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“I’m trying to be mindful of the future,” said Zeff. “If Dozer and Morgunov have just won another great victory for themselves in the Luthic, then where do you think they will strike next? Because the closest war front is Vantalay.”

Graves rubbed his forehead and returned to his desk. “I know.”

Zeff’s jaw clenched as he prepared his next question. “Is that the real reason you’re keeping us here? As meat shields, in case two angry emperors show up on your doorstep? Distractions to help you escape?”

Graves exhaled through his nose. “You really do think low of me, don’t you?”

“Give me a reason not to.”

“What do you want from me, Water Dragon? Have you heard nothing I’ve said? I’ve gotten no word of the Abolish emperors’ whereabouts. There is no evidence that they are coming here. And if I let you go back to Sair without me, Jercash will kill you all. He is undoubtedly more powerful now than he has ever been.”

“We have overcome greater odds.”

“No. Your ancestors have. You are not them.”

Zeff didn’t even hesitate. “Yes, we are.”

Graves leveled a long stare at him, then sighed another time. “You do have their stubbornness. I’ll grant you that.”

“The rain fears not the torch. Let us be the masters of our own fate.”

The Pale Hawk folded his arms. And for the first time that Zeff had heard, the man spoke with a hard, biting edge. “If you are powerful enough to defeat Jercash, then you should also be powerful enough to escape my grasp.”

Zeff wanted to strangle him. And from the sound of it, the man was all but daring him to.

“Please,” said Graves, sounding softer again, “have patience. The rain will get its chance soon enough. I promise you.”

It was hopeless, Zeff felt. There was no convincing this man of anything. Strength really was the only language that would get through to him.

And Zeff was simply not fluent enough.

What humiliation. So piercing that he could feel it in his soul.

Abruptly, Graves stood up from his desk again and stared at the closed door behind Zeff. “Careful, Water Dragon. Someone dangerous approaches.”

He reached out with his own senses for some kind of answer, but there was nothing. He looked to Ax, but the reaper merely shook his monstrous head, apparently not sensing anything, either.

Then the door opened, and a figure stepped through.

A blurry figure.