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When he returned, he would crush any sign of it The rest of the rebellion ht with satisfaction Why else would these three come to hih at them for fools, but he sa narrow his salvation had been and a shudder stopped hi, he would have been asleep in that bed when they slipped through the

Too close Only luck had given hiain

"Prince of Bastards," he continued, feeling as though he were perfor of Stelian infection, the eradication of Festival’s last trace and whatever she hadit forth "Seventh bearer of the cursed naotten ever bore that name to manhood before you Did you know that? Old Byon the steward, he gave it out of spite Wanted yourhim not to Any other woman in the harem would have, but not Festival ‘Scribble whatever you like on your list, old led in your feeble fates’ "

He studied Akiva closely, scanning for a reaction "Brave words, no? And how many deaths have you eluded, all told? The curse of your name, and the several deaths I carved out for you How many more?"

It seemed to him that Beast’s Bane stiffened then Jael sensed a wound "Others die, but you live?" he probed "Perhaps you’ve turned the curse outward You don’t die Everyone near you does instead"

Akiva’s jaas hard-clenched "Ithis head in mock pity "Death looks for you and looks for you, but he can’t see you Invisible to death, what a fate! Finally, he groeary of the search and takes whoever is near at hand" He paused, senuine as he said, "Nephew, I have good news for you Today we break the curse Today, at last, you die"

Even braced for the sight of his uncle, Akiva was unprepared for the visceral assault of reliving this ht him like a fist to the heart It was an echo of the Tower of Conquest, when, just like this, Jael and his soldiers had seized control of the room

"Kill everyone," Jael had said on that day, and, expressionless, his soldiers had co brute Silverswords that Hazael and Liraz had taken such care to disar They had even cut down the bath attendants It had been a literal bloodbath, emperor and heir discarded in a pool of red Blood on the walls, blood on the floor, blood everywhere

The voice, the face, the nu abrasions on their faces, that some of these men had been at the tower and survived its explosion In addition to swords, they even leveled at him the same vile weapons that they had surprised him with on that bloody day

And Jael’s greeting was the same, too Oh, that slurp of a voice "Nephew" He had said it then to Japheth, the witless crown prince, just before he slew him Noas all for Akiva, and was followed by a hissed litany of his many names

Beast’s Bane The Prince of Bastards Seventh bearer of the cursed na the: Were any of theled in their feeble fates? It h even "Akiva" weren’t his true naotten accessory, like his ar i Festival’s reaction to it, he wondered: Who else was he? What else?

And the first answer that came to him was simple, as simple as what he had come here to do, as simple as his desires

I a ago but wasn’t--when he had lain on his back in the training theater at Cape Armasin, an ax--Liraz’s ax--embedded in the hardpan just inches from his cheek He’d believed Karou was dead, and then and there, breathing hard and looking up at the stars, he had accepted life as ato wield like a tool One’s own life: an instru of the world

And he remembered Karou’s plea from just the day before, when they were crushed into that tiny shower "I don’t want you to be sorry," she had said "I want you to be… alive"

She’dabout the way she’d said it, Akiva had known that, to her, in that er

And whatever his name, whatever his past or ancestry, Akiva was alive, and he was hungry, too For the dreaainst his, for the hoes they would see--and cause--in Eretz for decades to co that way, so while his uncle taunted hih to kill; he had to torment--Akiva heard what he said, but none of it touched hi darkness at the break of day

"Today we break the curse," said Jael "Today, at last, you die"

Akiva shook his head Passingly he wondered if he should be pretending weakness he didn’t feel In Joraiven the Doe they needed to subdue Akiva, Hazael, and Liraz Tonight things were different No rush of weakness assaulted him He experienced only a sensation of awareness in the new scar at the back of his neck as his ownof Karou’s fingertips tracing the htly, when he had shown it to her, and he reic screa into his blood, and no sickness, only what the touch itself intended

He are of her flickering glae toward her, smash the bloated purpled face and free her, even twist off that vile stringy arm if he had to And he wanted to back the creature into a corner and fire questions at him, too Fallen What did it mean? He’d had the chance to ask him once before and had thrown it away, and noasn’t the tie the creature

His own true adversary stood before him "Not today," Akiva told Jael The first words he’d spoken since coh was as nasty as ever "Nephew, look around Whatever you ht"--and here he diverted his attention for the first tiht came on in his eyes--"and I expect that it is not the more pleasant of several possible explanations…" He paused Smiled "I would expect it to run counter tohimself This was an echo of the Tower of Conquest for hi to notice the critical difference: Akiva wasn’t treed "Though I doubt it’s what you expect"

"What?" Mockery Hand to his chest "You ood joke Why else, indeed, would they have come? Akiva’s reply was mild "No We haven’t We’ve come to ask you to leave Leave just as you ca from this world back with you Go home All of you That’s all"

"Oh, that’s all, is it?" More laughter, spit flying "You make demands?"

"It was a request But I am prepared to demand"

Jael’s eyes narrowed, and Akiva saw the mockery transforin to sense that so to hold on to his e to his voice betrayed him, and when his eyes swiveled suddenly like they were on casters, Akiva saw that he was doing an accounting of his own, and trying to believe in the strength of his position "You are two against forty," he said Two He discounted Karou Well, Akiva wasn’t going to correct him It wasn’t his uncle’s only error; it was only the , it’s numbers that matter in the end"

"Nu of shadows chased by fire, and the tangled darkness of the ambush in the Adelphas "But other factors sometimes turn the tide"

He didn’t wait for Jael to ask what those other factors ht be Only a fool would ask--what could the answer be, but a demonstration?--and Jael was not a fool So before the monstrous emperor could command his soldiers to strike first, Akiva spoke "Did you think," he asked, "that you could ever surprise ain?"