Avery actually swayed with the psychic whoosh she emanated. Immediately, the wave of terror receded from his mind. His ears popped, and he shook his head, then stood, helping Layanna to her feet; she looked much improved. When he saw she could stand on her own, he moved to Prime Minister Denaris and helped her up too. Still sickly, she said, “You saved me, Doctor.”

Janx and Hildra arrived, looking tired and with some new cuts and scrapes to show for their efforts. Soldiers surrounded them, and at their head was General Tav Hastur. With one arm in a sling, she had nevertheless seized control of the army again, or so it seemed. She stared with wary respect at Layanna, then gave a nod to Avery, then a deeper one to Denaris.

“You did it,” Avery said.

Hastur nodded. “When I got your message, I spread the word throughout my supporters in the Army that it was now or never, and Boss Vassas gave me the men to add a little oomph to the suggestion. But Haggarty’s men are in those fucking ships, and they’re coming our way.”

Even then the searchlights of the airships were focusing tightly on the area of the statue.

“Get me a radio,” said Denaris.

Avery glanced around for Haggarty but didn’t see either the Grand Admiral or the troops he’d had with him. He remembered they had been affected less than the others by the psychic bombardment from the ray and assumed they had used it for cover to escape the plaza. For a moment Avery feared that another radio transmitter that could reach the soldiers aboard the airships would not be found, but then an approaching soldier respectfully passed Denaris one.

“This is Prime Minister Denaris,” she said into the handset, and though her voice was rough it was firm. “Do not attack the Square. Repeat—do not attack the Square. The Collossum is dead. Haggarty is no longer in power. Move away from the Square. Repeat: this is Prime Minister Denaris ordering you to move away from the Square.”

The dirigibles continued to move aggressively. Instead of leaving the Square, they actually lowered toward it. Avery saw tense troopers clutching rifles and manning mounted machine guns. His scrotum contracted, and he began to feel faint. This was all for nothing, he thought. These men don’t recognize Denaris’s rule, even without Haggarty. To them she’s a thing of the past. Likely they expect a new military leader to emerge, one aligned with Haggarty. Even Haggarty himself, if he can prove himself still master.

“Excuse me, let me through,” Avery heard and looked over to see Idris Gehalan Vorys, patriarch of the Drakes and would-be lord of Ghenisa, at the head of a well-dressed group of people who could only be the members of the royal family, approach the statue’s dais.

Shocked, Avery searched among them ... there! In the middle of them all and shepherded by Oris, who looked so much like her late mother, was Ani. She seemed small and frail amongst the gathering, her eyes wide, her face tense, and Avery felt his heart flutter, both in happiness that she was well and in fear for what her family was doing. Strangely, the would-be royal family surrounded her, as if giving her some sort of honor guard, and the looks they shot her were half fearful, half worshipful. She was elevated among them, somehow, and Avery knew it wasn’t by rank or bloodline. What, then? Avery could make no sense of it.

Soldiers, having established a cordon around Denaris, blocked the Voryses off.

“Let them in!” Avery said, having to speak past the hitch in his throat. “Let them in!”

The soldiers ignored him, but when Denaris, obviously unnerved by the zeppelins, repeated the order, they obeyed, and in moments Idris was seizing the radio transmitter and saying sternly into it, “This is Prince Idris Vorys, highest surviving member of the royal house of Ghenisa, commonly referred to as the Drakes. These with me are my family, all of the royal line, and all united with me, along with the great powers of the country, in reestablishing the traditional rule of law in Ghenisa—to whit, rule by blood. From here on out I will lead the country—” As the soldiers around him shifted, aiming their weapons not at the dirigibles but at him, he added, “—in conjunction with the Prime Minster. Together we will lead Ghenisa into a new age. Now stand down.”

A pause, as the dirigibles and zeppelins absorbed this. Then a voice, by way of a loudspeaker, called down—the voice belonging, Avery supposed, to the leader of the aerial forces:

“What about the Starfish? The Grand Admiral promised they would spare us if we turned ourselves over to Lord Rigurd.”

“Rigurd is dead,” Idris said, his voice sharp and clear. “Some other way must be found. Is that all?”

There was a pause. “Admiral Haggarty also promised monetary support from Octung,” the voice said, and it was here that Avery began to suspect the man on the other end of the loudspeaker was bought and paid for. Idris had hoped for a coup and planted seeds among the upper echelons of the military in case it happened. “Without it Ghenisa will collapse. What can you do?”

“His deal was with Octung,” Idris allowed, and gave everyone a moment to digest this. “Mine is with the Ysstral Empire.”

Shocked murmurs greeted the announcement.

“They founded this country,” Idris spoke on, reassuringly, playing his part in this theater as the television cameras rolled, “and my bloodline comes directly from that of their own royalty, passed on down the generations. I know many hate and fear the Ysstral Empire, but it is them or Octung. Between the two I think the choice is clear. That is what I bring to the table: stability through the monetary support of the Empire. As soon as this present threat is dealt with I have already pledged to travel to the Ysstral Palace itself and iron the details out with the Empress-Regent. Now stand down.”

For a moment the dirigibles and zeppelins did nothing.

“Stand down and remove yourselves from the area,” Idris instructed, more harshly.

Slowly, the airships turned and began ascending the skies, leaving the area of the Square and retraining their weapons elsewhere. Avery breathed a sigh of relief. So did many others.

And the banks of television cameras had captured it all. Even then he saw awed reporters staring at Idris, then each other. None quite dared approach him for comment yet, but Avery knew it wouldn’t be long.

As the others exploded in conversation and argument, not least between Idris and Denaris and their respective camps, Avery embraced Ani. The royals around her stiffened, and he remembered their protective, strangely fearful attitude toward the girl.

“Papa!” she said, tears in her eyes. “Papa, I was so scared.”

“So was I.” He tried to sound strong, but suddenly he was crying, too, and he doubted she understood his words. Strange things were going on in his chest, and he was glad she couldn’t see his face, as it must look half melted. He realized he was squeezing her too tightly and forced himself to relax his grip, just a little. When he could, he said, “So—you’re rulers of the country now, are you?”

“I think so, Papa. When Uncle Id heard about the army coup, he knew it was time to move, and he had plans in place and contacts everywhere.”

She knows the word “coup”, Avery thought, dizzy. Then he thought, Uncle Id!

“How are you, honey? How is your new family? Are you still having your strange dreams?”

An odd expression passed across Ani’s face—a look of reticence. “Uncle Id ... he says we’re not supposed to talk about that.”

Avery’s mouth opened but he didn’t know what to say. A new wave of dizziness started to come over him. She was holding things back from him?

“But ... Ani ...”

She looked away.

He frowned at her royal kin, who were watching their exchange tensely, and again he caught whiffs of both fear and awe in their faces when they regarded Ani.

“Ani, just what’s going on? I don’t understand.”

Still she said nothing.

“How’s Hildebrand, you little squirt?” Hildra said, coming over and giving the girl a big hug. “Why isn’t he here?”

“Uncle Id thought the commotion’d be too much for him,” Ani said, brightening; Hildra always put her in a good mood.

“But he’s okay?”

Ani grinned from ear to ear. “He’s fuckin’ great!”

Hildra laughed, and Ani did, too. Avery started to say something, but then Layanna was beside him looking worried, and he didn’t have to guess at her thoughts.

“You think he was telling the truth—Rigurd, I mean?” he asked. “About the Starfish?”

“Yes. And there’s something else. The ray has not moved away, and its psychic is still trying to hammer the area with a blast. It’s all I can do to keep him at bay, and I cannot do it for much longer.”

“Sheridan,” Avery said, speaking the name like a curse. “She knows all she has to do is hold out until after the Starfish destroys the city, then she can come in and rule the ashes, or hand them over to her superiors.” Then he frowned. “Layanna, I saw something in Rigurd’s lair, something ...” He let out a breath. “It’s the Atoshan relic. I think—”

Soldiers shouted to each other, and guns swung toward the east. In the pit of his stomach, Avery felt a certain dread, and it was no surprise to him when General Hastur, after conferring with her soldiers, reported to Denaris and Idris together. Her face was very grave as she said, “Sirs, the Starfish is attacking.”

Chapter 10