Page 95 of Children of Fallen Gods

Fury cracked across Zeryth’s face like lightning, surging wildly before he tethered it again.

“You can be coy, but do you ever stop to think that you’ll just end up killing more of them this way? Death to Ara by a thousand little cuts, rather than just slicing off the infection in one go. Do you think this would get better, after another year or two or four of drawn out warfare, General Farlione?” A cruel spark glinted in his eye. “You understood that in Sarlazai, didn’t you? You know, it’s a shame you never got to see the argument Nura made for you in those trials. She was brilliant. Showed all of Ara exactly how merciful it was to take such decisive measures. One show of strength, one sacrifice, and a million lives were saved.”

My hands were folded in my lap, clenched so tight my knuckles were white.

“Sarlazai never should have happened. And I’ll never let something like that happen again.”

“I want the Capital back, Maxantarius. I want it back soon.”

“We don’t have the forces to do that. Aviness still has strong alliances guarding the city.”

Zeryth gave me a cold stare. “Do not talk to me like I’m stupid.”

“I—”

“We have enough power to do this.”

“Even Reshaye can’t—”

“It can’t? Ithas.” He leaned across the table, and all at once, the remnants of his smooth demeanor disappeared. Left beneath was only demented rage. “And if the stories I heard aboutyouare true, then we certainly have enough power to take it back. Don’t tell me that we aren’t strong enough. I could tear that city to the fucking ground if I wanted to, couldn’t I?”

“I can’t give you a victory based on rumors you heard from a few Threllians,” I said, calmly, “and no matter what you want to believe, we can’t hinge it on Reshaye alone, either. We need to take Morwood out first.”

For a moment, Zeryth looked so unhinged that I thought he might actually strike me. Then he straightened, and the anger left him as suddenly as it had surged.

“Morwood,” he muttered. “Then Istra. Then Envaline. On, and on, and on.”

He turned back to the map. Absentmindedly, he brushed the coronet at his brow, as if checking to see whether it was still there.

My gaze fell to the desk. It was covered with papers — letters, books, maps, invoices, plans. Off in one corner, I saw a pile of books that made me do a double-take. I recognized them. Journals, left by each king to their successor and meant for the eyes of subsequent rulers alone. The top one was open, half-read.

Zeryth would have had to take these with him when he fled the Palace. Zeryth, of all people, prized the wisdom of former kings enough to take it with him, andstudyit.

I looked back to him. And there, briefly, I caught a glimpse of something that looked downright odd on the face of this man that I’d always known to be haughty and selfish. Something tired and worried and… worn down.

“Why are you doing this?”

The question slipped out before I could stop it. Zeryth’s gaze snapped to me, already angry, as if expecting to see snide sarcasm on my face. But there wasn’t any. I really wanted to know. Zeryth had already been arguably the most powerful man in Ara. Why take the extra step? Knowing that it could so easily end in his downfall?

His lip curled. “I thought you’d already decided you knew the answer to that question. Because I’m— what are the words you would use? Apower-hungry bastard drunk on his own ego?”

Thatdidsound like the sort of thing I would say.

“I’m not about to argue with that,” I said. “But…”

“But?”

I gestured to the map, to all the little red pins over it. “All this, Zeryth? For what?”

Zeryth let out a scoff. “For what,” he echoed, as if this were a ridiculous thing to say. He turned to me. “You were born into one of the most powerful families in Ara,Lord Farlione. Secondborn son, yes, but that didn’t change the fact that the minute you were yanked from between your mother’s legs, half the world was shoved into your slimy little hands. Ara wasmadefor people like you. But while your mother was giving birth in a bed of velvet surrounded by midwives, mine was heaving away in an alleyway behind a brothel, alone. And Ara might have looked beautiful from above, but from beneath, the underside was fuckingfilthy.Soof courseyou, Max, would look at this all and think, ‘Why bother?’”

His eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you ask Tisaanah that question? I think she might understand. What’s the point of going this far? What’s the point of doing itunlessI go this far?” Then he looked to the map and went silent. He was so tense that I could see the line of his shoulders trembling.

“Sometimes I wonder if it matters,” he muttered. “Sometimes I wonder if it all just runs too fucking deep.”

I opened my mouth, but he said, abruptly, “You’re dismissed. Go.”

I hesitated, then rose and went to the door.

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