Robb caught Viera looking out toward the shrine in the distance. “Reminds me of the Academy a little,” he said to her as they were escorted through the city.

She was quiet.

“Do you remember that time—”

“Yes, Robb, I remember,” she interjected, annoyed, and excused herself from the procession. “I would like to go pray,” she said as she disappeared into the crowd, a Solgard following as escort.

He frowned. He and Viera had never been close, but something was strange about her. Perhaps six months in a dreadnought did that—but then why had the HIVE kept her alive? Not that he wasn’t glad she was alive. It was just . . . odd.

The guard led them through a large archway into the Spire. It was just as bright on the inside, the scratched walls so thin the soft midday light bled through them. But on closer inspection, the scratches were names—of millions of Solani. On every wall, in every hallway. The guard led them up a few flights of wide stairs and into a bright garden filled with plants he recognized but couldn’t name, long-petaled flowers and swirly-stemmed bushes. Where the Valerio garden was cluttered with so many beautiful flowers they all seemed to blend together, the ones in this garden were chosen carefully and planted around a dais in the center, with stone pathways spreading from it like rays of light. The ancient dais turned slowly with the fall of the sun, telling time in the ancient way.

Ana went ahead and explored the garden. He hung back, feeling into his pocket for the old iron ore his father had given him, and began to spin it between his fingers. Rust coated his fingertips, but he felt safe doing it. He knew what would happen when he touched iron. He was certain of that, while it felt like the rest of the world was spinning out of control. From the garden, he could see the bones of the Solani ark well, lying at the base of the valley like the carcass of an ancient creature.

A little way away, on a bench, he heard Siege and Talle whispering between each other. He had half a mind to walk away before he heard too much until—

“Is this my punishment?”

Talle drew Siege into a tight embrace and kissed her cheek. “Shhh.”

“I heard him, starlight. When he . . .”

He tore himself away from their conversation. What had Siege heard? Robb had been with Jax the whole time in the medical ward. Had he contacted the Dossier while on the dreadnought?

It didn’t matter.

He finally sat down on a bench and stared out at the green valley, and everything was quiet and beautiful and still. Here, for a moment, he could pretend the kingdom was not at war with itself, and that his clothes didn’t still smell like gunpowder, and his arm didn’t ache with phantom pains.

And he would trade it all for a firefight if only Jax was with him.