A handful of soldiers are on duty inside the Butchery and Alodia Lightning sends them to patiently wait outside the doors, leaving Misery and the princess alone in the cavernous space. The princess stands by the railing, arms folded, a deliberately sketched picture of calm and rationality. “It’s holy bluestone. You’ve had some experience with it, haven’t you? It lines the insides of jump portals. We use it for transport pads.”

Misery grounds her feet. Forces herself to breathe, deliberately. “That’s the seraph I was in?”

“It was.”

“It’s transformed.”

“Very astute observation. It’s no longer a seraph. It’s a storehouse of holy blue in the shape of a seraph.”

“That’s a rare stone. Isn’t it?”

“Holy bluestone has never been found in the wild. Nowhere else outside the jump portals the Larex Forge put down for Hir Faithful. All the transport pads come from the one jump gate we found broken and torn apart. Now you’ve gone and made five hundred tons of it.”

Misery stops pacing, tries to think about what this means, and starts pacing again. She wants to vomit. “Did I do this?”

“You tell me. Did you?”

Here’s the thing. It’s almost certain she did. She’s fucked with holystone all her life—it’s always been her thing. Holy labradorite, flesh of the seraph: this is what happens when it touches the mind of the voidmad. The first time they put her in a seraph, she fucked it up permanently. She’s really blown the bag here. She’s screwed.

“It was I who did it.”

The voice startles Misery into near-panic. Ruin has been missing since Misery woke, but under the grip of the salves she hasn’t noticed. Right now the angel—the delusion—resolves hirself in the dark space between Misery and the seraphs. Zie shines in the odd light of the Butchery, more radiant and ineffable than before.

“You saw my true form after you touched that seraph, didn’t you? I am showing you the way, Misery Nomaki. I am showing you the path to your destiny. To our destiny.”

Misery doubles over, head throbbing. The salves are trying to fight this delusion, trying to beat back the nullvoid. But the voidmadness has won. Misery’s body heaves as it struggles with the weight of the Great Destroyer, humanity’s bane. It’s going to come through her soon. It’s going to boil her marrow and shatter her teeth.

“That is no longer a seraph,” Ruin says, triumphant and golden. “It is an invitation. Will you answer?”

Someone catches her as she falls to her knees. It’s the princess, the Lady Alodia Lightning. Arms all strong and supportive, pulling Misery upright before her chin hits the floor. “What’s wrong?”