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“I do not—”

Asmodeus hijacks the conversation with a cackle. His jewel rings sparkle as he plays with his smooth chin. “Gone for a decade, ward to Bellona, no care to return. But now that you see a vacuum in power, you rush back like an eager little piglet to claim your throne. We have our leader, foul boy. Her name is Atalantia.”

“I did not return to claim anything,” I say. “I have no scar, no inheritance, no right. I have come only to heal the divide that created the Rising.” I look to Atalantia. “If I may?”

She nods. “This will be fun.”

The doors open and Diomedes and Seraphina are ushered through. Animosity floods the room. I step back, allowing Diomedes the floor. Seraphina broods at his side.

“By Jove…” Atalantia mutters. “Dour as a cloud. Pale as a corpse. Is that a Raa, or the spirit of Akari himself?”

“He’s far less talkative,” Ajax says.

“Salve, Aureate.” Diomedes dips his head in respect. “I stand Diomedes au Raa, son of Romulus and Dido, Storm Knight of the Rim Dominion, Taxiarchos of the Lightning Phalanx.”

“Ooo, what’s that?” Atalantia asks.

Diomedes is caught off guard. “A specialized mobile legion.”

“Aren’t all legions mobile? Or do you have new flight hardware?”

He blinks at the pivot, then clears his throat. “This is my sister Seraphina, Lochagos of the…Eleventh Dustwalkers.” He waits for another interruption.

“Go on,” Atalantia encourages. “You’re doing splendidly, young man.”

“It is our duty to bring you the tidings of the Moon Council and the Consuls Dido au Raa and Helios au Lux. They have given us the Dominion Seal.” He lifts his fist to show a huge iron gauntlet implanted with rotating stones. “I am authorized to engage in parley with intent to find an agreeable and lasting truce between the Rim Dominion and the Society remnant in order to counter the disease of demokracy.”

There’s stunned silence.

“I’ll be damned,” Scorpio mutters. “It is true.”

Asmodeus cackles in disbelief. “Dido au Saud a consul? Impossible. Those heathens despise civilized company! Prithee, has Romulus gone mad?” Secretly he is worried. Dido betrayed her family by marrying a Raa. If she were to ally the Rim with Saud…oh dear. His predominancy on Venus may be threatened. Kalindora seems to enjoy Asmodeus’s vexation.

“Asmodeus, please desist,” Atalantia says. She turns back to Diomedes. “Well, you certainly have your father’s…presence. But tell me, why is Romulus the Bold no longer Sovereign? Did he grow weary of pontificating? Atlas won’t believe it.”

“Our father is dead,” Seraphina replies.

I did not include that in my communiqué.

No one speaks until Atalantia raises a hand like a pupil. “Dead?”

Diomedes nods. “Under an oath of truth, he revealed that he knew the destruction of the Ganymede Dockyards was perpetrated by Darrow of Lykos and Victra au Julii, not Roque au Fabii.”

“Darrow did that?” Atalantia laughs and claps her hands together. Hypatia’s tongue licks outward at her mistress’s delight. “Father was right. I knew it wasn’t Fabii. Darrow. Darrow. Darrow. That mischievous little cockroach! I’m almost proud of him. One trick too far, it seems. Well, we’ve all been there. But Romulus dead. Dead? I did not think Romulus could die. Tell me, how did he go? Civil war? Assassination? Or did your mother finally eat him right up?”

“After admitting his deceit and his slaughter of White Arbiters, there was only one way to reclaim his honor,” Diomedes explains. “He walked Akari’s Path to the Dragon Tomb and succumbed to the elements.”

They stare at him like he’s gone raving mad.

“Did he reach it?” Ajax asks.

Diomedes swallows. “No.”

Then, as one, they begin to laugh.

It fills me with loathing to see their disrespect for the man I admired nearly as much as I admired Cassius. Seraphina looks like she would draw her razor if she had one.

Only Diomedes stands unmoved. He’s learned from his little talk with Ajax, and he’s learning what to expect from the rest of them.