“Erik . . .”

He tucked the holo-pad into an inside pocket of his coat and reached for the lightsword at his waist. He pulled out the long sword, blade glittering across the mirrors and gold-foiled titles of the books on the shelves. “I think I’ll take the latter anyway.”

“We’re family—Father said family doesn’t fight each oth—”

“You are no Valerio I know!” he snarled, and charged.

Robb sprang away, reaching for his own lightsword on his back—and couldn’t. His mechancial fingers refused to unfist to grab the hilt. This was exactly what he had been afraid of these last six months, a moment when he would need to fight back and realize he couldn’t. Not to the same caliber as before, at least. He was useless without his sword arm.

He dodged under Erik’s first attack and drew his sword with his nondominant hand. A moment later he raised the blade to block—

Sparks flew between their lightswords, as bright as evening stars. He parried one way, then another, backing out of his mother’s study and down the hallway again, until his back was pressed against the railing of the stairway balcony. He wasn’t nearly as fast as his brother, and the sword in his nondominant hand felt sluggish in comparison. Erik lunged. Robb sidestepped and vaulted over the stairs, landing so hard it knocked the wind out of him. As his brother raced down the stairs, he managed to scramble back to his feet, a sharp pain slicing through his chest. Oh, he must’ve cracked a rib. That wasn’t good.

Above them, a large crystalline chandelier hung, sending rays of sunlight spiraling down onto the hardwood floor, and they sparred between them, one second blinded, the next in shadows.

“Erik, can’t we talk?” he wheezed, trying not to plead, but really he didn’t want to fight.

“I was supposed to be Emperor! The Iron Kingdom was to be mine!” Erik shoved him back and slashed again—and again. Robb blocked and sliced—he didn’t want to kill Erik. And maybe that was the difference between them. That made him a second too slow, a fraction too late.

Because Erik most certainly wanted to kill him.

“I was supposed to be Mother’s crowning achievement! I was supposed to bring our family greatness! And you ruined it!”

Seeing an opening, Erik slammed a foot into Robb’s middle, and if Robb hadn’t had a cracked rib before, he definitely did now. He stumbled back, gasping for air, trying with all his might to keep hold of his lightsword and bring it back up before—

His heel met the first step, and he went toppling backward onto the stairs. Erik knocked his lightsword out of his hand. It went skittering across the deep crimson carpet, burning holes into it as it toppled and then fell dormant.

Erik pointed the sword at his neck, so close he could feel the heat from the white blade. “You ruined everything, and what’s more, you killed Mother. She’d still be alive if it weren’t for you.”