Chapter 498: One Condition

Arion discovered Nero at the Draxil military airfield.

For several seconds, he considered getting back on the aircraft.

The jet had barely finished taxiing beneath the reinforced shelter when Arion descended the steps with Victor behind him, cool afternoon wind catching at the open front of his dark field coat and carrying the dry scent of fuel across the concrete.

Hendrik waited beside three armored vehicles near the edge of the secured apron.

So did Nero.

Hale stood a step behind him.

Arion stopped on the final stair and closed his eyes.

Victor nearly walked into him.

"What?"

Arion opened them again.

"I am deciding whether my life is easier when Dean follows me or when Nero does."

Nero heard him from several meters away.

"You’re welcome."

"I did not thank you."

"No, but you looked emotional."

Hale’s expression remained impressively neutral.

At fifty-seven, after decades of service, Arion suspected the man had developed immunity to royal nonsense as a basic survival mechanism. He wore a long black Sahan military coat despite the warmer Draxil weather, the crown-prince clasp fixed at one shoulder, and his red-brown hair cut close in the same severe style Arion remembered from years earlier.

Nero looked considerably less military.

His white hair had been tied low for travel, falling almost to his waist over a dark-purple field coat, and he appeared entirely too pleased with himself.

Arion reached the ground.

"Why are you here?"

"My father suggested I assist."

"That sounds suspiciously unlike Dax."

"He said someone should be present in case you decide to adopt the building."

Arion stared at him.

Nero smiled.

Hale finally intervened.

"His Majesty authorized the visit."

"That does not make it better."

"No," Hale agreed. "It merely makes removing him more complicated."

Nero looked offended.

Victor walked past all of them toward Hendrik.

"I prefer him."

"You prefer nobody," Arion said.

"That is why the distinction matters."

Hendrik ended whatever discussion he had been having over his headset and approached.

His black tactical jacket carried no Alaminan crest, only a small command marker near the collar, while the tablet in his hand displayed a topographic map of the region surrounding Claudia’s palace.

"We have twenty minutes before departure."

Arion glanced toward the vehicles.

"Amaru?"

"Already here."

That changed the atmosphere immediately.

They found him inside the operations building.

The former exile looked nothing like the half-conscious man Nero had dragged out of Snake Island months earlier.

Amaru stood over a projection table with three Draxil officers around him, wearing dark military trousers and a long sand-colored jacket fastened high at the throat. His hair had been cut shorter since the public reintroduction in Rohan, and the scars along his neck remained visible where the collar ended.

He dismissed the officers when Arion entered.

"You came."

"You sound surprised."

"I expected you."

Amaru’s gaze shifted toward Nero.

"I did not expect him."

Nero walked farther into the room.

"People keep saying that today."

"You should consider why."

Arion almost liked Amaru more for that.

Hendrik activated the wall display.

A satellite image appeared showing a sprawling palace complex built against a ridge several kilometers outside the nearest major city, its older central structure surrounded by modern auxiliary buildings, service roads, underground access points, and several walled research annexes.

Claudia’s Palace.

Even from overhead, it looked less like a royal residence and more like something that had gradually swallowed every facility around it.

Amaru touched the map.

"My forces established the outer cordon yesterday. Roads are closed under military authority, airspace is restricted, and all communications leaving the area are being routed through monitored relays."

Victor looked toward him.

"No evacuation routes?"

"None that remain usable."

Hendrik enlarged the western slope.

"There were two underground exits."

"Sealed."

"The river service tunnel?"

"Flooded intentionally six hours ago."

Nero’s brows lifted.

"You really don’t want anyone leaving."

Amaru looked at him.

"No."

There was no humor in the answer.

Arion studied the map.

"You said your brothers retreated there."

"Both."

That explained the scale of the operation.

The two remaining claimants had spent months losing military support as Amaru rebuilt alliances through old commanders, regional authorities, and units that remembered him from before exile. Retreating to Claudia’s palace made strategic sense if they believed the research complex still contained personnel, weapons, or information capable of changing the balance.

It also meant the building was no longer merely a laboratory target.

It was occupied by hostile royal forces.

Arion folded his arms.

"How many?"

"Confirmed personnel inside the cordon are under two hundred. Perhaps half are military. The rest appear to be technical staff, private security, and palace personnel."

"Civilians?"

"Some."

"We separate them if possible."

Amaru nodded once.

"I already gave the same order."

Victor’s attention remained on the underground sections.

"I want the laboratories intact."

"So do I."

Nero leaned one hip against the projection table.

"And your brothers?"

Amaru went still.

Arion watched him carefully.

Amaru had accepted Alaminan’s and Sahan’s assistance under written conditions, had allowed foreign intelligence access to Draxil operations, and had tolerated months of negotiation while trying to take a throne he had once planned to claim alone.

He had asked remarkably little personally.

Until now.

"I have one condition before we leave."

Hendrik’s expression tightened.

Arion said nothing.

Amaru looked directly at him.

"My brothers are mine."

Nero’s amusement disappeared.

Amaru continued.

"If they surrender to your people, you hand them to me. If they resist, your forces do not intervene unless they threaten the operation."

Arion already understood where this was going.

"You intend to execute them."

"No."

Amaru’s expression barely shifted.

"I intend to kill them."

The distinction was deliberate and very personal.

Victor looked away from the map for the first time.

Hale remained silent behind Nero.

Arion studied Amaru for several seconds.

"Why make that a condition now?"

"Because once we enter that palace, everyone will suddenly remember laws they ignored while my father mutilated rivals and my brothers helped protect what Claudia was doing."

His voice stayed level, but something colder sat beneath it.

"They had years to choose differently."

Nero’s purple eyes narrowed.

"And you want to do it yourself."

"Yes."

Arion looked toward Hendrik.

Hendrik gave no opinion.

Amaru rested both palms against the edge of the projection table.

"I will give you the palace. I will give Victor every laboratory we secure, every surviving record, and every researcher willing to talk. I will keep my army outside the primary research sectors unless your people request support."

Then he looked back at Arion.

"But my brothers do not leave that compound alive."

Silence held for several seconds.

Outside the building, engines began turning over.

The deep rhythmic thump of military helicopter rotors rolled through the walls.

Arion looked once more at the map.

Claudia’s Palace.

Whatever answers existed about Snake Island, corrupted beasts, Amaru’s captivity, and possibly Arion himself were somewhere inside.

He closed the display.

"We take the palace first."

Amaru’s expression hardened slightly.

Arion continued.

"If your brothers are still alive when the site is secure, I won’t stand between you."

That was enough.

Amaru inclined his head.

"Good."

Minutes later they were crossing the airfield toward the waiting helicopters.

Rotor wash pulled at coats and threw dust across the concrete while Draxil soldiers loaded the final equipment cases beneath the open side doors.

Arion climbed into the lead aircraft with Victor and Hendrik.

Nero appeared behind him.

Arion looked back.

"Of course."

Nero fastened himself into the opposite seat.

"You sound tired."

"I am cursed."

Hale climbed in after him.

"That has also been discussed."

The doors closed.