General Fenrik turned his head stiffly as he passed. Like the Emperor, he had passed his century mark a while ago. It took him only a split second to place Kiem, and the expression on his face suggested the information he was pulling up on him was not favorable. “Oh hellfire, it’s you this is all about?” he said.

“Tegnar’s boy. I’d forgotten you.”

“Um,” Kiem said. “Sorry, I’m not up to speed here.”

General Fenrik snorted. “Go in.” He turned away, his back military-straight.

As he turned, Kiem caught sight of his wooden Imperial insignia, and was suddenly reminded of the same insignia on Aren’s uniform. Taam had had a circle of young officer friends, part of the backbone of the army. They had known Jainan. Why had nobody reported anything? What was wrong with the army this man ran?

“General,” Kiem said.

General Fenrik stopped and looked back, impatient and forbidding. “What?”

Kiem stared at him. There was nothing he could say, he realized, unless he was planning to tell Fenrik everything. “No,” he said. “Never mind.” In the face of Fenrik’s renewed frown, he turned and pressed his hand to the entrance panel to start his bios checks.

His eyes took a moment to adjust to the holos covering the comms room. The Emperor had apparently projected her entire inner study. Kiem had never seen her in these surroundings; whenever she talked to him, it was a stiff, formal occasion in her receiving rooms where he sat on an uncomfortable gilded chair to be grilled on his latest unsanctioned interview. But this room was different; this was the Emperor’s working room. It was severely plain, no gold at all, with unadorned walls that probably disguised some serious soundproofing back on Iskat. As Kiem crossed the threshold, his wristband went dark. A holo table overlapped awkwardly with the real one on the station, covered with neat squares of projected files. The chairs pulled up to the table weren’t even vidchairs, so the whole room must be bristling with sensors. Three projections sat around the table: the Emperor, an aide, and Chief Agent Rakal.

“There you are, Kiem,” the Emperor said, cutting across something Rakal was saying. Rakal fell silent immediately. “Where have you been? Sit down.”

Kiem bowed, muttered an apology, and pulled out a chair that he hoped was real. That wasn’t as bad as it could have been: the Emperor had once kept him standing outside for three hours after he’d been late to an appointment. But it

wasn’t reassuring either. He sat on the edge of his seat, tense, and looked between them for clues. “May I ask why I was summoned, Your Majesty?”

“I summoned you a good while ago,” the Emperor said, her tone crisp.

“General Fenrik tells me the army has apprehended your Thean partner on suspicion of doing away with Taam.”