We flew back to the Ebony Tower in the small hours of the morning. Jin's jet cut through the dark with its cabin lights dimmed, and I spent most of the flight going through my notebook one last time, crossing out things I'd been sure of six hours earlier.
Paul's message had been three lines long. He wanted to discuss "further consequences" of my paper. He was prepared to work through the night. He would be waiting in the lobby.
"He sounded excited," Jin said, scrolling through his phone across the aisle. "Or unhinged. With necromancers it's hard to tell."
"Did you talk to your father?"
"For eleven minutes." He didn't look up. "He said he'd think about it."
'Eleven minutes,' Luna mused. 'For a king, that's practically a love letter.'
"Is that good?"
"It means yes, but he wants me to suffer first." Jin put the phone away. "Don't mention the Abyssal Emperor to Paul yet. Let my parents be the ones who say it. They like that."
