"Leopold, no." The words escaped Quinn's lips before he could stop them, carrying twenty years of suppressed regret and recognition that he was about to lose the one person who had stood by the Empire through every crisis. "There has to be another way. We can retreat, regroup, bring reinforcements—"
"There's no time," Leopold replied with gentle finality, his hand closing around the hilt of his shattered sword as astral energy began manifesting around him in patterns that made the air itself vibrate with barely contained power. "Vorthak is toying with us now, but he won't wait forever. And if we fall here, there's nothing stopping the Order from completing whatever they're planning."
Demon Duke Vorthak watched their exchange with predatory amusement, his pale features arranged in an expression of bored contempt. "How touching. But your human emotions change nothing about the fundamental reality of this situation. You are cattle contemplating rebellion against your betters."
