29. Rule of Blood

Sadeas fights the Parshendi in a plateau run and deliberately arrives before other highprinces to seize a gemheart, then throws it away to undermine accusations of greed. At a duel in the arena, he watches Adolin Kholin deliberately fight below his actual capacity to lure more challengers, impressing Sadeas with the deception. Sadeas and his wife Ialai discuss their plans to exploit political rifts with Dalinar and manipulate Adolin's hotheaded nature.

Sadeas concludes a battle against the Parshendi, killing crem-covered warriors with Oathbringer and savoring the diminishing thrill of combat. He and Amaram discuss the plateau run strategy; Sadeas reveals he no longer cares about maintaining deniability for breaking rotation rules, instead embracing brutal pragmatism as the only path to meaningful action. Amaram expresses concern about escalating conflict, warning of greater threats ahead, but Sadeas dismisses his moral reservations. To undermine Dalinar's narrative that resistance stems from greed, Sadeas throws the captured gemheart at Hatham's feet and rides away with apparent indifference. At the dueling arena hours later, Sadeas watches Adolin Kholin fight Eranniv while sitting beside his wife Ialai. Initially disappointed by Adolin's performance, Sadeas recognizes the youth is deliberately fighting beneath his true capacity—taking carefully-placed hits, appearing reluctant, and barely scraping victory—to make himself an appealing target for future duelists. Sadeas admires this mastery of deception. Ialai reveals an assassination attempt on King Elhokar two weeks prior, involving sabotaged balcony railings. Sadeas feels no genuine emotion at the king's near-death, accepting that Elhokar must eventually die for his kingdom-rebuilding plans. They discuss how Dalinar's appointment of Sadeas as Highprince of Information has backfired by giving Dalinar precedent to claim Highprince of War; Ialai identifies Dalinar's reluctance to delegate as an exploitable weakness. They plan for Ialai to seed doubts in court about Dalinar's willingness to share power, then have Sadeas renounce his appointment at the perfect moment to widen political fractures. After recognizing Adolin's true skill, Sadeas instructs Ialai to stop discouraging duelists from challenging the youth, positioning himself to control Adolin as a weapon. He asks Ialai to invite Ruthar, eager and loyal, to join future raids. Sadeas privately reflects that he would have killed Dalinar regardless of the man's flaws, and commits to brutal honesty with himself.