“Where is my family?” Vengelis asked the officer impatiently, his gaze surveying the grim surrounds. The man raised a hand to the rear of the room and nodded Vengelis forward. His mother was standing in solitude against a corner, her head resting against the wall. Beside her, Vengelis’s little sister Eve was sitting on the floor, her hands around her knees. Surrounding them were the last hulking members of the Royal Guard. He thought his mother and sister looked fragile and out of place, like revered statues tucked away in sudden shame. They hurried to him and collided into his armored chest, embracing him tightly.

“Vengelis, your father has fallen.” His mother was sobbing, her hands wrapped tightly around something. Vengelis looked down numbly and saw she was holding the Blood Ring. He had never seen it off of his father’s hand. His father would have died before he gave up the ring, and so it had been.

“Eve . . .” Vengelis said, wrapping an arm around the slender, elegant shoulder of his younger sister. Though her formal name was Evengeline, she had gone by Eve for as long as he could remember.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” Eve spoke into his chest. “Our fear was that you had been lost too. The attack hit Sejeroreich in the early hours this morning. People are calling them Felixes, some sort of Primus machines. We don’t know anything for certain. The whole Imperial First Class is scattered and broken. Father fought with the Royal Guard, but they all fell.”

Vengelis could not bring himself to speak, for no words seemed appropriate. Not one hour previous, he had been training on Mount Karlsbad without a care in the world. How was any of this possible? They must be mistaken. No power could destroy the entire assembled Royal Guard. His head felt empty, his mind incapable of forming thoughts.

“A transport is being prepared to take us from Anthem,” Eve said. “We are going to escape until this attack dies down, until we know more about these machines.”

“Escape?” he found his voice and looked down upon their anguished faces.

“Vengelis, you two are the lone surviving Epsilons,” his mother said. She placed a hand on his arm, her many rings and ornately jeweled bracelets brushing against his skin. “You both have to flee. There is no choice in the matter. If you were to fall, it would be to the ruin of the Primus race. The Epsilon line has never been broken. It cannot be risked.”

Vengelis pulled back from her grasp and inclined his head with an adamant conviction. “I stay.”

Eve shook her head, her pretty chin quivering with grief and fear. “You can’t, Vengelis. I know it’s hard for you to flee, but you must. You are emperor now. You have to do what is right for your people, not yourself. You are the last Epsilon—”

“I need no reminding of my heritage. You are right. I am the last surviving Epsilon. I will not leave Anthem. I will defend it to my death, as my fathers before me.”

“But there can be no victory!” Eve said. “The Felixes have decimated all of our defenses. The entire Imperial First Class was scattered. And Father . . .”

“These . . . Felix machines . . . have not yet bested me,” Vengelis said in a cold fury. “I will not run while Sejeroreich and all of Anthem is laid to waste. I will not run and hide while an execution is carried out upon people who look to me for deliverance.” His voice had inadvertently risen to a shout, and he realized every soul in the bunker was listening.

“We are facing obliteration. You will serve no use to your people dead, son,” his mother whispered.

“There will be no more people if I don’t put a stop to this madness.” Vengelis raised an infuriated hand with finality and turned to Eve. “I will face the machines. They may have defeated lesser warriors, but they will find a challenge in me. That much I promise. When I engage them, you must make your escape as quickly as you can. You and I equally share the Epsilon bloodline.”

Eve shook her head. “Don’t do this.”

“One of us must escape, and it cannot be me. It cannot be me. I couldn’t live with the knowledge that I fled while so many others fought and died. If the last Epsilon were to flee when Anthem needs him most, then the strength of the Sejero is already lost.”

“I don’t want you to die, Vengelis.”

Vengelis stepped forward and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I won’t. When I make my stand, all of you must escape. Do you understand?”

Eve wiped a trailing tear from her face and embraced her brother. This was not the first time she had said goodbye to him before he risked his life. He could see the growing faith in her eyes, the sudden hope in the face of his strength. She was looking up at her fearless and invincible older brother. Eve had never seen him lose. No one had ever seen Vengelis Epsilon defeated. She sighed deeply and nodded. “I understand.”