Lord Regent Morvus had not aged a single day in ten years.
That frightened Gareth more than the black smoke moving around him.
"Let her go."
Morvus smiled.
Seraphine hung between his hands, painfully thin, iron chains crossing her shoulders and waist. Her face had changed with time. His had not.
"Still giving orders, Gareth?"
Toby and Cael struggled against the black door. Their palms remained trapped against the carved handprints.
"Get us off this thing!" Cael shouted.
Gareth lunged forward.
The moment he crossed the threshold, darkness struck him.
He flew backward.
Edric caught him before his skull hit the stone.
"Don't cross!"
Gareth shoved himself upright.
"Seraphine!"
Her eyes found his.
"I'm here."
Ten years.
He had imagined her dead.
Then a traitor.
Then a ghost.
Now she stood twenty feet away, alive and unreachable.
Morvus leaned closer to her.
"Touching."
Gareth raised the broken remains of his sword.
"If you hurt her—"
"You'll kill me?"
Morvus laughed.
"Your son already tried that."
Gareth looked toward Cael.
Cael stopped struggling.
"What?"
Morvus's smile widened.
"You don't remember?"
"I've never seen you."
"Oh, you have."
Morvus touched the scars covering Cael's chest.
Not physically.
From across the chamber.
Yet the scars suddenly burned black.
Cael screamed.
Toby shouted his name.
"Stop!" Seraphine cried.
Morvus lowered his hand.
Cael sagged against the door.
Gareth stared.
"You did that to him."
"Some of it."
Cael looked up.
His face had become murderous.
"You said Morvus's priests did it," Gareth said.
Cael's voice trembled.
"That's what I was told."
Morvus laughed.
"Children believe whatever explains their pain."
"Why don't I remember you?"
"Because memory is remarkably easy to alter when someone is young enough."
Gareth glanced at Ysara.
The poison had weakened her, but her expression revealed recognition.
"You know what he is."
Ysara nodded.
"He's bound to a Shade."
Morvus tilted his head.
"Bound?"
Black smoke moved beneath his skin.
"Such an ugly word."
Edric raised his sword.
"You caused the massacre."
"Yes."
The answer came without hesitation.
Thane stared.
"Why?"
"Because your prince's little rescue plan gave me the perfect opportunity."
Edric stepped forward.
"I trusted you."
"I know."
"I made you Regent."
"I know."
"I gave you my signet."
Morvus smiled.
"And I have used both beautifully."
Edric's face twisted.
"How many people died because of you?"
"That night?"
Morvus considered.
"Four hundred and thirteen."
Silence.
He remembered the number.
That was somehow worse.
"Why?" Toby asked.
Morvus looked at him.
"Because kingdoms do not change willingly."
"Those people had nothing to do with your kingdom."
"Everyone has something to do with a kingdom, boy. Most simply never realize what role they are playing."
Toby's crest pulsed black.
Morvus's eyes brightened.
"There you are."
Toby felt cold.
"What?"
"The one I was waiting for."
Cael laughed bitterly.
"You spent years shaping me and he's the one you wanted?"
Morvus looked at him almost tenderly.
"Oh, Cael."
Something dangerous entered Cael's face.
"You were never meant to open the final gate."
Toby turned toward his brother.
Morvus continued.
"You were meant to make sure Tobias reached it."
Cael went still.
Every cruelty.
Every lesson.
Every scar.
Every secret the Brotherhood had given him.
All of it had pushed him toward this moment.
"No," Cael whispered.
"Yes."
"You didn't control me."
"Didn't I?"
Morvus pointed toward the Kingsbane fragment floating above the golden chamber.
"Who told you about the blade?"
Cael said nothing.
"Brother Malrec."
Morvus smiled.
"Mine."
"You're lying."
"Who showed you the first gate?"
"Master Orun."
"Mine."
Cael's breathing quickened.
"Who told you the sacrifices fed the prison?"
Cael stopped.
Morvus's smile deepened.
"Sister Vaia."
"No."
"Mine."
Cael looked as though he had been struck.
Morvus spoke softly.
"I built your rebellion."
Toby watched his brother's face collapse.
"I gave you enemies to hate, truths to discover, scars to resent, and just enough freedom to believe every decision was yours."
"Stop," Toby said.
Morvus ignored him.
"I needed someone strong enough to open the first gate and angry enough never to ask who wanted it opened."
Cael's eyes filled with rage.
"I'll kill you."
"Perhaps."
Morvus shrugged.
"But first, you'll help me open the third."
---
Seraphine suddenly moved.
Her elbow struck Morvus in the ribs.
He released one shoulder.
She twisted.
"NOW!"
Edric threw his sword.
The blade crossed the threshold.
Morvus turned.
It entered his chest.
For one heartbeat, everyone froze.
Then Morvus looked down.
The sword protruded through him.
He smiled.
Black smoke leaked around the steel.
"Again?"
He pulled the weapon free.
The wound closed.
Veyron whispered, "He's not human anymore."
"Not entirely," Ysara said.
Morvus's expression darkened.
"You should have died years ago, Silver Eye."
"So should you."
"Yes."
He smiled again.
"But I made better arrangements."
Seraphine reached toward the chains around her body.
"Cael!"
He looked at her.
"The scars!"
"What?"
"They aren't wounds."
Morvus's smile vanished.
"Seraphine."
She ignored him.
"They're instructions!"
Cael stared at his chest.
"What instructions?"
"The seal sequence."
Morvus grabbed her throat.
"Enough."
Toby shouted, "Let her go!"
Seraphine struggled.
"Read them backward!"
Cael looked down.
The burned symbols.
For years he had believed they were ritual torture.
But suddenly he saw repetition.
Patterns.
Three vertical lines.
Circles.
Broken crowns.
Keys.
"Cael!" Toby cried.
Morvus tightened his grip on Seraphine.
Cael began reading.
Not words.
Sounds.
Ancient syllables he had been forced to memorize as a child.
But backward.
The first symbol burned gold.
Morvus's face changed.
"Stop."
Cael continued.
The second symbol ignited.
Then the third.
The black light around Toby's arm flickered.
His trapped hand pulled free.
"Toby!" Gareth shouted.
Toby stumbled backward.
Cael remained attached to the door.
"Get him!"
Toby grabbed his brother.
Their crests touched.
Gold exploded across the chamber.
Cael tore free.
The black door slammed shut.
Morvus and Seraphine disappeared behind it.
"Mother!" Toby screamed.
The last thing Gareth saw was Seraphine's face.
Not fear.
Relief.
Then stone separated them.
Gareth struck the door.
"SERAPHINE!"
No answer.
He hit it again.
Nothing.
Cael collapsed.
Toby knelt beside him.
"Are you hurt?"
Cael laughed weakly.
"Everywhere."
Toby almost smiled.
Then Cael looked toward the sealed door.
"She came back for me."
"Yes."
Cael closed his eyes.
"She really came back."
Toby put a hand on his shoulder.
This time Cael did not push him away.
---
"We have minutes," Edric said.
Gareth turned violently.
"My wife is behind that door."
Everyone stared at him.
Gareth realized what he had said.
Wife.
Seraphine had never married him.
But the word had come naturally.
Edric did not correct him.
"If Morvus breaks the seal from inside, we're dead."
"Then we open it and kill him first."
"With what?"
Gareth had no answer.
Cael slowly stood.
"The Kingsbane."
Ysara shook her head.
"We established why that's a terrible idea."
"We also established that Morvus wants us afraid of it."
Toby looked toward the floating fragment.
"Maybe he lied about what it does."
"He lies about everything," Cael said.
Veyron stepped forward.
"Not everything."
They looked at him.
"The most effective lies contain truth."
Cael frowned.
"Meaning?"
"Morvus needed you to believe enough real things to follow the path he created."
Toby looked toward the fragment.
"So the blade could really kill Azrath."
"Possibly."
"And maybe us."
"Possibly."
"Very helpful."
Veyron almost smiled.
Then the chamber shook.
The second Kingsbane fragment descended.
It floated toward Toby.
Gareth stepped between them.
The fragment changed direction.
It moved toward Cael.
Cael stepped aside.
Again it followed.
Then Toby approached his brother.
The fragment stopped between them.
Both crests glowed.
The black metal split into two smaller pieces.
One flew into Toby's hand.
The other into Cael's.
Both boys gasped.
Images flashed through their minds.
A battlefield.
Not High Keep.
Not their kingdom.
Thousands of years earlier.
Dragons filled the sky.
But they were fleeing.
Not attacking.
Below them stood a man carrying a black sword.
Azrath.
Human.
Toby saw his face.
Young.
Terrified.
He was protecting a woman holding two infants.
Twins.
Soldiers surrounded them.
A crowned king shouted:
"Give us the children!"
Azrath raised the black sword.
"Never."
The vision changed.
Azrath chained beneath a mountain.
His body transformed.
Stretched.
Broken.
Something enormous forced into a shape no human should possess.
The first dragon.
Not born.
Created.
Toby screamed and dropped the fragment.
Cael did the same.
The vision ended.
Everyone stared.
"What did you see?" Gareth asked.
Toby could barely speak.
"Azrath."
"What about him?"
"He was human."
Ysara froze.
"No."
Cael looked at her.
"The kings made him into the creature."
Edric whispered, "Why?"
Toby remembered the soldiers reaching for the infants.
"Because of his children."
Veyron's face changed.
"Twins?"
Toby nodded.
Cael looked at the symbols on his scars.
"The first Twin Flame."
A terrible realization passed between them.
The Vaelor bloodline had not descended from Azrath as a monster.
They had descended from him before the transformation.
From his children.
Toby whispered, "He's our ancestor."
A slow clap came from the darkness.
Everyone turned.
Morvus stood on the upper walkway.
Impossible.
The black door remained sealed.
Gareth raised a weapon.
"How did you—"
Morvus smiled.
"You still think doors matter to me?"
Black smoke poured around his feet.
But Seraphine was not with him.
"Where is she?" Gareth demanded.
"Alive."
"Where?"
"Safe."
"I'll tear this castle apart."
"I know."
Morvus looked toward the twins.
"And that's exactly what I need you to do."
Cael raised his fragment.
"We know the truth about Azrath."
"One truth."
"You turned him into a monster."
"I wasn't alive then."
"Your people."
Morvus laughed.
"My people?"
The amusement disappeared.
"You still haven't understood."
He stepped into the golden light.
For the first time, Toby noticed something beneath Morvus's collar.
A mark.
Not the Sovereign Crest.
A black crown.
Edric saw it too.
His face went pale.
"No."
Morvus smiled.
"Finally."
Gareth looked at Edric.
"What?"
Edric backed away.
"The Black Crown was the symbol of the king who imprisoned Azrath."
Morvus bowed.
"Very good."
"That's impossible. He lived three thousand years ago."
"Correct."
Silence.
Toby stared.
Morvus's body shimmered.
For one second, his face changed.
Older.
Different.
Then another face.
And another.
Hundreds of men across thousands of years.
Kings.
Priests.
Soldiers.
Regents.
Then Morvus again.
"The Shades don't steal memories," he said.
"They carry them."
Ysara whispered, "You're the first king."
"Part of him."
Morvus touched the black crown.
"The part that refused to die."
Cael's hand tightened around Kingsbane.
"So you imprisoned Azrath."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Morvus looked toward Toby.
"Because he stole something from me."
"What?"
"My sons."
Silence.
Toby frowned.
"The twins?"
Morvus smiled.
"No."
He looked directly at Gareth.
"His ancestors stole the twins."
Gareth froze.
Morvus continued.
"Your bloodline did not begin with knights, Gareth."
"What are you talking about?"
"It began with kidnappers."
The chamber trembled again.
A crack appeared in the far wall.
Behind it stood a staircase descending deeper underground.
The third gate.
Morvus raised the silver key around his neck.
"Would you like to know why the Sovereign Crest responds to Gareth?"
Everyone turned toward him.
Gareth stared.
"It doesn't."
Morvus smiled.
"Doesn't it?"
He threw the silver key.
Gareth caught it instinctively.
The moment it touched his palm, Toby's crest ignited.
Cael's answered.
Then, beneath Gareth's gauntlet, something began to burn.
He ripped the glove away.
Golden lines appeared across his hand.
Toby stared.
"Father..."
Gareth's face emptied.
A Sovereign Crest slowly formed across his skin.
Morvus laughed.
"There are no two Vaelor heirs."
The third gate began opening.
"There are three."