It was my foremost duty as Captain of the Imperial Guard to keep Lin safe, but even in that simple task I was conflicted. I’d come here ready to topple an Empire and had found a freshly crowned Emperor in place of the old man I’d expected. Rebellion didn’t come with instructions. Should I have tried to help the assassin? Should I have murdered this new Emperor before she could name an heir?

Ranami had told me to send them reports. Surely killing the Emperor would be one step better. It would throw everything into chaos and leave me vulnerable, but would Gio care about that? Even as I thought it, though, I didn’t think I had it in me. I’d broken the law time and time again, I’d defended myself and others, but I’d never murdered a person in cold blood.

Lin paused in writing her letters, her gaze on the burgeoning clouds. Bing Tai sat on her left, and Thrana sat on her right. Thrana had grown more since Lin had ascended to the throne, though her growth seemed to have leveled out. She was the size of a large dog now, her horns sweeping away from her face, forking into one branch at the very ends. I suspected that Mephi would always be a little smaller. He lay at my feet, belly up to the meager sun, his whiskers twitching as he dreamt.

“I have to do more than just end the Tithing Festival,” she said. “It’s just that everyone wants things to change right away, and I don’t know if that’s possible. These things take time.”

I cleared my throat. I wasn’t sure why she’d want to speak to me, but she certainly wasn’t speaking to the clouds. “Eminence?”

She turned her head, one eye meeting mine. Her hand rested on Bing Tai’s shoulder. “I’ve asked Ikanuy to send out posters. I’m putting a bounty on the constructs on the other islands. If they have no masters, then they’re dangerous. And as long as they live, they’re slowly draining the lives of my citizens. At the same time, I haven’t dismantled all the constructs here. I need to show the strength of my convictions, but it’s hard.” She stroked the construct’s fur and the creature let out a soft whuff. “Bing Tai hasn’t done anything wrong.” She spoke about him as though he were his own entity, his own living being. “He is all I have. He and Thrana.”

“You have your steward.”

A slight smile graced her lips before she returned her gaze to the clouds. “Yes, I suppose there’s that.”