"We approach the semifinal round," Rakkoden said to us. "The moment of decision approaches. The Twins of Glory are pleased with the valor and pathos displayed so far."

I couldn't stop a snort. My mother had shown a lot of things on the field, but valor hadn't been one of them. It was all to the good; she'd lost to the Primarch and I wouldn't have to face her. Part of me was pretty angry about that, honestly, but it was the little Hull part of me. The older, wiser voice in my brain said she'd twist me in knots and then kill me if I had to fight her.

"A conflict is never truly resolved until the two sides can come to understand each other's point of view," the centaur continued. "As such, The Perfect Ones will now open the two competitors' rooms to each other for a short time to allow for conversation, informational exchange, and even card trades, should there be anyone amenable. We expect no grand moments of reconciliation here; the Unified Opposites would demand a finish to the tourney even if such were to occur. Mingle freely and without fear with whomever remains; no violence against any person will be allowed to occur. Save your strength for the arena and spend this time coming to know your enemy."

With that, the translucent center wall with its tiny window disappeared, leaving us staring blankly at the Primarch, who was caught mid-pace and looked just as surprised as the rest of us. Xemris and Mother were in opposite corners, each keeping their distance not only from each other but from the huge Legendary who dominated their space. The vampires were conferring with their own contingent of centaurs, Gerard trailing behind like a puppy.

"Twins twist my balls," I grumbled. "They're milking us for every last drop of entertainment they can." Despite being able to see the gods high overhead at all times, this tournament of theirs had done more to shake my faith than a lifetime of cardlessness. The Twins, it turned out, were selfish, greedy assholes. I could almost appreciate Hestorus's ranting at them during that final fight of his. He'd seen the unfairness of it all long before the rest of us, for all the good it had done him. He'd still died. Sure, his soul or whatever might be wandering through the Twins' Soul City out there somewhere, but he was stuck there, his card slowly dissolving in an alchemical bath in the throne room.

"No point in wasting time," Basil said crisply, marching up to the Primarch. "Why do you seek to destroy all cards?"

With a glint of curiosity in his glowing eyes, the great demon reached for Basil as if to wrap the slender boy in his huge fist and squeeze. The talons came to a halt well short of my friend's body. Basil, for his part, didn't even flinch.

"This idea that the Twins have usurped wild magic: is it some long-held belief of your kind or an invention of your own?" Basil cocked his head and frowned. "Answer me, please."

The Primarch growled and turned away. "I will give you nothing, any of you. They make us dance for scraps while they laugh; do you not see it?"

Xemris made as if to approach me, but I shook my head violently and she stopped. Afi was at our table of food with Gale and his centaur lady friend, but I knew without looking over my shoulder that she was watching closely. We'd just barely reached a truce, she and I, and I wasn't about to do something that would open hostilities again. The thought of trading with her held some appeal – some of her self-buffing Spells would be nice to have, not to mention that drake Mount of hers – but my deck was feeling tightly tuned after all the elevations I'd managed, and I wasn't sure I wanted to mess with its balance for anything less than her Epics or Mythics, and I really didn't want to trade back her Legendary just to get my hands on those. I'd need to face this Primarch bastard pretty soon, I felt almost sure, and now wasn't the time for experimenting with my deck.

For all that we'd had a hell of a time of it, we were in pretty good shape as far as the tournament went: three of us remained on the human side and only the one big guy was left from the demon-Undead-Orc alliance. Basil, Esmi, or I would have to face the Primarch, but the other match would be a friendly-fire contest. None of us really cared who ended up winning, so far as I knew, so long as we beat the bad guys and got the city back. I wasn't sure whether to hope for the safe match against one of my friends or for a match-up against the Primarch so that neither of them would have to die. Not that I'm so keen to die myself, I thought ruefully. I don't know how any of us can really beat him.

There was one person I could ask, and she was already waiting for me when I strode up. "What'd you do to him?" I said gruffly.

"Good to see you too, dearest," Mother said, pinching my cheek.

I batted her hand away. "Don't give me that shit. You scarred the woman I'm in love with for the rest of her life – in more ways than one – and when this is done I never want to see you again. I just need information."

"And that's the rub, isn't it?" she mused. "You hate me so much, but there's always something you want more than my absence. Ah, to be the lesser evil in my own son's eyes. What more could a mother ask for?"

"A shallow grave to rot in," I retorted. "Now tell me what you did."

"Oh, calm down," she sighed. "I was going to tell you anyway. Old Aaxes might fancy himself the living incarnation of the Netherwell, but he's still mortal despite all his power. I hid a Fae card in plain sight and baited him into eating it. Nether and Fae are one of those pairs like Order and Chaos: they rage against each other and cannot coexist without immense effort, time, and control. The Netherwell could have broken that Fae card down into raw magic without so much as a burp, but our musclebound idiot of a Primarch over there? Poisoned. Weakened. Infected." She winked at me. "You're welcome."

"How did you summon Fae cards?" I asked. "I know for a fact you have plenty of Nether. You said they can't coexist."

"You need to listen better, Hull. What was the rest of that sentence of mine?"

I frowned. "Effort, time, and control."

"I didn't go wandering so long away from the Unyielding Court because I was bored," she said. "It took me fifty years to sneak past the border of Fae and another fifty to make contact with the Logrus Collective. I bled and suffered to cultivate my Fae Source. Not a course I would recommend, but it has had its benefits. I've always known I'd have to face the Primarch eventually." She pulled a Source and put it overhead. It pulsed purple and spiky just like Nether always did, but when she blew on it it turned inside out, forming into a misting cloud of pink. "I'm particularly proud of this one. I've never met anyone else with a double Source."

"You couldn't have known the Twins would let you Flee from the match," I said.

"A gamble," she admitted. "You take them too, son. We all do, if we want to win big."

"You didn't win," I said.

She arched an eyebrow. "And yet I got what I wanted."

I was suddenly sick of talking to her. She always had an angle, a plan. It made me want to vomit. "Give me my Soul card back."

"Seems to me you already took it and put it to good use," she said lazily. "You're not even dying anymore. By the way, I forgive you the theft of my sweet boy even though you don't deserve it."

"I can't steal something that belongs to me," I said tightly. "And you know that's not the one I'm talking about. Four days, you said, and you'd give it back. I helped with your experiment. Now give it back."

She considered me for a long moment. "No."

I reached for her without thinking, and my hands stopped a good foot away from her throat. "It's mine."

"Not unless you can take it," she said. "And I suspect it may be the only version of you I get to talk to when this is all done with." She sighed and tousled my hair. "Let's not ruin this by talking trades. There's nothing I have that I'm willing to part with, and I'm certain the same is true for you. Let's remember each other this way. Good, clean anger and a connection that can't be broken."

I stepped back from her. "You're the worst person I ever met."

She smiled brilliantly. "Such flattery."

I wanted to tear her face off. I wanted to rip her heart out. I wanted to use Nether to slash across her perfect face and leave her desolate and weeping. I couldn't do any of it, so I walked away. And then, hating that I needed to do so, I turned right around and came back to her. "How do I beat him?"

Her knowing, hateful smirk gnawed at me. "The groundwork is laid. As the fungus grows within him that ridiculous health of his will get cut down to size. Well… it'll still be ridiculous, just less so. You have to survive long enough to dish out enough damage to kill him. Don't let him connect. You've grown strong, but you still can't take the kind of punishment he can dish out. Do as much Spell damage as you can. It's harder for him to eat the card when it's there and then gone in an instant. Be prepared to lose some of your Souls for good. Send them at his back if you can – his lack of Fated damage is both his moral strength before demonkind and his greatest weakness in forced duels like these. But if he can get a claw on them, they're done for."

Anxiety spiked in my gut. "What about my Relics?"

"They'll be fine until he lays hands on you. But at that point, you're probably dead anyway, so don't let him do that."

So all I needed to do was stay far away from him and somehow also do an absurd amount of damage. No problem. Yveda the Endless might be the key to winning, so long as I could keep at least one copy back to keep replicating while the others got eaten. Which of us would be the best one to face him? Quit wasting time on things you can't control. The Twins will pick. I took a deep breath, and cold certainty settled in my gut. It's going to be me. I know it'll be me.

"I weakened him so you could do this," Mother said quietly. "This was always the plan."

I scoffed. "You're going to stand there and tell me that your plan was to get me and my friends to trigger an almost-unknown apotheosis tournament so that you could infect your boss and let your son who hates you finish the job?"

She shrugged and grinned. "I may have been fuzzy on the details."

Her smugness – and her rage-inducing ability to somehow always be right – became too much to deal with once more. "Thanks for the help," I said grudgingly. "Now please leave me alone and never help me again."

As I walked away, I heard her whisper, "Like it or not, son, I'll always be there."

I pretended I hadn't heard anything and kept walking. Gerard caught me by the arm mere moments later. "Wait."

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"For what?" I snarled, wishing the wall between us would reappear. "Some new way to shit on me?"

His mouth tightened, but then he let go of my arm, raising both hands. "I don't want to fight you."

I started to spout off an insult about him already having lost, but something about his face stopped me. He hardly looked himself. Yes, he'd gone all pale and marbley now that he was a vampire, but that wasn't it. The scowl was gone. I'd never seen him be anything less than sour, but now his brow was uncreased and his face was open. That petulant air of being owed the world hadn't disappeared, exactly – he still carried himself like a perfect prince – but it had softened into something less demanding. Something a bit like Basil had been back in the good old days before he'd gone all murder-happy on me.

"What the hell happened to you?" I said. It sounded rude, but I didn't care. This was still Gerard, and if he didn't like the way I talked, he could suck on my Hateful Hammer.

"I died," he said simply.

"No shit," I said. "It's a basic requirement for being a vampire. Did they tell you they offered to make me one first?" It was a petty thing to say, but it fit my mood.

He flinched and bared his long teeth for a moment before taking a deep breath and visibly willing himself back to calmness. "They'd still take you if you asked." He looked over his shoulder at Alexi and Stafford, who were in animated conversation with Basil and Esmi, the latter of which was holding a card in hand and looking determined.

"I thought over the whole Undead thing," I said. "I'd rather cut off my own fingers and eat them fried."

He laughed incredulously and shook his head. "You insufferable ass. It's an incredible gift."

"Well, I don't want it."

"Good," he said fiercely. "They can turn who they please, but I don't want you around. Neither of us will ever be happy if the other is there."

"I'd have been fine having you around if you didn't treat me like shit on your shoe," I said.

He mulled that over and nodded. "Yes, I did do that. I suppose I ought to apologize. Maybe one day I will."

I snorted. "I won't hold my breath." I inspected him again. It was so unsettling to see him standing at his ease. It was like he'd completely forgotten that he wanted to kill me. "Why'd you do it, Gerard?"

His mouth twisted, and his gaze went distant. "I tried so hard for so long, and things only ever got worse. I think I went a little crazy trying to be the perfect Order user. When I got my first Death Source it was like something unlocked inside my soul. Lustra saved me, you know."

My mouth dropped open. "She seduced you and tried to use you to kill your own father."

"Yes, all right, but after that we really came to understand each other. Balance, Hull. I lacked it, and now I have it. I was never going to be the King Father wished me to be. Now I can go my own way. All ties cut, all responsibilities ended, and a whole wide world out there to explore."

"Twins," I murmured. He was talking crazy, but he was happy. That's what was different about him. It had been so foreign to my understanding of him that I hadn't been able to identify it at first. "Well, if you're cutting all ties, why come talk to me?"

"I sincerely hope this will be one of the last times," he said with a tight smile. "But I want to ask you to intervene with Mother. She will never understand, no matter what I say."

"I got enough mother problems without adding yours," I said, shaking my head.

"I just want you to ask her for the Resurrection Staff," he insisted. "She'll do it if you ask. Don't be fooled by her hard exterior. You're more Hestorus's son than I ever was. She'll keep you close and give you what you ask for."

I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that at all. "That's a valuable Artifact. Why would I give it to you?"

"Because I have Lustra's bones and her card," he said, his eyes shining. "I can bring her back."

It was the same thing Basil had wanted, but twisted into something weird. "I think you might be overestimating your mother's opinion of me, especially after I forced this entire apotheosis. She was fit to chew nails. You heard her."

He hardly seemed to hear me. "I gave Mother Kitsanya after I'd ordered her to sneak into the vault, but I can't know if she'll ever even put the card in her Mind Home. I have to do this. Hull." He straightened, his eyes more honest and open than I'd ever seen them. "Please. I love her."

I wanted to say no just to piss him off. But once again I thought of Basil and Esmi. If Gerard was fool enough to love the monster of a girl, who was I to say no? "You'd owe me big," I warned him. "And I can't promise I can deliver."

"Do what you can," he urged. "Please."

I stared him down. "I still don't like you."

He folded his arms. "I know that, you crass gutter child. The feeling is mutual. But that doesn't mean we can't be of use to each other."

I shrugged and nodded. "We'll see."

Esmi gave a happy little shriek and bounced up and down excitedly with a pair of new cards in her hand. Whatever trade she'd worked with Alexi, she was awfully happy about it. As she scurried off, Basil lurking in her wake like an executioner, I realized that despite my distaste for vampirism, I had something to ask of the father of all vampires. I walked over to the pair. "I hear you have one of every Source."

Alexi smiled mysteriously. "I don't think anyone ever said one, my boy. But your basic premise is correct."

"I don't know if you're willing to do a favor for an enemy, but I'm going to ask anyway," I said, pulling a card out of my pocket. "I did show up to your party when you could have killed me, after all. Would you mind summoning this card for a moment?"

"We are not enemies, Hull," Alexi said gently, taking the card. "You share the blood of our child, no matter how snarled that relationship has become. I will do this for you."

"I'm gonna want that back," I warned him.

He gave me a withering look that spoke volumes despite him not saying a word. A moment later the blonde girl I'd seen just that once out on the battlefield shimmered into existence.

She fell into a battle stance, eyes hard and hands ready. "I'll kill you."

"Not now, child," Alexi said gently. "Just talk to him."

She scowled at the vampire but fell into a more relaxed position. "I was defeated?"

"Looks like it," I said apologetically.

"Did you kill me?"

"No," I assured her. "Not me."

She sized me up. "Good. Someone stronger, then."

I laughed. "Not exactly. I killed the Orc who had your card. I assume he was the one who did it."

She frowned. "Then I have to best you."

"Hang on and talk to me for a second," I said, holding up my hands in surrender. "He said you were my sister."

Her eyes went wary. "What is sister?"

"Uh…" I said blankly. "It means we had the same father."

"I have no father," she said immediately. "The one who said this lied."

So she knew what a father was, but not a sister. What kind of life had she had to lack such basic information? Or was she pretending to be more feral than she really was? She was Epic; they had plenty of autonomy to resist and even lie to their Summoners. "Was there a man you'd see sometimes? Long, dark hair, white clothes, gold cape, talked like an asshole?"

She stared at me distrustfully.

I tried again. "He could fly."

Her eyes flickered. "He is one I will kill when I am stronger."

The sound I made was part sigh, part laugh. "Bad news, monster hunter: somebody else got to him first. But he was your dad. Your father. Mine too."

She went still. "And this is why you are my sister?"

"No, that's…" I stuttered. "Eh, whatever. Close enough. What did he tell you?"

"He showed me who to fight sometimes. He wanted me to kill the Orc leader." She paused, cocking her head. "I remember the fight. I thought I had him, but he was too strong. He knew I was there."

I shook my head bitterly. The thought of Hestorus setting impossible tasks for his children in the hopes they'd elevate – or maybe just take out his enemies – didn't surprise me, but it made me remember the hate I'd carried for him all those years. Had he engineered my life this closely? Did he steer that dying duelist into my alley so I could get a card? Did he tip off Ticosi onto my trail? Did he manipulate events to get me into the Coliseum right as the Rising Stars Tournament was starting? I'd never know for sure, but meeting this girl, it seemed likely that he had.

"I think there are a lot of us that are his kids," I said. "I don't have the right Sources to summon you myself, but I'll figure out some way to bring you along, and maybe we can meet some of them. Would you like that?"

She thought it over. She was so angry, so raw. She reminded me of little Hull. Of me.

"Will I be able to fight?" she asked.

"If you want, yeah," I said. "Plenty of folks that could use you in their decks."

"I will not be bothered by these ants any more!" the Primarch suddenly boomed. Gale, who was back on his feet, scooted away from him laughing and looking as if he'd just slipped ice down someone's shirt. No doubt he'd been needling the big demon while he knew no physical harm could come of it. "And you," the demon king thundered, pointing at Mother, who was grazing at the table of refreshments. "You are banished not only from the Unyielding Court but from my immediate presence. Your betrayal shall be told for ages yet to come."

"You know better than to give commands you can't enforce, Pacchus," Mother said daintily around a mouthful of foodstuffs. "Makes you look weak. Are you feeling quite well?"

The Primarch pointed his face to the ceiling and gave vent to a cry of frustration that shook the very walls. "Damn the Defilers and everything they touch! Is nothing pure anymore?"

"No," said Mother into the resulting silence. She was loading up a plate with olives and cut cheeses. "Not even you."

Alexi sighed and dismissed my sister. I don't even know her name. Will I ever get to learn it? I'd have to elevate her to Mythic to find out. "I've no love for the brute," he murmured, "but if we're to be closeted with him until this is over, I'd best try to calm him down."

"Ever the caretaker," Stafford said with a smile too loving by far for a creature of the night to give.

"And look who enables me," Alexi said with mock viciousness before giving the hulking vampire a quick kiss and a swat on the rear. "Here, my mistrusting child," he said to me, handing over the card I'd given him. "You've made a good start with her. Treat her like a wolf with her foot caught in a trap and you'll have her friendship in no time."

"Thank you," I said, feeling conflicted. He was one of the bad sort – one of the ones I wanted so badly to force out of the city and even kill if I could – and yet I'd seen nothing but kindness and good heart from him at every turn. The world was more complicated than I'd thought.

Meanwhile, though, all eyes were on the Primarch as he continued to rage, rushing at everyone who approached him until brought up short by the Twins' power. I'd be dealing with him soon enough; I knew it in my heart. Might as well look away while I still could. I wandered the room, curious at the minor deviations between our room and the enemy's. They had a bowl of something that smelled like a sweet wine and another that I was fairly sure was blood, while ours had only clear water. On the other hand, we had meats and sausage on our side, while they had only bread, cheeses, vegetables, and the like. I wondered which of the centaurs had decided on the menu for the two sides.

And there was their wall of fallen competitors. We were lucky beyond measure that only Edaine had ended up on ours so far. By rights Gerard should have been there too, if not for his insane bargain, and I wouldn't have minded if Titus the leonid had joined them. I still couldn't believe Basil had made the beast tear off his own arm. It's good he's gotten harder. I think. Against our enemies' back wall stood three carved plinths holding the cards of Essoq, the Fae wasp lady who'd been masquerading as human for some unknown reason, Rathamon the asshole necromancer, and Targu'Thal the Orc. Only the last one bore his actual name, the others being only Epics. Each looked both imposing and majestic posed there on their cards. They were good cards. I brushed my fingers against them, marveling as always at the smoothness and the feeling of inherent power that higher-rarity cards possessed. They were beautiful. Why would the demons want to destroy all this?

I froze, my fingers resting against the Orc general's card. I can touch them. They're the real cards. I'd never bothered to touch Edaine's; I had thought that either they would be illusions or else the Twins would keep us from touching them the way They kept us from attacking each other during this little get-together They'd engineered. Not so, apparently. I snuck a look around the room as casually as I could. I wonder…

Moments later, Rakkoden interrupted the furor surrounding the Primarch, where Alexi was still trying – and failing – to quell the maddened demon. "This time for discovery has ended," he said. Even though he spoke mildly, his voice sounded even more loudly than the Primarch's, amplified by some Celestial card, no doubt. "Everyone will return to their own side immediately or else be placed there by the Gracious Twins' power. You will not enjoy the latter option."

I scooted back over to our side without a backward glance. I happened to catch eyes with Afi, who quirked an eyebrow at me. You look entirely too pleased with yourself, the look said. What are you up to?

I gave her a grin and a wink as I patted a pocket that was fuller than it had been a moment before. Stealing cards was always a good time, especially when you got away with it. I wondered how long it would take Xemris and the others to notice all the plinths were empty. I was half convinced that Mother had seen me at it and just said nothing because she loved to watch somebody stir the pot.

"Our semifinal matches have been determined," Rakkoden said at a more normal volume as soon as the wall between the competitors' rooms reappeared. "Prepare yourselves; we are approaching the culmination of this holy contest."

I knew what I'd see on the plaques even before I turned around. Even so, a chill settled on me as I had my premonitions confirmed.

Esmi of house Harane v. Basil of house Hintal

Hull of the Lows v. Aaxes, Primarch of Demons

This was it. I'd have to wear down the impossible brute or die in the attempt. Even with the unexpected aid I'd just acquired, it was a steep task. I wasn't sure I was up to it.

Only one thing to do. Setting my jaw, I headed for the table. No matter how far I advanced, the gutter kid inside me still spoke loudly at moments like this, and for once I had no problem listening to him.

Win or die, I was going to do it on a full stomach.

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