Part of Rixie wanted to be engaged in the questioning of the Aljansens, wanted to pick them apart piece by piece. But there were good imperators who were ready to do that, who had more recent practice at interrogation than Rixie did.

Besides, she had more important responsibilities.

She had spoken to her mother, and that had helped. Vwokhu’s first question had been about Alex. If there was anything that proved that her mother really did know her despite the brevity of their relationship, it was that she knew the only part of any of this that Rixie cared about. She had promised to do anything she could; Rixie knew that she would.

The shuttle touched down outside of South Naesavarna Trauma Hospital; two more touched down in front and back of her. Two more circled overhead, all of them staffed with peacekeepers and royal guards who were there to protect her.

It didn’t feel right. It would never feel right. She had told Pryvani, back when this had become an uncomfortable possibility – she wasn’t the one behind the guards. She was supposed to be with them, protecting others.

She didn’t want people taking bullets for her. Not people she didn’t know. Not people like Sebb. And gorram sure not Alex.

“We’re clear, Well-born Hyrikken,” the driver said. Rixie fought the urge to tell him that he could call her Rixie, as she knew that protocol probably meant that he couldn’t.

Still, she also knew what it was like to serve as a guard for people who barely acknowledged you – and what it was like to serve as a guard for someone who seemed to respect everyone in their employ. And so Rixie said. “Thank you. What was your name, guard?”

“Anot Harisen, Well-born.”

“Well, Guard Harisen, thank you, and please express my thanks to the others in the detail.”

“Just doing our duty, Princess. And on behalf of all of us…we’re pulling for Prince Alekzander. Is that…is that how you say it? Alekzander?”

“It is. Or at least, it’s close enough that Alex would tell you it was close enough, and tell you to call him Alex.”

“Can’t do that on duty, Princess, but I hope to tell him that myself.”

The door opened; Rixie gathered her pad, and walked with the guards the short distance from the shuttle to the entrance. Even here, in a somewhat restricted area, Rixie was cognizant of at least two media outlets and one paparazzo shooting video of her as she went in. She hoped the bribes they paid were worth it. She knew from experience that they were unlikely to get great footage from the angles they were at, but it would be good enough to draw viewers. Of course, her experience was with poorly-angled shots of Pryvani, but the principles didn’t change – just the principal.

The door opened, and a guard took Rixie to the right, past gawkers in the reception area. They were leading her straight through to Alex, and yet Rixie said, “Hold on one moment,” as she’d caught someone arguing with someone else out of the corner of her eye.

“Karral,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

The hospital administrator and Karral Vilum both looked up in surprise, the former because this was the new princess, the latter because he was amazed that Rixie was still awake.

“Hi, Rixie,” Karral said. “Or I guess…Well-born Hyrikken.”

“I’m always Rixie to you, Karral.”

“Sure. Anyhow, I’m just trying to get back to see Sebb, but it’s restricted, and I get that, but….”

“Of course. I’m sorry, what was your name?” Rixie said, turning to the administrator.

“Sussu Nieselkho, Well-born. I was just explaining that there are security measures that were put in place, I really am sorry.”

“I’m sure you are. You’re doing your job, Ms. Nieselkho,” Rixie said. “But I know those restrictions would have been put in place by Imperator Gotegre, and I am quite sure that Saseu didn’t mean for Karral to be blocked; Sebb works for him, and I’m sure he just wants to say hello and help lift his spirits. And given that Mr. Antersen literally saved my life…well, I want to make sure that his spirits are lifted. If Saseu gives you trouble, you can tell her that Magister-Imperator Carey cleared it; she can yell at me if she wants to.”

“If it’s okay with you, Well-born, then I’ll clear Mr. Vilum. I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean any offense.”

“None taken,” Karral said. “You’re protecting Sebb. I appreciate that. And I’m sorry if I got upset; he’s my responsibility, and he got hurt working for me. I…well, I just want to make sure he’s doing okay.”

“Of course. And it’s good that he has people who are supportive of him,” the administrator said.

“Thanks…Princess Hyrikken,” Karral said with a half-grin.

Rixie rolled her eyes, and said, “You’re welcome, Mr. Vilum.”

Karral grew serious, and said, “Any word on Alex?”

“Heading back to see him now. He’s still alive,” Rixie said. “That’s something.”

* * *

Rajenlif hoped that her instincts had been correct; she’d asked the prosecutor’s office to send someone young to interview Skor, and she’d specifically asked for Victor Archer-Pria from the Imperator’s Corps. She had a feeling about what might rattle Skor. But honestly…he wasn’t the big prize. If she was wrong, they’d be fine.

She had reserved the big prize for herself. Not that she wouldn’t be turning Luviisa over to the Imperators for further questioning; this was just the start of the interrogation. But she wanted to start the process off personally.

She wasn’t doing so recklessly; Rixie had left for the hospital but a few minutes before, and Rajenlif had cross-checked her intended line of questioning with her niece. She wouldn’t go too far, or get too detailed. She was perfectly happy to let the professionals do their job.

She just needed to soften Luviisa up for them.

Rajenlif knew Luviisa Aljansen very well. And she knew that even though she was now a commoner, Luviisa would still view herself as superior by her very nature to almost anyone who might be tasked with talking to her.

But even if she saw herself as superior to Rajenlif – and Rajenlif knew she did – she could never admit that openly. And that gave Rajenlif a chance to rattle her, before she could settle in to deferring to her attorney and trying not to answer questions that she was required by law to answer.

Rajenlif nodded to the guard, who opened the door for her. Luviisa’s attorney, a dour man named Djiss, rose as Rajenlif entered the room, as protocol dictated. Rajenlif placed a small folder on her side of the table, and walked over to a small buffet.

Luviisa remained seated.

“You would think,” Rajenlif said, ignoring her and pouring herself some water from a pitcher on the buffet, “that you would demonstrate some gratitude. I don’t have to keep you here at the palace, in a comfortable suite with good food and a working viewscreen. You could be sitting in the general population at the Naesavarna Detention Center. And probably should be.”

“Is this why you’re here? To threaten me?” Luviisa said.

“I do not threaten,” Rajenlif said. “That’s what you do. What you’ve been doing since you were a second year and I was a firstie back at Tromsø Secondary. Throwing the weight of the Aljansen name around as if it was a thunderbolt.” She turned back, and smiled. “Which is why you hated me so much; you thought you were going to be Dronung of the school…until the future Dronung showed up, and suddenly, there was someone around with a family more powerful than yours, someone who had no interest in attacking the ‘commoners’ that you loved to sneer at. Someone who – horror of horrors – befriended them, helped them…and stuck up for them.”

“We aren’t schoolchildren anymore, Rajenlif,” Luviisa said.

“No,” Rajenlif said, sitting down across from the former Lady Aljansen. “We’re both very old, Viisa. Old enough to know that the games we play hurt others. I regret many of my attacks on you back then. Not because they hurt you – you vwofas deserved it and if you’re honest, you know it – but because our petty squabbles did real and lasting damage to people caught in the crossfire. I learned from that, learned that I had to be careful with my actions, and consider their outcome thoroughly, and focus on what was in front of me, and the people I cared about, not the grand victory seven steps down the road. Because if I didn’t plan each move, people would suffer – and I had no intention of being a Dronung whose people suffered.”

Luviisa rolled her eyes, and clapped mockingly. “A lovely speech, Raja. Thanks for the visit. You don’t have proof of anything. And my attorney will be happy to tell you that I’m not going to talk to you.”

Rajenlif nodded. “Very well.” She turned to the attorney, and said, “Mr. Djiss, are you familiar with the First Three Laws of the third Antero?”

Djiss had been geared up to argue that while Imperial Law required responses to questions in cases of treason or assassination, they were currently under Jotnar law which was silent on the matter. But the question forced him to stop, and try to cast his mind back to his course on Late Ancient Law in law school. “I…do not think so, Dronung.”

“They don’t come up much in practice, I suppose,” Rajenlif said, pulling a piece of paper from the folder. That caused Djiss to raise his eyebrows; it was rare to see paper used like this. She smiled; she had learned this trick from her husband. The simple act of using the ancient form somehow made the truths land harder.

Djiss looked the sheet over, and looked back up. “This…some of this has been repealed.”

“Law three has, in full, and laws one and two, in part,” Rajenlif said. “They were written because of an emergency, after all, and emergencies don’t last for ever. This,” she said, handing Djiss another piece of paper, “is the current state of these laws as of today. The second law has been invoked once in the past four centuries, by me, against my brother; he brought disrepute upon the family, and I exercised my right to imprison him here, on the fifth floor. You know, your daughter-in-law is currently in his room, Luviisa; I hope she enjoys her time there.”

“Is there a point?” Luviisa asked. Rajenlif grinned.

“Don’t you understand, Luviisa? I have the absolute power to detain any member of the Royal Family or any pretender to such, for any reason, for up to five years. Audara Aljansen is a member of the Royal Family by birth; you and Skorsjad are members by marriage. All members of my family. And so I invoke my right, immediately.”

* * *

Victor got out of his chair and paced. Some of it was part of the act – he was supposed to act frustrated, after all, he and Gjera Kithesdat had agreed on that. Or…well, mostly she had decided, and he’d agreed, but given their relative builds and jobs, it made sense for him to take bad cop.

Some of it was not an act at all. He was in fact quite frustrated, and while it served his character, he would have preferred to be acting more than just showing his emotion. It wasn’t that Skor was being evasive or rude or anything – he seemed almost apologetic as he said he just couldn’t talk about what he knew. And it was clear why he didn’t want to – not because he was worried about avoiding prosecution, but because they were asking whether his wife or his mother were behind multiple murders, and he was obviously pained by the prospect of betraying either or both. Gjera had been strong in her questioning – she’d gone in via almost every vector imaginable – but Skor seemed unimpressed by threats of charges against him for aiding and abetting, or even potential charges of murder.

“Look, you’re very smart and very stubborn, much like my daughter,” Skor said. “But you aren’t going to get me to tell you anything, and honestly, you should stop wasting your time.”

Victor wheeled back at that. They hadn’t discussed the new Lady Aljansen at any point. Which meant Siru Aljansen was occupying a part of Skor’s mind. Doubtless, his son was, too. His son probably hated him, as did his daughter. After all…his wife had killed Ranu Umbas’s mother.

He hid the smile he wanted to smile. This was why the Empress had picked a young Imperator – why she’d probably asked for a young lawyer.

Pryvani had once told him that Rajenlif was, if anything, more cunning than the Emperor. This move, though – this might be as cunning as the Empress’s niece.

“He’s right, you know,” Victor said, storming back to the table. “Of course he won’t talk to us. He’s not going to talk. He doesn’t even give a frak about his own kids, why would he talk to anyone?”

Gjera looked up at him in surprise – he’d been letting her go for the most part, so she couldn’t fault him for jumping in to play the heavy for a bit. She’d given him that role, after all, and while it was partly to keep him quiet…well, it was his role.

But something in the way he had said it…she didn’t think he meant the line just for Aljansen’s benefit.

He looked at her long enough to confirm it. She nodded, and then sighed dramatically. “You’re probably right,” she said. “If he doesn’t care that his children are going to despise him, he won’t care if we do.”

* * *

Rixie returned to her guards, and said, “I’m so sorry, please, lead on.”

“We’re here to support you, Well-born,” the guard in front of her said.

“Yes, I know,” Rixie said. “But if you know my background…I know how vwofas annoying it can be when the principal decides to go off script. I will try not to…for the most part.”

The young man led her to a smallish room, of a kind Rixie was familiar with. It was an interface room, one where Titans could interact with humans directly and efficiently. Two Titan doctors were in the room already; Rixie could clearly see the spots on the wall that delineated the two human-scale floors where people were receiving treatment, thoughtfully built for eye level for someone slightly shorter than her. Screens ringed the room, so Titan doctors could check in on the patients; she fought the urge to try to locate the one tied to Alex.

“Well-born Hyrikken, hello,” said a doctor who seemed too young for the job. “I’m Dr. Niegunvjer, this is Dr. Darvmu; Dr. Pesti will be joining us in a moment, she’s just finishing her rounds.”

“Of course,” Rixie said.

Dr. Niegunvjer gestured to a chair, and waited for Rixie to sit before she and the even younger man sat down.

“Dr. Pesti asked us to go over the prince’s status with you, so that you didn’t have to wait for her. But she wanted you to know that she will be happy to answer any questions you may have.”

“Dr. Pesti is the one who treated him when he came in, correct?”

“Yes,” Dr. Darvmu said. “She performed the initial surgery along with her team. It was an all-human team, most of them are former pets, but they’ve reached the point in the program where they’re active practitioners. I don’t want you to think that means the prince has received anything other than exceptional care. The humans on the study team have been…very impressive. They’ve opened a lot of eyes.”

“They have a way of doing that,” Rixie said. “And…I think Alex would be happy that there’s a team of former pets who are practicing physicians. I think he’d be happy they were the ones to treat him.”

Niegunvjer nodded. “The prince is stable right now, but still listed at condition two. His brain is holding the induced patterns, but has not shown signs of self-organization. I don’t want you to overreact to that; this is not uncommon in people who have gone through the trauma that he has. Human and Titan brain patterns are very similar, and I’ve seen a lot of Titans with this pattern at this point who’ve gone on to full recovery. But…I’ve also seen a lot who haven’t.”

“I understand that Dr. Pesti views it at about a 40 percent chance of death,” Rixie said.

“I’ve dropped that to one-in-three,” said a small voice, standing on a balcony at the center of the treatment floors. “Hello, Ms. Carey, I apologize for my lateness; your attacker is awake, and I have been trying to aid his recovery both for its own sake and the sake of the people who want to interrogate him.”

* * *

“Ridiculous,” Luviisa said, reading over her attorney’s shoulder. “This has to be superseded by Imperial Law.”

Rajenlif smiled. “Imperial Law? You are demanding assistance from the aemet now?”

Luviisa narrowed her eyes. “This is garbage. I demand a hearing before a judge.”

“Denied,” Rajenlif said. “This power is absolute. Isn’t it, Mr. Djiss?”

“It…is, Lady Aljansen,” Djiss said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t try to appeal to the judicators in the Empire, but…well….”

“Even if the Judicators would decide not to be customarily deferential to an autonomous province,” Rajenlif said, “you do remember, Luviisa, who has the last say in judicial matters in the Empire, don’t you?”

“That’s…yes,” Djiss said. “Lady Aljansen, the Emperor is very unlikely to overrule his wife.”

“That is just the first part of this, of course,” Rajenlif said. “Law One is still intact in very narrow cases. I would need approval from the Council of Ten…but I don’t think Rajinvalt Sjedi is going to be inclined to help you.”

“What is Law One?” Luviisa said, turning to her attorney.

“You…can’t be serious, Dronung,” the attorney said.

“Try me,” Rajenlif said, and her voice gave proof of her resolve.

The attorney swallowed hard, and read the law aloud. “’If ‘t be true th’re is treason committ’d by a memb’r of the royal family, nay barrist’r can beest fully be trust to heareth the case. And so, with the consent of all the gentle families…the jof’r shalt has’t the right t’order the execution of family memb’rs who is’t riseth ‘gainst that gent.’”

Rajenlif grinned. “In short, Luviisa, mother-in-law of my niece, member of the Royal Family…you have committed treason, and I know it. And I am prepared to submit a writ of execution for approval of the Ten Noble Families. I even have it written up. I just need to submit it, and I’m ready, willing, and able to.”

Rajenlif handed a third piece of paper to Djiss. He looked it over, and shook his head. “Dronung Rajenlif…this could rebound quite negatively on you. The public…may not like how this looks.”

“That is true,” Rajenlif said. “I would much rather go through regular channels. And so I am willing to take this off the table. I don’t need you dead. But I do need the truth. And so you, Luviisa…you are going to have to talk. About all of it.”

Luviisa shook her head. “You think I’m afraid of death, Raja?”

“No, Viisa. But I don’t think you want your son to be executed, or your husband, or your daughter-in-law. All four of you are on the list. And I feel quite certain that I will be able to get this through; the only two houses unlikely to support you are both desperate to get back into my good graces after backing you.”

“The House of Aljansen will still back me,” Luviisa said. “That will keep it from being unanimous. And give me an opening.”

“Oh, Luviisa,” Rajenlif said. “Haven’t you figured it out by now? How we know that you’re Keystone? Who our witness is…or at least…who they’re close to?”

Luviisa looked at Rajenlif, and her eyes suddenly widened. “Siru….”

* * *

“Now that’s…that’s ridiculous,” Skor said, quietly. “I love my children. Siru…I talked to her this morning. She told me….”

“She told you what she and Praetor-Imperator agreed on,” Victor said. “Don’t you get it? She played you. She hates your whole gorram family! Ever since she found out what you did to Ljied Umbas.”

“She…she lied to me?” Skor asked.

Gjera snorted derisively, mainly because she’d caught the wounded, plaintive tone in Skor’s voice. This was no time for sympathy. This was time to push forward.

“Probably better than what you’ll hear from your son next time you talk to him…in thirty years…when he comes to visit you in prison because his therapist told him he needed closure. Won’t be a long conversation. And you probably won’t tell him anything more than you’re telling us. He knows who you’re loyal to, really.”

Victor leaned in for the kill; he’d received this bit from Rajenlif earlier, and while he’d been thinking it would be counterproductive, he now thought it was the perfect time to drop it.

“You know…Siru is dating a human. A law student from Avalon. Aleks Odusi. Brother’s an Acolyte pilot, a truly patriotic family. I guess she’s wanted to tell you – she told her mom – but she knew you’d probably cut her off…and that even if you wouldn’t want to, she knew that you’d never take her side against your mom or your wife. She knew how little you loved her.”

Skor looked down at the table for a long moment, staggered by the onslaught of information. How much was true and how much was false? He had no idea, but…but he feared it might all be true. He feared it because he knew in his gut that even if it wasn’t all true, the most important thing was.

His children believed they were unimportant to him.

And had he ever really showed them any different? His entire adult life he’d been worried about how to convince his mother to let him and Aud be together. And now they were together and…and he had lost Siru and Riggu. And whatever happened next….

Skor was not a good father. But he was not intentionally bad, nor bad-natured. He was incompetent, and selfish…but he did love his children as best as he could. And it broke his heart to know, to a certainty, that they didn’t know that. That his failure made them think he didn’t care at all.

They may still hate him. But he…he couldn’t bear for them to think he hated them.

He wiped the tears from his eyes. “I didn’t know about Ljied or Tursas. Otna strike me down, I didn’t. But…I found out later.”

“Mr. Aljansen,” his attorney said, but Skor waived him down.

“I would never have approved of hurting Riggu’s mother. Ljied was a good mother to him, and even if she and I weren’t together…I love Riggu. I wanted him to have a good mother. I swear it.”

Gjera nodded, and said, “I believe you.”

Victor sat down, and smiled gently. “You know, if you were to tell us what you knew, and what you didn’t….Perhaps your children can know that you didn’t betray them.”

“And I’m sure,” Gjera said, “that in time, they’ll understand how difficult it was for you, knowing your mother and wife were involved in these murders. Loving them both, angry with them both…torn between your instincts.”

“Exactly,” Skor said. “I…I wanted to turn them in, but….”

Gjera touched his hand gently. “Tell us about how you found out.”

* * *

Rixie stood up, and walked near Pesti; even with the height of the balcony she towered over the doctor, but neither seemed to notice. “Dr. Pesti, hello, and that is noble…on both counts. These doctors were just filling me in; I understand your students have reached a point where they’re practicing. That’s wonderful.”

Pesti smiled, and said, “Ms. Carey, Nick has always said that you and Alex are kind people. Most people would be angry at me for not curing Alex yet…or frustrated, or crying. You’re complementing my team.”

Rixie sighed. “I’ve done some crying already,” she said. “But it won’t help you and it won’t help Alex. And if I was going to yell at you, Alex would be the one to tell me, gently, to back off. He isn’t awake to do it, so I have to do it myself.”

“Well, if you do need to cry or yell or scream, do so,” Pesti said. “Now, continuing the discussion – it is early in the process, and we’ll know more later…but I want to prepare you. First, the damage to the brain may not leave room for recovery; electrochemical signals are how we think, and while we understand a great deal about them, we still aren’t fully clear on how the brain self-organizes to generate higher-level thought. We’re restarting things slowly, and giving the brain a chance to sort of get the lights turned on; eventually, if it doesn’t spontaneously start to show activity – and it could, brains are weird – we’ll start to try to spur it. But even if most of the brain architecture is relatively undamaged, we don’t yet know if there is critical damage in connections – and won’t until we go further. Things are encouraging, and I think there’s a good chance that Alex wakes up…but things could turn on a credit.”

“I understand,” Rixie said. “Assuming he does wake up…I know you told the Dronung that he will have some brain damage. What’s his prognosis?”

Pesti nodded. “I think his prefrontal cortex is going to make it through okay; temporal lobes, hippocampus, and amygdala look good, too. That’s the big thing – they’re where higher brain function happens. The cerebellum is more damaged, which will impact his procedural memory – the basic things, like how to write, or how to throw a ball. They’re also lower-level functions, though, which means we can both support them with a neural stabilizer and rebuild them with stem-cell therapy. Same with the motor cortex – it’s sustained some damage, and he’ll have to relearn some things, though exactly what we won’t know until he’s awake and we can test him. Again, we can supplement with neural stabilizers, but…generally speaking, it’s best if he can learn to do on his own, imperfectly, rather than use the stabilizers long-term. If that’s at all possible, that will be the goal. And that will be hard work, for you and him. Especially you, as you’ll be tempted to pick him up and move him to where he needs to go, rather than let him struggle…but there will be times you’ll have to let him struggle.”

Rixie nodded. “Alex,” she said, “would gorram well want me to let him struggle, especially if it meant he was getting healthier. We’ve been through it before.”

“Nick has told me about some of his recovery from reactive trauma disorder,” Pesti said. “If he’s still that stubborn…he’s got a great chance.”

Rixie smiled. “He’s only gotten more stubborn.”

“That is excellent news. Now, I’m going to open up the side of Alex’s room so you can see him; I do ask that you not reach in right away to touch him. You’re big, and he’s hooked up to a lot of machinery. We have a holosuite and holos rigged, and you can visit that way soon enough, and hopefully, soon….”

“I won’t do anything,” Rixie said, “to hurt Alex.”

“I know,” Pesti said. “And I could have brought you straight to the holosuite, but….”

“You were right,” Rixie said. “I want to see Alex as he is.”

Pesti nodded, and touched her ear. “Open 01-06,” she said.

One of the panels on the wall pushed forward, and slid down, and Rixie walked over to it, crouching down so she was right at eye level, and could see him clearly, at least as much as the tears in her eyes allowed.

* * *

Luviisa shook her head, and lashed out. “You…you’re lying. My granddaughter…my granddaughter would not betray her family!”

“She didn’t. She’s defending it from you,” Rajenlif said. “Luviisa, now that you’re imprisoned and unable to get at him, let me tell you about our star witness. He was Siru’s boyfriend at the time he overheard you. He’s very bright – a law student at the College of Bozedami. Though he’s a commoner, so I’m sure you never would have approved.”

“An aemet commoner? Come now, you don’t think I would have failed to notice him?”

“Probably not,” Rajenlif said. “After all, he’s from Avalon.”

Luviisa paused, then raised a finger. “Don’t you dare…don’t you dare lie to me about my granddaughter dating…dating a human.”

Rajenlif smiled, and turned her pad toward Luviisa, showing a photo of Siru and Aleks, taken that morning by Daz.

“They aren’t dating. They got engaged this morning, at a point when Siru wasn’t sure there would be a House of Aljansen left, not after what you did to it. He didn’t care whether she had a title or not. You see, they love each other; it’s very sweet.” Rajenlif chuckled, looking at the shock on Luviisa’s face. “Oh, Luviisa…you were so determined to stop the hybrids in the whole Empire that you forgot to give your granddaughter the memo. And now…she’s Lady Aljansen. And soon, he’ll be Lord Aljansen. And the Aljansen line will be hybridized, forevermore.”

Setting her pad down, Rajenlif cradled her chin in her hands, reveling in the fury of her rival. “You failed. Utterly. Everyone will know that Keystone’s own granddaughter thought she was a bigoted fool. All the people who looked up to Keystone will know that you couldn’t even convince your own family. All you can do at this point is signal your disapproval as you’re taken off to jail.”

“I didn’t fail!” Luviisa shouted.

Rajenlif smirked. Luviisa’s eyes narrowed, and she shook her head. “I didn’t fail, Rajenlif,” she said, cooly. “I will not sell out my allies. But yes, you vwofas slut of a shaar, I am Keystone. And when you see Lady Aljansen, tell her that I no longer consider her kin; she is disinher….”

Luviisa caught what she was saying just late enough for Rajenlif to laugh in her face. “Yes, Luviisa. I’ll be sure to tell her of her disinheritance. I’m sure Lady Aljansen will be very angry about it.” She turned to the attorney. “I will spare her life. But your client just admitted to being a criminal and terrorist connected to the assassination attempt last night; you might want to counsel her on what comes next.”

Djiss nodded. “I will, Dronung.”

Rajenlif rose, and turned on her heel. She knew that Luviisa would soon betray confidences and sell out her allies; the dam had burst. “You think you’ve won, Raja,” Luviisa said. “We’ll never stop. Hybrids are a perversion of our people. And you are a traitor to the Jotunn.”

Rajenlif turned back, and looked Luviisa up and down. “Nothing has been more corrupting to our people than our insistence on the ‘purity’ of Savarnan flesh. I thank Otna that the new Lady Aljansen understands that in a way you never will. Goodbye, Luviisa. We shall not speak again.”

And with that, Rajenlif walked out the door.

* * *

Rixie had a view of Alex’s bed, viewing him from his left. He was sleeping peacefully, it appeared, albeit with a ventilator on his face and dozens of filagree wires attached from head to toe, but mostly head. That head had been shaved, and while it was faint, she was used to studying him in detail, and she could see the healing incision where the skin on his skull had been opened. She could also trace the incredibly thin jagged line, also healing, that ran through his carotid artery; the rest of him was hidden beneath a sheet, but she knew she would see other injuries there. She also knew that they only appeared fine because he was so tiny; when she saw him holographically, she knew she would be horrified more than she already was.

“Oh, Alex,” she said, sniffling back tears. “Oh, my beautiful, brave…idiot. Why? Why would you risk yourself for me? You didn’t have to,” she said. “You didn’t. I know, I know, you’d tell me you did. And when you wake up, you’ll tell me I’m silly for thinking that, and tell me that you couldn’t live with yourself if you hadn’t….”

She wiped her eyes. “Alex, I know you had to do it. For the same reason I would have done it for you. I never…I’ve…I love you. And I want you to be better. And whatever happens, if you wake up and you are broken, I will do what I can to help you get fixed, and if you can’t get fixed, and you’re broken, then I’ll help you every step of the way. And if you can’t wake up…if it’s too hard to wake up….”

She wiped her eyes again. “If you gave up your life for mine, then I promise, I swear…I will live the rest of it the way you would want me to. Not in mourning, but with a joy for every second of it…and with so much gratitude for every second I have had with you.”

Pesti had walked into Alex’s room; she was doing her best to ignore the tears of the princess, and focus on her job. She had always hated this part of it; always hated the healthy having to talk to the sick when the sick couldn’t answer back. It was unfair to both of them. Rixie, at least, seemed to understand that Alex was not under some magic spell, where she could simply say the right words and bring him back – and aware that he might not….

She paused in her train of thought, and looked at the live brain scan, and looked carefully at the right temporal lobe. “Ms. Carey,” Pesti said, “can you talk to Alex a bit more?”

“Hm? Of course,” Rixie said. “Anything I should say?”

“Literally anything,” Pesti said.

Rixie took a deep breath. “Well, Pryvani’s on her way along with everyone, because obviously she is. I haven’t told Asteria yet…about you. I think she’ll understand some – I’m going to tell her it’s like Ryan, when he was very sick. Not the same kind of sick, but the same amount, and that we have to be very careful around you for a while. And I know you won’t love that, but you’d do the same if the situation was reversed, and you know it. And I am officially a princess, you are officially a prince. I don’t know if you remember your ridiculous plan for me to become Dronung, but…but I’m going to do it. I’m never letting anyone go through this ever again. I really want you to wake up, because I’m going to need your help with that. I’m not a politician, but no matter what you say…you are. And you’re a gorram fine one.”

“Inggir!” Pesti called from the door. “Spontaneous! Region 42, right hemisphere!”

Rixie backed up a step, as two more humans entered the room. Turning around, she saw that the Titan doctors had quickly walked to another screen, and were both studying it carefully. Turning around, she saw that Pesti was beaming.

“I…is this…good?” Rixie said, stepping forward.

“The auditory trigger,” Pesti said. “It started a spontaneous wave. And it looks to be…oh, that looks good. I think…there will still be about a Titan day,” she said. “This is just the start. But we can start coaxing this into something.” She looked up at the princess, and nodded. “I’d say Alex’s odds of waking up just jumped to around ninety percent.”

Rixie took a deep breath in, enough that Pesti actually felt the breeze from the vacuum it created. She stepped back, and sat down in the chair, and began to weep, letting out the terror she’d been holding inside.

He would wake up. That was the only thing she cared about in the entire universe at that moment. He would wake up, and whatever came next, they would get through it together.

Together.

Gods, what a wonderful word.