The light went out as the door behind us slammed open. Osoro spun quickly to see who had entered. Losing focus on the curse, it gave a flare and knocked him off-balance. Osoro hit the ground. In the doorway was Divinis Wenrick, resplendent in his formal clothes, with a seething expression on his face.

"See, she doesn't even consider you a father... because a father would never abandon their child. And she believed you had." The BROS agent, Pepper, entered behind him. He closed the door. The quiet, restrained way he did it made my heart race. This was trouble. We were in serious trouble. "What a tenuous, weak link. What a lack of love," Divinis Wenrick said.

"Wenrick," I began. "How did you know we would be down here?"

"Divinis Wenrick to you, ungifted." His top lip curled at me. Osoro picked himself off of the ground, brushing his tunic off and then glancing up at Wenrick. "After Sir Osoro's insolence, I knew it was only a matter of time until you made your move. I put an alarm enchantment on the final door... You triggered it right when Winsor needed me most..." He sounded like he expected an apology. "But I couldn't leave you alone down here, not with what Osoro knows... what you now know, Azark... If you get away... That can't happen."

"Enchanted One, if I may..." Osoro began.

"You may not," Wenrick said. He took a few steps toward us, his soft house shoes not making a sound on the floor. Pepper followed, his dark uniform hard to distinguish in the dark. "Your love... the lack thereof... You should have never troubled us. You could not understand." He nodded, confirming to himself.

"Let me go, you psycho! He came for me. It's over. I'm rescued. Let me go!" Mallow cried, her voice hoarse.

"Quiet, beast," Wenrick said. "Azark and I are attempting to speak to one another." His back was to me again, like when I'd watched him at the circus. "Even if... only one person in the entire world loves my boy Winsor..." He gazed imploringly toward Osoro. "And... I have reason to believe that is the case, with even his own brother, Arcana Enforcement, his chosen Assistant Azark, and the Avalons charged with his care conspiring against him..."

"Your son Winsor is not an excuse for the crimes you have committed," Osoro interjected. He threw his arm behind him as he pointed at Chrys. "This is forbidden magic! You torment the boy for no reason and kidnapped the Giant! It is inexcusable and born of cruelty!"

"If there was a way to drain the life energies without breaking the skin, I would. The flesh runes are required for the spell to work," He said it with so little emotion, I knew it was true. To him, this was only a fact.

"When I consented to the sacrifices, I hadn't imagined this kind of suffering. I should have never—"

"I do my best to numb the pain and make him comfortable. Do you think I do this because I enjoy seeing my citizens die?"

"You keep him in a cage!" I cried, unable to believe what he was trying to justify. It was one thing to speak of suffering, but actually seeing this boy...

"The ones I gave rooms were discovered or tried to run. I had to kill them wastefully. This is the gentlest way."

"This is unacceptable. Divinis, I've let you have your way for too long, and you've gone mad. You need help. Surrender—"

"Insolent Avalon, to the ground now be drawn!" he chanted. Osoro's voice was next to me, shouting in simultaneous incant. "Let no spell do me unwell." His magic must have been weaker. He fell to the ground. He gasped as he hit. Mallow shouted, kneeling down to the corner of her cage and reaching out for Osoro.

"No!"

Divinis Wenrick sneered.

"You think I am some common menace? A brute like Bernard's friends were, indulging in cruelty to watch others squirm? Ridiculous to think that I ever wished for Winsor to be more like his shallow and capricious brother when I myself am so dissimilar. Winsor was always better, I realized in hindsight. Winsor was proud of his heritage. He was studious. He was focused. Bernard was a soft-willed, sheepish coward. ...how... how I let Bernard torment and tease. I thought it would make Winsor stronger. That brutish concept of strength. But love, I realize, makes one strong. Not fear. I abandoned Winsor to fight his own battles when I should have been his ally, and overwhelmed, he was defeated. I let the enemy kill him." Beneath the Divinis's spell, Osoro struggled. I edged away, trying to avoid the Divinis's scorching gaze. A hint of Winsor's helpless despair cracked his voice.

"You think that I have this boy covered in ancient incantations for my own pleasure?" He kicked Osoro in the stomach bitterly. Without his armor, Osoro gasped in pain. "Do you truly think I enjoyed carving those in? It was agony! I hardly sleep from the guilt. Chrys and the others that came before him are the only things that are keeping Winsor alive. This is the only way."

He leaned close to Osoro's face. His hand wrapped around the ponytail. The words were spat as he yelled into Osoro's face. "You presume that you care more for Chrys than I do, but you are mistaken. I helped his family build their home. I sent gifts when his older sister was married. I saw Chrys when he but an infant. In their darkest hour, I cured the family of illness when all hope was lost." He slammed Osoro's face into the stone. Osoro's body shuddered. But the Divinis wasn't angry with Osoro. It was like one would kick a chair, or punch a pillow, or snap a pen. Destroying whatever was in reach out of frustration. "I love his family; I love everyone in Blythe. They all came here to be with me...." A thousand regrets edged each lingering silent second. Perhaps a compromise could be reached. Divinis Wenrick could be reasoned with. But then he continued, voice fanatical. "...but I love my son more."

He let go, Osoro's dark hair slipped free from his hand as he stood. Composing himself with a few breaths, he expelled the panic from his body. Pepper stepped up to watch over Osoro.

"You know that, and I'm sure half the party guests upstairs can guess something like this is going on. Don't delude yourself. Any sorcerer would have realized what it takes to bring someone back from the dead. No, to even keep someone alive. Sacrifice. Constant sacrifice. Animals kill the plants, you kill the animals, and now, to keep Winsor alive, I must kill Chrys. And you. And Azark."

Wenrick loomed over me. I swallowed.

"Divinis... I'm only passing through. Just a dad and his daughter. I only want Mallow." I gestured behind me at Mallow's cage. "That's all, that simple. Let us leave, and you have one less problem."

"You're not going to leave me! Not again?! Sir Osoro? You're not gone already, are you?" Chrys's desperate voice wailed. I spoke over him, keeping the Divinis's attention. He must be used to Chrys's pleas. But I wasn't. I realized I couldn't leave without him, even though he was a stranger. I amended my demands.

"You can still change your mind, about killing me, trying to keep them. Winsor likes me. He... he wouldn't want you to murder me. And... I won't tell anyone." Mallow was staring, wide eyed and past me. "She's not a treasure. She's got a mind of her own, and this is wrong. Let Mallow and the other child go."

"Nothing," he said quietly. "Nothing I do out of love for my boy is wrong."

He met my eyes, but his gaze was distant. The dim light made the circles beneath his eyes pronounced. "I neglected him, much like you did your Moon Giant. But..." His eyes misted over. "When I lost him, I realized what being a father meant... Is that what happened to you?" The tone was less imperious now; he was talking to me as an equal. Genuine curiosity molded his words.

"You wouldn't do the simplest thing to save her before, and yet here you are, in the darkest dungeon of the manor with a man who you must know intends to kill you if you get caught. And you're caught. And you're still trying to save her."

I heard the faintest click behind me. Osoro's face lifted from the ground, his lips moving in near silence. Mallow's cage unlocked.

"Being a father means giving your child whatever you possibly can, as long as you can, no matter the consequences or what others may think... And this, a surprise gift. A Moon Giant. I do believe we are the same, now. It was wrong of me to question your love before... but then you must also know that same devotion is why I cannot simply let you walk away."

Now he spoke as if we were friends, as if this were a tavern instead of a room of death.

"Oh, Azark, if only you could have seen Winsor's face when he set eyes on her... and his crushed disappointment when he thought she could not be his... I recognized myself, when Mallow slipped out of my grasp all those years ago. If I felt such remorse over losing her as a passing interest, how would Winsor recover from his absolute infatuation?"

"I did see it," I said. It was hard not to shudder at the memory. The naked want, the unshielded yearning in his wide, far-off eyes. Not the way a man looks at his love, but the way a man looks at a steak or an impressive treasure. Wanting it, wanting to own it and consume it and use it until there is nothing left. I was tired of humoring him. He would not be reasoned with. Mallow's cage was unlocked. It was time to go. "It was disgusting."

"Your insolence is disgusting!" Pepper shouted, breaking his quiet watch for the first time in the conflict. "Know your place."

Mallow cried out behind me.

"You frigid old fools! I am not some toy to be gifted to a bratty son!"

"I am a sorcerer," Wenrick cried. "You are whatever I say you are!"

"When I get out of here—" she threatened. With me at her side again, her fight had reignited in full force. "I'm going to break your bones! I'm going to snap you in half like a branch, and then how will your son like his precious Age Day?"

"You are weak and—"

I was knocked sideways as Mallow threw open the door. She leapt out. Divinis Wenrick stammered over his words. Her long limbs pinned him to the ground. She grabbed his jaw in her hands and squeezed.

Pepper pulled out a dagger. I staggered forward and struck his elbow as he slashed the blade downwards. He skimmed Mallow's skin, a feeble arc of light singed her.

A small pop sounded as Wenrick's jaw came out of place. Mallow swung up and struck Pepper. The force sent him flying, his face spattered with blood from his busted nose. A hollow boom rang out as Pepper's head came into contact with an empty cauldron.

"Who's weak? Who's weak?" She snarled. The Divinis wailed wordlessly.

I grabbed Mallow's wrist before she stalked after Pepper, who was struggling to regain his balance. She hadn't murdered yet, and this wouldn't be her first. I shouted at her until her muscles began to uncoil and the growl forming in her chest subsided. Osoro grabbed Chrys from his cage, casting off the Enchanted shackles. Weak from the blood loss, he laid limply against Osoro's body.

"The Divinis can't cast. Let's go!" I shouted.

Grabbing Mallow's hand, I ran with her up the stairs. No one talked even though I had so many questions for Mallow, and I'm sure she had more for me. We wanted to escape. I couldn't let myself think that this would be the only time for questions because that would mean we were going to not make it out of here. Mallow had a hard time fitting in the tunnel that lead up to the bedroom. We went single file.

"Let me lead," Mallow demanded.

"But I'm rescuing you."

"I know, and so is Sir Osoro, but he's carrying a kid, and you can't fight." Mallow flexed an arm, and the muscles bulged beneath the shimmery ribbons. "Don't worry, I'll punch fast. No talking this time."

She hurried ahead, confident she could fight now that her hands were free. Her billowing dress filled the space with a hurricane of fabric rustling. Soon we all emerged into the Divinis's bedroom. Osoro didn't bother sealing the fireplace.

"We need to escape and alert Sir Fayd quickly before Divinis Wenrick has a chance to destroy the evidence; he wasn't supposed to be down there with us," Osoro said, hitching Chrys on his back so that he didn't slip off. Chrys was smiling and crying all at once, making Osoro's arms slippery.

"Which way is out? Last I knew, I was fighting some people in black, and then I was in the dungeon."

"This way." I pushed open the bedroom door. I ran down the hall. We were a noisy enough group, Mallow especially had never been soft-footed. However, there was a crashing and rumbling sound that wasn't us stumbling up the fine floors. It was coming from ahead.

Screaming. Shouting. Crashing, like furniture being broken and glass shattering. And beneath these punctuations, a steady drone of chanting and same-metered phases. Rhymes crested like waves in regular intervals, the words indistinguishable but the patterns unmistakable.