Selemene as well. How could I've been so blind?
And you were raised for better things.
Been years since I stormed a castle.
I never have. But it is on my list.
Having had my castle stormed, I can tell you it's not great.
No, this is my fight.
Travel to the enclaves.
-Free our brothers and sisters. -And you.
A reckoning here. I was raised for better things.
Recent experience has prepared me for worse.
I'll bring an army when I'm done.
Huh. Such a frail little girl when you came to us.
Never understood what the goddess saw in you.
Now, I do.
I am honored to call you Princess.
I think that's what you're looking for.
It is.
-It's been a long journey. -Too long.
Nothing.
I feel nothing at all. It's a fake.
Maybe it's not a forgery. Maybe it's all just a lie.
Shabarra never had any real power. It was obvious.
Should be obvious to everyone now.
And Sal before him. What does it take to kill a god?
A real god?
Slyrak would have known. He would have warned me.
You spent months failing to understand Slyrak.
But one fever dream with a little blue rock
and suddenly, it all makes sense?
Maybe he just grabbed onto the first thing that felt like an answer and clung to it.
Now nothing is what it's supposed to be,
and all you have left is grappling with an inconvenient reality.
We're missing something.
I'll need you to find Davion. He should hear about Lina.
He should know exactly who he's supporting.
Sure. Right. Will do.
You agreed three times. You must have great enthusiasm for this.
I'm brimming over with it.
-You have a doubt? -Absolutely not. Not at all.
Except, I just wonder if we're not rushing to judgment a little?
Facts are facts.
Oh, definitely. No question.
-Except… are they? -Luna knows what she saw.
Look, I don't know Luna, but I kind of know Lina.
Luna, Lina, that's not confusing at all.
Anyway, it seems to me even if she was there,
hunting assassins is kind of her job. Her old job, anyway.
Which is why she set the world on fire and fled the scene.
Davion had just dropped the emperor off a roof
and he was busy wrecking the Praetorian Guard.
I don't understand why you would defend her.
I'm not defending Lina at all.
I'm defending Davion.
He has a pretty good judge of people. They have a connection.
If Lina were capable of something like this,
Davion would know. He'd walk away.
But I will talk to him.
Deny his lies.
-Deny him.
If you had brought Davion home, this would all be over.
You lied to me. You used me. I believed in you.
Everyone makes choices. Some wise, some less so.
But you've learned the most important lesson.
People will disappoint you.
I can recover from our errors.
-Selemene is here at the tower.
Powerless. I've seen to that.
I ask only that you reclaim what is rightfully yours.
Rightfully mine?
You will take her divine spark.
You are Mene. Goddess of the moon.
Reborn.
You're giving me that look again.
I can't say I missed it. I did the best I could with what I had.
You weren't here. All I wanted was a way out.
Fighting chance.
Perhaps I misjudged. Perhaps I was overconfident.
But what would you have me do? I can't leave now.
And no. My ego is not in the way.
The woman tried to have me killed.
I can't just let that pass. I can't just let her win.
You're right. I sound just like Davion.
The assassin has disappeared. One witness is an escaped convict.
-The other, an enemy of the empire. -Irrelevant. Their story is true.
She tried to have me killed for her own political gain.
I believe you.
Even if the Senate believes you too, they will never turn against the Slayer.
I'm sorry, Sunbeam. There is nothing you can do.
But perhaps I can help.
I thought maybe time of day.
Dawn didn't work. Maybe noon is better.
-I wish it were. Truly. -Just put it away.
The real one is out there. I have to find it.
-I keep trying to tell you. -To give up?
To face reality.
Real? In this place? Nothing is real here. Everyone lies.
Everyone is hiding a knife somewhere. You've even got me doing it.
The official story? Lina, I murdered someone.
I started a war.
You and everyone else seem perfectly okay with pretending I'm not the reason.
Because you're not the reason.
The Eye is a fake. Mirana won't speak to me,
the whole damned world is coming to an end.
-And-- -Davion.
You're not the reason. I am.
You are the only thing that makes sense in this whole fucking mess.
I thought he would abdicate.
-What are you talking about? -Shabarra.
When your princess died,
I thought he would be exposed for what he was.
A fraud. I thought he would abdicate.
I thought the Senate would make him abdicate.
I more or less took that option off the table when I killed him.
You're not understanding me.
I hired the assassin who tried to kill Mirana.
Hellbear shit. I would know! I would feel it from you.
Shopkeeper Jim. Oath of silence. No, you wouldn't.
Don't tell me this.
I have to.
I've been alone my whole life. Then you walked into it.
I thought I had this figured out. I…
I thought I was so smart. I thought I could live with it.
I can live with a lot of things.
I can even live with you walking out the door and telling the world.
But lying to you makes me feel alone again and I can't live with that.
All this time, I thought the worst thing that could ever happen
was Terrorblade reshaping the universe to his liking.
Now, I wonder if he hasn't already.
Davion.
Uh, listen, there's something you should know.
I don't know if it's true, but you should probably hear about it.
It's about… Hey.
You don't look so good.
Lina hired the assassin. She told me everything.
Oh, you know, good. Credit for honesty, I suppose.
Give us the room, please.
I am so stupid. I'm so sorry.
Beliefs change. Trust breaks.
Faith endures.
For a thousand years, the exiled Coriel'Tauvi knew darkness.
Mene was gone. Slain.
Yet her people still worshipped. They loved.
They offered faith to dark shrines in remembrance of a dead goddess.
But love is a powerful magic.
It is the highest form of worship. Divine.
Even in the absence of a deity.
Love for our goddess found echo in the sparks Selemene had stolen.
Over time, Mene's echo took form.
It became manifest.
A physical expression of pure, collective will.
Need. Love.
It became a child. It became you.
-I just… I have abilities. -The goddess's abilities.
Weakened to be sure, but they are hers.
-How long have you believed this? -Since you saw my tower.
You should have told me then. You kept this to yourself.
You would not have heard the words. You would not have wanted to hear.
But now, our people need you.
The Coriel'Tauvi are drunk on their own rage.
You've seen it. They await your return. Believing you will fuel their shrines,
carry them from battle to battle at this speed of thought,
wherever the moon shines down on their narrow world.
I tried to make them stop. I begged them. My own family.
That means nothing to them now.
The only voice they will hear is the voice of their goddess.
I wish it could be different.
You are a gentle soul.
-But you must kill Selemene. -I can't.
Then watch our people drown the world in innocent blood.
-The choice is yours. -Not even your magic can kill a god.
Of course it can. I've done it before.
I lived by a code my whole life.
But since all this started, I've broken it over and over.
Every single time I told myself I had to do it, it was necessary.
I didn't know what I was walking into.
Now, it's all upside down and sideways.
You never liked to run from a fight.
Consider the possibility, you don't always have to run into them.
-That's what Kaden said. -You saw Kaden?
Very long story. But I should have listened to him.
I think I could tell you a similar story.
What a pair we are.
And now we have nothing. No throne, no Eye, no chance.
The Eye has to be real.
My father's power was real. I saw it, felt it.
Maybe it really was replaced. By someone with access.
Someone who could accept your uncle in the chair
but didn't want him on the throne.
Not really, not completely.
There would have been only one opportunity.
Where are we going?
To find a witness.
-Uh, Asar? -Princess?
Yeah!
That did not count. I demand a rematch!
Forgive my appearance, Your Highness. I've been in my cups.
No, forgive me for interrupting your revels, Captain.
And I was hoping we could speak.
She's unusually strong and yet so small.
You should ask her what she eats. Perhaps it would help you.
I remember that night well.
The panic. The fighting in the streets. The fires.
Then Shabarra's soldiers breached the palace.
The viceroy found me. Ordered me to get you to safety.
That's when I knew the fight was lost.
I couldn't save your parents
but I was ready to give my life to save you.
It's not your fault, Asar. I don't blame you.
But I have to know, how did my father die?
I don't know how it happened. Truly.
I just remember that sound, that terrible sound.
-Stand fast! -That hum.
I could feel it in the wall. I just…
The floor. Shaking my bones, my teeth.
The whole world seemed to stop. I couldn't move.
That's when I knew the emperor was dead.
The Eye. Was it also smuggled out of the palace?
-No, only the emperor may touch it. -I think someone did.
-I think they replaced it with a forgery. -Impossible!
Yet it seems it's true. Who could have taken it?
Who could even get near it other than the emperor?
Viceroy Kashurra? Seneschal Ekur?
Perhaps the Legati? But the guard would know.
No one would dare.
The night Asar whisked me out of the Imperium,
that was the worst night of my life.
I can only imagine.
You don't have to imagine. You know. You've lost as I've lost.
Seems there's always something new to lose.
And find again.
Kashurra has to know.
I think he knew Shabarra was a fraud. And I think he knew why.
He stood there and did nothing when I attacked.
He made up the cover story.
I think he did it all out of loyalty to your family.
If he has the Eye, we have to convince him to show us.
You have to convince him. I think you're the only one who can.
You're her. Selemene. The Dark Moon Goddess.
A goddess without worshippers. Without love.
Just another part of his collection.
You're the thief?
-The one who stole my lotuses. -I only wanted to bring my people home.
A home you stole from us a thousand years ago.
The Coriel'Tauvi spurned my love. Refused to worship me.
I did not banish them from the Nightsilver Woods.
They left of their own free will.
Those who remained, accepted me as their goddess.
We lived in peace. I left you to your own.
That's not in the stories.
Not in your stories.
You're saying our stories are lies.
All stories are lies.
It's strange. I feel I know you.
From the paintings, the statues.
Her journal. This was her room.
It was.
A long time ago.
Come, thief.
Let me have a closer look at you.
Tell me, what more would you steal from me?
I don't want anything from you.
-Follow me. -Where are we going?
To Filomena.
My girl.
She loved me.
Huh.
No!
Thank you, little Coedwen, for setting things right.
I will not forget your kindness.
You've no idea what madness you've loosed on the world.
Viceroy.
It's a bit late in the day for a dramatic entrance.
You are dismissed. All of you.
We weren't finished.
I've never had much enthusiasm for you, Lina.
You're gifted with great power,
but it's made you impulsive and intemperate.
Unpredictable. Very poor qualities in a leader.
You forgot your place very quickly.
And you overstepped.
The Imperium is a machine.
Every gear, every cog, must do its job reliably.
This includes the Emperor, who is merely a part of the machine
and does not truly direct it.
Successful emperors understand this. And so, the machine runs smoothly.
Unsuccessful emperors fall into the clockwork.
The machine tears them apart.
You've just described everything wrong with the Imperium.
I'm gonna smash your dawn-forsaken machine and build something new! Something better!
Every emperor thinks that.
For my part, I was willing to give you a chance.
Help you adapt. But you made a terrible mistake.
You tried to kill my Sunbeam.
Dawn Star.
What… What are you?
Death.
She was so alone.
So sad.
When the moment came, I… I couldn't do it.
She has not earned your sympathy.
Have any of us? And isn't that the point?
You say my family will listen to me and live in peace if only I asked them.
But the only way they'll listen is if I shed blood.
No.
-There must be another way. -There is no other way!
Life was good before I tried to make it better.
Maybe Selemene should be goddess of the moon.
Maybe everything can just go back to as it was.
Nothing ever goes back just as it was.
His Excellency is away on urgent business. Please, make yourselves comfortable.
Lovely hoard.
Uh, we call it a collection.
If I had stolen the most holy relic in the Imperium, I'd keep it here.
-Do you feel that? -You're right. It's strange.
There's a certain familiarity.
Like being pulled into a fall.
I give up. I don't feel a thing.
-I have a doubt. -You mean it's right back there?
How may I be of service, Princess?
You can start by giving us the Eye. The real Eye.
I'm afraid I don't understand.
I don't know what's sitting in the throne room, but it's not the Eye.
I don't care about your politics.
You could have told me. This would be over.
We believe you may have taken it the night my parents were murdered.
Well, to protect it, to keep its power out of my uncle's hands.
But we need it now, please.
I assure you, the true Eye is in the palace.
-I took nothing. -It doesn't work.
It didn't work for Shabarra, it didn't work for me.
Of course, it works.
It is simply not what you believe it to be.
Enlighten us then.
The Eye does not confer power. It simply confirms it.
It waits, as it has always waited, for the true heir to the throne.
It waits for you, Sunbeam.
You didn't steal the Eye.
No one could steal the Eye.
Fine. We'll take this up with Lina.
Lina will not help you.
No matter what she's done, she knows how much this matters.
This is no longer her concern.
I said there were things I could do, Sunbeam.
Things were done.
"Things"? What things?
The Slayer…
overstepped.
You killed her.
It's not possible.
No one can do what Lina can do. Not even me.
There is power in the world beyond the dreams of dragons.
We need to leave!
Lina shared the ember soul.
She was a part of me. A child of fire.
Davion, stop!
I will quench my rage in your blood.
I will feast on your flesh in her name.
Lay down your weapon. I would never harm you…
my little Sunbeam.
-The soldiers. -Captain.
Something's wrong.
I feel her.
Goddess.