"I'll kill him," he hissed. "I'll stab him right through his eyes and hang him with his intestines!"

"Lord Tyrannus, you're maddened!" Tetsuda exclaimed. He'd struggled to keep Tyrannus's pace since they'd abandoned the throne room—Tairo had dissipated into smoke just before Tyrannus could slash him with his scythe. Even now, mere feet away from their bedroom, he trailed a few steps behind. "This isn't the way! Killing him will just make things worse, for you and for us!"

His hand strangled the doorknob. "For me?" He looked over his shoulder. "For me?!" In one quick pull, he tore the metal knob loose from the wood. "Killing him is something I've yearned for for decades! He's thrown down the gauntlet, and now I have to respond." He poked Tetsuda's chest with a sharp finger. "And not even you can stop me."

"Can't I?"

"You don't get between an Ira and violence, Tetsuda, lest you be part of it."

He radiated darkness, radiated energy hot and angered, radiated a sense of danger and threat—but none of that mattered, nor did it make Tetsuda any less foolish to stand still.

So he struck him.

Struck the king so hard across the cheek his skin sported a cut and his head whipped to the side. Struck him so hard he silenced, if for but a moment.

Tetsuda grabbed his shoulders and shook. "You're not thinking, Tyrannus. If you attack him, you risk war; if you kill him, you'll have a resentful kingdom under your equally resentful hand. And either way, you play right into his."

"You know nothing of us," he snarled.

"I don't need to," Tetsuda snapped. "I've only just met him, but already I know he wants you to react violently—it proves he still has a hold on you. Do you truly want to give him that satisfaction?"

He glared and glowered, but his shoulders were looser now, the darkness subdued.

Tetsuda lowered his voice and placed his forehead to Tyrannus's. "I don't doubt he has ulterior motives, but let him be the aggressor in whatever conflict's to come." He lifted his hands to Tyrannus's cheeks. "Frustrate him. Break his hold on you."

His head lowered, and he pulled Tetsuda's arms away. "Don't talk to me like a child."

"I'm sorry," he chuckled. "I just love you." He hugged Tyrannus gently, tenderly. "I don't want you to experience this pain anymore. It hurts both of us."

With a sigh, Tyrannus wrapped an arm around his back. "You're a true Luxuria," he murmured. "A lover of pleasure and a hater of pain. For yourself and for others."

"Of course." He kissed Tyrannus's cheek. "And another thing. Let me help you in this. There's no reason to confront this alone, especially when I've proven myself in Ceniyan."

His forehead dropped to Tetsuda's shoulder. "You're lucky I care about you."

"It's an honor to hear that, my lord." He pulled back but still held him. "I never want you alone in your fights, but I can't help you if I don't know you. Tell me about the Scortum." He slipped Tyrannus's jacket off his shoulders. "In your terms."

"Tetsuda…"

"I won't think any less of you, love," he assured. Now his shirt was unlaced, and Tetsuda kneaded his sides. "Just tell me. Please?"

Tyrannus didn't meet his gaze—couldn't, it seemed. But still, in a quiet, weak voice, he said to Tetsuda, "Lay with me. I'll tell you everything."

So there they lay, Tyrannus with his back against Tetsuda's broad front, the Ira a picture of vulnerability and fragility in his nudity. The Luxuria, meanwhile, channeled all the love and passion he had for Tyrannus into his arms, wrapped around the Ira's waist, and his lips, hopping from cheek to neck to shoulder with short, soft steps."

"He said the truth about the Scortum, but he did so with typical bias. We...we're hybrids, essentially, demons whose human sins were equally stratified enough to keep one from overpowering another. Usually it's two, rarely three, but...well, as he said, I'm an Ira, Luxuria, Superbia, and Invidia—all were fairly balanced at first, but Ira eventually overtook them."

"What were you in your human life?"

He sighed with a bitter smile. "An emperor. A tyrant, more specifically. That's where my name comes from. It was long before your time, but long ago in the human realm I was an emperor, and I had an insatiable desire for land, power, and sex. But I was cruel, and one night, soldiers revolted against me. I fought alongside my loyal guards, and I...I…" He lowered his voice as he said, "I...killed my younger sister. She was a child, an innocent, and...I stabbed her in the chest with a pike when I thought she was an enemy."

"That's...terrible…" Tetsuda hugged him tighter. "And you still feel the guilt now, in your demon form?"

"It's not as prevalent, but Tairo brought the memories back. The rest of it he told well, but he omitted the part about the ascension. Demons, we have many forms. This is my base state, my 'neutral' state, but I have two more. The first is a more powerful version of myself, one I unlocked after killing the former Ultimo Superbia. The second, though, turns me into a Harbinger. It's a godlike form achieved only by the purest, most powerful members of the demonic races. But then I shattered that trend. Scortum, we're supposed to be like the Et Cinere—mindless, brainless, worthless. But I broke the mold. And the kingdom."

"And what about the blood?"

He shook his head. "It's another way of him controlling me. I have to send him a vial of my blood every month—an appeasement to keep things peaceful. Clearly, though, that's not enough anymore."

"But we can change that," Tetsuda said. "And we will."

"I hope, Tetsuda, but I don't believe."