Knight, Heir, Prince. Morgan Rice

man there to help him, and maybe there would be more on the way. Really, all Lucious had to do was delay things, and Thanos might find himself overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

      So Thanos didn’t wait. Instead, he attacked. He threw blow after blow, alternating between Lucious and the thug Lucious had brought with him, building the rhythm of it. Then, suddenly, he paused. The sickle wielder parried empty air. Thanos cut into the gap, and the man’s head went flying.

      He was on Lucious in an instant, binding blade to blade. Lucious kicked out at him, but Thanos swayed aside from the blow, reaching over the guard of Lucious’s sword to get one hand onto the pommel. Thanos yanked upward and wrenched the blade from Lucious’s hands, then struck sideways. His blade clanged from Lucious’s breastplate. Lucious drew a dagger and Thanos changed his grip on his blade, swinging low with the hilt end so that the cross-guard hooked around Lucious’s knee.

      He pulled and Lucious went down. Thanos kicked the dagger from his hand with crunching force.

      “Tell me again how compassion is my weakness,” Thanos said, lifting the point of his sword over Lucious’s throat.

      “You wouldn’t,” Lucious said. “You’re just trying to frighten me.”

      “Frighten you?” Thanos said. “If I thought frightening you would work, I’d have scared you half to death years ago. No, I’m going to end this.”

      “End it?” Lucious said. “This doesn’t end, Thanos. Not until I’ve won.”

      “You’d be waiting a long time for that,” Thanos assured him.

      He raised the sword. He had to do this. Lucious had to be stopped.

      “Thanos!”

      Thanos looked over at the sound of Stephania’s voice. To his astonishment, he saw her approaching, riding alone at a full gallop. She wore a riding outfit that was a long way from her usual elegant dresses, and from the disheveled state of it, it looked as though she’d thrown it on in a hurry.

      “Thanos, don’t!” she cried as she got closer.

      Thanos gripped his sword tighter. “After all he’s done, do you think he doesn’t deserve it?”

      “It’s not about what he deserves,” Stephania said, dismounting as she got closer. “It’s about what you deserve. If you kill him, they’ll kill you for it. That’s how it works, and I will not lose you like that.”

      “Listen to her, Thanos,” Lucious said from the ground.

      “Be quiet,” Stephania snapped. “Or do you want to goad him into killing you?”

      “He has to be stopped,” Thanos said.

      “Not like this,” Stephania insisted. Thanos felt her hand on his arm, pushing the sword away. “Not in a way that gets you killed. You swore you would be mine for the rest of our lives. Did you really mean for it to be so short?”

      “Stephania – ” Thanos began, but she didn’t let him finish.

      “And what about me?” she asked. “How much danger will I be in if my husband kills the heir to the throne? No, Thanos. Stop this. Do it for me.”

      If anyone else had asked, Thanos might still have gone through with it. There was too much at stake. But he couldn’t risk Stephania. He thrust down into the dirt, missing Lucious’s head by an inch. Lucious was already rolling away, running for a horse.

      “You’ll regret this!” Lucious called back. “I promise you’ll regret this!”

      CHAPTER FIVE

      Thanos saw the guards awaiting him on the long run into the city gates, as he and Stephania returned home. He raised his chin and kept on riding. He had expected this. And he wouldn’t run from it.

      Stephania obviously saw them too. Thanos saw her stiffen in the saddle, going from relaxed to prim and formal in an instant. It was as though a mask had slid down in front of her features, and Thanos found himself reaching out automatically to slide a hand over hers as she held the reins.

      The guards crossed their halberds to bar the way as they approached, and Thanos drew his horse to a halt. He kept it between Stephania and the guards, just in case Lucious had somehow bribed men to attack him. He saw an officer step out from the knot of guards and salute.

      “Prince Thanos, welcome back to Delos. My men and I have been instructed to escort you to see the king.”

      “And if my husband does not wish to travel with you?” Stephania asked, in a tone that could have commanded the whole Empire.

      “Forgive me, my lady,” the officer said, “but the king has given us clear orders.”

      Thanos raised a hand before Stephania could argue.

      “I understand,” he said. “I’ll go with you.”

      The guards led the way, and to their credit, they managed to make it look like the escort they claimed it was. They led the way through Delos, and Thanos noted that the route they picked was one through the most beautiful parts of the city, sticking to the tree-lined avenues that held noble houses, avoiding the worst parts even when they formed a more direct route. Perhaps they were simply trying to stick to the safer areas. Perhaps, though, they thought that nobles like Thanos and Stephania wouldn’t want to see the misery elsewhere.

      Soon, the walls of the castle towered above. The guards led the way through its gates, and grooms took their horses. The walk through the castle felt more confined, with so many guards surrounding them in the narrow spaces of the castle corridors. Stephania took Thanos’s hand, and he squeezed it gently in reassurance.

      When they reached the royal apartments, members of the royal bodyguard blocked the way at the door.

      “The king wishes to speak to Prince Thanos alone,” one said.

      “I am his wife,” Stephania said in a tone so cold Thanos suspected most people would have stepped aside instantly.

      It didn’t seem to affect the royal bodyguard at all. “Nevertheless.”

      “It will be all right,” Thanos said.

      When he stepped inside, the king was waiting for him. King Claudius stood, leaning on a sword whose hilt formed the tentacles of a twisting kraken. It came almost to the level of his chest, and Thanos had no doubt that the edge would be razor sharp. Thanos heard the click of the door shutting behind him.

      “Lucious told me what you did,” the king said.

      “I’m sure he came running straight to you,” Thanos replied. “Did he also tell you what he was doing at the time?”

      “He was doing what he was commanded to,” the king snapped, “in order to deal with the rebellion. Yet you went out and attacked him. You killed his men. He says you defeated him through trickery, and would have killed him too if Stephania hadn’t intervened.”

      “How does butchering villagers stop the rebellion?” Thanos countered.

      “You’re more interested in peasants than in your own actions,” King Claudius said. He lifted the sword he held as though weighing it. “It is treason to attack the king’s son.”

      “I am the king’s son,” Thanos reminded him. “You didn’t execute Lucious when he tried to have me killed.”

      “Your birth is the only reason you are still alive,” King Claudius replied. “You are my son, but so is Lucious. You do not get to threaten him.”

      Anger rose up in Thanos then. “I don’t get anything that I can see. Not even the acknowledgment of who I am.”

      There were statues in one corner of the room, depicting famous ancestors of the royal line. They were out of the way, almost hidden away, as if the king didn’t want to be reminded of them. Even so, Thanos pointed to them.

      “Lucious can look at those and claim authority going back to the days when the Empire first rose,” he said. “He can claim the rights of