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Almost being the operative word. He remembered how terrifying Caster Egmond’s power was. A destruction user who could harness pan-rozum. Frankly speaking, Hector had no idea how he would deal with that in a direct confrontation. Not to mention, it was clear that there was even more to be worried about than just that, too.

Was this guy really confident enough now to think that going against Morgunov was a viable option?

‘Touched by the divine,’ the man had said. Those words were sticking with Hector. That was certainly one way of putting it. A lofty, overly nice way, perhaps, but a way, nonetheless. Hector’s imagination was not doing him any favors with regard to what crazy shit this dude might be able to pull off now, especially when thinking about the fate of the giant cruise liner here.

Things were going to get complicated. He’d been racking his brain the whole time, across multiple thought processes while also consulting Garovel privately, trying to figure out the best way to handle this incredibly uncomfortable reunion.

There were so many questions that he’d been thinking through as quickly as he could. Should he really try to convince the Rainlords to accept this guy? Would that even be possible? Not without something very compelling to convince them.

The Sandlords were different, though. It was mainly just Hahl Saqqaf that would need convincing, and Abbas actually seemed pretty open-minded when it came to odd, otherworldly stuff. Maybe it was still a bit early to say that Caster here qualified, but there was also the fact that, unlike the Rainlords, the Sandlords other than Asad hadn’t been involved in the battle at Dunehall, so--

No, wait. That wasn’t right, was it? That whole thing had kicked off with a “mysterious” death, for which Ibai Blackburn had initially received blame.

And the person who died had been one Fuad Saqqaf.

Well, fuck.

Alright, maybe he was thinking about this in the wrong way.

First, it wasn’t a matter of convincing anyone. He could worry about that later. The more pressing issue was protecting everyone from this guy. Sure, he was clearly different from how he used to be, but different didn’t necessarily mean better.

In fact, for all Hector knew, it might actually mean worse.

Before convincing any Rainlords or Sandlords of the viability of this alliance, he still needed to convince himself.