Dangerous Aja, the Sovereign’s favorite killer, sits in a chair near the window—a powerful panther of a woman with skin duskier than her siblings’, and eyes with slitted pupils. She is one of the Olympic Knights, the Protean Knight to be technic. She was Lorn’s last student before me. Though he didn’t teach her everything. Her armor is gold and midnight blue and writhes with sea serpents.
A young boy enters quietly from another room to sit beside Aja. I recognize him immediately. The Sovereign’s only grandson, Lysander. No older than eight, but so very composed. Regal in his quiet, thin as a scarf. But his eyes. His eyes are beyond gold. Almost a yellow crystal, so bright they could nearly be said to shine. Aja watches me appraise the boy. She takes him onto her lap protectively and bares her teeth, their whiteness fiercely bright against her dark skin. Like a great cat playfully saying hello. And for the first time I can remember, I glance away from a threat. The shame burns hot and sudden in me. I might as well have kneeled to her.
“But there are always consequences,” the Sovereign says. “I’m curious. What did you want out of that duel?”
“The same as Cassius au Bellona. The heart of my enemy.”
“Do you hate him so much?”
“No. But my survival instinct is … enthusiastic. Cassius, as far as I am concerned, is a stupid boy crippled by his upbringing. His stock is limited. He talks of honor but he stoops to ignoble things.”
“So it wasn’t for Virginia?” she asks. “It wasn’t to claim her hand or sate your jealous rage?”
“I’m angry, but I’m not petty,” I snap. “Besides, Virginia isn’t the sort of woman who would stand for such things. If I did it for her, I would have lost her.”
“You have lost her,” Aja growls from the side.
“Yes. I realize she has a new home, Aja. Easy to see.”
“Do you lash out at me, my goodman?” Aja touches her razor.
“My goodlady, I do but lash out.” I smile slowly at her.
“She’ll gut you like a pig, boyo,” Fitchner says quickly. “Don’t give a piss if Lorn taught you how to wipe your ass. Think twice on who you insult here. The true blades of the Society do not duel for sport. So mind your gorydamn tongue.”
I touch my razor.
He snorts. “If you were a threat, do you think they’d let you keep that?”
I nod to Aja. “Another time, perhaps.” I turn back to the Sovereign, straightening. “Perhaps we should discuss why you are holding my house under military guard. Are we under arrest? Am I?”
“Do you see shackles?”
I look at Aja. “Yes.”
The Sovereign laughs. “You’re here because I want you to be.”
An idea comes to me. I try not to smile. “My liege, I should like to apologize,” I say loudly. They wait for me to continue. “My manners have always been … lacking. And so I find the manner of my actions nearly always distracts from their purpose. The base fact is, Cassius deserved worse than what I supplied. That I disobeyed you was not meant as insult by myself or the ArchGovernor. Were he not unconscious on account of your dog”—I glance at Fitchner—“I wager he would do what needed to be done to make amends.”
“Make amends,” she repeats. “For …”
“For the disturbance.”
She looks to Aja. “Disturbance, he says. Dropping a dish is a disturbance, Andromedus. Helping yourself to another man’s wife is a disturbance. Killing my guests and cutting off the arm of an Olympic Knight is not a disturbance. Do you know what it is?”
“Fun, my liege?”
She leans forward. “It is treason.”
“And you know how we treat with treason,” Aja says. “My father taught my sisters and me.” Her father, the Ash Lord. Burner of Rhea. Lorn did not like him.
“An apology from you is insufficient,” the Sovereign says.
“Wrong,” I reply.
The Sovereign is caught off guard by my tone.
“I said I should like to apologize. But the problem is, I cannot, because it should be you who apologizes to me.”
Silence.
“You little whelp,” Aja says, rising slowly.
The Sovereign stops her, words cutting clear and cold. “I did not apologize to my father when I took his head from his body. I did not apologize to my grandson when his mother’s ship was destroyed by Outriders. I did not apologize when I burned a moon. So why would I apologize to you?”
“Because you broke the law,” I say.
“Perhaps you were not listening. I am the law.”
“No. You’re not.”
“So you are a student of Lorn’s after all. Did he tell you why he abandoned his post? His duty?” She looks at Lysander. “Why he abandoned his grandson?”
I did not know the boy was Lorn’s grandson. My teacher’s retirement makes sudden sense. He always spoke of Society’s fading glory. How men have forgotten themselves mortal.
“Because he saw what you have become. You are no Empress. This is no empire. We are the Society. We are bound by laws, by hierarchy. No person stands above the pyramid.” I look to her killers. “Fitchner, Aja, you protect the Society. You ensure peace. You sail to the far reaches of the System to root out weeds of chaos. But above all else, what is the purpose of the twelve Olympic Knights?”
“Go on,” Aja says to Fitchner. “Play into his mummer’s farce. I will not.”
Fitchner drawls out, “To preserve the Compact.”
“To preserve the Compact,” I say. “And the Compact states, ‘A duel, once begun, cannot reach resolution until its terms are properly fulfilled.’ The terms were death. But Cassius is not dead. His arm will not suffice. I honor the iron ancestors and my rights stand inviolable. So give me what is mine. Give my the gorydamn head of Cassius au Bellona. Or reject the legacy of our people.”
“No.”
“Then we have nothing more to discuss. You may find me on Mars.”
I turn on my heel and walk toward the door.
“Work for me,” the Sovereign calls.
I stop in my tracks. These people are so bloodydamn predictable. They all want what they can’t have.
“Why?” I ask without turning.
“Because I can give you resources Augustus cannot. Because Virginia has already seen how true that is. You want to be with her, don’t you?”