"No, you can't come down with me."
"But I don't have class right now."
"You have to resume your lessons in eight hours, don't you?"
The hissing Nostraman once again echoed through a room aboard The Emperor's Dream. After a stretch of silence, Konrad Curze nodded very reluctantly.
"But I want to help you," he said, clinging to his last shred of hope.
Kael gave no answer. He merely looked at Konrad Curze in silence. Under his gaze, Konrad Curze gradually lowered his head.
"I don't want to tell you what you should do, Konrad. But we both know that what you need to do most right now is study, don't we?"
"I just want to go on one patrol."
"I've already put in a word with them for you," Kael said calmly. "From Number One to that broken-horned one you haven't named yet, I spoke to all of them."
The pale giant abruptly raised his head—he was still shorter than Kael now, something that had never happened before, yet it somehow felt fitting.
"Really?" he asked quietly.
"I've never lied to you, have I?"
Kael smiled faintly and stepped forward, opening the door to Konrad Curze's room for him. Their conversation ended there, and their final exchange was not conducted with words.
Through the doorway, the Night Haunter stared at him for a while.
Through the doorway, Kael calmly nodded.
The door shut softly.
The double-headed eagle carved upon it took Konrad Curze's place, staring coldly at Kael. He returned its gaze with equal indifference, though he could not help wondering why the Emperor had chosen the double-headed eagle as the symbol of the Imperium.
Unfortunately, the answer to that question would have to wait. He had not had time to study lately, and aboard The Emperor's Dream—
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