“If not for your father, I would have you join Gordian upon the pyre,” he said. “I tell you this so you understand the extent of the mercy I show you this night.”

Mercy, she thought as she spat blood upon the sand. At some point she’d bitten her tongue, yet she remembered not when. I will teach you mercy one day, paragon.

“I pray you feel better now you have released your frustrations upon me,” Sinshei said instead as she rose unsteadily back to her feet, wiped at her dress, and swallowed down her shame. She had to pretend nothing were amiss. The last minute was an aberration none would speak of. That was the key to enduring these insults, these humiliations. Push them into the past, stand up tall, and act like everything was proper and fine. A little death, but she had sacrificed worse in service to the church. “So what now is your plan, Imperator-Regent?”

“We have no more time,” Magus said, and for the first time that night, a hint of panic crept into his voice. “The six hundredth year of your father’s reign approaches. Thanet must be made ready. Now you may help me, Sinshei vin Lucavi, or you may board that boat with Katrin so I can elevate a magistrate into an Anointed who will. Those are your only two choices. All other paths, well…” He glared at the pyre. “You see where they lead you.”

A fire burned hotter than lava in her belly but she dared not let that rage show. The Imperator would view it as a challenge, and his pride would never let him back down from a perceived threat. Only the God-Incarnate himself could condemn Magus for his crime against her. But she knew her father. He would not condemn. He would only approve. So it was either summon her holy blades and spill his blood upon the sands, or feign obedience, and right now she was in no shape for a duel.

“I am not leaving this island,” she said. “Nor shall I abandon my honored post.”

“Then it seems we have an agreement.” He turned for the rope ladders, pausing only to spit upon the dwindling pyre. “Tomorrow, we rebuild the Dead Flags, and we enforce the Joining Laws in their entirety. Make the announcement, as well as news of my appointment as regent. We have coddled the people of Thanet long enough. These spoiled children shall faithfully kneel in servitude, one way or another. If they reject our loving embrace, then we shall give them the clenched fist instead.”

CHAPTER 31

RAYAN

Rayan walked the Midtown market as soldiers tore apart the nearby stall.

“You were warned,” one of the soldiers shouted. It seemed it was the only phrase he knew in Thanese, and he gave it repeatedly.