“We’re not going to do that,” he replied sternly.

Robb narrowed his eyes, but when Jax refused to relent, he looked away with a huff. “Well, I’m not telling Siege.”

“I will tell this Siege,” the Metal said.

In the rearview mirror, Jax watched Elara quirk an eyebrow at her partner. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know who Captain Siege is.”

“She is probably quite lovely, Elara.”

Jax programmed the coordinates to the dreadnought into the guidance system of the skysailer and banked up out of the atmosphere and into the star-filled sky.

Emperor

The orange light of morning spread across the crowd below like a slowly creeping fire. It reminded him of the way the Iron Shrine in the square below had burned, red then orange and then golden, until its insides were charred and the bone white of its steeple was the only part of it left standing. It reminded him of the way the Iron Palace had burned. The North Tower. This entire kingdom, if his sister had any say in it.

The streets of Nevaeh teemed with citizens, crowded into the avenues that crisscrossed over the city. From his perch on the edge of the floating garden of Astoria, they looked like an infestation of vermin. Messiers perched on the rooftops like prison guards, their skins glinting like flares in the morning light. Newsfeed drones orbited around him, cameras feeding his likeness onto large holo-screens so even the citizens near the slums could not escape his gaze.

The HIVE thrummed in his head like a heartbeat. It told him who he was, and who he needed to be, and what to say.

He spread his arms wide and the citizens roared his name.

“Goddess bless the Emperor!” they cried. “Goddess light his way!”

In the light spilling from the harbor above, he looked like a god, sunshine catching in his red hair, turning strands orange and gold. It reflected off the toggles and buttons on his rich black cloak, sparkling off the diamonds sewn into the fabric in galactic swirls. His cuff links burned like fire, the Valerio clasp around his neck like molten gold.

He looked like an icon—a god of the sun to rival the memory of their moon goddess.

Behind him, his Royal Guard, in their simple purple uniforms, stood in a quiet line. His sister had replaced all the human guards with Messiers after his coronation. Beside them were a few of his Iron Council—the Obsidias and Carnelians and Pyrites. Those who had pledged their unending devotion to the crown.

Also standing there was the sole Valerio who owned this floating garden. He’d never cared for the Valerio. The man looked on with a narrow sort of envy that was snakelike and wanting.

He raised his hands higher, palms out, and slowly lowered them. In return, the crowd sank into silence. There were hundreds of thousands of eyes on him, as the HIVE wanted. A beacon for them.

He savored it, only to close his eyes and see the Empress staring back at him. When his Messiers had caught her on that rooftop, he’d thought she would have been frightened, but there had only been pity in her eyes.