Down flew the spear. The jagged point pierced Magus’s back and ripped through his chest, easily tearing aside his plate armor in the process. Magus gasped. His entire body convulsed. Blood pooled beneath him, and his lungs hitched, and hitched, but could draw in no air.

Soma knelt beside him, bending low so he might whisper cheek to cheek as if they were confidants.

“Sinshei is but a useful fool, Imperator. She’ll share your fate one day, I assure you.” His pale blond hair fell across Magus’s sweat-and-bloodstained face. His lips brushed Magus’s ear. “I have but one regret, and that is you will not live to see the collapse of your beloved empire. As you die, try to imagine it instead. That alone must suffice.”

Soma ripped the spear free in a shower of gore, then turned his back and departed into the flames. He would not even grant Magus the dignity of observing his death. Magus’s head collapsed to the dirt, and his only movements were involuntary convulsions. Blood pooled in his mouth. Even while dying, he defied his murderer. Instead, he imagined a young Cyrus, fourteen years old, sobbing before the bodies of his parents. Imagined cutting the boy down like he always should have, before the dark took him, and his heart beat its last.

CHAPTER 47

VAGRANT

Smoke filled the air behind him as Cyrus walked the final stretch to Thorda’s new hideout. His nose hurt like mad, and he had no strength left to run, even if that was smarter than walking. He had left everything in the battle against Magus. Perhaps people would see his arrival at the small house, and they’d need to move in case a neighbor wagged a loose tongue to the wrong person. At that moment, Cyrus was too tired and too drained to care.

The door to their newest home was unlocked. He took it in hand and then hesitated. His fight atop the bell tower had occupied his entire attention. He knew nothing of the others, nor their fates. Had they died in the ambush? Did they burn even now in the fires? Stepping inside meant finding out. It meant removing the doubt and confirming the truth, however joyful or terrible. Cowardice held him in place, but only for a single heartbeat. He pushed open the door.

“Cyrus!” Mari cried. She crossed the space between them in a flash to bury him in a hug, and things, while not quite perfect, were now so much better. The shorter woman pressed her forehead to his chest, and her words were muffled through his shirt. “We were so worried.”