This seemed to mollify the orderly. “There we are,” he said as the names flashed up. “It’s visiting hours, so if any of them are still around, your readings are stable enough to see someone.”

“Thank you,” Jainan said. He scanned the list.

Kiem’s name wasn’t on it. The omission was like a hand clenching at Jainan’s throat. He spun down to the bottom with the screen’s clumsy sensor and then read it over again, but unless Kiem had given an alias, he hadn’t requested a visit. Were Jainan’s memories of him from the Tau field even real? A beeping noise started up next to the bed. Jainan realized it must be his heart rate monitor.

“Steady there,” the orderly said, checking the tube going into his wrist. Jainan swapped hands and spun back up the list.

He told himself it didn’t mean anything final. The situation was complicated; Kiem could have been instructed not to visit him. And surely everyone on Carissi Station would have heard if a member of the royal family had died, just as they would have heard if combat drones were dropping on a Thean city. He glanced at the orderly, who was frowning over his readings.

He needed more information. He took a deep breath and looked down the list again. He needed someone who would help him.

Nearly every name was someone he knew. Bel. Gairad. Professor Audel. Bel again—she seemed to have called every hour. The Thean Ambassador, and the Deputy Thean Ambassador, and others from the embassy. He realized, with a light-headed feeling, that he could call on any of them, and they would tell him what they knew and help him find out more. He didn’t understand how he suddenly had so many options.

But it was obvious whom he should talk to first. He lifted his head. “Could you see if Bel Siara is still waiting, please?”

The orderly left him in private. After much less time than he expected, a familiar face appeared in the doorway. “Welcome back to the world of the conscious,” Bel said.

Jainan’s neutral mask fell away in relief. Even Bel wouldn’t be using that

sardonic tone if Kiem were in danger, but he asked just to make sure. “Kiem’s alive? General Fenrik hasn’t made a move?”

“Oh, Heaven, of course Kiem’s alive,” Bel said. Her professional Iskat accent was back, Jainan noticed. She hadn’t sounded like that when he’d last seen her.

“Alive and operating like there’s a time bomb under his feet. No military strike on Thea either, not since we told the Emperor what General Fenrik was planning. She isn’t pleased. Are you out of danger? I’m guessing you are, since you’re talking, but the medics were making grim faces at me right up until yesterday.”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Jainan said. “You’re not hurt? You took—” He faltered.

Some of his memories were still blurry, but he could piece them together. He hadn’t been hallucinating when Aren shot Bel.