Chapter Seventy-Four

Neema and Cain fight their way to the Fox palace and discover only devastation: buildings aflame, bodies strewn across the grounds, and the Hounds executing the High Commander’s simple order—kill them all. Neema identifies Fox One and Fox Two among the dead; Cain recognizes friends and comrades everywhere and collapses in grief as the palace roof caves in, making any rescue impossible.

Neema steadies Cain, who struggles to speak, jokes failing him. They cling to the faint hope that Abbot Fort, rumored to be hiding, might have survived. Cain touches the lump from where Vabras struck him earlier, a reminder of the night’s brutality, before Neema guides him from the ruins.

Meanwhile, the Raven palace lies low. High Justice Lord Kindry convenes a library assembly, affirming the legitimacy of Ruko’s accession and recasting the chaos as Bersun’s treachery. When a junior lawyer and a senior archivist question the narrative—citing the fleet’s movements and rumors of the Fox palace fire—Kindry blames supposed Fox explosives and Abbot Fort’s conspiracy, then effectively ends inquiry. Later, Hounds quietly eliminate both dissenters.

Back on the service path, Neema retrieves her pack. Cain wrestles with unfair blame toward Neema for Andren’s rise, but both acknowledge Andren’s responsibility. Neema vows to destroy Andren. Cain, no longer “eating for two,” mourns the Fox spirit’s imprisonment; Neema reflects that freeing the Eight would doom the world, binding all to Andren’s crime.

Neema senses Sol withdrawn in grief, shrouding himself in mist after losing flock and purpose. With no allies left on the island and danger closing in, Neema outlines a single, stark plan: escape. Cain agrees, and they move out together.