We walked up the broad, yellow-carpeted stairs forever. I wasn't keeping track of the steps, but it felt like a longer climb than getting to the top of Hillside from the depths of the Lows. Just in case I needed a reminder that Hestorus was an asshole: he made everybody in the world climb a gods-damned mountain of stairs just to talk to him. He'd been a monumental prick and, it turned out, a scheming madman bent on shaping humanity for his own ends. Yet somehow, each morning that he wasn't there in the sky doing his look-at-me-aren't-I-wonderful sunrise ritual, I felt some indefinable sense of loss. Not for some daddy I'd never get to know – I'd eat a knife before I ever sniveled over shit like that – but for what he meant. He was our Legendary. Guys like that got to be assholes if they wanted. It came with the territory.

"Am I boring you?" Mother asked dryly. She'd been talking about everything I needed to know if I intended to survive in the Palace, which I absolutely did.

"Sorry," I grunted. "Too many stairs. Keep telling me: this Zem-lady is the Primarch's daughter?"

"Xemris, yes. She hates me, she'll hate you, and she likely hates herself. Quite a common ailment amongst our kind. You're only ever as good as your last kill."

"If that's so, then they must love you," I said. "You're the one who brought down the Legendary."

I'd said it without any anger in my voice, but she quirked a lopsided smile at me as if she knew what I was thinking. "I know you think he was yours for the killing, little man, but none of us could wait long enough for you to grow up enough to manage it. Especially since I had no idea you were still alive and all."

"Dead is dead," I said, shrugging. It felt like the world ought to look different and feel better once the old bastard was dead, but it hadn't happened. It's not like I wanted him back or anything, but having the city overrun with demons and undead just to see him die felt like a bad bargain.

"Expect lots of challenges from any living demon you meet," she continued, climbing the stairs as if she'd come fresh from a snack and a nap. "The Unyielding Court encourages many qualities, but subtlety isn't one of them. Demons fix things by plowing over the top of them. If you're not strong enough to break a problem, you weren't meant to fix it."

I frowned. "This from the woman who sneaked her way into War Camp and stole the card of the leading general."

She gave a hearty laugh. "Don't expect the rest of our kind to be like me. I'm an aberration. I've spent more time outside the Nether than in it, and it has shaped me strangely. Honestly, I'm a useful but despised weapon in the Court. The Primarch would gladly tear my head off and have done just to stop the offense I give every time I open my mouth, but I get too much done for him to make it worth his while." She leaned in conspiratorially. "The rest of them are a boring bunch of blunt objects, but it's best not to say so out loud. They have their uses for a time yet."

I shook my head. She schemed with every breath. I was glad to hear that the others weren't like her, but seeing as how she was the one saying it, I had no idea whether or not it was actually true. "So Xemris will challenge me?"

"Likely," she said, unconcerned.

"So what do I do?"

She looked at me as if she were a noble and I'd just shit my pants at the dinner table. "Beat her. Don't kill her, though. It'd be funny, but you'd find yourself dueling day and night against a bunch of mid-tier idiots hoping to please the Primarch."

"What about the undead?" I asked, trying not to pant. My legs were burning.

"Find out what you can on your own time if you're hoping to report back to your little human friends," she said. "I'd stay away from the lich Felstrife if I were you, though. She has your little noble pal Basil, you know."

"Does she?" I asked, striving to sound casual. "Huh."

We finally reached the top of the stairs and she rounded on me, her smirk growing ever larger. "You needed a little more surprise at first to sell it," she said. "Too much casualness ruins the lie. I know the boy's important to you, and so when you act like you don't care I see right through it. You should have shown some shock, but as if you were trying to mask it and it just slipped out. Then you could demand to see him and act all pissy when I refuse. Then I'd have to wonder if you'd even known he was here to begin with."

"Fortune's balls," I snapped. "Stop it."

"If you're going to get your way in the Unyielding Court, you must learn to lie well. They don't know how to handle it; you'll run circles around them."

I ground my teeth. She went from disinterested to sly to helpful without missing a beat, and it left me angry and confused. "All right, then let me see him."

"I couldn't care less if you do," she said, "but Felstrife got wind of your arrival even before I got to you, and she has forbidden anyone to touch her pets. I won't stop her from killing you if you try to get past her and fail."

I glared at her. "Did she really forbid everyone, or are you just making that up to keep me from him?"

"Yes," she said.

"I knew it," I grunted.

"No," she said.

I blinked. "What? You just–"

She leaned in close, her sweeping horns crowding me. "You need to stop trusting what people say, Hull. You jump right to believing me when you know you shouldn't. Stop it. Believe what you see with your own eyes – maybe – and learn to read people so you know when and why they do what they do. You don't need to listen to words if you know how to watch people. It's hard to lie with your actions." Her smile took on a sharp edge. "I've learned how, but most never do."

I shook me head and stepped away from her, trying to clear my head. I needed to get to Basil, but she obviously wasn't going to help me, so I'd have to do some sneaking once she left me alone. In the meantime, she'd obviously brought me here for a reason.

We were standing in what I could only assume was the throne room. There was a great archway where it seemed there ought to be doors, but the wood framing the arch was scarred and burnt, and the doors were gone. The carpet here was burned away in patches and hadn't been replaced. None of that mattered as I looked across the expanse of the throne room, though. It was massively long and tall, with elemental-light chandeliers of crystal and gold dangling high above. A throne topped with a golden sunburst worked with jewels of many different colors stood at the far end, but behind it, where I might have expected to see stonework or fancy glass, there was instead… nothing. There was no back wall. The room was open to the air, and a steady breeze whistled through the cavernous space.

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"Did they forget to finish building it?" I muttered.

Mother laughed. "Our dear departed Sun King loved his gestures. 'My eye is on all of them,' he'd say. Or 'I am open to my people,' which I think we both know was a load of horseshit. I think he just liked to fly up here and not have to open a window when he came in."

A wide stone bowl sat on the seat of the throne, looking entirely too plain and squat to belong in such grandeur. I walked toward it and saw the familiar shimmer of alchemical liquid. Hurrying to it, I somehow knew what I would see floating in the mix even before I arrived.

"Twins," I breathed. "It's him."

"Even in death your father manages to frustrate us all," Mother said wryly. "There ought to be some signs of breakage by now, but his card defies all logic. Don't even smell the fumes. That's the strongest mix known in any realm I've ever visited, and it is not kind to living flesh."

The card bobbed in the multi-hued mess of fluid, gleaming as if untouched. "What's Soul Repository do?" I asked.

She made a vexed noise. "No one has ever seen it before. Seeing as how there were no cards on him when he died, I assume it means that his card is holding all the cards that were in his Mind Home when he died. Is that why the breakdown is so slow? Is there some way to extract them and speed it up? Legendaries hold their secrets close, none more so than good old Hesty."

I had a thousand questions, but a throaty voice from behind me interrupted is. "Who is this, Yveda?"

Mother turned and made a bow that was perfect in every way and yet somehow mocking. "Xemris the Daughter, I present to you my son Hull. He has grown tired of living among the humans and wishes to rejoin his own kind."

The young demon stalked up to me. She had smaller horns than Mother and a long, scaled tail that lashed as she walked. Her skin was pale and her ears pointed. She came right up to me and stared boldly into my face, standing a little too close. My heart started thumping, and I could feel my cheeks flush. Twins, what is this? My body was suddenly reacting as if she'd draped her shapely self across my chest and started kissing me. Why are you thinking about kissing? Stop it! She was heart-stoppingly pretty, and the challenge in her eyes intrigued me. "Hello," I said, my throat suddenly dry.

The blow she struck me caught me completely off-guard, and I stumbled to the side. Her fingers had long, sharp talons on them, and she was incredibly strong. The confetti of three or four cards fluttered down around me. I'd dismissed all my cards and Source while we were walking, and now I cursed myself for a fool, pulling Source as quick as I could.

"Put them away," she said imperiously. "I have no time to duel you properly right now; I merely show you the respect the offspring of Yveda deserves."

"Respect?" I echoed, baffled. I couldn't decide if I was angry or aroused. I wasn't sure how I could be both.

"Have you none for me in return?" Xemris said, frowning.

"Hit her, or she'll take offense," Mother said. "It's the traditional greeting of nobles in the Unyielding Court."

"I…!" I stopped myself before the protest could even form. What did I know about demons? I couldn't trust what Mother said – she'd made that clear repeatedly – but the lovely creature before me did indeed seem to want me to hit her. Her lips were parted in a little smile of anticipation, or perhaps of challenge. And, Twins, why not? She'd hit me plenty hard, and all these raging emotions needed to go somewhere. I balled my fist and punched her right in the face. It felt good, and suddenly I wondered if maybe the demons had the right of it. Wasn't it the honest, straightforward thing to do to let people know what you could do right up front?

The shreds of a single card fluttered down, and Xemris nodded approvingly. "I am stronger than you," she said. "Still, we will fight and count our kills to know each other better as time allows. The son of Yveda the Changer must know much of interest. I look forward to it."

The words were business-like, but the gaze behind them was anything but. Was I reading into things because my body had suddenly gone crazy for her, or was she giving me the eye? "As do I," I managed.

"Yveda, attend me," she demanded, moving to the stone bowl on the throne. They put their heads together as much as their horns allowed and spoke quietly as they looked down at the card. I was entirely ignored. For my part, all I could do was stare at this new demon. Her wide, strong tail came out of a tailored hole in her trousers just above her butt. That should have been strange and off-putting, but instead I found myself wondering whether the iridescent rose-colored scales that covered it spread up her back as well. Her hair was a waterfall of black that hung to her waist. I wanted to grab it and wrestle her to the ground for a good, hard kiss. And then…

What's wrong with you? I'd already kissed a girl today, and it wasn't this one. I liked Afi; I trusted her. What's more, she was human, which meant she was on my side, and this creature definitely wasn't. The strength of my attraction to her almost made me wonder if she had the same kind of glamor ability that vampire Lustra had possessed. I was still wearing the charm she'd given me during the Tournament, though, so it couldn't be that. I'd strapped it back on as soon as we'd gone out to fight the enemy army just in case I'd run into a vampire. I hadn't in the field, but there had been the one I'd killed in the Lows. Did they all have that glamor, or only some of them? I had no idea. You're still staring. Stop it. Xemris glanced in my direction, and there still seemed to be a heat in her eyes.

"You are Hull?" a voice behind me said.

I jumped. I hadn't even heard anyone approach. I needed to pull myself together. I was in the heart of enemy territory, and being distracted and horny was a terrible idea. I spun around to see a tall, pale creature in leathers and fur. It was one of those snake-people things I'd seen in Afi's cards before, but it was bleached of color in both its human and snake halves. Its hair was silver and its red irises slitted like a snake's.

"Who's asking?" I said, tense.

"I am Sivkanu of the Undying," the thing said, bowing its head. "I seek the one who brought the shedding to my sister Beliss."

I glimpsed sharp teeth as the creature spoke. Vampire. I tensed even further. These were the ones Basil had wanted me to talk to. Did he really mean to give me to them? Surely not. Dammit, I need to find him.

"I don't know who Beliss is," I said carefully. "But my name is Hull." I held myself ready to pull Source the second this thing moved. I wasn't going to get surprised twice today.

"I greet you, Hull," the vampire snake-man said. Bowing even further, he held out a an envelope. "This has been prepared for you."

I stepped back from his outstretched hand, but this was no attack. He merely held out the envelope of thick, rich paper and waited. I was reminded of Basil and his endless invitations to the Gala where he'd fought his brother Gale. Where is Gale? Where is Gerard? None of us had heard anything since the day of the battle when they'd run off to keep the Prince – now the King – safe as the city fell.

I cautiously reached out and took the envelope. Without another word, Sivkanu turned tail and slithered away. All those stairs must be a pain in the ass when you don't have any legs. 'Course, he hasn't got an ass, either, so…

Bemused, I opened the envelope and pulled out the paper inside. It was a single, stiff card of cream paper with ornate handwriting on it. I could barely read what it said.

Your presence is requested as the guest of honor at the Celebration of Shedding for our dearest sister Beliss, to be held in the chambers of Stafford and Alexi on Middenday next, at the hour of the final bell. Be prepared to speak in her honor.

I scratched my head and looked at Mother and Xemris, both of whom were so focused on their quiet argument that they hadn't noticed what had passed. I wasn't sure which of them to ask about this, or whether to trust what they said if I did. I had imagined many scenarios as I prepared to brave the new lair of the demons and undead, but this hadn't been one of them. I'd killed one of the vampires… and now it looked like the rest of them were throwing me a party.

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