Nik sat in his new cell, which was far more comfortable than the last one. The guards had taken Pel seriously. It had a window to let in the light, and a bed, and even a little chair and table. The guards treated him decently too – privileges of royalty at last. No chains, although he still wasn’t allowed to leave. This decent treatment raised his hopes. If he was to be the next Doukar, the guards wouldn't dare treat him poorly for fear of what would happen once he was released. Dear little Pel must be doing better than Nik had imagined he would. He'd have to reward him.

Finally, he heard movement, the sound of several people approaching his cell, far more than a couple of guards. He stood up and faced the door, expectantly. It was probably Pel, coming to release him at last, and maybe, just maybe, to invest him with the purple of the Doukar.

The door finally opened, and it was Pel. Nik smiled at the sight of his faithful brother, Pelagius. His smile widened when he saw that his little brother was no longer dressed in his black robes, but the imperial purple. Only the Doukar and the Mekos could wear that color, which meant that he had gotten Theodorian to abdicate, since he was now the Mekos. And that meant Nik would be the new Doukar!

It meant their plans had succeed...yet, there was a strange look on Pel's face, a sort of condescending pity, that seemed to convey both sympathy and ridicule for Nik. Something was terribly wrong here.

"Pel, you're the Mekos!" Nik's voice wavered more than he would like.

Pelagius laughed. "Guess again."

"What do you mean?"

Pel opened his arms out wide, "I would think it's self-explanatory Nik. The Thirty Crowns are now mine, the 48th Doukar, Pelagius."

Nik couldn't wrap his head around what Pel was saying. "Pel what's going on here?"

One of the Pel's strigulos grabbed Nik, roughly shoving him against the wall. Nik had been so shocked by Pel's appearance he hadn't even noticed that a handful of guards came in behind him. One of them directed a look of pure loathing directed towards him. "You refer to the Doukar as 'His Exaltedness', not by name!" she spat.

"It's not hard to understand,” Pel said as if nothing had happened. “I'm the eldest left. There's only me, no one else."

The more Nik thought about it, the more sense it made. He should have expected this. Pel must have been forced into the purple by the allies of Cordelian who refused to accept Nik as Doukar.

"I understand." Nik bowed his head, truly humbled. "You weren't able to get the Patros to accept me."

Pel laughed again. "I thought you'd be quicker to figure it out, but it seems you're still struggling. Let me help you. Remember how I told you that I would be your ally against Cordelian? Well you see, I told Cordelian the exact same thing about you."

Nik gasped. "But, you wouldn't, you hated Cordelian!"

"You never knew, either of you, because you never talked to each other." Pel was clearly amused by his duplicity. No, by their gullibility. "If only either of you had looked past your grudge for even a moment, you would have found out."

Nik watched, wordlessly, staggered, unable to even collect his thoughts.

Pelagius continued. "My impending official coronation isn't something that just happened, or that I was forced into. This was always the goal. As soon as father died, everything I did was to bring about this result. While you and Meronion and Cordelian were having your fight, none of you were looking at me."

It was like the bottom of the cell had fallen out from under him.

"I thought we were friends!” he said. “True brothers, standing together against the corruption of the court. You're going to betray me?!"

"Betray you?" Pel absently mindedly waved off the strigulos who clearly wanted to berate Nik again for his lack of respect. "You killed the Eukrates in front of a dozen witnesses all with immpeccable social positions. Cordelian had so many allies that the court would never accept the crowns on you. On top of that, most of the patros think you’re a zealot. It should have been obvious that you could never become Doukar – it would cause a civil war. Many of the patros would rather put up a usurper than see you as Doukar."

"And my mother?"

"I'll spare her. Better to start my reign appearing magnanimous."

If he wanted gratitude he would be waiting until Oma returned to the earth. "Did you kill Theodorian?"

"Of course not. It was easy to get her out of my way; I just gave her what she wanted. She signed the abdication papers, swearing away her claim to the throne. She's even taken Meronion's daughters off my hands, so it's worked out beautifully."

"So she's running away." The picture was starting to come into focus.

"She knows I'm not someone she can win against."

Nik remembered his last conversation with Theodorian. She had been trying to warn him about Pelagius, he realized. She must have at least suspected. What a fool he was not to have been suspicious himself. Looking back on it, every death had ended up raising Pelagius’s position.

"You made good use of our rivalry, didn’t you? Circling like a vulture, then swooping in when you saw any advantage. I suppose I should congratulate you," Nik said.

"This arrogance of yours is why you've never been able to see the truth. You still don't understand. It doesn't make any difference I suppose, but I want you to know how badly I’ve beaten you. Payment for all those years of you looking down your nose at me, thinking I looked up to you.”

“What truth?”

“I didn’t just look for advantages, I created them. Can't you figure out my handiwork now?"

Pelagius waited expectantly while Nik furiously turned over the events of the past couple of years in his head. Cordelian's last words, he'd barely thought about them, but now they came floating back to the surface. Cordelian had said they'd made a mistake, that they'd been tricked. He must have realized right at the end. But how?

Nik remembered he had brought up Euphastolon. That was it. "You killed Euphastolon, didn't you?" Nik asked.

"Now you see. That's right. Euphastolon was in my way, and besides, he was a vile disgrace to this family. He murdered our little nephews, among his many other crimes, so I didn't think twice about it. I considered having you executed for his death, but I decided you'd be more useful to me alive and getting in Cordelian's way." Pelagius was enjoying himself, Nik realized.

Nik looked at Pelagius’s strigulos, but he knew it was hopeless. Pelagius wouldn't have brought anyone here who wasn't totally loyal to him.

"I must admit, you tricked me, I was sure it was Cordelian. I never thought you had it in you to kill your own brother."

Pel shrugged. "You're hardly in a position to judge. Don't go too easy on Cordelian, he knew about it, and approved, although it did take some persuasion. That's how he knew the apples were safe."

"How was it done?" Nik still wanted to know.

"The knife that Euphastolon cut the apples with, my gift to him. It was poisoned. It wasn't supposed to take effect in front of you, but it's difficult to get these things exactly right."

Nik closed his eyes. He was having trouble accepting the truth. "After Cordelian killed Meronion, I thought he must be trying to clear out any competition that could..." Nik trailed off as he heard Pelagius shift, and looked at him again to see a horrible smirk.

"Cordelian didn't kill Meronion either, did he?" Nik's horror grew.

Pelagius shook his head. "Of course he didn't. He had no reason to; Meronion would never have tried to supplant him in the line of succession, given how seriously she took tradition and honor and all that drivel. Cordelian had some schemes in place to discredit her, to make her lose her battles up north and eventually have her ruined. He didn't plan for her death, although he didn't hesitate to use it to his advantage. The truth is, Nik, you've done Cordelian a disservice. He wasn't quite as cold-blooded as you imagined him to be, at least not when it came to his own family. He was always hesitant to shed the blood of Doukar. Still, it was his idea to push Fornulus into killing himself. Cordelian could have made him abdicate, but he wanted Fornulus dead. That wasn’t me."

"Are you saying you weren't involved in Vicca and the children's deaths?"

"Cordelian planned that on his own. I had to make the best of it that I could. It wasn't in my interest for them to die until I'd taken care of Cordelian – he moved faster than I expected. Because of Agathio's death, so really, because of Vicca's incompetence. Conversely, you moved slower than I expected. I kept waiting, nudging you to take on Cordelian and discredit yourself, but hopefully land some real blows on him before that. Then, when his position was weakened, I'd reveal that Cordelian was responsible for Fornulus' family to His Drunkedness and get rid of Cordelian in turn."

"That's why you stopped me confronting Cordelian in court. You weren’t saving me; you just didn't want me playing your piece for you."

Pelagius grunted. "You were going to waste it. If you had bungled the revelation of Vicca's murder, nobody would believe me when I came forward later. Anyway, with you blundering about achieving nothing and Fornulus fading so fast, I was starting to think I might have to use my special little insurance I stashed away to get rid of Cordelian."

"Insurance?"

Pel chuckled. "It wouldn’t make any difference to you at this point. It's just something I secreted away in case of a rainy day. All my days are sunny now, so it's going to stay right where it is."

Schemes on schemes. "Why not just get rid of Cordelian first? Why did you wait? We could have been allies, working together against him."

"You with the Thirty Crowns was always unacceptable to a huge number of the patros, you were just too blind to see it. They have no interest in a second Triganon. Even if you succeeded in bringing down Cordelian, the patros would hate you for it. If I attacked you directly, I’d make an enemy of the church, and set the church and patros at each others’ throats. The whole reason I'm doing this is to help the empire, not mire it in strife. Much better to have Cordelian get rid of you for me, after you’ve discredited Cordelian. Then I would be a unifying figure, the savior of the empire, a relief to patros, church, and military alike."

Pelagius swept his arms open in an expansive gesture. "I must admit, you outright murdering Cordelian was a surprise, but it worked out perfectly. Both of you gone in one blow, and just in time too."

"You're talking a lot little brother. Usually you don't talk so much. Is this the real you?" Pelagius didn't answer. Nik clenched his hands. "Fine. All I want to know is whether it was you who killed Ophelion? My own life doesn't matter to me anymore."

A couple of the strigulos came forward to stand on either side of him now. There'd be no repeat of what happened to Cordelian.

"No, I didn't." Nik thought Pelagius was telling the truth when he said that, but then again, did he even know who this man was in front of him? He certainly wasn't the brother Nik had thought he had.

Pelagius sighed. "I didn't even know she was dead until after you killed Cordelian. I'll swear on Oma or whatever you like. My plan was to marry Ophie off and get her out of my way that way. Ophelion would have lived a long life down in the south, away from all of this. I had no desire to kill her, after all, she was my ally. She knew a lot more about me than you."

Nik wanted to stop talking about her, as his grief was still sharp, but he couldn't let that last comment go.

"Ophie was on my side. She was supposed to be my wife," he said in a thick voice. Pelagius manipulating him or not, he didn't regret killing Cordelian. He'd deserved it for Ophie's sake.

"Comments like that are why I don't regret what's going to happen next," Pelagius said more harshly than before. Nik whipped his head up.

"What?"

"I liked you best out of my brothers, although that's a very poor field to win in, but have you heard yourself Nikolonium?" It was unusual for Pelagius to use his full name like that. So was the look of disgust on his face. "Your ‘wife’? She was your sister!"

"We are royalty! That sort of petty custom doesn't apply to us. Ophelion felt the same." Nik suddenly felt defensive. He hadn't revealed his romantic daydreams to anyone else yet.

"Is that what she said to you?"

"We didn't overtly discuss it, but we both knew. One day I would get permission from the church, and then we would be together."

"Self-serving daydreams," Pelagius said. "You never asked her, you just assumed. That's your biggest flaw brother, and it's what has led to your downfall. You look at people and see what you expect to see. You looked at Cordelian and saw only a cold-blooded monster who would stop at nothing to win the crowns. Well, he was that, but he wasn’t just that. You never saw him as the brother who wore every piece of jewelry his sister made for him, or who would read his poetry to Helastus, or who raised Agathio as best he could to honor a dead friend."

"Cordelian wrote poetry?"

"He did, about idyllic country life, farming, woods, gardening, that sort of thing. You never knew, because you never saw anything else to him but what you chose to see. You were never able to see me for who I am either, but instead thought of me like a loyal little dog following you around. You never saw that I'm far more cold-blooded than Cordelian ever was, and far more strong-willed than Meronion ever was, and far more intelligent than you ever were. More importantly, you weren’t able to perceive Ophie's true nature."

"I understood Ophie's nature better than you ever did!" Nikolonium felt the old temper stirring in him.

Pelagius was unmoved. "You didn't know anything about her. She wasn't the person you dreamed up in your head, the innocent girl waiting for her prince to arrive. Tell me Nik, who assassinated Meronion? Who would know where to find some of Euphastolon’s thugs, and know where they could find Meronion? Who would have enough power to offer a suitable reward? Who was right there with her when it happened?"

A horrible suspicion bloomed in Nik, but he quickly pushed it away. It must have shown on his face though, as Pelagius nodded.

"That's right, it was Ophelion. Meronion trusted her, but she set some of her brother’s dogs on her older sister. She thought Meronion's death would cancel her marriage. The idiot."

"You're lying." He felt icy cold. "Ophie would never kill anyone." Pelagius was lying, trying to shake him.

"Your image of her wouldn't. The real woman did. You even heard us argue about it, as I recall. I didn't approve, as she'd moved too early. Ophelion was always rash. She was most upset when she learnt her marriage would still be going ahead."

"That suited you though, didn't it? You needed Meronion out of the way. Ophie too, she was older than you as well."

"Marriage or not she was going to abdicate to allow me to ascend, because she understood I could save the empire."

Nik gaped as he realized what Pelagius was saying. "She knew!"

Pelagius nodded. "Not everything, but she knew I was going to be the next Doukar. She helped me, what little she could. She wanted me to rule. Unlike you. She had no interest in helping you, not given how she felt about you."

"What do you mean how she felt about me?" He'd had enough of this conversation, but he had to know. It wasn't all lies, wasn't it? He wished it was, but it fit too perfectly for him to dismiss it so conveniently.

Pelagius gave a half-smile. "You shouldn't ask questions you don't want the answers to. I'll tell you, although it's cruel to you. I owe her that much. What she felt about you should be obvious. You weren't subtle with how you felt, and she wasn't subtle in rebuffing you. She knew, she saw the way you looked at her, the way you ogled her, her own brother. What woman would be pleased with that? It scared her, revolted her. She used to beg me and Hel not to leave her alone with you."

Nik didn't want to believe it, but thinking back on half remembered conversations, hands pulled away, Pelagius' words seemed all too believable. Was that really what she had thought about him?

Pelagius stepped close to him, right up to his face. Nik found he couldn't take his eyes from Pelagius' face. Pelagius had grown to become significantly taller than him.

Pelagius carefully emphasized every word he said now, as he finally broke Nikolonium's spirit

"She loved you as a brother, but she thought you were disgusting."

Nik collapsed to his knees on the floor of the cell, head down, at the feet of his younger brother. It was true, he knew right away. Perhaps he'd always known and had just lied to himself to keep his hopes alive. No, the truth was uglier than that. All this time, he'd never really cared what went on in Ophelion's head, he never truly thought about it. He'd just imagined whatever was most pleasing to him.

He stayed like that for a long while, unable to stop himself from crying. Pelagius said nothing, he simply took a step back and then stood there, staring down at him in cruel satisfaction, having won completely at last.

Eventually Nik was able to compose himself enough to speak, albeit waveringly. "So what does the new Doukar plan to do, now that he has gotten everything he wants?"

"I'm going to split the empire in two and give half of it to Helastus." At that, Nik jerked his head up to look at Pelagius in shock.

Pelagius was confident, even imperial. Like a Doukar, Nik realized.

"Dardanos faces two great threats, from the North and the South. You and Cordelian were too complacent to face the truth that Meronion, to her credit, did see: we are losing."

"But," Nik sputtered, "we always win against the Lorgorin and the Circiniads."

"Well, that's what the official stories say. We do generally win the battles. I should have said we will lose. It's not a quick thing, the death of an empire, and Dardanos is not even dying yet, but it is declining. We are not in the twilight of the empire, but it is past noon." He paused, but Nik said nothing, taken aback by this seemingly rehearsed speech.

Pelagius continued. "Think about the court Nik. Think about our family, about the leading patros. Who among them has the fervor of the Circiniad's Wanaxes? Their absolute certainty in their holy mission is something that we, with our self-interest and cynical disillusionment, can't compete with. Not even you have their kind of faith. The Lorgorin have nothing, and eye our riches like wolves. We are the comfortable, fat sheep; none of us have the drive the Northerners have."

Pelagius began to pace. "Our strength has all been handed down to us from our ancestors, who were greater than us. We've become lazy, too self-assured, weak, and time is leaving us behind. The world is on the cusp of vast changes. It's said that the Lorgorin have found a way to make iron that won't rust and is harder than any bronze, and they are improving the process to the point that soon they’ll be able to make it in large quantities. Our tin will become obsolete. At this rate, while it still might take a hundred years, or more, the empire will fall." His voice had taken on an implacable quality.

"Of course, we have many problems and need just as many solutions. But one thing is abundantly clear. The empire is too large to be governed effectively by one person, from one place. The government is too centralized, and, especially in the south, it takes too long for word to reach the court of what's happening. Our soldiers lack discipline because their rulers are so far away, and primuses act like petty kings and ignore imperial decrees with impunity, as they know we need them to rule to vast swathes of this empire. So, I'm going to split the empire in two, north and south. I will rule the empire in the north, consisting of everything north of the Melancthon and the islands within it. Helastus will rule everything to the south, up to the Nazek river. Two centers of power, Dardano and Hagiatrocos. I will deal with the Lorgorin, and she with the Circiniads. Of course, we will be allies, siblings in both blood and rule, to help each other as needed."

"This is insane." Nik finally spoke up. How could Pelagius even think of splitting the greatest empire in the world? Iron, that fool's errand, and southern heretics standing up to the faith? It was nonsense. Nik hadn't realized how far his brother had vanished into delusion.

"It is necessary."

He could see no point in trying to reason with the new Doukar about this. "What happens to me, in this grand plan?"

"I wondered when we were going to get back to you, your favorite topic." Nik no longer had the spirit to respond to the insult. He was beaten.

"You'll be going to the heartsman. Do try not to take it personally, big brother," Pelagius said, without sounding apologetic in the slightest.

"Of course," Nik laughed hollowly. "I know too much.”

“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t spare you. Cordelian’s family would overthrow me before I’d even begun my reign.”

“What are you waiting for? Let's get this over with if you're really going to do this." He didn’t want to hear Pelagius’s excuses.

Somewhere in that conversation Nik felt something important had slipped through his fingers. Pelagius was still hiding something. But what was it? All those years dealing with the lies and half-truths in the court gave him an instinct for these things.

Pelagius stepped back from him, and his guards quickly grabbed Nik's arms and pulled him to his feet. "I'm glad we're in agreement."

Nik snapped back to the present. "Wait, what?" Nik tried to wrench his arms back from the strigulos holding him, but his soft royal body was no match for their hard muscles. "Now?"

"Isn't that what you just said? There's no point in prolonging your misery. Try to think of it as a kindness. I don't want you to suffer more than you have to," Pelagius, the bastard, said insincerely.

"Stop! Get your hands off me you filthy noumens, I'm royalty! You can't do this!" Nik went wild with panic.

This was too soon. He couldn't be going to die! This couldn't be happening, not right now, not to him. He couldn't die without knowing it all! Without knowing what Pelagius was hiding at the end. Cordelian's last words were bothering him, he realized. Cordelian...how had he realized the truth? There was something there he was missing.

Pelagius shook his head. "How disappointing, especially after all that talk of Oma and the glorious afterlife. I hope I face my end with more dignity." Pelagius gestured to his strigulos, who began to drag Nikolonium out of the cell, doing all that he could to arrest their progress, with no success.

He needed time, just some more time to think! Perhaps the one last truth Pelagius was hiding could save him yet.

"Wait, Pel, wait! I'm sorry for underestimating you! I know – give me the same deal as Theo. I'll go away, live a quiet life, out of your way. I don't want to die!"

Nik didn't stop shrieking or struggling for a moment as the guards dragged him down the hall and out into the execution grounds, with Pelagius regally following behind them, ignoring everything Nik said. If only he had more time! But there was no more time left for him.