He returns his attention to me, and he’s looking at me funny. “I’m not making the same mistake twice,” the king says, evading my question. “We’ll be finishing your treatment in a more secure location.”

That’s when I know, I just know, I’m not all right. Not at all.

Things happen quickly after that. A nurse comes in with another round of pain pills, and I take them to distract myself from the king’s unnerving expression. He’s either deeply worried or deeply moved by me. Neither emotion is particularly welcome.

It’s only as I’m moved to a stretcher and wheeled out that I realize something’s amiss. My eyelids droop.

“What did you give me?” My voice slurs.

Montes is there, his brows pinched. “A mild sedative.”

“Am I going to die?”

“No, Serenity, you’re going to be fine.”

The King

The Resistance makes good on their threat of blackmailing the queen. The first leaked file hits the Internet shortly before we land in Geneva.

Serenity’s still unconscious, her body encased in the Sleeper, and she’ll remain in there for the rest of the week. The machine is busy regenerating the muscle and skin destroyed by the gunshot wound and removing the cancerous tissue that’s regrown since her last treatment. I could keep her in there like Marco suggested, but I’m a selfish prick and I want her out and by my side as soon as possible, cancer or no.

Marco himself is down in the hull of the aircraft with her, stashed away in another Sleeper. He also barely made it out of the hospital alive. The thought that I almost lost both Marco and Serenity to the Resistance has my fist curling in on itself. They’re going to regret pissing me off.

So far the Resistance has released just a single audio file from one of their meetings, one where Serenity’s taken an active role in the discussion. But even this small piece of evidence is damning. Serenity’s promised the Japanese Resistance members weapons in return for information.

The leader in me admits she’s good—shrewd, assertive, compelling, and empathetic when the conversation calls for it. Too bad she’s on the wrong side of the conflict.

Already the Internet is blowing up with this. The audio has been compared to that from the peace talks here. It matches.

“I want those sites shut down,” I say to the advisors onboard with me. “Have all the major search engines do a sweep for this audio file and have them block all the links they find. I want my top guys to trace the leak back to its source.

“Your Majesty,” one replies, “it’s likely encrypted.”

“I don’t fucking care. Have them find the source, or you’re all out of jobs. I’m going to hunt these assholes down.”