Eli stared at the back palace wall in all of its grandeur, then turned to her right. “Tam?”

  “Yes?”

  “I want to go somewhere before we break in.”

  Tam looked down expectantly, and on the other side of his assistant, his sister and Harris peered at her curiously.

  “Where is that?”

  “The shrine just over there.” Eli jerked her chin to the left where a separate building stood alone, with a fountain in front of it and only two guards that hadn’t looked at them as the flurry of people flowed by the palace walls.

  “What’s in there?”

  “It’s the shrine dedicated to Chin. Before we burn everything down I want to take something.”

  Tam raised an eyebrow. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

  “It’ll be quick. Most of the guards will be at the party.”

  Tam fixed a level stare at her, but he could see the resolve in her eyes, and how important it was that they make this quick stop.

  “Alright. You and I will go. Kat, Harris, you start the fire along the wall in between the guards. We’ll be right back.”

  Kat looked uneasy and didn’t give a nod or respond to Tam’s order, so he narrowed his eyes and squared himself to her.

  “Leave or help. But make up your mind.” Then he stalked past his sister with Eli at his side so that they could retrieve whatever item Eli wished to grab. It didn’t really impede on the plan too much as it’d take time for the fire to really start causing problems for the people inside.

  When they were perhaps a hundred feet from the shrine, Tam felt Eli turn her head toward him as they wove through the bodies that all seemed to be traveling in the opposite direction.

  “You seem angry with your sister.”

  “I’m angry at everything right now, Eli,” Tam returned evenly.

  “I know, but she is helping us without having much of a reason to.”

  “I’ve done the same for her many times before. It won’t kill her to do the same. Plus I think it makes her more receptive when I tell her to do something.”

  Eli made a noise of disbelief but stopped talking as they neared the guards.

  Neither Tam nor Eli slowed their pace as they climbed the stairs purposefully.

  The spears the two guards held lowered to a cross in front of them.

  “Halt. This is the shrine of Grand Lady Chin Taejo. It is not for public access. Turn around and return to the street.” The guard on the right spoke without moving his position by the jade shaded pillar.

  Tam turned slowly to look at the man, his eyes filling with blackness. “We won’t be long.”

  The guard flinched, and backed away involuntarily.

  Eli meanwhile tilted her head at the other guard. “I am Princess Elisara Taejo. You will lower your spear now.”

  Tam heard the guard on the left splutter.

  “T-the princess? You must come with me at once! You—”

  Tam leisurely pulled out two daggers and redirected his stare to the other guard as dark, smokey silver started to waft from him.

  The guard’s mouth hung open in horror.

  Tam didn’t even raise his voice when he said, “Move.”

  The two men stumbled away from the pair, their eyes widened fearfully, their faces paling…

  Eli glided forward and pushed open both the doors to reveal a long hall filled with more jade colored pillars and black marble floors.

  Vermillion red drapes were parted and tied with gold rope to reveal treasures in the alcoves lining the entire hall.

  Eli walked purposefully, her head not even turning once, but Tam watched her hands curl into fists as she approached a display at the very back of the room.

  He followed, daggers still in hand as he heard shouts from behind himself alerting whoever was nearby that the devil had come.

  His mind drifted to that thought…

  A humorless smile tugged at a corner of his mouth.

  Perhaps that moniker was more fitting than he had wanted to admit, as he was feeling a great deal of his power thrumming under his skin, and a great deal less reservations about using it than he’d ever had before.

  “Tam, stay back. I’m going to break the glass.”

  Pulled from his thoughts, Tam looked up, and realized what it was that Eli had come to retrieve from the shrine of the emperor’s mother who had raised her for half of her childhood… Protected her…

  He tilted his head and smiled. “I didn’t think you’d be the type to wear something like that.”

  Eli didn’t respond as her heel shot out and she shattered the glass.

  “I wouldn’t usually, but I think tonight calls for it.”

  His assistant looked over her shoulder and smiled.

  There was a nervous, yet excitable glint in her eyes that made her seem… Different. As though she really was about to free herself from all the fates which had heartlessly been tied to her by others once and for all.

  Tam felt his heart skip a beat. “You know… I think you’re right.”

  *

  It was only a few moments later, but by the time Tam and Eli swept out of the shrine, everything had fallen into utter chaos.

  From their vantage point at the top of the shrine stairs, they could see Kat fighting guards with her sword drawn, her cloak discarded, and Harris laughing maniacally while tossing a bottle of moonshine at the blazing top of the wall.

  The civilians in the street were running screaming away from the scene, and already the road was mostly empty. The two guards that had been outside the shrine were nowhere to be seen.

  Tam looked at Eli with a raised eyebrow. “Now that the alarms have started on this side of the palace, how about you and I take a walk to the front doors. It makes sense that the first witch would try to leave that way if she’s heading toward the docks.”

  Eli frowned up at him. “Did you always intend your sister to be the distraction?”

  Tam shrugged. “No one makes a distraction quite like her.” He then offered his assistant his arm.

  “Shouldn’t you help her?” Eli put her hands on her hips.

  Tam’s gaze flit back upward toward where his sister, with her aura blazing, effortlessly kicked one man, and sent him flying back into four others. “Nope. She’s fine.”

  Unable to really argue with him on the point after witnessing the scene, Eli accepted Tam’s arm and turned from the sight to make their way up and around the west palace wall.

  As they strolled, Tam breathed in the smell of the fire that, judging from the brightness in the sky, was rapidly spreading. “You said it was only the gardens in that area of the palace, right?”

  “Yes. And I imagine the coven members are going to try and help put it out. Which is another reason I figured your sister could use some help.”

  Tam reconsidered the suggestion of offering Kat assistance. “No. She’ll be fine. They can’t even dose her with Witch’s Brew.”

  Eli blinked and stared up questioningly at him.

  Tam smiled. “She built a tolerance over the last three years. With the help of my mother, she carefully worked up an immunity to it so that her outburst in Troivack would never happen again.”

  The shocking news had Eli falling silent as they continued up the street that was empty… except for the fifteen soldiers coming toward them.

  “Hm.” Tam paused. He gently prodded his power stores. “Since we’re moving in the interest of cutting off the first witch from leaving, I’m just going to take us through the void to reach the other end of the street. Are you alright with that?”

  “That does sound more efficient.” Eli lifted her face up and smiled permissively.

  Tam smiled politely back as the roar of the men approaching them grew louder.

  Then he grasped her hand, and with the familiar flicker of silver and black, whooshed out of the physical world.

  Once in the void, Tam closed his eyes, feeling the stone around him of the street. He could even distantly hear the shouts of alarm from the soldiers.

  He glided over them, then imagined the far corner that would take them to the north front of the palace, and was just about to shift them out of the void when he turned suddenly to Eli.

  “When we find the first witch… I’m going to do something, and… you need to know about it.”

  She looked at him expectantly. The eerie calm that had both seized them from the moment Kat had arrived at the Opulent Opal still prevalent.

  It was as though they both knew the time had come to face the higher powers that had tormented them, and any anguish and worry that had plagued them before had simply… disappeared.

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  They would get the children back, and they would be finished with Zinfera.

  Simple as that.

  “I think it’s time I fully embrace the rumors.”

  Tam watched the confusion rise in Eli’s eyes.

  “I’m really going to become the devil.”

  She blinked rapidly, but didn’t show any kind of other alarm.

  “I want the first witch coming after me. Not Luca.”

  A low, reverberation started to hum in Tam as he said the words.

  And he could tell by the way that Eli stiffened; she must have felt something too.

  “You won’t hurt innocents or children?” Eli asked carefully.

  “Correct. I think I can convince a lot of people without doing much. You already know how skillful I am at spreading rumors about myself.” He smiled charmingly.

  Eli’s expression fell flat, but a reluctant smile of her own pulled her mouth up. “Are you planning on trapping her in this void?”

  “That would be ideal. Then we can deal with the coven and Soo Hebin without worrying too much.”

  Nodding Eli looked forward at the infinite span of blackness. “Alright. Just as they surprised us with moving quickly. I’d advise you to do the same once we see her.”

  “I love you,” Tam declared, his chest warm.

  Eli looked back at him, a slow, tender look filling her eyes. “I love you, too. And even though I wasn’t sure about adopting Penelope before… Well…” She sighed. “She has more common sense than most adults. I think I might like her being Luca’s sister.”

  Tam laughed, then lifted their clasped hands to his mouth to kiss the back of her hand. “Don’t worry. We can still have three more girls any time you want.”

  Eli’s cheeks flushed. “Stop flirting when we’re in the middle of an uprising and bring us back to reality.”

  “As you wish,” Tam grinned, then as he twisted his head forward, obeyed his beloved’s persnickety request.

  They reappeared exactly where he had anticipated, the soldiers, now behind them, were busy looking around the spot Tam and Eli had first disappeared, unaware that the pair were resuming their stroll toward the front doors.

  “Why aren’t we running?” Eli asked next as the large rust colored front doors pulled into view where another crowd of soldiers were flowing down.

  “It’ll take the first witch time to decide to leave.”

  “She might have already left.”

  Tam nodded. “Then we’ll fly to the ships.”

  A funny expression claimed Eli’s face then. “Gods. We really are doing this.”

  As the new wave of soldiers descended upon them, Tam wrapped an arm around Eli’s waist, startling her as he then spun her as though they were on a dance floor back into the void.

  “Doing what? Winning a war?”

  “Yes. I feel it. We will win tonight.”

  Tam smiled. “I feel that too.” He waltzed them through the void, feeling his way easily over the stones, down the street, over the second group of soldiers and up the stairs.

  Eli tilted her head quizzically. “Why are you in a good mood?”

  “Well, you are wearing a dashing red dress… And maybe I’m a little scared for Luca, but I keep thinking of the advice Harris and Jeong kept trying to give us. To have a bit more fun.”

  Eli laughed quietly, though she continued dancing with Tam without objection.

  Tam didn’t pay a second thought to where his feet went. Only to how warm his palm felt in hers, and how with every graceful sweep of their feet against her skirts they were moving toward their children. The perfect synchronicity with which they moved, not feeling odd at all.

  “I think we’ve both gone a bit insane,” Eli said softly, though she sounded sincere.

  “More than likely, but you know… It’s the ones who’ve lost their minds that I think have the most fun no matter what situation they’re in,” Tam speculated as they reappeared in the physical world before the front doors to the palace.

  The soldiers were behind them once more, and before them, lay a rich entrance. It was rectangular with two large staircases running up the sides to a second story balcony. The balcony itself was carved ornately out of wood, while the ceiling and pillars were stenciled in vivid blues, reds, jade colors, and detailed in black, gold and white paint. The walls were white in contrast, and the polished chestnut floors gleamed in the lit braziers. There were three doorways on either side of the room that led off in various directions, and three large doorways on the second floor balcony. All of them with double doors firmly shut.

  “Huh. No welcome party. I’m a bit surprised,” Tam released his hold on Eli’s wais but not her hand as they walked into the vast room that lay empty.

  “It is quite quiet. Though there were a lot of men that just bolted to the street. Plus the fire.”

  “Ah yes. The fire… Almost forgot about that.”

  A loud roar followed by an earth rumbling thud, made Tam and Eli look over their shoulders to see in the frame of the open doors a familiar golden dragon with bright green eyes.

  “Wixim! It’s been a while!” Tam called out jovially with a wave.

  The dragon tilted its great head at Tam. Then, in the next instant, the middle doors on the second floor balcony opened, and out stepped a short Daxarian woman with strawberry blond hair, clear blue eyes, and pale skin donning entirely black. At her side was a man of average height with brown hair, several earrings, wearing a silver vest, a blue shirt, and plum tie, and over his shoulder… was a squirming young boy that Tam recognized instantly, prompting him to release Eli’s hand.

  “Ah.” Tam vanished back into the void without Eli, and reappeared directly in front of the man holding his son.

  Before either the Daxarian woman or man could react, Tam jabbed his fingers into the man’s eyes, and grabbed Luca before pulling him back into the void with himself just in time to hear a startled. “Wha–” from the woman on the right.

  Once safely back in the void, Tam spun Luca around, and instantly spotted the gag in his mouth.

  He watched Luca’s teary eyes widen in shock as he gazed at his father’s face, then when he registered who it was, relief visibly swept over him, followed by more tears.

  Tam hurriedly removed the gag and hugged Luca as the boy instantly released a heart ripping wail.

  “I was s-s-so scared!” Luca sobbed into his father’s shoulder.

  Tam took deep shuddering breaths as he felt Luca’s head beneath his hand, felt his frantic small heartbeat against his chest as tears of his own leaked free.

  At last he was pulled out of the dazed madness he had indulged in before.

  He pulled free, framing Luca’s face in his hands, his resolve from earlier only reaffirmed.

  Luca… Would no longer be the devil.

  Tam brushed away his son’s tears with his thumbs, and kissed his forehead without a word.

  No.

  Luca would forever be his son.

  And nothing more.

  “Luca,” Tam murmured, grateful that the time in the void moved significantly slower than it did in the tangible world. “I need to leave you here in this safe space okay? But I’m going to be right back.”

  Luca gave a quiet choking cry, but nodded while his hands came up and grasped Tam’s forearms. “T-they took Penelope away!”

  Letting out a long breath, Tam nodded. “We’ll get her back, okay? Don’t you worry. Can you be brave just a little longer and wait for me here? That woman can’t get to you here.”

  “W-where are we?” Luca asked, upon finally realizing the vast emptiness they stood in; prompting him to shrink away fearfully.

  “It’s just my magic, alright? It’s nothing to be afraid of. I didn’t want you to see it before because I thought you’d find it scary, but… Nothing will hurt you here.”

  Luca gulped but nodded slowly. “You’ll be right back soon, right?”

  Tam nodded. “I just have to tell that woman who took you she shouldn’t do that again.”

  At this, Luca gave a weak, watery smile. “I told her you would come for me.”

  Tam smiled back and gently brushed his son’s hairaway from his tear-stained face. “You were absolutely right to tell her that. I’m always going to come for you, Luca. You’re my son. And I’m your dad. Nothing and no one is going to change that or take you from me, got it? No matter where you are, I’m going to be there for you.”

  Luca nodded, his breaths calming.

  “Alright. I’m going to be back, Luca. Wait right here. Just sit down, and don’t move, okay?”

  “O-okay… Dad?”

  “Yes, Luca?”

  “D-don’t tell her my name! Peneleope says— says she shouldn’t know it!”

  Tam paused at this, but gave a reassuring half smile. “Alright, thank you for telling me, Luca. Now, take a seat, and have a few deep breaths for me. I’ll see you very soon.”

  The boy gripped Tam’s shirt sleeves again, but gradually lowered himself down to sit obediently.

  Tam gave him one last affirming smile, the ache in his heart that had torn away at him every day since they had been parted at last releasing him.

  With a single step back then to the side, Tam removed himself from his void, and reappeared in front of the alarmed face of the woman he knew to be the first witch.

  He lowered his head, a cold smile climbing into place as he assumed the role that seemed to have been inevitable for him to one day slip into and live up to.

  “Hello, Aradia.” Tam heard the first witch’s breath catch as he snarled, and, seizing her shoulders, he gave the woman who had stolen his children and caused so much pain and suffering a shake. “What? No hug for your brother? I hear you’ve been looking for me. Well… Here. I. Am!”