We spent the night making plans, practicing what we would each say, and making supply runs to the boat. Asellio’s house was our new base of operations, something reinforced when Cossus brought more ghosts to it.

He explained that they had been loyal to the Triumvirate in life, and in death would serve the majority will, which Strix and Cossus had. A few lower nobles showed up to pledge support, but the most important arrivals were the violent types: soldiers and assassins willing to fight the emperor’s servants.

There weren’t many, but there were enough to get the ball rolling. The air changed; we were hopeful again, determined. We could take on Nero. We could take the palace. I could become empress. And then the Council would bow to me. The chantry would bow to me.

The sun rose, and we slept. I dreamed of a golden army marching on a hundred worlds. I dreamed of an empire reforged. I dreamed of destiny.

In the evening I made my way to a balcony and looked out on the city. Ghostly light flickering to life, the streets filling with long-dead citizens and imperial patrols. In the distance, Nero’s palace loomed over the city.

Finn joined me on the balcony. “It’s a beautiful view, if a bit depressing.”

I nodded. There was a long stretch of silence, and then I asked, “Did you know Duncan had a crush on me?”

Finn wouldn’t look at me. “Does it matter?”

“That’s a yes, then.”

He sighed. “Yeah, I knew. For years. Part of why I asked her to run away with us. She was one of the only people who might have.”

That was news to me. “I thought she came on her own.”

“Maybe she would have, but I talked to her. I didn’t ask her, not really, but I knew it would happen when I went to her. I manipulated her, I guess.”

I clenched my fists. “Why did you never tell me? For years I competed with her, mocked her, and you’re saying that it was all a misunderstanding? That every time she talked back, every time she bragged to me, she was just trying to flirt?”

“I tried to tell you! I kept insisting that Duncan was a better person than you thought, that you should befriend her, that your competition would be the death of you. You didn’t listen.”

I let that sank in. In the distance, lights moved in erratic patterns.

“At some point I just gave up. And… maybe I didn’t want it to happen in the first place. You were my only friend, and vice versa. I guess a part of me was afraid of being forgotten.”

I chuckled. “You’re not going to admit a crush of your own, are you?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “No, I’m not. Love and sex don’t interest me. Even if they did, I’m not sure you’d be a good match.”

I smiled. “Agreed. I don’t think I’m a good match for anyone, honestly.”

“Yeah.”

More silence.

Finn made to say something several times before working up the nerve. “Do you ever hate what you are, Gwyn?”

I thought about it. It was a serious question, and I knew where it was coming from. “I don’t think I do. I think I get annoyed with myself sometimes, but I can’t hate myself. I’m too vain.” I laughed, but it wasn’t really a joke. “I’m selfish, and I can be cruel. I’m violent. Temperamental. I’d call myself manipulative, but I’ve never been skilled enough – socially speaking – to pull that off.”

“But you’re okay with those traits?”

“Yeah, I am. They’re me. I keep thinking about the Council, actually. The things they said. They were right, you know. Maybe that’s why I hated it so much. Being called out for what I am. Or maybe I just hated being denied power.” I looked away from the city and asked Finn, “Do you think I’m a bad person?”

He looked down, and chose his words carefully. “I think you have the potential to be a bad person. I don’t think it’s inevitable, though.”

I smiled again. “You never did share what you think of destiny.”

“Yeah. I guess I’m torn. What Duncan said, the idea of choice and change, that speaks to me. I want to believe that you can choose your destiny, that people can change and grow. But the chantry is built on destiny as this cosmic power, this ephemeral thing that only the prophet understood. And I guess, too, I worry that not all change is good. That there are things we are not meant to know, or to have. Power corrupts.”

“Vesta said that too. I disagree. Power doesn’t corrupt, it just reveals. If someone abuses their power, that’s just who they are. The truth behind all the lies we tell each other to seem like good people.”

“Then I guess, when we kill Nero, we’ll see if you’re a bad person or not.”

Finn left, and I practiced my speech again.

Strix fetched me when the hour arrived. “They are assembled, Valerian. Your subjects await you.”

“We’ll see how many of them are comfortable with that term. No, comfortable is the wrong word.” I clenched my fists. “This is about power. Force. They will bend the knee, regardless of how they feel about it.”

Strix smiled wryly. “Thinking like an empress, I see. Before you go, you should adopt some glamour. Your clothing is… fine, but not very regal. We want to make an impression, yes?”

I examined myself. She had a point; I was still wearing traveling clothes, which weren’t exactly imperial. “Fair, but I’m not exactly versed in imperial fashion.”

“You’ve seen enough. Just imagine something dark and intimidating, like any of the statues of past sovereigns.”

I could do that. Maybe. I hadn’t experimented with that part of glamour much, but it seemed simple enough.

I called on the cold and imagined all the depictions I’d seen of emperors and empresses. I imagined spikes and brutal edges, and I imagined flowing cloaks and jackboots. As those images filled my consciousness, I felt my magic responding. Glamour’s well of power churned within me and reached for those images. I gave them up, and witnessed them change to the whims of magic.

Watching my own magic act independently was a sensation equal parts delightful and disturbing. I wanted control back, but I didn’t dare interfere with the design of my new outfit. Then, there was a click, a feeling of anticipation, and the glamour swelled beneath my skin, waiting to be unleashed.

I gave the command, and magic enveloped me.

When I opened my eyes, I was clothed and armored in imperial colors, warrior’s garb, a swirling cloak, and an iron crown.

In a rare moment, Strix lost her composure. I could see hunger in her eyes, and the way her breathing (unnecessary but habitual) changed rate. I could see her fingers twitch almost imperceptibly.

She whispered, “Empress Valerian…”

I smirked. “In the flesh. I take it I did a good job?”

Strix regained her decorum and nodded. “Yes, very good. The crown was a nice touch. It’s out of fashion with what trends were at the time, but it hearkens to the old days, to the empire’s birth. Not a mere sorcerer-lord, no mere warlock in purple and gold, but a true conqueror-queen like the first sovereign. This eases the last of my reservations about your plan.” She was lying, of course, but only partly. I could feel some tension leak out of the room.

“Let’s get going, then. I have an empire to rule.”

Strix led me downstairs, and the honor guard formed. Maia and Felix flanking me, Strix and Cossus lurking behind us, and loyal warriors surrounding us as we moved through empty streets.

As we approached the site, it became clear just how many ghosts had shown up; thousands of ghosts milled about, bumping against each other and straining to reach the market square that our followers had secured.

The crowd parted for us as we approached, and whispers spread like wildfire. I saw servants, soldiers, and nobles alike all watching us. I saw fear, anticipation, and hunger in a thousand faces. The city had woken up.

Strix noticed too. She drew closer and murmured to me, “Can you feel it in the air?”

I opened my senses and my magic. A current of energy was surging around me, power buzzing in the air, the collective thoughts of an undead city focused on this one moment, this one location. We had woken up the city, and now the ghosts churned and writhed with long-dormant energy. They strained to be unleashed, directed. “Volatile.”

She nodded. “Let us hope we can take better advantage of this energy than Nero can. Good luck.”

She withdrew and we approached the center of the crowd, the market square. Our followers held the crowd back as we took our places. There was a dry fountain in the center of the square and I climbed atop it. Strix and Cossus took the middle tier of the fountain, Maia and Felix the lowest.

I raised my hands, and the crowd stilled. The cold seeped in, and I extended my glamour across the entire crowd, feeling their emotions like the pulse of a beating heart. I moved as I spoke, facing each segment of the crowd in turn to deliver my message to all of them.

“Citizens of the empire. Lords and common folk, soldiers and servants. You have come because you are dissatisfied, and you are dissatisfied because your emperor is a fraud.”

Gasps and wide eyes swept through the crowd at my accusation.

“Nero sits upon his throne, content to bask in his power without any thought for your plight. He drinks his wine and eats his grapes, and all the while order continues to break down. Slaves riot. Thievery, murder. The Gates are still dormant, and your emperor does nothing to repair them.”

The tension in the crowd grew, but I saw people beginning to nod along.

“You deserve better. The empire deserves better. And now, it has it.” I spread my arms wide. “I am Valerian, rightful Empress of the kindred. I am a warlock without equal. I am a warrior more dangerous than any soldier in Nero’s army. Many of you have heard of me already; I deceived Lord Pictor and revealed him as a traitor to the empire.”

More shock, and confusion. Traitor?

I gestured to Cossus. “Pictor captured one of your Consuls and imprisoned him. He placed loyalty to Nero over loyalty to the empire. Like a dog, he went begging to his master for treats. But the emperor did not stir from his bacchanal parties, and so it was a trifling matter for me to free Consul Cossus from his shackles.”

Anger rippled through the crowd. How dare he capture a Consul? How dare he stand against the Triumvirate?

“Now, two Consuls of the Triumvirate pledge themselves to me. They have deemed Nero unfit to rule, and know that I am the only one who can stand against him. The only one who is willing to stand against him, for who among you has the courage to cast the first stone? Who among you will pledge your loyalty to me, and swear to tear the false emperor from his throne?”

Strix stepped forward. “I, Bellistrix Avicus Augustine, First Consul of the Triumvirate, swear fealty to Empress Valerian.”

Cossus followed suit. “I, Cossus Artanian, Second Consul of the Triumvirate, swear fealty to Empress Valerian.

Maia and Felix next, announcing themselves as minor nobility from distant lands and my personal bodyguard and doctor.

I smiled without teeth. “Perhaps your most trusted leaders are not enough. Perhaps you need more convincing. Let this be the banner that calls you to my service.”

I turned to face Nero’s palace, let anger surge in to replace the cold, and blasted lightning at the palace. It surged across the city skyline and crackled against a colorful window.

“This is a declaration of war. Nero will die, and I will sit upon the imperial throne. The fate of the empire is decided now.”

Shock. Excitement. Cheers rang out, and terrified murmurs. One citizen knelt, and then another, and yet more. They cried my name by the dozens, then the hundreds, and then almost all of the crowd was chanting, “Empress Valerian!”

I basked in it. Until the imperial soldiers attacked, that is.

A phalanx of armor-clad soldiers bearing Nero’s insignia stormed the crowd and crashed against my followers. The audience broke in that area, running to cover and clearing a wide area around the melee.

I snarled at the intruders. The sheer impudence of it, the brazen disrespect!

Clean military ranks quickly devolved into ragged clumps of shouting and clashing weapons. The loyalists had numbers, but my forces had a better position. There was something about my followers, too. They seemed more whole than the other ghosts, as if simply being in my presence was beginning to make them stronger, solider. Still, the battle was grim.

I cast my gaze to Maia. “Go. Give them hell.”

My bodyguard nodded and obeyed, leaping into the fray with a red-glowing sword and slashing at the nearest attacker. She weaved in and out of each warring group, striking agony and fear into our assailants clump by clump. My followers fought with renewed fervor as their enemies suffered and lost focus.

Rage continued to simmer. The audience, so many of them kneeling to their master but moments ago, was watching passively. They were cowards, content to enjoy the night’s entertainment without lifting a finger to help.

A second, smaller group of imperials arrived to reinforce the first. A lone figure broke from their ranks and charged the fountain I was standing on. She drew her ethereal blade and shouted at me, “Emperor Nero wills your death!” An imperial captain, chosen by Nero to serve, chosen by him to try and kill me. Me.

My followers weren’t close enough to catch her. Strix, Cossus, and Felix would be of little help. And the crowd kept watching, giddy with anticipation. They were gormless worms still stuck in their false realities, dream worlds that had kept them blind even before the world died.

They still did not understand that I was Empress Valerian, and I would not be denied.

I screamed with fury, thrust my hand at the imperial captain, and felt my magic snap.

Crimson lightning lashed out at the captain – her face etched with agony – and cut through her to the other soldiers. Every imperial puppet sent to accept my challenge fell to their knees, wracked with infernal pain. Crackling lightning, more magic than I had ever produced before, encircling each defiant whelp and forcing them to the ground.

My followers looked at me with shock, and the crowd looked at me with awe, and I commanded all of them, “Stop gaping and execute them!”

They scrambled to obey, drawing knives and swords to slice necks and remove heads. Ghostly bodies dimmed and left behind detritus. Nero’s pathetic little force dissipated into stray motes of dust.

I raised my hands and demanded of the city, “Are you not convinced? Do any of you yet doubt that I am your rightful sovereign? I am Empress Valerian! Kneel to me.”

Again the crowd knelt, and this time every soul present showed their reverence, even the loftiest of Lords. Not all of them chanted, but their heads bowed just the same.

A ghost broke from the crowd, a noble or maybe a soldier, and ran. I snarled, threw lightning, and sent that fool shrieking to the ground. I clenched my fist, and a dozen specters swarmed the coward, running him through again and again until there was nothing left.

I smirked coldly. “The war for the empire has begun. The long night is over.”

Strix smirked with me. “Hail Valerian.”