“North Hollow is also lying conspicuously low just now,” White Haven put in, and Shemais chuckled nastily. Honor cocked an eyebrow at her, and the colonel smiled.

“One of the more interesting consequences of the destruction of the ‘North Hollow Files’—I mean, one of the consequences of the ridiculous assertion that something which never existed, like the so-called ‘North Hollow Files’ had been theoretically destroyed—is that quite a few people seem to want to discuss certain concerns with Earl North Hollow. It’s almost as if he’d had some sort of hold over them and now that it’s gone, well…” She shrugged, and Honor found it very difficult not to smile as she tasted the colonel’s vengeful delight. A delight, she admitted, which she shared to the full.

“So now that High Ridge and his cronies are gone, who’s running the Star Kingdom?” she asked after a moment. “Besides Willie, I mean.” She grinned. “The dispatch boat that delivered my recall orders also brought the ’fax stories about High Ridge’s resignation and the fact that you’d asked Willie to form a government, Elizabeth. But they were short on details.”

“Well,” Elizabeth replied, leaning back in her armchair, “Willie’s Prime Minister, of course. And we’ve brought back Baroness Mourncreek—except that I’ve decided to create a new peerage for her and make her a countess—as Chancellor of the Exchequer. We’ve brought in Abraham Spencer to run the Ministry of Trade for us, and I’ve convinced Dame Estelle Matsuko to take over the Home Office. Given the state High Ridge and that idiot Descroix managed to let the entire Manticoran Alliance get into—it’s confirmed, by the way, that Erewhon has definitely signed a mutual defense treaty with the Peeps—Willie and I figured we needed someone the smaller members of the Alliance would trust as Foreign Secretary, so we asked Sir Anthony Langtry to take over there.”

“I see.” Honor cocked her head to one side and frowned at the Queen. “Excuse me, Elizabeth, but if you’ve asked Francine to take over at the Exchequer, who’s going to be running the Admiralty?”

“Interesting that you should ask,” Elizabeth said around a bubble of treecat-like delight. “I knew I’d need someone particularly reliable to dig out the unholy mess Janacek and those idiots Houseman and Jurgensen left in their wake. So I turned to the one person I knew Willie and I could absolutely rely on.” She nodded at Hamish. “Allow me to introduce you to First Lord of Admiralty White Haven.”

Honor’s head whipped around in astonishment, and White Haven smiled crookedly. It was a very ambivalent smile, and it matched the taste of his emotions perfectly.

“Actually,” Elizabeth said much more seriously, “it was a hard call to make. God knows that taking Hamish out of a fleet command position at a time like this wasn’t anything that I wanted to do. But it would be impossible to exaggerate the gravity of the wreckage Janacek left behind.” She shook her head, her eyes now completely grim. “That son-of-a-bitch is damned lucky he committed suicide before I got my hands on him. I could probably have made a case for treason out of the way he mishandled his responsibilities and duties. ONI was the worst, and at the very least Jurgensen is going to be dismissed the service as unfit to wear the Queen’s uniform. There may well be criminal charges, as well, once the full story comes out, although I hope we can avoid witch hunts for the ‘guilty men.’ I fully intend to see those responsible for the unmitigated disaster of our present position punished, one way or another, but Justin—and Willie, not to mention Aunt Caitrin—have lectured me very firmly on the absolute necessity of administering justice evenhandedly and fairly. No star chambers, and no twisting of the law. Anything I can nail them for legitimately, yes, damned straight I will. But if I can’t, then the bastards walk.”