“So, Kamran has enemies,” Leon continued, not letting Justin stop even for a moment, “how about the old Thunderbird Clan? Do you know of any old allies of them that might be willing to aid me?”

“I can’t say, the Thunderbird Clan’s destruction was long before my time.”

Leon nodded in understanding. Justin was barely more than a hundred years old, while the Thunderbird had told him that her descendants had been dwindling for thousands of years. They likely hadn’t been much of a power within the Nexus after its most recent Reconstitution for thousands of years, with all of the enemies they’d made deciding to seek vengeance while they were weak.

“I suppose that just means I’m going to have to make new allies,” Leon replied, a note of apprehension in his voice. If the past few days had taught him anything, it was that he needed a lot more time figuring out just who might be his allies for the struggle against Kamran, and then for whatever might come after.

Nestor had seemed like an ally at first, but had wound up trying to possess him. On the other hand, the Gorgon had started as an enemy, but she’d made peace with Leon and his group. To a both lesser and greater extent, both Valeria and Justin were, at least for now, on his side.

Leon wasn’t entirely thrilled with these seemingly mixed messages, but after a moment of contemplation, turned his attention back to Justin.

“I think we can give some of these things a bit of a rest,” Leon said as he leaned back in his chair and glanced at Valeria and Maia. Both ladies were being quiet and letting him ask his questions, but he could see that both were—quite surprisingly in Maia’s case—paying very close attention to what Justin was explaining. “However,” Leon continued just as Justin was starting to lean back into the sofa, “if I ever need other questions answered once we’re done here, I’m sure I’ll know where to find you…”

“I can’t say we’re allied, Leon Raime,” Justin said as he sent a look at Leon that was both completely resigned and somewhat hostile, “but I can say that I won’t go back on my word. You may consider us at peace so long as nothing about this situation changes…” The older man’s eyes drifted in Valeria’s direction, so Leon was sure he was referring to something there, but it was too ambiguous of a gesture for him to tell what exactly Justin was implying.

“Then I invite you to join us,” Leon replied, a hard smile and harder tone making it clear just how much this wasn’t an invitation that could be turned down.

“Am I your prisoner?” Justin pointedly asked.

“Not as much,” Leon replied as he noticed Valeria giving him a dirty look. “I would prefer to consider it as both a guest and a patient. I’m sure that Heaven’s Eye will be able to take good care of your injuries and ensure that you don’t do anything that might put our peace at risk. So, I guess that does make you my prisoner, but not in a bad way. More of a, ‘you killed my family, so now I want to keep an eye on you, but you’ll be treated like a guest,’ way.”

Justin couldn’t help but darkly chuckle.

“I… suppose that’s the best I could ever hope for, isn’t it?” he said, a strangely reassuring smile on his face.

“I suppose it is,” Leon replied. “I have some other questions, if you don’t mind. You brought up quite a few things during your explanations that don’t directly relate to Kamran, but that I think require some elucidation…”

“Then ask your questions.”

Leon paused a moment as he glanced at Maia and Valeria. Since both of them had been so quiet, it had been easy enough to almost forget they were here in light of the information Justin was providing, but Leon figured they had some questions of their own. Instead of jumping right into things, he instead asked if either of them wanted to ask something.

Maia’s answer was about what Leon expected: a quick shake of her head. Valeria’s answer was about the same, which surprised Leon a bit, but he guessed she and her father had already spoken quite a bit before he and Maia had returned.

Turning his attention back to Justin, Leon said, “You mentioned ‘Khosrow’s Law’ a few times. What exactly is that?”

Justin took a deep breath and asked as his reply, “How much do you know about the end of the Primal Age? You didn’t ask any questions about it before so I assume you at least know some of it…”

“It was the Age before this one, when the various Primal Beings ruled supreme. It ended in a giant four-sided war between the Gods, Devils, Divine and Ascended Beasts, and humans,” Leon replied. “Or, at least, so my understanding of it goes…”

“That’s certainly how it ended,” Justin said. “Once all of the old powers were gone, humanity was left to rule over what was left. The leader of mankind, the man who had guided us through that dark time and almost single-handedly saved us from complete destruction was the Great Lord Khosrow. He was the only man who ever grew strong enough to directly challenge the strongest of the Gods and Devils by himself. It was by his example and through his wisdom that humanity came out of that war not only intact, but strong enough to seize control of the most prosperous parts of the universe. The demons were thrown back into the Void, the remaining Ascended Beasts weren’t numerous enough to challenge humanity; we were victorious.

“This new order, however, needed order. To that end, it was Khosrow who laid down the political divisions that exist to this day in the Nexus. He defined what it was to be a Strategos, a Despot, a Basileus, an Anax; he dictated how much authority each was to have, and how they related to each other. He created the system of Elemental Kings that now rule the universe, and which the demons copied in their dark corners of the Void. How the Nexus is run is Khosrow’s Law. The Law that Khosrow made was not specific like ‘don’t kill people’, but rather it was a law he imposed upon the new world of mankind, an order to the post-war universe that, for the first time, lacked Gods and Devils and all the other old powers that had ordered it before. It was a Law that was to be as natural as heat, light, and gravity.”

“What happened to Khosrow?” Leon asked. This man sounded more than powerful enough to have achieved Apotheosis and the accompanying ageless immortality, yet it was the Elemental Kings who were at least nominally in charge in the Nexus, as Justin had explained only a few minutes before.

“That is one of the greatest mysteries of the universe,” Justin replied. “At this point, it’s essentially impossible that he’s still alive, he’s been gone so long. However, no one is quite clear how Khosrow died. Some don’t even believe he’s dead at all, and that he lies in wait for whenever the world of mankind needs him again. The Gods may be dead, and Khosrow himself may be gone, but he’s still with us all…”

Justin’s eyes began to light up with hope and vigor as he spoke. It wasn’t too hard for Leon to see that Justin, while not necessarily believing that Khosrow was still alive, at the very least venerated him. Leon, however, only felt the faintest hint of disdain and antipathy, but he wasn’t quite sure why.

After a moment of thought, he decided that he didn’t need to ask Justin too much more about Khosrow—he had the Thunderbird in his soul realm, and she could probably give him a much clearer picture of the man than Justin ever could if he was a contemporary of hers.

But Leon could easily figure that Khosrow was likely a big damn deal in the Nexus, if what Justin was saying was true and if his reverent expression was anything to go by. As for Leon, he’d reserve his judgment about the man.

“Is the discrimination against those with Inherited Bloodlines a part of Khosrow’s Law?” Leon asked with a cocked eyebrow, wondering if Justin’s obvious dislike for descendants of Ascended Beasts was widespread or localized, he wanted to know how institutional it was. He figured it couldn’t be quite so bad if the Thunderbird Clan had been the Storm Kings for so long, but if Kamran was anything to go by, powerful people were working to bring an end to the empowered Ascended Beasts Clans.

“It was not set in stone,” Justin admitted. “But it was implied given his actions. Khosrow gave up much, including both of his children, in the fight for the freedom of humanity from the tyranny of the Primal Beings. If Khosrow were still around, I believe he’d be appalled to see the descendants of his old enemies hold so many positions of power, especially positions within his Law.”

“Hmm,” Leon hummed in thought, feeling only marginally offended at Justin’s attitude, which surprised him a little. He supposed that it was because he was now in such a position of power over the man that it didn’t matter what he thought, or it could just be that he was too damned tired to get worked up over what such a broken man thought about him. “You sound quite… enthusiastic about this. Are your views the reason you were sent on this in the first place? I mean, I know that your wife was taken hostage, but I can’t imagine that you and your family were the only people that Kamran did that to…”

“No, no, Kamran made it a policy to take hostages when he could, if only to make sure that his enemies kept peace treaties… But my personal views on the topic were not the reason why I was sent on this mission, they’re hardly unique among Kamran’s league…”

Leon’s question seemed to sap whatever energy Justin had managed to muster, and he sagged back into the sofa as he gave his answer. He then glanced over at his daughter, who was listening with rapt attention, pressing him with her expectant and encouraging gaze to hold nothing back.

“This is… not something I’ve ever really discussed before,” Justin admitted, his eyes still locked on Valeria, whose face turned a little apprehensive and excited at the same time.

“Not even with Valeria?” Leon asked.

Justin seemed to ignore the question, though he continued with his explanation anyway.

“The ire I drew from Kamran was due to who I fell in love with,” he said slowly, his gaze not wavering an inch from his daughter. “It is because I married your mother that I was sent here. No other mistakes were made on my part, but that is what turned Kamran against me. Until that moment, I had been a loyal and dutiful servant of his, and as such, enjoyed his favor…”

“What do you mean…?” Valeria asked as her expression seemed to harden like she was protecting herself from something potentially harmful.

“Your mother…” Justin hesitantly began, before cutting himself off and glancing back at Leon and Maia.

“Keep going,” Valeria sternly prodded, not allowing him to ask for privacy or anything else of the sort.

Justin paused only for a moment longer, until his eyes turned back to Valeria and saw her stony expression and softer, but still demanding eyes staring back at him. To both him and Leon, Valeria didn’t seem to care that Leon and Maia were present for the reveal of this potentially intimate and private information.

“Your mother was the only child of one of Kamran’s oldest and most trusted friends,” Justin said. “When this friend unexpectedly died only ten years after her daughter’s birth, leaving her daughter alone in the world, Kamran took her in and raised her like his own. He doted on your mother like any true father would, but he would not tolerate her marriage to me. I was below her, in Kamran’s eyes, and only dirtied her with my presence. Your mother he imprisoned for defying his orders and to keep her away from me, while I was marginalized and eventually sent here. I think if I hadn’t served Kamran so faithfully until that point and if she and I hadn’t had a child, he would’ve had me killed for daring to touch his ward.”

“That seems… extreme,” Leon whispered.

“Said a man who has neither legacy nor child,” Justin dismissively replied.

Leon cocked his head in mild irritation. If the blood of both the Thunderbird and the Great Black Dragon wasn’t a legacy, he couldn’t imagine Justin would think anyone alive had a legacy worth mentioning.

“That’s what all of this was about?” Valeria asked, her tone disbelieving as she broke eye contact with her father. “We were sent here because of something so… natural?”

“Kamran was also looking for alliances, as he so often was,” Justin explained. “He hadn’t made his intentions clear—at least, not to me, and your mother never mentioned anything about it—but I believe that he was looking for something a little more substantial than the usual fair-weather fare that most people in the Nexus agree to. Something that could be sealed with a marriage alliance. When I married his adopted daughter, that may have thrown a wrench into his plans.”

Leon wrinkled his face in distaste. He almost said something to that effect until his eyes drifted in Valeria’s direction, and he froze. She looked murderous, and it was to the point that he almost completely forgot what else he wanted to ask Justin.

It seemed to him that Justin sensed Valeria’s mood, as well, for he paled a little bit more and stared at her with an almost apologetic look on his face.

“I… think the rest of my questions can wait,” Leon said as he sensed the tension brewing between father and daughter. “I think we can stay in this place until tomorrow morning, at least. There doesn’t seem to be any more threats here, so let’s rest up and prepare to head back west. I think Naiad and I can find another room to sleep in, so we’ll just leave the two of you alone…”

“Thank you,” Valeria said with a chilly tone, her eyes not leaving her father.

For her part, Maia gave Leon a strange look, but he simply whispered into her mind, [I think the two of them are going to have some strong words for each other. Or maybe just Valeria for her father. I have the answers that I needed, and like I said, everything else can wait. For now, let’s just get some rest.]

Maia shrugged and followed Leon as he led the way out of the room, leaving the other two behind to hash out their feelings. Leon could understand some of Valeria’s obvious frustration and anger, though, for it seemed to him that at least some of what Justin had just told him had been news to her, as well.

He sighed as he let Maia take the lead and show him to another room they could rest in deeper in the facility. There was nothing he wanted more than to rest in the arms of one of his lovers, but this still wasn’t the time for it; he still had a dangerous and ancient kinsman trapped in his soul realm to deal with, and he had some follow-up questions for the Thunderbird about things Justin had revealed.

Rest would have to wait just a little while longer.