Ducking away from Lafitte's grasp, Firia darted to the left wall of Xelloss' audience chamber. The surinni cursed behind her. Suddenly he appeared in her path, grabbed her wrists and clutched her to his chest.

"You little chit of a girl! Don't you dare run away-" Lafitte's tirade ended prematurely as he was hurled across the room. The wall stopped his flight rather efficiently and dropped him on the floor. Lafitte groaned and climbed to his knees, turning to face his aggressor.

There was no assailant standing where Lafitte had been hit. High above that spot, however, Firia swung by her neck. The hand holding her up was grey and lifeless, its fingernails coated in frost. The end of its wrist linked onto a frozen chain that moved of its own volition. Wincing at the bitter chill of it, Firia clutched the chain for dear life. She had no reason to breathe here, but the floor was now a long way down. This thing could toss her around without any warning.

Lafitte kept still, his body as mobile as a rock. He scanned the glass room for the hand's origin. How can it see me move, though? It's a bloody HAND! The chain wound in spirals across the ceiling, leading to its owner...

Firia looked to the center of the ceiling directly ahead of her. As she finally saw Xelloss, she almost lost her grip.

His body was motionless, held still by hands of frost and chains of ice. The bonds wrapped all around him, holding him spreadeagled against the ceiling. His back faced the floor, and from it protruded the very same knife that Firia had pulled out of him incarnar. It was different, though - a loop was fastened to the end of its hilt, the frozen chains strung from it.

"Lafitte...Laffite I told you...not to come..." Xelloss spoke like a drugged man, his voice so low that it seemed distant.

Lafitte stared, eyes wide with shock. "What the hell has been going on in here?"

Xelloss' eyes rolled back, his voice now cold and alien. "Not very much, actually. Xelloss and I have been talking for quite awhile now." The chains around the priest constricted, pulling him against the glass. "He takes a long time to convince."

Firia screamed, clawing at the hand around her neck. In response, two hands darted forward to clutch her wrists. The chains wrapped around her arms, tugging firmly to restrain her. The chain pulling her neck went slack, the links around her arms now bearing her weight.

"Did you have something to say?" Xelloss' mouth spoke the words of another. "I'll converse with you too, don't worry. I've almost convinced my first catch to accept his terms. It'll be lonely after that."

Firia squirmed in the knife's icy embrace, watching Lafitte. He was slowly rising to his feet, a calculating look in his eyes.

Xelloss snorted. "Don't even bother. I've won catches far bigger than you, scrawny little ether-growth."

Lafitte snarled, clenching his fists. "How in all of the Planes did you sneak by me, you leech!?"

Smirking, Xelloss' tone was smug and aloof. "Ah, so you are the janitorial service. Surinni can see anything coming, can't they? But I never even approached your domain. There was no need to. I was already in here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lafitte glared up at Xelloss.

"Well," Xelloss spoke as if to a child, "you see, there's this place called incarnar. You worthless little etheric bastards are oblivious to it, but more intelligent, powerful, important mazoku - such as myself - can walk around on it like they own it. Because we do own it, and anything else we care to take. In this wonderful little place called incarnar, my master weilded me expertly and planted me directly into the back of his shiny new piece of property, which you happen to be staring open-mouthed and stupidly at. So as I was already deep inside Xelloss' tasty little incarnar body, I had no need to travel to his astral home." Xelloss paused. "Would you like me to go over this again, slowly? I realize that beings such as yourself are a bit mentally stunted."

Lafitte roared with anger and leaped towards Xelloss as Firia looked on, helpless.

* * *

The board lay before Xelloss, its pieces returned to the positions they had stood in before it had been knocked askew. "I'm never going to move. You know that."

Dynast rolled a defeated bishop between his fingers, smiling. "You may say that now, Xelloss. But I'll inevitably win as long as I possess you." He closed his fist over the chessboard clergyman.

Xelloss shook from the bitter chill, or his bitter anger, or maybe both. "You don't possess me. I just happen to be in your chambers."

Dynast chuckled. "Oh? And did you come here of your own free will?"

Xelloss was silent.

"The last time I checked..." Dynast ran a finger through Xelloss' hair, "...I dragged you into my home as a fresh acquisition. One of the spoils of war." Dynast twirled a lock of violet hair through his fingers. "You should really forget about Zelas. She can't help you now."

"Don't you dare speak of her like that."

"But she's dead, Xelloss. You need to understand these things. There's nothing I can do for her now." He stroked his hand through Xelloss' hair, fingers delicately brushing his neck. "But I can comfort you in your grief."

"Why?" Xelloss hissed, hunching his shoulders. "Why do you try to force me to submit through brutality, then try again through this false affection? Why do you persist in this silly match when your own agent is strangling me in the ether? What does it matter if I come to you now, when by your claim, it's inevitable that I'll fall before you? Why do you waste my time torturing me?"

Dynast rested his hand on the base of Xelloss' neck. "Why do I play the game when I know I'll win anyways? Is that why you've stopped, Xelloss? Do you think you can't lose if you don't move?" He snuck his hand forward, laying it against Xelloss' upper throat. "Xelloss, if you don't move, you forfeit."

Closing his eyes, Xelloss laid his head back. "If I can't win, why should I play?"

Dynast smiled, rubbing his fingers against Xelloss' neck. "Because I said so. And because the pretty dragon girl would cry if you gave up."

Xelloss jerked and strained against the hand on his neck, but Dynast held him down.

"Don't think I wasn't aware of your little escapades with her, Xelloss. I've been watching you for longer than you know." He caught Xelloss' wrists in his hand and forced the boy's arms down. "I was quite surprised by what I saw. Your former mistress has no grasp of proper discipline. After all, her most trusted servant...sleeping with the enemy..." He flung a leg over Xelloss' knees as the priest attempted to kick out with numbed feet. Facing Xelloss now, he leaned forward to look directly into his eyes. "You love her, don't you? You poor deluded thing. Were you so starved for Zelas' touch that you had to seek it in a dragon's nest? If I had known you needed it, I would have told Zelas that I could go without her company for a few nights." He squeezed his hand around Xelloss' neck, cutting off the boy's words before they could rise from his chest. Dynast leaned in closer, his lips almost touching the priest's.

"I'll strangle her in her bed, you naughty little boy. I'll drag her corpse back to keep you company in your sleep. I will bury her next to Zelas and you can weep on both of their graves. Do you understand that?" He laid his cheek against Xelloss'. "You know how many things in this world could convince me not to murder a pretty dragon girl. I enjoy my hobbies as much as you enjoy your little acts of bestiality." He loosened his grip on Xelloss' throat. The priest was very quiet for a moment. "Well?"

"...you...you bastard." Xelloss' voice was weak and dry. "I was happy with her."

Dynast smiled, licking a tear out of the corner of Xelloss' mouth. "I know." He released Xelloss' wrists and gently leaned the boy forward, biting his ear. "But you'll get over her."

Xelloss slid the first piece that he could touch forward. "Is that enough?"

"To save her?" Dynast closed his hand over Xelloss' wrist and tugged it away from the board. "It will be."