“Is it about End?” Cardenia pressed.

“Your Majesty…”

“You’re involved in it in some way, aren’t you? The rebellion on End.”

Amit looked exasperated. “Your Majesty. Why would we do that?”

Cardenia ignored the condescension inherent in the exasperation, because her mind was focused on the larger question: How would the Nohamapetans benefit from a rebellion on End? If they were engaged in it in some way it would mean they were either trying to win the favor of the sitting duke, install a new one, or possibly have a family member ascend to the throne—Ghreni Nohamapetan, the younger brother, perhaps.

But why? If the sitting duke was deposed and the action could be traced to the Nohamapetans, then the duke (or more likely his heirs) could force a suit in the Interdependency courts, along with a request to escrow the house’s profits pending the resolution of the suit. That would be bad for business. If the Nohamapetans installed one of their own as duke of End, then they would ultimately have to give up their home base of Terhathum, where Amit’s mother Jedna was the sitting countess—

Terhathum.

The part of Cardenia’s brain in charge of gestalting slammed everything together and shoved it into her consciousness.

“Oh my God,” she said, looking at Amit. “You know. You know about the Flow.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Amit said, but his look of absolute surprise when Cardenia mentioned the Flow called him a liar.

“You know it’s about to collapse. You know that Terhathum is next. You’re abandoning it for End.” Cardenia stopped for a second, and then stared at Amit, not comprehending. “You know it’s going to collapse but you’ve done nothing to save your own people. Why?”

“It’s not collapsing, it’s shifting,” Amit started to say, and then clammed right the hell up.

Cardenia continued to stare, and then her brain kicked in and realized what he said. “No, Lord Amit. Oh, no. They’re not shifting, they’re closing entirely. Listen to me. You need to send a message to Terhathum today. Right now. They have to get ready. They have to prepare.”

“Prepare for what?”

“For the collapse, Amit. For the collapse.”

Alarms went off, and from behind and in front, guards came rushing at the two of them.

Amit looked around, shocked. “She wouldn’t,” he whispered. “She wouldn’t. Not to me. Not now.”

“What is it, Amit?” Cardenia asked.

He looked at her. “I’m sorry, Cardenia,” he said, and then they were both grabbed by guards and pulled away, Cardenia in the direction they came from, Amit in the direction they were going to go.