She turned and walked away, joining a group of three other otrokari.

The male otrokar frowned again, his brain obviously trying to figure out why the female otrokar would be interested in continued safety of his genitals. Then his eyes lit up. His expression turned speculative. Yes, she likes you, big dummy.

George made some sort of placating gesture and squeezed the top of his cane. The partition drained down, and Lord Robart marched out, his face still contorted with rage. Lady Isur and the Battle Chaplain chased him. Arland bore down on me. “Lady Dina. We need privacy. He doesn’t need to be around his people right now.”

I unsealed the main entrance. “The front room and the kitchen are yours.”

“My thanks.” Arland raced after Robart.

I opened the side entrances and watched everyone pile out. Once everyone was secured, I went into the kitchen.

Lord Robart sat at the table, his face murderous. Arland leaned on the wall next to him. The Battle Chaplain hovered nearby, his crimson vestments framing his big body like tattered wings. At the island, Orro chopped celery and carrots into small pieces, grimly ignoring the presence of the vampires.

I got out three mugs, dropped a bag of mint tea into each, and ran hot water from the Keurig into each one. “We’ll never make progress this way,” Arland said quietly.

“Don’t talk to me about progress,” Robart snarled. “You want progress. You want to give them everything. Does your honor mean so little to you? Is that how far your House has fallen?”

Arland opened his mouth.

“This is why we haven’t triumphed,” the Battle Chaplain said, his voice deep and deliberate. “We would rather war with ourselves than our common enemy.”

I used a teaspoon to fish the tea bags out, added some honey to each mug, and brought them over.

“Thank you.” Odalon accepted his cup and sipped the tea. “Mint.” He smiled with appreciation. “Delicious.”

Arland took his mug. Robart pushed the mug away. “I don’t want it. I need neither calming nor healing.”

“You’re being childish,” Odalon said.

“Spare me your lectures. You’re free to question my piety, but stay out of how I run my House.”

Odalon sighed.

“May I ask a question?” I took another chair.

Robart stared off to the side, ignoring me.

“Of course, Lady Dina,” Arland said, putting a particular emphasis on lady.

“My apologies,” Robart ground out. “Please, ask your question.”

“It’s my understanding that Nexus has a single landmass. The Holy Anocracy holds a large portion of this continent to the north and the Horde holds an almost equal portion to the south. Clan Nuan holds a smaller portion to the east, but their territory is the best geographical location for the space port. Am I correct?”

“In essence,” Robart grumbled. “The magnetic anomalies of Nexus make it difficult to build any permanent deployment structures. We are forced to drop supplies and troops from orbit via shuttles. Clan Nuan has the only functional gravity tube on the planet, which means they can transport goods and personnel in relative safety.”

I had taken a gravity tube once. It was an enormous elevator that stretched from orbit to the surface and traveled at supersonic speed. The science behind it was magic and riding it almost made me throw up.

“This is why Nuan Cee is seeking peace,” Arland explained. “The Nexus’ main value is in the deposits of Kuyo, the liquid mineral we require for our continued war effort. It’s heavy. It’s hard to mine and harder to transport. The merchants wish to make money on the shipments of Kuyo from Nexus. They know we’ll be forced to use their facilities.”

And knowing Nuan Cee, he would count every day he wasn’t charging the Horde and Holy Anocracy an outrageous tariff as the day he lost money.

“We tried to overtake the gravity tube a few times, but we failed,” Odalon said.

“They have Turan Adin,” Robart said, his face grim.

The three vampires paused.

“Who or what is Turan Adin?” I asked.

“Turan Adin is a creature of war,” Robart said and drank some of his mint tea. “He breathes and lives battle. Slaughter runs in his veins. The Nexus was settled almost twenty years ago in Nexus time and he has been there since the very beginning. He is the rassa in the red grass, the shirar in the deep water. The demon of that hell.”

“We don’t know where the merchants found him,” Arland said. “We don’t even know what he is. But he’s incorruptible and indestructible. He has ran their mercenary army for the past two decades. He learns, he adapts, he never tires.”

“But as things stand, both you and the Horde can mine Kuyo to use for your military needs?” I asked.

“Yes,” Arland answered.

“Then why not just let things stand as they are?” I asked.

Robart stared at me. “You are not a vampire. You are not a knight.”

Arland put his hand over his face.

“Then help me understand,” I said.

“The land that the Horde holds is stained with our blood,” Robart said, his voice barely controlled. “Only when they are gone can that stain be wiped clean. Would a surgeon remove half of a malignant growth and leave the rest, satisfied with what he already accomplished? Would a hunter skin half a carcass and leave the rest of the precious pelt to rot? We must kill them or drive them off that world. Anything less is a mortal sin. It is an ancient law. Suffer none who would seek to stand on the ground you have chosen. Thus the writs tell us.”

“The Hierophant does not share your interpretation,” Odalon said.

“The Hierophant saw it fit to change his mind,” Robart said. “But I did not change mine. My father died in Nexus’ blood fields. The woman I loved more than life itself, the woman I wanted to bear my children, lost her life there. Her light…” His voice broke and he squeezed his fists. “Her light is gone. To look upon the Horde’s territory on Nexus is to dishonor her memory. When I stand before the gates of the afterlife, and my father and my almost wife meet me and ask if they were avenged, what will I tell them? That I was too tired of fighting? That I couldn’t spare any more blood to be spilled in their name?”

“What will you tell the spirits of all who stand behind them?” Arland asked. “What will you tell them when they ask you why you threw away their lives in a fight we cannot win.”