Before Strix could greet Cossus, I pushed in front of him and said, “You lied to us.”

She smiled with faux-benevolence. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Cossus sighed. “You never do.”

I lowered myself onto the nearest chair and death-glared Strix. “You are one of the Consuls you said would be so important to my bid for power. Cossus, here, was a co-conspirator of yours in life. You’ve been planning this coup long before the world died.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And? I don’t see how I lied about any of that. I never mentioned it.”

“A lie of omission,” I snapped. “Enough games!”

She just kept smiling.

Enough. Anger, too much anger. I needed clarity. Cold. I suffocated my anger, slowly, and let the cold rush in. I reached for the well of power within me, the well of glamour, and I let it envelop me completely. It pushed away all my anger, all my emotions, and left me with cold, clear purpose.

With tendrils of power I reached for Strix and once again felt the mental blocks she had set up. She knew how to deal with spies. Preparation was a specialty of hers. I didn’t care. I was not going to let her lie to me any longer.

I pushed on those mental blocks, contributing all my will to the task. I could feel the walls around her, all the mirrored shields carefully raised to prevent my intrusion. I felt the cracks, the chinks in her armor, the places that not even she could protect.

Strix had been a powerful warlock in life. In death, she was a powerful ghost. But she was still just a ghost. I was stronger.

I pushed, and pushed, and something broke. I was in the middle of a maelstrom, surrounded by a storm of emotions seething beneath the surface, a thousand whispers, a thousand lies. Strix’s presence nearly overwhelmed me, but I cut through the cacophony and felt something tangible.

Strix felt no guilt. She didn’t feel anger, either, though I knew she was aware of my glamour. There was curiosity, and calculation, but no anger, and no fear. She still felt in control, even with her emotions laid bare. She still had power.

And she was amused. She was playing a game, a trick. Chess. A game of chess where she was both players.

I withdrew from her mind and narrowed my eyes. “You knew that Pictor would tell me.”

“Of course. It is his nature.”

“So you do admit to what he told me. That you had a conspiracy to take power.”

She wiggled her hand in a ‘maybe’ gesture. “That depends on interpretation. Yes, we had a conspiracy to become Triumvirate. But none of us desire the throne. We desire order. Empire is the natural state of the world, but it can so easily become… corrupted. We were to be a guiding light.”

“That didn’t go well.”

“No, I suppose it didn’t. I expect you’ll want to hear that story, too?”

“Obviously.”

Strix looked to Cossus. “Would you like to tell it? Oh, and welcome back, old friend.”

He sighed. “Might as well.”

Everyone sat, and Cossus took up the tale.

“When the Gates broke, the empire panicked. We tried to keep order, tried to manage the nobility, but they weren’t the greatest threat. Their infighting was destructive, and enabled several small rebellions, but the kine could never organize well enough to take anything important. We made sure of that.

“Our true enemy was within: Nero. We had… underestimated his ambition, and his insanity. He would not let kine kill him. He would not let Lords assassinate him. In the end, he activated an Ancients device – the bomb that wiped out all life on Hearth, with the exception of your island.”

Cossus hesitated, and Strix began to speak. “In those days, tensions were high. We said things to each other that were perhaps… too heated. We blamed each other. I think we all deserved some blame. I warned Cossus and Caria of Nero’s danger, of the bomb, but I could have done more to curtail him. Perhaps I could have stopped him, but I was wary, and looking too far ahead. I had already accepted the empire’s death, and was planning for its rebirth.”

Cossus nodded. “Hence why we are whole and the empire is not. We underwent the rites the day of the bomb, because we knew it was coming.”

Duncan’s eyes widened. Finn stood up and glared at the both of them. “You knew?” he demanded. “You knew and let him commit genocide?”

Cossus looked at Strix and said, “Caria and I didn’t learn about the bomb until it was too late. Nero was ready for us. If we acted openly against him, he would have used the device immediately.”

Strix said, “And I apologize for that. I was too proud, too vain. I thought I could deal with Nero on my own. I was wrong.”

“In the month leading up to the device’s activation, we had many an argument. Caria was obsessed with restoring the Gates. Strix looked to the future, and wanted us to be reborn in death and serve as guides for the next generation. I wanted to take as many resources as we could and head to the second Gate, to guide the living as living.”

I frowned. “So you knew about the shield?”

Strix answered. “We were aware of technology on that island designed by the Ancients, but the defensive matrix was… untested. Caria was not certain it would fully protect the isle from the device.”

“Then… what was your plan? How would the empire be remade if everyone was dead?”

“It was a hope more than a plan. We were counting on the lost legions.”

Duncan, Finn, and I looked at each other. Duncan raised an eyebrow. “The lost legions?”

Strix nodded. “When the Gates fell, the majority of our empire was caught on the other side. On a dozen worlds, imperial outposts were occupied by legionaries, warlocks, and the ambitious children of nobility. Our factories were on alien planets, along with our farms and other kine-worked facilities. The legions kept them in line, and many nobles established vacation housing in exotic locales.”

The full implication of that hit me. “Wait… that means… that means a part of the empire never died. That’s…” I trailed off.

Duncan said, “But we knew that. Sort of. We didn’t know the scope, but that was always part of the story. The empire collapsed without portals to those other worlds.”

“Still. I’d always assumed those numbers were low, more kine than kindred. I just never realized… there are kindred out there, other kindred who survived.”

Strix smiled and spread her hands. “Now you see. My hope was that one of those kindred would find a way to reopen the Gates. Our descendants would return, and we the Triumvirate would guide them to restoring the golden age. I saw Vesta’s exodus as a dim backup plan.”

I snorted. “And yet, here I am. A descendant of her followers, not of the imperials.” I paused. “We could find them, you know. We could go to those worlds and bring them back. I can open Gates.”

Strix considered that for a long moment. Cossus spoke first. “They may well prove useful, but we cannot count on them. For one thing, we need a ghost army to dethrone Nero. Once the capital is secure we can look to rebuilding the empire.”

Strix nodded. “I agree. Let us focus on the present.”

A look passed between them, and I didn’t need glamour to see that their debate was unfinished, but being put aside for a greater purpose.

“To business, then.” Strix rubbed her hands together and asked, “How familiar are you with the plan, Cossus?”

“I understand the basics. We will give Valerian our backing, present her as the next empress, and whip the nobility into a furor.”

“Correct. We will direct that furor at Nero, and send an army of his own subjects to tear him from his throne. Once we have dealt with that threat, we can mop up any other dissidents and set to the task of putting these ghosts to rest.”

I interjected. “To rest?”

“Yes. This city, this is not how things are supposed to be. Ghosts advise, they do not take such active roles. When our war is over we will place the ghosts of the city into an Ossuary. They shall serve as a font of wisdom to aid the empire rebuild. We will, of course, take our places with other fallen Consuls. Once the empire has been reordered, obviously.”

“Obviously. Before you say any more about our plans… what is an Ossuary?” I had a strong suspicion, but I needed it confirmed.

“A well of souls. Ossuaries are usually constructed when there are too many ghosts to give proper treatment, most often for the lower classes. Instead of building vast tombs for untold thousands, we simply place all of the ghosts in one object. One ghost speaks for the whole and delivers knowledge to a living petitioner.”

Duncan and Finn looked at me, and I nodded. “Back home, the Council has one of those. All of the ghosts from the three centuries since our ancestors followed Vesta away from the empire. There must be hundreds of thousands of ghosts in that one crystal.”

“Impressive. I should like to see it, one day. For now, let us discuss our next moves. Firstly: Cossus, will you pledge your support to Valerian?”

He pursed his lips, but nodded.

“Good. What of Caria? I have not seen her in my centuries of wandering, and that disturbs me.”

A fell expression took his face. “She’s mad. I found her, once, in the bowels of the laboratories. Still fiddling with Ancient technology. She is lost to us.”

Strix looked genuinely sad at that. “I will miss her. But we must do without. Two out of three should be enough to carry clout. The nobility will listen.”

“We must hope.”

“To our next move: getting them to listen. I propose we visit each of the most influential Lords at their estates. An in-person meeting with Valerian and recommendation from the two of us should build up her reputation and begin to accrue support.

“No.”

Everyone looked at me in surprise.

“We’re not doing that. We’re not playing the slow game, Strix. I have weeks of foods, not months.”

Strix put on a condescending smile. “I assure you, it will not take months. This process can seem tedious, but there are only so many Lords. I am very precise, Valerian.”

“And you think that will matter?” I seized on an argument and pushed it. I was tired of playing slow. “We need to be direct. Backroom dealing won’t change anything; that’s what these nobles have been doing for three centuries and longer. They say they don’t trust Nero, or they don’t trust you, or they don’t trust each other, but what happens? Nothing. Nothing changes.

“If I’m going to impress them, I have to do what they can’t. I have to show that I have the one thing Nero has and they don’t: confidence. Make it a show of force. An act of defiance. A declaration of war on the bastard. You want to give them a reason to back me, to back some little-known warlock? There’s your reason. I’m the only one in this whole city willing to stand up to the emperor.”

Cossus stroked his chin. “You know, she has a point. Our best empresses were known for action and decisiveness. The Lords might respect someone with a strong will more than yet another political rival.”

Strix was displeased, but slowly nodded assent. “Perhaps. Very well, Valerian, what did you have in mind?”

“Use Asellio. Use your own connections. Spread word of my attack on Pictor, and your backing, and tell them to assemble tomorrow night in a location that has easy view of the palace.”

“And then?”

“Then we declare war.”