Another trick.

  Another lie.

  Another spark of goodness to turn to ash in his mouth.

  Ted didn’t turn.

  Didn’t look at the monster wearing the skin of his father.

  His feet curled against the soles of his boots. He could have been a dungeon spawn shapeshifter, for all she’d known. “You walked right past her.”

  The man’s breathing stopped. No lectures on failure came. They weren’t needed, not this time.

  “You really can’t bring her back, can you?”

  A single footstep brought the man closer. His robes rustled for a moment, then silence reigned again.

  Silence that said it had worked. That the gamble had earned a hollow victory waiting to be filled with Cara’s dreams.

  Ted let a sigh escape from his lungs. “I don’t even know if I loved her. Not really.”

  “You’ll know,” said Dad. He reached around, gently took Ted’s hand and turned him until they came face to face. The man still flaunted his golden robes, the stolen sword and staff, and that regal scepter, its diamonds shining with gold, teal, purple, even a hint of octarine.

  “What if—” Ted’s jaw clenched shut and he stared at the ground. That possibility didn’t need to be considered. Not now, not ever.

  Dad gently pulled up Ted’s trembling chin, and gazed at him through watery eyes. “The truth’s better, Ted.”

  An empty void filled Ted’s chest. “Not when it hurts.”

  “Especially when it hurts,” said Dad, and he spread his arms wide like he had so many times before.

  Ted flung himself into the hug before he could catch himself. He found himself clutching Dad tight while tears welled and a blanket of warmth wrapped around him.

  “It’ll be okay,” said Dad, holding Ted close, stroking his back. “We’ll work it out.”

  How? How could this ever work out? Ted tried to speak, tried to force out words, but none came. Only more tears, and the sobbing of a child.

  Yet Dad clutched him tighter still. “I’m here to stay this time, kiddo.”

  More sobbing came. More pathetic tears.

  “I know it’ll never be enough,” said Dad, “but… I’m sorry. About Cara. About Orlanda. About leaving you and mom. I’m sorry.”

  “Bring her back,” Ted cried, his hands digging into his father’s back. “Now.”

  “I would if I could.” He stroked Ted’s hair, like always. “Alenia never found Rebirth. Even if she had, I’ve forgotten every spell I knew. Every portal code. Every ability I had. I’m back to zero.”

  Ted snorted and pulled away, wiping tears from his eyes. “Alenia found the ruins, just never got in. Don’t think she tried very hard.”

  “But you found the ruins where Rebirth was sealed?”

  Ted sniffled and nodded his head. “Not like it helped. Only ever found one of the three keys.”

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  “Being, knowing, and having.”

  Ted raised an eyebrow.

  “We looked into it. Alenia found the password.” Dad’s brow furrowed. “I recall she found it, but now the word itself eludes me.”

  “Kiriel,” Ted whispered, wishing it made the slightest bit of difference.

  “What?”

  “The password. I tore it from her mind. And my blood—our blood—opened the first seal.”

  “Two out of three.”

  Ted shook his head and spat on the ground. “Her life’s ticking away. Two out of three might as well be zero out of a thousand.”

  His father said nothing in reply. Just… stood there, in that gaudy golden robe, wearing stolen weapons and carrying a scepter fit for an emperor.

  Ted’s heart skipped a beat, and he stared at the glowing diamonds set into the scepter.

  Could it be…?

  Warm jolts forced themselves through him, telling lies he didn’t dare believe. “That scepter,” Ted said, “where did you get it?”

  “This?” Dad held it up and gave a shrug. “Got an ability to summon it when I ascended the throne. Kind of excessive, don’t you think?”

  “The symbol of the Divine Emperor.” Ted looked up into Dad’s eyes and fought back a smile. “Any Divine Emperor would have it, yes?”

  “The third key?”

  Ted nodded. “Maybe. She deserves that hope, at least.”

  “That she does. All reports I’ve heard say she’s a brave one.” Dad handed over the scepter. “We’ll get her back.”

  “We better. First, though, we gotta save her world.” Ted clenched his fist and threw the Destroyer’s update out into the air. “Thoughts?”

  Dad studied the four-dimensional matrix of Orcish runes and symbols. “Same update the Destroyer gave me.”

  “It’s a trap, right?”

  “Bang on, kiddo.”

  Warmth fluttered in Ted’s chest. “Gok couldn’t find it.”

  “That’s because there isn’t one.” Dad grinned and clapped Ted on the back. “Not in what it does, anyway.”

  “So… the trap’s in what it doesn’t do?”

  “Bingo. Took me four, five years of sorting through the game’s code to find the hidden blade. The Destroyer’s immensely powerful, but not omnipotent.”

  Ted clenched up, remembering just how easily the Destroyer ripped dwarves apart, even working through a possessed dungeon spawn. “Taking him down won’t be easy.”

  “With enough juice or the right plan, we can—we will—take him down. But right now, even if we did, it would all be for nought. A version of him built a hidden reincarnation subsystem just for him. Gok can’t even see it, let alone edit it. The moment the Destroyer gets whacked, he’ll pop right back up in the prison we’re about to bust open.”

  “And let me guess—it bypasses Death?”

  That earned another of Dad’s grins, and a thumbs up. “You are on a roll, buddy. He try to sell you on his ‘I’m after a real fight’ bullshit, too?”

  “You bet.” Ted bounced slightly on his toes. “You’ve got a plan, right? A way to take this asshole down for good?”

  Dad’s grin vanished. “I found a configuration setting.”

  This couldn’t be good, but time was ticking away. “Hit me with it. What’s it do?”

  “Disables reincarnation in its entirety.”

  Ted’s smile fled. “So when you or I die…”

  “We can’t come back.” The corner of Dad’s lips turned up. “But when he dies? He gets deleted for good.”

  “We’ll only get one shot at him.”

  “Better make it count.”

  “And if he beats us?”

  Dad’s grin came back. “Then some other poor bastard gets to finish the job. But if we don’t kill reincarnation…”

  “…then no one’ll ever get the chance. Right.” Ted froze. “And Rebirth?”

  “Rebirth’s part of the magic system. Could bring us back, too, though I doubt the Destroyer will leave our corpses intact.” He looked away for a moment, then back to Ted, and pulled him into a hug. “We’ll get her back, son—I promise.”

  Ted pulled away. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  No biting retort came back. No outrage. Just quiet acceptance, or at least the illusion of it.

  Maybe he had changed. Maybe he hadn’t. Didn’t matter much, no while her corpse lay out there in the hallway, slipping away.

  The hammering in Ted’s chest quickened. If he was going to save both Cara and the world, it had to be now. “Gok, upload the update.”

  “Update uploaded successfully,” Gok said, its tone as flat as ever.

  “Alter the configuration setting Eric Williams is thinking of. Disable the reincarnation subsystem.”

  “Access denied.”

  Ted looked over at Dad.

  Dad met his gaze and frowned. “Never happened to me.”

  An icy chill ran down Ted’s spine. He turned away and his fingernails dug into his palm. “After your shenanigans, of course he doesn’t trust me with an inch more than he has to. Doesn’t want me breaking the world like you did.”

  “Ted, I—”

  “Shut it.” Ted advanced on Gok’s avatar and took a deep breath. “Gok, try again. Override or bypass any restrictions.”

  “Access denied.”