Chapter Fifty: Arin

Rawain greets Arin with feigned concern, but Arin resists and presents a portrait of his mother to anchor his accusation. Arin methodically lays out the plot: over decades, Rawain and Hanim Werda made infant Arin a conduit, draining Jasadi magic through him and anchoring it to the Supreme’s raven scepter, enabling the Blood Summit massacre and Nizahl’s dominion.

Rawain drops the mask, justifies his actions as necessary strength, and violently attacks Arin with the scepter. Arin endures two blows, counters Rawain’s claims of righteousness, and catches the next strike. Jeru enters; at Arin’s order, the guardsman restrains Rawain despite the Supreme’s attempt to label Arin corrupted by magic.

Arin reveals a dead guardsman’s note—“No mines. The scepter.”—proving Rawain’s secret source. Finding Rawain cuffed to the scepter, Arin pins his father’s arm and, as the scepter flares with Arin’s stolen magic, amputates Rawain’s hand to free it. Rawain warns the change is irreversible; Arin rejects the power for himself, intending to give it to the Jasadi Heir.

Rawain insists Sylvia will mine magic and abandon Nizahl, but Arin declares she is different and chooses her over his family and kingdom. Leaving the bleeding Supreme behind, Arin departs with Jeru and the scepter.

That night on the Hirun River, Arin states he will be branded a traitor and stripped of command. He predicts Rawain’s attention will be divided by Lukub’s approaching strike and other unrest, buying time for Jasad. Arin rows toward the mountains to reach Sylvia in three days, renouncing the title of Heir and calling himself nothing.