“Surely not,” says Major Reyes. Under the steel-boned exterior xe conceals quiet embers of belief in institutions and faith that logic and good sense will always prevail. Surely the Throne can be persuaded by the undeniability of the miracles xe has witnessed.

“After the injury suffered to their fleet—the loss of the ships and the mechs—they are sure to ask for something in compensation,” says the Archbishop. “And the Throne will appease them.”

Lightning sets her fork down, grim with knowledge and pessimism. “The Archbishop is right. I know my brother, and I know my grandmother. They would do it.” A shake of the head, disgust. “They want to make nice with the Heretics. It’s their life goal. You’ve noticed, haven’t you?”

Unease swells like saltwater. The princess is right. A lifetime of appeasement to the Heretics—and therefore the nullvoid—is the common thread that has drawn all of them here, today, in a little knot of sedition. Misery cuts to the quick: “What favor do you wish to ask, Archbishop?”

Pyrex Imogen’s face remains impassive, but there’s a sigh in their eyes, a slight lowering of the lids like the air’s been let out. “We must strike directly at the Heretics. Score a victory so immense, and of such military import, that it cannot be denied. And no, the destruction of a single Heretic ship is insufficient. We must achieve something on a scale never before seen.”

The General stiffens. “Are you suggesting invasion? The banquet of Angelsteeth is insufficient. Even with the archangel at our head. To do so would be suicide.”

“Nothing quite so bold,” says the Archbishop, although the idea fills them with a bright frission. “The Heretics, on the contrary, have had no qualms in entering our spaces. Encroaching upon our territory. Perhaps this is something we could address.”

“You mean the siege,” Diamond says. “You want to break the siege.”

The siege. Her captain can only mean one thing. The siege of Monkglass, which the Heretics have held for nearly a year. Misery has heard of it. Misery hasn’t thought much of it. But it makes perfect sense. Now that it’s laid before her—of course—this is the biggest incursion into Faithful space—the biggest insult to them—and yet it has been treated like nothing more than a diplomatic standoff.

“I do mean the siege of Monkglass,” Pyrex Imogen says.