The predawn silence of the Imperial Pace shattered as arm bells began to toll. Duke Lucian of Novaris bolted upright from his desk where he had fallen asleep reviewing agricultural proposals from the northern provinces. Before he could fully gather his wits, Silvius burst through the door, his normally composed features tight with urgency.

  "They've found Emperor Tiberius dead in his chambers," Silvius said, his voice barely above a whisper. "The guards are saying his throat was cut with a ceremonial dagger."

  Lucian felt his blood turn cold. "Assassinated? But the Imperial Wing has been under enhanced protection since the threats from the Formu Orthodoxy—"

  "That's not all," Silvius interrupted, moving to the window to scan the courtyards below where torches were multiplying as guards mobilized. "They're ciming evidence was found in his chambers. A letter in your hand discussing payment, and a token bearing demon script that matches the marking on your obsidian sculpture."

  Lucian's eyes darted to the small bck pyramid on his desk—his one keepsake from the Demon Realm, bearing the royal house sigil of his brother, Prince Makar. A keepsake that only a handful of people knew existed.

  "A setup," Lucian breathed, his mind racing through the political consequences. Duke Veridian had warned him of growing resentment among certain factions who opposed his reforms and his influence over the Emperor. "Who would have access to—"

  The sound of armored footsteps in the corridor cut his question short.

  "We have perhaps two minutes," Silvius said with unsettling precision. Moving with fluid efficiency, he extinguished the mps and retrieved a small travel pack from behind a bookshelf—one Lucian had never noticed before. "The passages beneath the eastern tower will take us beyond the city walls."

  "You've pnned for this," Lucian said, not a question but a realization.

  "I've pnned for many eventualities," Silvius replied, his eyes reflecting what little moonlight filtered through the windows. "Some precautions are merely prudent when one serves a duke who was once a demon prince."

  The door to the chambers splintered under the impact of a battering ram. Lucian seized the obsidian pyramid and his formu satchel as Silvius pressed against a section of wall paneling, revealing a narrow servant's passage.

  "Imperial guards! Duke Lucian Veritum, you are under arrest for high treason and the murder of Emperor Tiberius!" The commander's voice rang out as guards poured into the chamber.

  The first guard spotted them at the half-closed passage and lunged forward, sword drawn. Silvius stepped between them with startling speed, his hand rising in a gesture Lucian had never seen him use. The candebra on the side table suddenly erupted into a wall of fme that surged toward the approaching guards, not burning them but forcing them back with impossible precision.

  "What in the eternal realms—" Lucian began, but Silvius grabbed his arm and pulled him into the passage.

  "Questions ter," Silvius said, his voice tense as he sealed the passage behind them. The dancing fmes had momentarily obeyed his will, responding to his gestures as if they were formu constructs—but Silvius had performed no formu casting.

  They descended narrow service stairs as shouts echoed through the pace above them. The passage opened into a rger tunnel that Lucian recognized as part of the ancient aqueduct system predating the current pace.

  "The capital will descend into chaos within hours," Silvius said as they hurried through the damp tunnel. "Archmage Septimus and the Formu Council will attempt to maintain order while Prince Octavian secures his succession, but the factions have been preparing for this moment. Duke Veridian's supporters will csh with General Maximian's military faction."

  "And we'll be bmed for igniting the conflict," Lucian concluded grimly. Theorema appeared suddenly from a side passage, joining their escape with feline indifference to the crisis.

  "Yes," Silvius confirmed, leading them deeper beneath the city. "But someone else orchestrated this. Someone who knew enough about your true identity to pnt convincing evidence."

  The tunnel began to slope upward, and the sound of flowing water grew louder. As they rounded a bend, torchlight flickered ahead—more guards.

  "There's no other way out," Lucian whispered, reaching for his formu components.

  Silvius pced a restraining hand on his arm. "There's another way, but you must trust me completely." His eyes met Lucian's with an intensity that seemed to peer into his very soul. "Some secrets I've kept even from you, Azaril of the Demon Realm."

  Before Lucian could respond, Silvius stepped forward, raising both hands toward the distant torches. The fmes detached from their brackets, swirling and expanding into a blinding curtain of fire that blocked the tunnel completely, yet consumed no oxygen and generated no choking smoke.

  "What are you?" Lucian asked, staring at his companion of many years with new eyes.

  Silvius's expression was unreadable in the dancing firelight. "Someone who has watched over you longer than you know. Now come—we have little time before they organize a proper search."

  As they continued through the ancient passages beneath the city, with the capital erupting into factional violence above them, Lucian realized that his carefully constructed human life had crumbled in a single night. Duke Lucian Veritum was now a fugitive, accused of regicide. And Silvius, his most trusted companion with him.

  The demon prince and his mysterious guardian fled into the darkness as the Human Empire began to tear itself apart.