“This,” she said, “nullifies our current Resolution treaty.”

“And forms a new seven-way agreement,” Kiem said. “Yes.”

“Do you know what this would do?” the Emperor said.

“It splits up the link trade equally,” Kiem said. He ticked things off on his fingers. “Gives all the vassals an ambassador to the Galactics. Requires seven-way consensus before any changes to the next Resolution treaty. Seems pretty straightforward: I think we’re a federation now. Did you read the coda to the Thean treaty?”

“I did,” the Emperor said. “I am willing to grant them control of Operation Kingfisher. Total withdrawal of our military from Thean space … we can speak about later.”

“We can’t,” Kiem said. “In five minutes, the treaty ceremony will start, and you have to sign the whole package or sign nothing. Oh, and one more thing,” he added.

“Which is?” the Emperor said, in a tone which reduced the temperature of the air around her.

“General Fenrik retires,” Kiem said. “No advisory role. No part in politics.

You can’t just tinker around the edges and jail some soldiers who worked for him, because none of this works if you keep someone in power who tried to start a war. He has to go. Maybe you can find him a monastery.”

Both the aides and Vaile started to speak at once, but everyone stopped when the Emperor held out the slim stack of paper and dropped it on the table by her side.

“You’ve got some nerve,” she said.

The radiation-poisoning gaze was back in full force. Kiem swallowed and just about stopped himself from apologizing. Instead he said, “The choice isn’t stasis or war, ma’am. We can change.”

“By undermining the Empire?”

“I’m a loyal subject of the Empire. Ma’am.”

The Emperor’s mouth cracked open. Kiem had so rarely seen her smile that at first he didn’t recognize it. It was terrifying. “I am pleased to hear it,” she said slowly. “You may go and tell the Auditor I will sign this.”

“What?” Kiem said at the same time as one of aides voiced the start of a protest. “I mean. Thank you?”

The Emperor got to her feet. She ignored both interruptions in favor of picking Kiem apart through the sheer force of her stare. Kiem felt his metaphorical skin start to peel. “Needless to say, this was not what I intended when I chose you for the Thean marriage.”

The door to the Observatory Hall opened. A noise filtered through: the low, nervous buzz of a small crowd.

“I only want the best for us,” Kiem said. “For Iskat.”

“Do you?” the Emperor said. Her thin, unsettling smile hadn’t gone. She scrutinized him like a new piece that had turned up unexpectedly in the middle of a long board game. Kiem was suddenly even more nervous, for reasons that had nothing to do with the negotiation. “I suppose I can work with that.”

She swept ahead of him through the door. Her aides and Vaile hurried to follow.