Mockingly, the Emperor replied, “Oh, a boy with Spitters! I’m so scared!”

But despite the mocking tone, the Emperor did raise his hands, and that was enough.

Outstanding, Beltran.

Instantly, the Dolls behind the Emperor leapt into action. One worked the combination for the carcanet and yanked it aside, while another snatched the Wolf Crown. It happened incredibly quickly.

Within a single breath, the Emperor was stripped naked, including everything. Robes, shirt, trews, underwear—

The wolf statues stirred and came to life, ruby eyes suddenly blazing brightly, and stared at the tableau before them.

Oh, hells.

The seven wolves howled, incredibly loudly. All seven, and the horrific sound increased in volume and pitch as they prepared to leap. It was more than just sound, it created a dizzying disorientation that weakened everybody that wasn’t either wolf or Doll.

Now, with the protective items he’d worn removed from him, that included the Emperor.

Herald Beltran swayed and fired both Spitters into the Emperor, striking him with two gut-shots before dropping both weapons to cover his ears.

It happened so fast the Emperor was only just beginning to understand when Kordas and Merrin moved. Merrin drew his Spitter, jammed it into the Emperor’s throat, and fired, sending the bolt into his larynx. Anything the Emperor might have been about to say died in a gurgling, gagging sound.

Then Kordas drew his Spitter, twisted the handle, reversed it, and smashed the pommel into the Emperor’s forehead.

The mercy-piston, meant to pierce a horse’s or cow’s thick skull, had no problem with a mere human skull. The bolt drove soundlessly into the Emperor’s brain, enveloped in frost clouds from the six jet-vents of the piston, and rebounded back in Kordas’s grip.

The Emperor was dead before his knees gave and his body hit the lush golden carpet.

The wolf statues silenced, and stared, their eyes still bright.

Merrin grabbed the Wolf Crown and jammed it onto Kordas’s head, as Kordas clasped the Carcanet around his own throat, then bent down and yanked the ring off the Emperor’s forefinger and jammed it onto his own.

Then the wolf statues closed their eyes and froze in place once more.

Oh . . . hells. That was too close.

Kordas turned to the Dolls, who had also frozen in place. Clearly they had not expected him to do that.

“Who do you serve?” Kordas demanded, barely hearing his own voice over the effects of the howling earlier.

There was a short pause. “He who wears the Crown, the Carcanet, and the Ring,” they said.

Kordas leaned hard against the desk, panting. Everything spun a little, and his head pounded. He’d worked out earlier that the set of items were powerful, but the sensation of actually wearing them was enough to do his head in. As soon as Merrin and the Dolls pulled the Emperor’s body away, Kordas fell into the chair, mopping at his forehead with the left sleeve of his thunderstorm-dyed shirt. He closed his eyes.