this from me, I would have snapped their neck the moment they walked through that door. But you Dialdon, owe me more than that."

Struggling to find his composure, Dialdon said, “You got into my study. That much is apparent—"

Whap! She slammed her tail to the ground. “No squirming out of this. I'm going to ask you yes or no questions, and you're going to give me the truth."

“Vanna you have to understand—"

Whap! “You're done. Tell me, was your plan to always use the Heart yourself?"

He couldn't lie to her. He knew better, at least. All he could hope to do was persuade her and pray she might see reason. “Yes," he said.

“I saw diagrams in the study for some sort of spell. Were you planning on sacrificing people to feed the Heart?"

“Yes."

“Do the other cardinals know about this?"

“Yes."

Selvanna actually recoiled. She got to her feet, facing away. Dialdon scanned the room for his conduit. Perhaps if he bolted for it…

Selvanna faced him again, fists bunched at her side and trembling. “Why, Dia?"

Dialdon had played this conversation out in his head before, so many times. He had always been too scared to bring it up with her for how it might test their relationship. Still, he could not cower now. Selvanna would respect him even less for that. He straightened his posture and said, “Someone must control the Heart and all the power it entails. Before it existed, it wouldn't have mattered, but there is no way to disperse what my father created, and it has only grown as the Church has, which we both know makes it massive—"

“Can't we just forget about it? Destroy the Heart and let the faithful have their afterlife?" Selvanna pleaded with him, and it was pleading. Dialdon understood now it was not some misguided righteousness or rage driving her actions, but grief.

He shook his head. “No, Vanna, I'm sorry. If we destroyed the Heart, someone somewhere would eventually find a way to draw on Mortel's afterlife. It has to be held and stewarded by someone, and that someone certainly shouldn't be my father. Just look at this temple. All that man cares about is his own image."

Water beaded the corner of her red eyes. “But why does it have to be you?"

That was the real crux of the issue. Godhood was not a mantle one wore lightly. You did not get to take vacations to isolated cabins in the mountains, much as a part of Dialdon longed to have that simple, sweet pleasure for them.

“Vanna…" his throat stung and Dialdon needed to clear it. He didn't expect wanting to cry, but seeing her in so much pain did hurt him. He swallowed his tears and said, “Because I am Mortel's son, and if anyone should have to bear the burden of my father's greed, it's me."

“Such a martyr!" Selvanna spat. “Taking all that power for yourself."

“And who would you trust it to, Selvanna? Who else do we know who would wield it honorably? Would not succumb to the baser temptations of power?"

Selvanna glanced at the door out of their rooms. “Maybe it should stay with someone who isn't tempted to use it at all."

“Mathus?" Dialdon scoffed. “That's rich. Did you forget what I said about another drawing on that power? Mathus is just a man, we captured him easily, and when word spreads whole kingdoms will wage war to rip that conduit right out of his chest. Even if they can't use it, they'll find ways to reverse engineer my father's design. It only took me an afternoon to figure out how to make another Heart, Selvanna. What kind of solution is letting some unattached peasant walk off with it?"

“I don't know… I don't know!" Selvanna snapped. She quaked, cursed, and bit her hand. Dialdon flinched at the flash of teeth, but he did not stop her. Blood the same color of wine dripped from her hand and onto the floor as she tried to contain herself. Dialdon had only seen her this agitated a few times in their centuries together: moments where self-harm acted as the only grounding mechanism she knew.

Dialdon whispered, “I didn't mean to belittle you, Vanna, but you must see that the Heart cannot stay with that man."

Deep breath in, shuddering breath out. She released her hand, maw coated in blood and more dripping freely onto the rug she stood on. “You still planned to sacrifice part of the city. Why?"

“Mortel still has power and influence over his afterlife. And that influence will be particularly dangerous for me, but if we build a bigger container around his it will block any ability to try and exercise influence outside his little afterlife," Dialdon said before quickly adding, “Everything planned has been done in consultation with the other cardinals. I did not simply decide I would become a god, Vanna. They elected me, by a consensus."

Selvanna sighed. “Then there is no hope of convincing you to change course, is there?"

“I will replace Mathus, we will use the Heart to channel the sacrifice, and I will assume Mortel's identity. Dialdon will pass into history as the troubled, envious son who destroyed a section of the city in a desperate attempt to take power from his father."

“I can't be party to this, Dia. I can't."

“I'm not asking you to. If you must leave the Church's service, I understand, but I would long to have you to come home to. And…" he had to swallow another stinging well of tears in his throat, “And if you must leave me all together. I will allow it, and you can live unmolested. Far from me, if that is what you need."

She knelt before him, reaching out with her unharmed hand to caress his cheek. Dialdon let her, placing his hand on her knuckles, leaning into her fingers. He understood this might be the last time they touched, even as that very thought made his stomach churn and bile rise in his throat.

“You fool. Why can't you just give this up for me?" Selvanna whispered.

“Some responsibilities are more important than love. You know this."

“I do," Selvanna whispered. They both wept now, but a gulf deepened between them that kept them arm's length apart. Selvanna brushed a tear from the corner of his eye with her thumb. “I'm sorry, my love."

Later, Dialdon would know what smacked the back of his head was Selvanna's tail, reaching around slapping him on the ear. He crumpled onto the loveseat, head ringing. He gasped, reaching for her, but she slipped away. His pounding head made it difficult to sit up, but when he did he saw she had gone into their bedroom. He spotted his conduit thrown near the entrance of the study.

Whatever Selvanna planned, he knew he needed to subdue her. They would have days, weeks, years to figure this out, but her temperamental nature couldn't just ruin years of work! Dialdon forced himself to stand, leaning against the loveseat. He took a step towards his conduit, and a wave of dizziness took him. He tried his best to fall toward it. If he could just…

Selvanna caught him before he hit the ground. “Sh-sh," she cooed, picking him up. She carried him to their bed and deposited him there. Still dazed, Dialdon's resistance was little more than a fussing child as she took the cord used to tie shut one of his robes to bind his wrists together behind his back. She used another to tie his ankles together.

Lastly, she gagged him before sitting back down on the bed. She kept her back to him, and he lay still, knowing better than to waste his energy fighting her now.

Selvanna whispered, “They are coming tonight. Karniel and his mage, and the Faceless warrior Korlyon. Mathus told me, privately, that Korlyon had been swayed to protect him. The wolf is young and idealistic, and I can see why he chose to protect Mathus despite everything. He told me of their plan tonight. Had I not discovered your study, I would have warned you, and we would have stopped them. But now, Dia? I think it's better we just let them steal Mathus away into the night."

She got up and said, “I'm going to destroy your study, and everything in it. I don't know if it will stop you, but perhaps it will slow you down long enough to reconsider."

Selvanna padded out of the bedroom while Dialdon thrashed in his restraints.

***

Cloudless night. Not the best luck for them, but they did not have a reason to wait any longer. Karniel had his temporary conduit: a gold necklace, wrapped around his throat in a single chain. It would not help in an extended fight with a mage, but it was the best Cathka's friends could get in a day.

The ferries to the different layers to the city were flat, square boats that littered the lakes and canals, a constant stream of traffic through the city. At sunset, it was a beautiful journey to make. The lake was cut with long shadows from the massive slabs of earth floating in the air, with slashes of glittering red that refracted in the misty waterfalls weeping from the lowest levels of the City of Tiers.

Karniel sat on a bench along the railing of the ferry, looking out on the water. He wore a new set of clothes: breeches, and a peasant's shirt. At his hip was a long-handled sword. Given Karniel's size, the blade extended his reach about as well as Calth extended Cathka's, but it provided more utility than his bare hands did. If they faced Selvanna again Karniel could not expect to punch his way through her armor.

He hoped they didn't. Korlyon had told them of his success, as well as what to expect at the Grand Temple. Now the wolf rode the same ferry, standing ten paces away, watching the water as well. They exchanged a glance, and to Korlyon's eyes it looked like a bull winked at him.

Cathka sat beside Karniel, using the light of the lanterns lining the ferry to read one of Basphemen's books. At her side, her hand signed the glyphs needed to get them far away from here. She was practicing, making sure she had memorized the phase glyphs for their teleportation spell. They might not have the luxury to read them from a book once they had Mathus. As they drew under one of the massive, floating petals of stone that made up the lowest level of Sepulcher of Dawn, she shut the book and signed the glyphs three more times.

Finally, she opened her purse and tossed the book inside it.

“Got it?" Karniel said.

“Yes, the coordinates are a bit tricky. If I sign the wrong finger I could be miles off our destination."

Karniel shrugged, still watching the water. “Just so long as the first attempt gets us out of the Emerald Ward, I'm sure you'll have plenty of chances after to get it right."

“You nervous?"

Karniel was quiet for a time, mulling that question over. “Of course," he admitted. “Not only am I mortal now, but I have you and Korlyon to protect. Perhaps if I was not so weak, I would be more comfortable."

She placed a hand on his knee. “You're not weak. Even in this state you're still stronger than anyone I know."

“Psh, tell that to Mortel's Fell Axe."

“With any luck, we won't have to deal with her tonight."

“Only time will tell." He got up with a grunt and said, “I'm going to see how Korlyon is doing." Karniel strode over to the young wolf and slapped his shoulder. “Hey stranger, don't see your kind around here often!"

Korlyon shook his head. “You're a terrible actor, you know."

Karniel scoffed. “Pardon me? If I'm a bad actor it's because there's yet been a role grand enough—"

Korlyon elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up.

“Oof, fine, fine." He lowered his voice and asked, “How are you feeling?"

“Grim, but determined."

“I suppose I will take that."

“Fawn is patrolling the temple tonight," Korlyon said. He placed a paw on one of his swords. “She taught me how to use these."

“Ideally, you won't have to face her."

“There's no entrance to the temple that doesn't get us into a fight."

“We know," Karniel said. “Leave the Faceless to me."

“I can handle them."

Karniel placed a hand on the paw Korlyon had resting on the pommel of his sword. “I don't doubt your commitment or skill, but I want to keep you from carrying the burden of killing your own kin. Grief like that can be bottomless."

Korlyon yanked his paw away. “Stop being so sentimental. It's distracting."

“Mmm, you like it, pup."

“You're going to blow our cover."

“Sounds like you're the poor actor now," Karniel teased, noting how Korlyon struggled not to keep his tail still.

“Just get out of here," Korlyon growled.

Chuckling, Karniel returned to his seat with Cathka. Looming ahead, Umbra's Spine waited to haul them up to the city's apex.

***

Selvanna grabbed her poleaxe off the floor. She would rather not use it for this, but it ensured the quickest way to destroy the study. She drew on the magic stored in the silver core of the weapon's haft, and signed a set of glyphs, and held her free palm up to the exposed doorway.

Cleansing flames rushed into the study, quickly catching everything in the room. The smokeless fire of her spell became the smoke and spark of real fire, the heat of the small stone room quickly climbing. Selvanna stood before the doorway, letting the scent of burning wood, paper, and fabric become acrid and stinging as she breathed it in. Her eyes watered, but she did not turn away.

Selvanna could have walked away, but she had no desire to let the fire spread to her room. So she waited with it, the heat of the flames enough it felt like a hot oven, sweltering and too hot. It almost burnt her scales.

Before they came to this world, the ancestors said dragons had been creatures of flight and flame. She wondered what those ancestors must've thought coming here, losing the flame, the flight so tenuous. Even before her injury, Selvanna had only been able to fly when the winds were right. Otherwise she was simply too heavy.

She hoped tonight her wings would at least slow her fall.

Selvanna heard banging on the door to their suite. Selvanna cursed and signed another glyph, drawing the flames out of the room quick as she cast them into there. She squeezed the tip of the spear on her poleaxe, and the tip began to glow white hot as it contained all the heat of that room.

The furniture, the remains of the journals, were a charred heap of ash and scorched stone. She would have liked a few minutes more, but it would have to do. Selvanna went to the door with Gaulantine on the other side, yelling for entry.

She opened it, and saw the cardinal waiting with three temple guards.

“Selvanna! What is—hrrrk—"

Selvanna yanked him by the horns into the doorway, using her hips to slam the door on his neck. “Hello cardinal," she growled before wrenching his head down like the pump of a crank, his neck snapping. She let him go and the door opened with his dead weight slumping against it. Selvanna planted her foot on his back, pointed her poleaxe down the corridor, signed the glyph for “release," and tapped the speartip. Releasing all that heat singed her finger.

It immolated the hallway.

Selvanna couldn't see past the torrent of flame, the reptilian slits of her pupils narrowing in the flare's glow. The marble walls had been scorched, flames licked across the remains of tapestries, and the three guards melted under the blast.

“Vanna stop this!"

Selvanna grabbed Gaulantine's lifeless body by a horn and turned, pitching him across the room. He slammed into Dialdon, who had escaped his restraints and was running for his conduit.

“The Heart is coming with me, Dia," she said. “Don't get in my way." Her lover's thin, frail body struggled to get the weight of Gaulantine's corpse off him. “I likely gave you a concussion earlier when I hit you with my tail," Selvanna said, “Make sure you have it looked at."

“Dammit Vanna! You—" she slammed the door behind her.

Two of the guards who had been with Gaulantine had been pulled from Mathus' room. She stepped over their charred bodies, marching down the hall.

Selvanna kicked open his door and barked, “Mathus!" The human had been sitting at a table, eating a soup someone delivered to his room not long ago. Had, because soon as Selvanna entered the scene, he fell over onto the floor. As he scrambled to his feet, she told him. “Follow me. I swear to get you out of here."

“You're helping me?"

“Remember what happened last time someone questioned my word?"

Mathus held up his hands! “Got it. What happened to the guards?" he asked as he crossed the room to her.

“Dead."

She stepped back into the hall, and, as Mathus joined her, he saw the mess Selvanna made. “Wait, dragons can breathe fire?"

“Something like that," Selvanna said as they moved back down the hall only to find the stairs blocked. More guards, swords drawn, and Fawn at their head with her blades readied, which faltered when she saw the dragoness.

“Vanna, what are you—"

“Isn't it obvious?" Selvanna asked as she signed a glyph.

“Stop her!" Dialdon screamed as he shoved their door open. Too late, Selvanna tapped her poleaxe's butt against the stone. The floor before her caved in only to erupt in front of the stairs, blocking them off.

“You can do magic?" Mathus asked. “I thought—"

“Stop asking stupid questions!" Selvanna said as she grabbed Mathus and yanked them both down the hall that led to the other cardinal's rooms. A bolt of lightning thundered past where they had been standing. Dialdon had far more spells and skills to deal with them than she had, and Selvanna knew better than to confront him.

She knelt before her new charge and told him, “Climb onto my back."

“What are you planning? I can help."

“Just do it."

“Don't make me kill you, Vanna," Dialdon called from around the corner.

Mathus climbed up between her wings, hands on her neck. “Hold on," Selvanna said, “and whatever happens, I forbid you to use the Heart. Understand?"

“But I—"

The stone wall before them crumbled as the guards broke it down with their own spells. Selvanna charged down the hall to the stained glass window of Mortel's crest. That thing had been reinforced to be as hard as most of the marble in the temple, but Selvanna knew stone was no match to a charging dragon. She signed another spell, and pointed her poleaxe at the window like a battering ram.

Sound of glass shattering. Smell of crisp, night air at the very top of the Emerald Ward, at its very crown. Selvanna opened her wings, and the pair raggedly sailed through the air.

***

“Stop, Korlyon? Who is this?"

Korlyon froze, Noladush had caught him leading Karniel and Cathka through the Grand Temple's grounds. The rat stood with his staff raised. “Haven't you heard that there's—"

In the alley between two servant's quarters, they did not see the face of the main temple as Selvanna smashed her way outside. They heard it, and Noladush, turned at the sound. “Vanna?"

Karniel rushed the rat down, grabbing his arm, spinning, and hurling him bodily into the air. Karniel signed a glyph, pointed it at the flying Faceless, and a bullet of force launched Noladush into the sky. The instant Karniel cast the spell, the illusion disguising him broke.

“Nola!" Korlyon called out as the rat crashed through the roof of a building a hundred paces away.

“I've seen your kind recover from worse, look!" Karniel pointed into the air. Where Selvanna glided, practically fell, really, down into the street that cut through the compound to the main temple.

“She has Mathus," Cathka said, sensing the Heart. “She's going to need help."

They rushed to meet her, bolting down the street. Karniel spotted a figure standing in the ruined remains of the window, the glow of magic. He had sprinted to meet Selvanna and Mathus. As the dragoness landed in a scrambling run to stay upright, Dialdon cast another bolt of lightning from the window.

Karniel had recognized the tell of the spell. Sparks of light drawing to Dialdon like fireflies entranced. He signed a counter just as Dialdon unleashed the bolt. Karniel held up his palm and diverted the bolt back into the temple, scorching its marble facade.

“Cathka!" Karniel barked.

“I'm on it, come here Mathus!"

She yanked him off Selvanna's back, slamming the human onto the road. She pressed her conduit to his chest, but Selvanna grabbed her other hand before she could sign a glyph. “What are you doing?" she snarled.

“Getting us the fuck out of here."

Korlyon leveled a blade to Selvanna's exposed throat. “Let the mage work."

Karniel deflected another bolt of lightning as more guards swarmed from the temple doors. “Will you lot quit fighting and help me?"

“Mortel's tails!" Selvanna cursed as she let Cathka go, hefting her poleaxe. “Do you know how to make a galing cleave?"

“Please, that spell was first invented to kill me." Karniel said. “How big?"

“Big as we can get it."

Karniel snapped the necklace from his throat. “Shame, I was just getting fond of casting spells."

He signed the spell, draining the rest of the magic in his conduit. Selvanna did the same glyphs, and he grabbed the haft of her weapon, transferring his spell into hers. “Thank you," Karniel whispered for only her.

“Saving you is my nightmare," Selvanna growled as she stepped forward. From the temple steps came columns of flame from a core of the temple guard. Selvanna swung her poleaxe in the widest arc she could, an explosion of wind coming off her axe, a gust blasted the five of them while a torrent of wind shattered the fire launching towards them. The gust they felt was a fraction of the storm that blasted the temple, pitching people and debris into the fire filled air.

As the flames dissipated and the cyclone slowed, a single warrior charged them. A Faceless with two swords drawn.

“It's ready!" Cathka said.

Selvanna braced her stance. “Go, I'll—"

Karniel might have lost a considerable amount of his old strength, but he was still able to grab a dragon by the tail and drag them backwards. Selvanna had not been expecting it, lost her footing, and tumbled back into the flashing light of the teleportation spell surrounding them.

When Selvanna landed on her backside, it was not cobblestone but the grass of a field. A familiar nausea pinched her guts, and she twisted into the sweetgrass, heaving. Beside her, holding his stomach, Karniel also quivered and wretched from their magical journey. She brushed off the bile on her lips and rubbed it into the grass. Groaning. Behind her, Mathus celebrated their escape with Cathka and Korlyon.

Karniel knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?"

“Don't touch me!" she snarled, slapping his hand away.

Karniel backed off, and her outburst had captured the others' attention.

She sat up and grabbed her poleaxe, planting the head in the dirt so she could hoist herself up. She glared at the four and demanded, “Why did you take me with you?"

“I wasn't going to let you leave yourself behind." Karniel said.

“All I wanted was Mathus out of there. I didn't want—"

“We weren't going to let you get killed," Cathka said.

“You planned to take me with you?"

Karniel shook his head. “I think as soon as we saw you choose Mathus, we all knew you deserved saving, too."

Selvanna jabbed a finger at Mathus. “I did not choose him." Her voice dripped with bitter pain, throat stung with held back tears. “Dia chose for me."

“Well, you are here now." Karniel pointed to a country manor roughly three hundred paces from them with a barn, outbuildings, distillery, and several clusters of apiaries behind it. “Rest with us and share what you learned from Dialdon's study."

“Why would I share anything with the likes of you?"

“Selvanna, please," Mathus whispered. He came forward, stepping close to her and touching the hand clenched around her weapon. “I know you would not have turned your back on Dialdon unless he planned something truly heinous."

“If I had to guess, another sacrifice and a second Heart?" Karniel quietly asked.

“Do the four of you intend to go back and stop him?" Selvanna asked, confused. “What do you care?"

“I don't," Cathka said before she sighed, “but Karniel is pretty attached to the city."

“I spent some of my best years there," Karniel said. “It'd be a shame if the scenery got ruined for yet another scheme for unlimited power."

“The Scourge? Save Sepulcher of Dawn?" Selvanna asked no one. “This truly is a nightmare."

“Yes, well, keep dreaming dear," he patted the stunned dragoness' shoulder, “We're just getting to the good part."

He started heading for the manor with Cathka in tow. Korlyon lingered, watching Mathus, who watched her. “Selvanna, please," Mathus said.

She finally stepped back from him, directing her scorn at the small human. Mathus did not back down, a softness to his features in the waxing moonlight. “Why do you want me to go with you?" she practically pleaded. “I tried to kill your lover."

“Do you still want to kill him?"

“Of course I…" her voice trailed off as the knee-jerk answer caused a prickling in her spine. She shook her head, the force of the truth making her admit the unthinkable. “I… for now I don't want to kill him."

Mathus smiled, “Then help us stop Dialdon, and after, if you hate us, we will not bother you anymore. I would like it if you stuck around, though."

That simple, tender truth made Selvanna's stomach turn. “D-don't say things like that," she growled.

“Hey!" Karniel called out, now at a distance, “Are you three coming or am I going to have to drag you again?"

Mathus offered her his hand. It was so tiny compared to hers, like a child's to their parent's. Still, she took it, and Mathus turned and shouted, “We're coming."

Mathus led her along while Korlyon fell into step, stripping off his mask and speaking animatedly with Mathus about his journey to find the human. Mathus listened intently, asking questions, encouraging elaboration, and Selvanna trailed a step behind, still holding his hand and wrestling with this new longing that welled up in her chest.