“Perhaps he will be more willing to resume cordial relations with the Empire when he has a fire warlock inside his city.” The doge’s words rang with a steely edge. “For now, we will move in no additional troops, to preserve the serenity of the Empire.”

Vasante cleared her throat. “And what exactly happens if Ardence still refuses to receive the Serene Envoy, Your Serenity? If this last attempt at diplomacy fails?”

The doge pressed his fingertips on the table, leaning forward into the lamplight. “If they refuse to abide by the Serene Accords, they are rebels against the Empire. We will stop asking nicely, and give them the choice we gave Celantis: kneel or burn.”

His words sucked the air out of the Map Room.

The marquise of Palova lifted her snow-white brows. “That’s rather dramatic.”

“The Shadow Gentry are posting broadsides all over the city urging the duke to declare Ardentine independence, and Astor says nothing against them,” the doge snapped. “He’s still taxing Raverran merchants, and he’s rejecting imperial authority. I have sympathy for the families of the missing children, but if they won’t listen when we say we don’t have them, that sympathy dwindles. As does my patience.”

“Still, once you issue an ultimatum, any illusion of unity is destroyed,” La Contessa warned. “We affirm our strength, but at the expense of tyranny. Ardence will no longer be our friend and willing subject.”

The doge nodded slowly. “True. And that is why we will save such an ultimatum for a last resort. If Lady Amalia’s visit to the city is a personal one on the surface, our threat can remain implicit while they contemplate the benefits of peaceful dialogue.”

“She has friends in Ardence,” my mother agreed. “And my cousin Ignazio was already talking about making a trip to see to some business there. She can accompany him, and pay her respects in court with all the trappings of a purely social visit.”

I didn’t like the talk of using my friends as a screen to hide my far more sinister purpose in Ardence. But I pressed my lips shut. I had to choose my battles carefully if my opponents were my mother and the Council.

“With all respect,” Colonel Vasante objected, “if Lady Amalia is pretending to visit friends and traveling with her uncle, are you proposing she stay in the city rather than in the imperial garrison outside Ardence?”

The marquise of Palova let out a short bark of a laugh. “Staying in the garrison would rather decrease the subtlety of the message.”

A thoughtful divot appeared between my mother’s perfectly sculpted brows. “Putting our fire warlock in the heart of their city, smiling and attending their parties, is both friendlier and more pointed, and keeps the focus on a diplomatic rather than a military solution.” She glanced at me. “However, it does raise security concerns.”