Shame welled within her. She’d already cost them Shell and Frond. They’d both died protecting her. Those days of them gathering around a fire, sharing food and old memories – those days were gone. They’d never happen again. But Nisong wasn’t responsible for their deaths. The Empire was. Her anger was a flame that licked away the guilt. “The Emperor said she’d try to find a way for us to live without draining her people’s lives. Her rule is weak. How long will everyone stand by and wait while the Emperor experiments on us? And do you want to open yourself up to her, let her reach her hand inside you and manipulate your shards? Change who you are?” No. The Emperor didn’t deserve that sort of trust. The Empire didn’t deserve that sort of peace. “This isn’t about my satisfaction.”

The Empire expected a monster? She would be the monster.

Her beasts filled the streets, growling and snapping – a tangled river of fur, claws and feathers. She’d collected more constructs as they’d swept across two more islands. And she’d continued to enact her impromptu Tithing Festival. She’d had a little more time to repair the bodies, to optimize some of them for combat. Still, she’d heard the other constructs in her army call them “shamblers”. She couldn’t complain; it was a fitting name for such lowly creatures. They followed behind the beasts, mopping up the stragglers.

“I’ll watch over you,” she told Coral and Leaf. “I’ll keep you safe.”

A family ran out of one of the burning buildings, leading a boy by the hand. Their gazes darted down the streets, frantically seeking refuge. The boy cried and the constructs leapt for them. One of the boy’s fathers drew a sword; the other a kitchen knife. They pressed the boy between them.

“They didn’t do anything to us,” Coral said.

Nisong rounded on her, her temper fraying. “Shell and Frond might have something to say about that if they were still alive.”

Coral shrank back.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” Nisong said, reaching her hands out. Coral took them, leaning into her touch. “I don’t like this either. I wouldn’t do this unless I had to, you do understand that?”

She’d realized after the battle in that palace courtyard that Coral held some memories of a past life too, though Nisong wasn’t sure whose memories they were. Someone who’d once been close to her.

These people deserved what they got. They didn’t care about the lives they were snuffing out when they killed constructs. Still, she surprised herself by lifting a hand and calling out. “Leave them alone. We may need them alive later for Tithing.” Her constructs fell away from the family, regrouping and circling back toward her.