"Stop bringing back Agni and Rudra."
You can't make me.

I never cared for the throne room. The humans insisting that I should be their king was troublesome enough without the addition of a room where I sat above any who came to see me. When possible, I asked for visitors to meet me in my study. I thought it to be less daunting. The throne room was an empty hall so large even the slightest noise echoed. Stained glass towered along the east wall, bathing the room in faceted sunbeams. True, I didn't care much for it, but the vast silence made for a nice place to think.

Or brood, rather. I needn't kid myself.

As I sat, flipping my eyepiece between my fingers like Eva taught me to do with a coin years ago, the sunbeams retreated from the stone floor. I'd promised to wait through morning. I'd said nothing of the afternoon.

In answer to my weakening patience, one of the oversized wooden doors across the room cracked open. Modeus slipped inside. He was much like a shadow, cloaked in black and so silent as to be unnoticeable when he preferred it. "Sir," he greeted with a polite smile, "are you calm enough for honest answers?"

"Ah, do I look that bad?" I asked. Considering I'd awoken him and his brother while seething like any good wrath demon, I couldn't blame him for the precaution, but I thought I was hiding it better after a few hours.

"I've learned to be wary when you fidget. Never a good sign."

I snapped the monocle to a standstill between my fingers before replacing it over my eye. Someone should have informed me sooner that I had tells, though I doubt I could have hidden my anxiety regardless. Dante vanishing was so common as to be expected. When I'd found Nero's room empty, it followed reason that Dante's room would be empty as well. He'd already kidnapped the little prince once, so I had worried it would happen again if he found out about Nero leaving. Dante became all too attached to others. Like a bear trap.

Perhaps he was afraid of losing someone again to forces outside of his control, but well, none of that mattered when I found Vergil gone as well.

Vergil did not leave unannounced.

"Please go ahead and explain your findings," I said, and Modeus nodded. "But I make no promises that I'll behave."

He hid a smile by turning to the door. "Baul, you can come in."

Baul, as opposite of his brother as he could be, shouldered the door open hard enough to slam it to the end of its hinges. Against his white clothing, the two bright swaths of red and blue stood out.

"Your Majesty!" Rudra chirped in greeting. He was either oblivious that he was being held up under the arm of a more powerful demon, or he saw no harm in it. Agni was too busy trying to wriggle free from Baul's other arm to pay me any mind. They were both clutched around their middles, arms and legs dangling until Baul released them both, each landing on all fours like a cat.

"Tell the king what you told us," Modeus said.

The two gatekeepers hopped to their feet as Agni led the round. "About everyone leaving?"

"Yeah, they all went out, and they wouldn't let us go."

"Who?" Modeus stressed to keep them from going too off-topic.

"His Highness-es? Their Highnesses?" Agni's head tilted.

"And that lady, and the nice one who waved," Rudra added.

Modeus stepped in again for clarification. "Lady and Nero. It seems they all left together several hours before sunrise."

Lady going along with the group was a relief. She came the closest to keeping Dante in line out of anyone. But Vergil going along made me wonder if I'd arrived in some alternate reality and left me with more questions than answers.

"But no one came in!" Agni said, beaming with pride.

Rudra nodded. "Except when we let His Highness back in before we let everyone out."

"Does that count?"

"I don't think so."

I needed to retrain them on gate duty. They were too thick-skulled for their own good, or anyone else's good. Stifling a sigh, I stood and strode up to the two. They each accepted a pat on the head with bright-eyed stares of respect. I did let them get away with far too much, but they made punishing them so difficult.

"I'm glad you two chose such innocent-looking human forms," I said.

"You told us not to be big and scary to humans."

"We did good!"

"We did!"

I gave them both another, more-forceful pat to the head. "You both are too literal, which is good because I don't care for hitting children. Now, do you know where the group was headed?"

Their smiles didn't falter as they shook their heads. Once again, Modeus came to their aid. "We were unable to find any proper witnesses from the nearby settlements," he said, "but the outgoing tracks suggest that they were headed southeast."

Confusion wrote itself across my face. I'd surely found my way into an upside-down world. Vergil and Dante, who'd never agreed on anything in their lives, were heading out together toward… "The meetup point?" I asked.

"That seems to be the case, sir. I could find nothing else of note in that direction."

Any other possibility would have been preferable. If they were headed to Fortuna, that placed both my sons in enemy territory, and despite all Fortuna's preachings, I'd known its leaders to follow a mantra of an eye for an eye. My sons could defend themselves, of course, but that was a problem all its own, as I had tried to teach them not to harm humans.

If they went against my ideal for the own protection and killed Fortuna soldiers, Fortuna would call for war.

If they did not fight back, they would be captured, and I would surely do something rash enough to cause war.

Perhaps if they tried diplomacy… Well, Dante was about as diplomatic as a starved animal backed into a corner, and Vergil's version of diplomacy held no room for compromise. I hadn't given him the crown yet for a reason.

Whatever their objective, I could see no future in which things would work out for the better. At best, the results could be a learning experience for my foolhardy sons, teaching them what not to do. I would have preferred they learn lessons without causing catastrophe, though.

"Shall Baul and I follow them?" Modeus asked. "The drafted treaty is not in your study, so I believe they have it. We can intercept them and carry out the meeting as planned."

Shaking my head felt cruel. "You're far more optimistic than I, but Dante and Vergil will not listen to either of you. Whatever this reckless idea, they will see it through."

Honestly, I wondered why I bothered giving my sons retainers in the first place. Placing Baul and Modeus as Vergil's retainers was a mistake. The moment he believed himself to have rank over them, he accepted no guidance or orders. Dante never listened to them to begin with, and the most his retainers could do was hassle him until he gave up an inch. True, my sons rarely listened to me either, but I could not shake the desire for some modicum of control over the situation.

Eva, help me. This would be a hellish mess. But Fortuna had brought this upon itself, and with my sons and Nero caught in the middle, I could deny that no longer.

"I'll go," I said.

The disapproval in Baul's eyes pierced through me. "That is foolish and you know it," he said.

"Sir, we can't have the whole royal family in Fortuna at once," Modeus added, always rushing to patch situations his brother barreled his way through. "Leaving the castle void of any of you for so long while the situation is this volatile-"

A demonic growl cut into my tone to silence them. "It will only grow worse if I remain. I have played along with Fortuna's whims for long enough. Pacification has gotten me nothing but more trouble. Whoever has placed himself in charge of that damned country will speak with me in person for once, so we can settle this. If it must come to bloodshed, that was always meant to be. Allowing Nero to return would already place blood on my hands, so I will intercept my sons, but only to ensure their safety, not to stop their advance."

Though neither hid his displeasure, Baul and Modeus each gave in with a nod. "If that is your decision, we will respect it," Modeus said. "We will look after the castle affairs while you are away. Please return safely with the princes and Miss Lady."

I should have felt worse for not leaving my most trusted men any room to argue, but I could be as reckless and foolhardy as my sons, particularly when it came to their well-being.

"If I have any reason to believe there is trouble here, I will return promptly," I said as I stepped past the group. The meeting would likely begin before I arrived unless I allowed myself to use my demon form. But that would cause more problems than it would solve, and Luce was light on her feet. I would reach them in time.

As I headed down the hall, I found two sets of rushing footsteps behind my own. Without turning, I could tell Agni and Rudra were nipping at my heels. "And where are you two going?" I asked.

"Dant- er, his highness promised we could go with next time," one said. I couldn't tell which without looking, and my eyes remained forward.

"Next time what?" I asked.

"He said we could go next time," one brother said. Not an actual answer, but I wasn't sure what I expect from them.

"He promised," the other added.

After I trained them on gate duty again, I would teach them not to believe anything Dante said, but it couldn't hurt to have messengers available. "Very well," I said. "But hurry, boys. Do not slow me down, or I will leave you behind."

"Of course, Your Majesty!"

"We'll be very helpful!"

I was already hoarding regrets as things were, so adding one more to the pile couldn't hurt.

The meeting point was not as advertised. For a country that decked out its knights in picturesque armor, they didn't bother keeping up appearances with their architecture. The only light came from holes near the tops of the walls, with dust motes dancing in the moonbeams. Trusses and floorboards creaked with each step. Half the boards were cracked through, leaving me wondering when the place would collapse on top of us.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Lady asked.

"Yes," Vergil said with his usual brand of enthusiasm. "Though it was rude of them not to meet us here, the tradeoff should occur around sunrise at this location."

"I don't blame them for not being here," Nero said. His arms were crossed, his glare burning a hole in the corner of the room. Judging by his tone and refusal to speak with me for the past several hours, I'd done something to piss him off. Not enough to make him give up my coat, though. "No one in Fortuna goes out at night, especially not this late. We stopped for the night at this same fort on the way to fight those demons."

"A fort?" I asked. "If this is Fortuna's idea of defense, they should stop investing so much in pretty uniforms."

Nero's lip twitched toward a snarl. "It's leftover from the old wars. We have newer ones, but we didn't have any need to upkeep this one. It's still mostly together anyway."

"Please, kid, I feel like it's dangerous to breathe in here. I might inhale a century's worth of dust."

Before Nero could bite back a response, Lady snapped her fingers. The sound echoed endlessly through the high ceiling. "Before you two kill each other, let's get some light in here. We can get that fireplace going." She pointed toward the questionable pit behind a table lined with chairs.

"If you need some light, we had a box of candles and some flint," Nero said. "I think I remember where they were. I can go get those." Without waiting for confirmation, he darted off down the one hallway leading from the room.

Lady grumbled as he ducked out of sight. "What does he mean, 'if you need some light'? You half-demon fucks don't need to show off that you can see in the dark. I can see just fine too, thank you."

I knew better than to pick at Lady when she was sleep-deprived. She was scary enough on a good day, and exhaustion didn't help matters. Bothering her had a chance of earning me an arrow where I didn't want one.

Prodding at Vergil was equally like harassing a snoozing dragon, but I'd known him long enough to dodge the fire. As he pulled seal-stamped parchment from his pack and smoothed it out on the table, I sidled up to him. "What is it, Dante?" he asked, weariness aching in his eyes. I probably looked similar despite my best attempt at putting on a smile. The edges of my vision were taking on a dizzying hue.

"When are we going into Fortuna? You said we would go into the capital city."

"I don't recall saying anything about the capital, but the agreement was to meet the Fortunan officials here."

That wasn't what he and I had agreed on, though, and he knew it. "I'm not going to hand Nero over to them without a proper talk, you know. I didn't come just to carry out Dad's stupid plan."

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. The wind had loosened some strands to odd frays. "Enough. I know." Even the anger in his voice was worn thin. "I will see what I can do in negotiations, but you'll have to stay quiet. With your lack of decorum, you're bound to cause trouble."

"Come on." I nudged his side. "I'm sure you want to do some reconnaissance in the big city. I hear the place has all sorts of stores. Maybe we can get you another one of those books you like so much."

When he didn't respond, the sound of logs clattering together filled the room. Behind us, Lady tossed firewood into the pit like it had wronged her somehow.

"Sure this place won't go up in smoke?" I asked.

"Should be fine," she said. "This firewood's the only new thing here. Someone must have left it recently."

"Maybe the kid's group." Speaking of, I was starting to think he'd gotten himself lost. If he didn't come back soon, I would need to track him down. Demons did love to nest in old dumps like this.

"Hey, Lady," I called, leaning back until I was lying across the table.

"What?"

"Have you ever been to Fortuna?"

"No. I've heard enough stories from Trish to know that the place is a hellhole. I would have died happy never coming here." After a few clashes of the flint, she leaned down to puff some life into a spark. Even as the fire began to crackle, she frowned. "I hear the slums in the capital are massive. Tons of poor and starving people."

"Is that why they want our farmland?" I asked.

She shook her head as she stood. "You should really pay more attention to what's going on, Your Highness."

Even though she didn't look at me, I stuck out my tongue. The formalities were my least favorite part of being a prince. My name took much less time to say. Dad hated them too, so I wasn't sure why we let anyone use them.

"The church would claim the land, not the people," Vergil said, always happy to lecture me, even as his gaze remained on the documents in front of him. "The divide between rich and poor in Fortuna is massive. The church has enough power to claim whatever it wants under the guise of it being for the good of the people, but Fortuna's main goal is seafaring trade. Many wealthy nations lie across the sea at their other borders, and more farmland means more to trade. Their aim is silks, gold-"

A distant crash silenced him. The floorboards shook as a sound like thunder rippled through the fort. "Aw, Hell," I muttered as I leapt to my feet. A cloud of dust drifted out from the hall. Though it stung my eyes enough to assure me that my healing was being put to work, I rushed toward the source, where dust seemed to add weight to the air.

"Yell if you need anything," Lady called, more out of obligation than interest. Vergil made no promises to come to my aid. I decided to let it slide with how tired they both were, and the kid was probably fine. Probably. Wherever he was.

The dust cloud obscured the room like a blanketing fog, but it wasn't enough to hide the cavernous hole in the floor. No light reached down the gaping, black maw. Even my eyes couldn't make anything out. "Kid?" I called, my voice echoing in the pit. "Nero?"

If we'd come all this way only for him to be eaten by the floor, I was either going to break down in laughter or tears. I hadn't gotten enough sleep for this surrealist nightmare.

A long slew of curses answered me, each one more colorful than the last. When his arm appeared, glowing bright enough to show off his scowl, he seemed to be in one piece. The fall wasn't as long as the darkness made it appear. From what I could make out in the angry white light, the lower level was for storage, and judging by the casks near him, it was the best kind of storage.

"Everything alright?" Lady yelled.

My voice returned in an echo as I slipped over the edge of the splintered wood. "Everything's great!"

Nero didn't seem to think so. He threw me a glare that rivaled Lady's as I filled my waterskin with what I confirmed to be wine and not more weird Fortunan poison.

"What are you doing?" he asked, regaining his feet with a wince. Dust fell from the shoulders of my jacket in waves with his every movement. Even more puffed away after I scooped him into a carry. Sure, a stairway back up had to exist somewhere, but jumping back to the main floor was easier. That earned me a temporarily-broken nose from a jab so quick that I didn't see it coming. Considering the limp that plagued him as he ambled back toward the main room, snorting through some blood seemed worthwhile.

As he attempted to stalk off, he carried something in one hand that I didn't recognize until I checked my surroundings. Through the thinned dust, I found the newly-expanded room to be an abandoned armory. Bits of metal lay scattered across shelves. All the good pieces had likely been picked over by scavengers long ago.

I trailed after the kid, but he stuck himself by the fire, sunk low in a chair, and refused to talk to me. Instead, he focused on fitting the new plating over his demonic arm. Age left blotches of rust across the metal. The resistance in the joints was clear from the way Nero's brow pinched as he flexed his elbow and fingers. Despite that, he settled with the arm resting across his middle.

"You that scared of them seeing it?" I asked.

He didn't answer, didn't even look at me.

"Alright," I said through an extended sigh. "I'm going to get some sleep. Don't go wandering off again while I'm out."

The fire was too warm for my tastes, and trying to sleep in a chair after endless hours of abusing my tailbone on horseback sounded less than appealing. Seemed I wasn't the only one, as I found Lady settling herself on the grass outside, her pack as a pillow.

"Thought you wanted light," I said.

"There's a moon," she said. "And it's too goddamned dusty in there. The prince alright?"

"Oh, you care now? Didn't even come check on me."

"Don't give a damn about you. Was asking about him." Her words faded to mumbles as she let her eyes fall shut. She seemed asleep before I could answer.

I didn't know where Vergil had disappeared to, but that was standard. He didn't care for sleeping around others - liked to give some excuse about being vulnerable to attacks when sleeping. We all knew the real reason was that he didn't like being seen drooling or with cowlicks.

As soon as I lay down, sleep hit me like a wall. Content as I was in my coma, Lady woke me all too soon with a boot to the ribs. "Sun's coming up," she said. "They should arrive soon."

Sunlight burned behind my eyelids. I tossed my arm over my face to hide back in darkness. "Tell them to come back later."

"I'll tell them they can have the prince back free of charge, and I'll even throw you in as an added bonus."

"See, this is why no one stays to cook you breakfast. You're no fun in the morning."

She kicked me hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. The fading crunch of her footsteps against the dirt ended with the door slamming shut. Though my body dragged at the attempt like trudging through honey, I rolled to my feet and followed after her.

Vergil had crawled out from wherever and was examining some moldy book as he stood in the corner of the room. Still hunkered down in his chair, Nero had dozed off at some point in the night. How he wasn't sweltering in two coats beside the dimmed fire, I couldn't imagine. Lady must have been thinking the same thing because she went over to reignite the flames.

"Shouldn't leave a fire unattended if you're going to fall asleep," she said as though to distract from her good deed for the year. "Think the prince is still a little sick?"

I shrugged. "Could be. I don't think he's realized he's still wearing my coat, so he can't be altogether, or he would have thrown it in the fire by now."

"That's a shame," she said, dusting her hands on her slacks as she finished tossing fresh logs into the hearth. "So how long until they get here?"

"Should be shortly," Vergil said without looking up from his book.

"Should be?" Lady echoed.

"I make no promises for Fortunans."

"Shortly" left enough time for breakfast, which for me consisted of wine and bread with a stale edge to it. I took a seat near Nero, still impressed he'd slept through Lady tossing logs around and all of us talking. If I had to be up, I decided he had to be too, and I roused him by knocking the toe of my boot against his. He responded with a deep breath in and a slur of incoherence out.

"We'll be meeting some of your friends soon," I said. "Want breakfast?" To my surprise and amusement, he took my waterskin as I held it out for him. Watching him drink wine at dinners had brought me no shortage of entertainment, his face scrunching up against every swallow.

This time he just started drinking and didn't stop, didn't blink or cringe. The wine was good, but the more he drank, the more my smile slipped. In the end, I ripped the jug from his hands, forcing a laugh. "Take it easy, kid."

Vergil would kill me if I got Nero drunk before the meeting. Lady too, judging by the accusing glare she pinned me with as she took a seat at my side. Not to mention all the pissed Fortunans.

Yawning, Nero straightened himself in the chair. "Damn, my ass is killing me. I miss beds."

I shoved another bite of bread in my mouth to keep from commenting.

"Do we know who's coming?" he asked. His words threaded together a bit - hopefully from weariness and not wine. No one got tipsy that quickly.

"Not sure," Lady answered for me with my mouth full. "Is there anyone we should watch out for?"

Nero's eyes, dim with emotions I couldn't read, flicked to their corners. "Not really."

I'd never met anyone who was less of a morning person than I was, but Nero was working his way toward that spot. The more I looked, through, the less I saw irritation. His arms were crossed, legs pulled in close, and he couldn't hold eye contact for more than a moment in the rare instance he looked to us at all. I felt like a loud noise would send him scurrying to a corner.

The kid looked scared out of his mind.

"Are you happy to be back in Fortuna?" I asked.

One of the ugly-armored fingers swiped at his nose as he hummed a response that could have meant anything but a yes. Lady raised a brow but didn't pick at the subject, either leaving it for me or wanting nothing to do with it. I couldn't decide which. The kid's thoughts were his own, and I didn't need to pry, but I was curious. He was always hiding something. Poorly. He was a dreadful liar.

As I considered the best way to approach the topic, the wine kicked in, and a new thought dropped into the front of my mind.

"Hey, kid, there's something I wanted to ask you."

"What?"

"Do you know how sex works?"

That woke him up. He jolted so hard that I thought he might fall out of his chair. His hand shot to his face to steady himself. Across the room, I heard Vergil sigh and flip a page in his book. A grin fought its way onto my face.

"What!?" Nero spluttered. "Yes, I- Why are you asking?"

"Innuendos tend to fly over your head. I just wasn't sure if anyone ever taught you."

Lady piped in, a smile shining in her eyes. "I hear the church is pretty stuffy. He probably only knows the basics."

"You know men can have sex together, right?" I asked.

"Women too," Lady added.

"And you can have more than two people."

As we continued, Nero slipped down further and further into his chair as though trying to fuse with it. Vergil came to his rescue, slamming the book shut to silence us. "Enough. I believe the Fortunans are here."

It seemed like a convenient lie until I heard the hoofbeats as well. Nero's embarrassment and irritation fell away as fear iced over his eyes. Diplomacy and mercy be damned, I hoped we needed to fight the bastards. If those people gave him reason to be afraid, they had no right to take him back.

The group entered like they owned the place, which they did, but they didn't need to act so haughty about it. Five men wore armor, and one had a stiff white uniform. Though I guessed him to be their negotiator, his eyes swept the room with distrust, gaze narrowing as it bounced between me and Vergil. The twin thing tended to trip people up, but stress bit into his confusion, the look of a man who wasn't expecting us.

He knew who we were. I hated that I didn't know him.

He appeared to be a few years our senior with a permanently-furrowed brow, yet when I looked to Nero for a hint on how much I needed to hate the guy, I found Nero looking like a dog whose master had just come home. A smile tugged at his lips as he sighed in relief. He started to say something, but it died in his throat as soon as the man brushed his finger along the bridge of his nose. Though I'd seen the same movement from the kid a dozen times, the action was too apparent to have been natural.

Judging by the way Nero sobered to a pinched frown, he didn't care for the signal.

As the tense air tried to strangle the rest of us, Vergil stepped to the center of the room and gave the sweeping bow that he saved for the people he couldn't stand. "Good morning, sirs. I trust you had a safe trip. If we could, I would like to briefly discuss the terms of our agreement."

"He's laying it on thick today," Lady muttered.

The man's voice was so thin and biting that it rivaled my brother's. "What is there to discuss? We have already made the agreement. I will sign your draft, we will remove our soldiers from your land, and you will give us our prince."

If that was all Dad made them give up, it was a weak treaty. Surely we deserved more reparations than that.

Vergil's polite mask didn't falter. "Not to be rude, but would you mind introducing yourself first? I'd like to know on what authority the treaty is being signed."

"My apologies," the man said in a tone too dry to be apologetic. "I am a general in Fortuna and adviser to the future king." The corner of Nero's mouth twitched at that. "I am Credo, and these are knights from The Order, our highest standing. And you are?"

"Vergil," he said so simply that the lack of title stuck out like a sword through a man. With a flourish of his hand, he gestured to me and Lady. "These two served as our guards on the trip."

Judging by Credo's raised brows, he didn't believe a word of it. And judging by Vergil's fake smile, he didn't give a damn. After everyone circled the table for what could have been the world's most uncomfortable dinner party, especially with all the Fortunans refusing to sit, Vergil unfurled the treaty documents without adding the inkwell and quill he'd brought as well. He stood at Nero's other side, if only as a show of spite. Nero stayed put. That may have been more of an act of laziness than rebellion, but I counted it as proof that even we were preferable to the Fortunans to him.

Admittedly, he looked like he was starting to nod off again.

"We would only ask for an addendum that we be allowed into the capital for a brief period," Vergil said as Credo skimmed the flowing script. "We need to resupply, and the king hoped that we might be allowed to see the prince to the castle as a show of good faith."

"We've already been over this with your king in our prior exchanges," Credo said. Now that he was closer, lines of exhaustion stood out on his face. "You are to cut all contact with the prince. If you require supplies, you can get them from the peoples bordering the capital, but we will not allow you through the city gate."

Though diplomacy wasn't my strong suit, even I could tell the whole situation was skewed. Credo had no interest in speaking with us. He wanted the meeting over as soon as possible. I could make sense of that much, but when he held out his hand toward Vergil, asking for the ink and quill, I could see his fingers trembling. Like Nero, he was afraid of something.

Only the fire crackling at our backs kept the room from silence as whatever Vergil wanted to say seemed to slip away from him. He blinked a few times. Then staggered. His hands slammed into the table to keep himself upright as his legs buckled.

I wasn't sure who I needed to kill, but someone was going to die. As I shot to my feet, the world warped. My vision melted into a dizzying blur. I didn't feel my legs drop out from under me until my knees hit the floor. Lady spat a curse as the sound of her falling reached me.

The metallic singing of swords leaving their sheaths filled the air along with a snarl from Nero. "Credo, what the hell is going on?" As my eyes worked to stabilize, I could make out the kid's claws digging into the table's surface, keeping him as close to upright as any of us could manage. "Whatever this is, put an end to it. Don't you dare harm them."

For once, it's not just Nero falling down. Everyone gets to.

If you like my nonsense, please consider leaving a review. That would be rad.