Something strikes her across the forehead, knocking her backward, and Misery is whipped back into her body. Flat on her back on the dais with her head throbbing, her vision clouded by wild sparks and pain. A roaring in her ears that is half blood and half keening. Something—someone—stands above her, a human-shaped silhouette. The Empress Dowager? Someone else? In the dome of faux sky sits the delusion Ruin, enormous and angel-shaped, multiple limbs spanning the width of the stars. Before the second blow lands Misery imagines that zie is laughing.

INTERLUDE 3

The Throne did not appreciate Misery Nomaki’s little display of power. Of course not. One does not threaten the life of an emperor without consequences. One does not kill hundreds of the rich and powerful and get to live. The Emperor wanted them executed on the spot, but his grandmother, veins swollen with cruelty, wanted a spectacle. A drawn-out public hearing and public spectacle. Not just for Misery, but for the Duke of Apis, who dared bring this degenerate to her. And her granddaughter, for her naked defiance while the whole Empire was watching. Blood only protects you if you bow to its whims.

Such things take time to plan. The offenders would need to be put away for months while the public trial was prepared. The Church, with their canny whispers, managed to divert the prisoners to a highly classified military base on the edge of the duchy. It was in their interests, in fact, that the three go there specifically.

But in the meantime, the Empire talked. Despite the Throne’s wishes, despite the media blackout they enforced, the events at the Grand Amphitheater filtered into the public consciousness. What Misery Nomaki said shone with the glaze of truth. After all, the Messiah’s coming had been predicted years ago by the prophet of Calister. Had the Faithful not forgotten the teachings of the First Eight in recent years? The Throne had gone as far as to pursue peace with the Heretics, as if such a thing could possibly exist. Punishment had been long coming from the Larex Forge, who had afforded far too much of Hir Grace to Hir wayward children. Would the Emperor risk further displeasing the Demiurge by rejecting the one chosen to lead them back to Hir side?