Seraphina's laugh was a small, bitter thing. "What does that mean? He is the head, he is the heart. Destroy Luca and you tear the whole body down."
The master drew his hand across his beard thin, silver, a map of years and stepped forward until his shadow and hers braided.
He folded his fingers together and considered her like a chess player contemplating the board.
"Luca," he mused, "is not simply a man to be removed.
He is an axis, remove the axis and the wheel might still turn, driven by another force entirely.
You have been trying to cut through steel when what you need is to undermine the fire that tempers it."
Seraphina felt the trap of his words pull tight across her chest. "And what fires him? Tell me plainly."
