Leanor sat there waiting, hoping for a sign that Civitas would show himself. Every fibre of his body feared a trap, but he expected no open resistance in his current form. His sibling was a slow mover; he preferred to move strategically in the darkness, nothing so direct.

  Unlike Lithra, his home, Saxi was dark, a cave-like structure hidden on a small dwarf planet. If you didn’t know it was there, you would have easily missed it.

  He needed someone who worked in the shadows, who could watch and help him by observing while staying unseen. No one was better than Civitas, but his allegiance was to no one, and Leanor knew he would have to pay for whatever came next.

  The slow drip of water in the cave was constant, the stone at his back was damp. With each moment his patience wore thinner, but he knew an outburst would not serve his purpose.

  Leanor’s eyes flicked open as stone rubbed against stone and two massive doors swung inward. It looked as if the mountain itself opened for a dragon. He looked over, but his stomach dropped as his gaze landed on a dark, shadowed figure. One of his minions, one of his servants. He didn’t truly need Civitas, but those creatures he needed.

  Their skin was iridescent black, almost like a black hole that sucked in the light around it. It had six eyes, a piercing yellow, and no mouth. Unlike Leanor, Civitas could control a network of them, working in a hive mind that served his purposes.

  A voice bore into Leanor's mind. It was Civitas’s voice; he had always preferred to act through others. “Hello, brother. Proceed.” His speech was as low and screeching as Leanor remembered.

  Leanor picked himself up and followed through the stone doors. With each step, a little of his confidence returned as he remembered who he was dealing with. As a child, Civitas had clung to his every word.

  Inside the cave, rainbow crystals lined the walls, their faint glow of color lighting the room.

  Then his eyes fell on his brother, seated at the end of a long stone table. His face was as he remembered the big, piercing yellow eyes, brown skin, and dark grey hair. As Civitas stood, Leanor almost laughed. Civitas’s back had always been hunched, but each time he forgot just how much. Even standing, his eyes barely met Leanor’s. He wouldn’t be outmaneuvered by him.

  Leanor plastered a small smile on his face and bowed out of respect. “Hello, brother.”

  A short silence filled the air as Civitas waited, his black minions gathered at his back. “I have brought you a gift,” Leanor said.

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  He waved his hand in the air. A shimmer of blue appeared as a box dropped onto the table before them. He had come in a position of weakness, seeking help; without a gift—without something Civitas wanted—he would never gain the leverage his request required.

  He snapped his fingers, and ribbons of light shot forward. A soft click sounded as the box sprang open. Light flooded the room, the pure white of exactly what Civitas desired.

  Leanor didn’t look at the box—he already knew what lay inside. Instead, he watched Civitas. His brother’s eyes flew open, wider than Leanor had ever seen them. Leanor had won it long ago; he had no use for it, yet he had kept it for a moment precisely like this.

  “You know I would never give something like this up unless you have something to offer in return.”

  The words hung in the air as Civitas’s mouth worked, struggling to form sound. “You still have it? How?”

  He scuttled forward, his low shuffles almost dragging his legs across the ground. Leanor had to fight to keep a satisfied smile from forming, he knew he had him. At this point he would have said yes to any request. Civitas plunged his hands into the box and retrieved the object, holding it out at arm’s length as though afraid it might vanish.

  He called it Chrisi. But it was the Chrysalis Network. It was a thumb-sized cocoon, barely filling his palm. It looked dead, inanimate, but Leanor knew the truth. It was Civitas’s other half, his symbiote, that allowed him greater control over his minions and a wider range of hive-mind activity. Leanor couldn’t use it, but he had kept it in his vault for thousands of years, searching for a time to use it.

  He had been lucky enough to win it during a sanctioned game, like the one he was currently entangled in. Civitas had no way of acting without drawing their father’s wrath, and so Leanor had been protected.

  Leanor watched as the cocoon began to move. Growing larger and larger, it reacted to Civitas’s touch, then, with a loud puff, it burst open. Black slime shot outward, and as it touched Civitas’s skin, he let out a euphoric groan. For a moment nothing happened. Then his back straightened, the grey in his hair receded, turning back to its original jet black.

  In an instant he was once more the formidable opponent Leanor had feared. Hopefully this would lead to an alliance that could help him maneuver out of the situation his siblings had put him in.

  This was his moment to pounce. “I need access to your hive mind. I need information on Tristana and Grakor.”

  The truth was that it was as much about keeping tabs on the Glitch, but he didn’t need to know that. If Civitas smelled blood in the water, he would pounce.

  Civitas’s yellow eyes narrowed as he spoke, a faint smile breaking out. “Why would I do that? I have what I want…”

  But the words trailed off as he realized what it meant. “If you win, I get Tristana. That little bitch owes me.”

  Leanor couldn’t stop the smile creeping across his face. He reached out with his hand. Civitas met it with a small wave. Leanor felt the air grow cold, and then, in an instant, a black square crystallized in his palm.

  “Tap it twice, then speak your command into it. This one will give you access to a fraction of my network, until the end of the current game. If you need more, you’ll need to explain further,” Civitas said.

  Leanor didn’t need more, and he certainly wasn’t going to explain himself. He didn’t doubt that Civitas would sell the information to Grakor in an instant.