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Isaacs lifted a hand, like a kid wanting to be called on in class. “If I don’t care about any of this, can I go? I’m not one of these galactic heroes, so this crap has nothing to do with me.”

Everyone kept ignoring him.

“Vandal, Banishment has only made you more unstable.” Job diagnosed. “You’ve attacked Mara and Chason. You were mixed up in the bombing of the Cold Kingdom. You’re bowing down to some ‘king’ no one’s ever heard of. And now you’re holding my family prisoner. You have to know this won’t end well.”

“There is only one way this will end. Gaia will purge you from our species’ ranks. Your execution will be in public, and you will lament your betrayals. Then, everyone will see you for the weak pretender that you are.”

“If you believed that I was weak or that Gaia was on your side, you’d face me fairly. You’re not doing that. What does that say about your faith?”

Vandal took a menacing step towards Job, his massive fist clenched. “Silence! Your disrespect will…”

“Tessie is the Keeper of the Quintessence and Job’s life is linked to hers.” Nia put in, trying to distract Vandal from murdering the Elementals’ leader in his cell. “Cross is the only Shadow Phase left. Thar, Ty and I are the only Water Phases.” She gestured to her twin and her Match, who were locked in the force field with her. “Sullivan is the only part-human/part-Elemental male. There are only a handful of Light Phases left and most of them are in this room.” She arched a brow. “Killing anyone here could literally end the whole world.”

“Except Isaacs.” Mannus chimed in not-so-helpfully.

“Or Gion.” Daven agreed, because obviously this was the perfect time to start agreeing with his brother. “There’s plenty of Air Phases. Too many even.”

In unison, Isaacs and Gion swiveled their heads to scowl at the Light Phases. They were both locked in a force field with Ty. She was positioned behind them, one of her hands clutched around the edge of Gion’s cape.

“I only have to kill some of you.” Vandal assured Nia. “The others will fall into line quickly enough, after that. Your public oaths to the Dark King will help convince the rest of the realm of the true path.”

She shook her head. “Yeah, I’m not going to be doing that.”

“You will. The future is already written.”

How could Randa stop this madness? Her eyes scanned the room, hoping for some kind of inspiration. Gion’s new sword was on the ground, but even if she could sneak over and grab it, she had no idea how to use it. Vandal was the greatest general in Elemental history. There was no chance she could win against him.

“Where are the Fire Phases and Chason?” Ben demanded impatiently. He must’ve had a dentist on retainer, because all four of the teeth Kahn knocked out were back in his mouth. “Where are Brokk and Uriel? They’re supposed to be here, so we can deal with all the opposition in one fell swoop.”

“We have Job. He’s what’s important. We’ll have to deal with the rest of them later.” Vandal waved a dismissive hand.

“Like you dealt with Missy?” Ben sneered, clearly not convinced by his partner’s blasé attitude.

Job’s brows compressed, which was a huge show of emotion.

Sullivan smashed a fist against the wall of his cage, enraged by the mention of his cousin-in-law. “What the hell did you do to Missy?”

“She interfered where she didn’t belong.” Vandal’s single black eye fixed on Ben. “My men will report back to us soon with her body.”

“Those hired goons have been missing for a week.” Ben retorted, sounding like this was an ongoing argument. “We sent Saxon to find them and never heard from him again.”

“Saxon is a Neanderthal. I’m not surprised he couldn’t get the job done. If you hadn’t been so focused on that Stone House slut, you could have gone after Missy yourself.”

“I’m going to kill both of you.” Kahn paced around his cell like a lion. “Exactly like I killed Saxon.”

Gion glanced at Isaacs. “Saxon’s dead?”

“Yep. Cozily buried in Sullivan’s backyard.”

“Oh good.”

That news briefly drew Sullivan’s attention. “Wait what?”

Vandal and Ben glowered at Kahn, like maybe he was lying.

Kahn bared his teeth at them in some horrible approximation of a smile. “Sax died screaming and so will you, you cowardly fucks.”

His deadly tone seemed to convince them of Sax’s demise. They exchanged a disappointed grimace and refocused on their argument.