Jax melted with relief. He looked as dashing as always, in a crisp lavender coat and pressed trousers. It was still a little startling to see Jax with short hair, falling just below his chin, but he was no less dashing. He wore starlike decorations on his head, too bright to be silver, that seemed to glow all on their own—the C’zar’s crown. “About time you got here! I was worried I’d have to waste away over here alone,” Jax said, and they kissed.

Robb couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll never get tired of doing that.”

“We should do it as often as possible.”

“Because you love to kiss me, right?” he asked.

“Because it makes the Elder Court so deliciously angry. An Ironblood and a C’zar? How devious.” He nodded over to a group of stodgy old men who were glaring daggers at them. “And also because I love to kiss you. That’s a given.”

“Thanks for the clarification—”

Jax kissed him again, longer this time, slower, running his tongue along his bottom lip, and when they parted, he lingered so close they shared a breath. “I clarify very well, thank you. Are they scowling yet?” he added, nudging his head toward the Elder Court.

Robb chanced a look. “Oh yes, scowls galore.”

“Good.”

He rolled his eyes and took another sip of champagne. “Is Di here?”

“Not yet.”

“I heard he had a few, um, appointments with some engineers. Because of his—” He motioned to his chest. “What my brother did. It brushed his memory core.”

“Yes, well, he’s glitching—like he had been before this whole mess started. Except this time it’s a little worse, I think.”

“And Ana doesn’t know, does she?”

“No, and speaking of whom, she’s yet to grace the party. Fashionably late as usual.” When Robb began to ask if he knew what was taking her so long, Jax nudged his head toward the other side of the ballroom to change the subject. Across the way, Lenda nervously clutched the arm of the newly reinstated captain of the royal guard. Lenda never did do well in crowds. They were talking with Mokuba and part of Captain Redbeard’s crew, and Robb happily noted that at least two of them had gold teeth. “I never thought Viera and Lenda would become a thing. They seem to be having a good time.”

Robb agreed. “I think Viera’s smiling. Never thought I’d see that.”

“At a funeral, too, ma’alor. Ghastly.”

After a moment, Robb asked, “Ana is coming, isn’t she?” in a low voice, so as not to alarm anyone.

The C’zar tilted his head one way and then the other. The light under his skin flickered playfully. “Why wouldn’t she? She is Siege’s daughter.”

“That’s why I’m worried.”

Ana

She took the royal purple coat from where it was laid out on her bed and held it, trying to decide if she really wanted to wear something so . . . so purple. There really wasn’t a better way to describe it. Purple and gold, the crown’s colors—and so also her colors—although too bad she looked better in literally any other shade. The purple coat reminded her too much of her father’s.