In the aftermath of the second boom, the room was deathly silent. Pari wasn’t really paying attention to the others, she was looking at the way Yadavendra’s arm was shaking. The sapphire vambrace was no longer glowing, and that sense of presence, of him filling the room, was gone. One by one, the plates of his armour began to fall away. They clinked dully as they struck the floor, followed, with a soft thud, by Vasin. The armour on Yadavendra’s chest and back detached next, the wings shattering with the impact, then his helmet, which started to fragment so fast it became a cloud of blue glitter about his head.

Yadavendra remained on his Sky-legs, giving him the look of some strange featherless Birdkin, scrawny, hollowed out, and covered in tattered silks. Pari gasped as the sight of him. The skin was paper thin on his bones, his hair like a faded memory rendered in straw, the paint around his eyes no longer able to maintain the facade of sanity.

Even the ever-stoic Deathless of House Sapphire struggled to contain their shock. Yadavendra turned slowly, seeing himself in their eyes. Pari saw he was looking for support, but got nothing back. When at last he was facing her, she said: ‘It is time.’

Arkav nodded in agreement. He was still carrying the wand the lantern had been mounted on, somehow he made it look like a badge of office.

With something akin to pleading, Yadavendra looked into their eyes. ‘No,’ he said, ‘no, I cannot, I have things that …’

‘It is time,’ she repeated.

With a wail, Yadavendra sprang away. Though it surprised her that he still moved with such agility, it did not surprise her that he was springing towards one of the tall windows that looked out to the horizon.

‘Stop him!’ shouted Arkav.

But the Sapphire made no move to intervene, each lowering their gaze as Yadavendra gathered speed. There was a crash that seemed trivial compared to the sounds they’d recently heard, an anticlimactic breaking of glass, a last sight of him sailing through the air, trailing blood from a hundred tiny cuts, and Yadavendra was gone.

Stunned silence followed.

Then, to her surprise, Arkav started to cry.

This seemed to prompt Lady Yadva to stand and collect herself. ‘Lord Arkav. Lady Pari. I am sure you will respect our need for privacy at this time.

‘Of course,’ said Pari, taking her brother’s arm and guiding him from the room.