Jeana raised the needle pistol as the Archon's two guests rose from their chairs. "Exitus acta probat,as the Duke was fond of saying. It's over. Bailey spoiled your plans."

When the two Davion impostors heard her utter Sanglamore's unofficial motto, they reacted. The shorter one moved to Jeana's right, clawing for the gun at his belt, while the taller one moved to the left. Dammit! Split shot.Jeana saw the smaller man flick a glance at the Archon, forcing her decision. You’re it!Dropping into a combat stance, she pulled the trigger twice. The first cloud of needles shredded the uniform over the assassin's heart. The impact half-spun him, making her second shot slam home into his left shoulder. Already dead, he flopped to the floor.

Jeana pivoted slightly, swinging the gun into line with the other man. He brought his pistol up as she triggered her third shot. She saw it paint his throat and chin with scarlet, then stroked the trigger one more time. Before she could see whether or not that shot had hit, something huge and heavy kicked her in the chest. Stars exploded before her eyes as Jeana flew back and struck her head on the bookshelf.

A wave of blackness stole her sight, then she found herself slumped on the floor. She saw her gun lying centimeters from her right hand, but her body refused her order to grab it. As if to mock her effort, she rolled onto her back and lost sight of the gun.

Jeana tried to swallow, but couldn't. Must have been hit. . . hit hard.She felt a trickle of blood pool in the hollow of her throat. Shouldn't there be more pain?

* * *

The Archon knelt beside Jeana and made the Sign of the Cross. Reaching out with her right hand, Katrina Steiner closed Jeana's unseeing eyes. The Archon's lower lip trembled as she fought back tears. First your father, and now you. Your family served the Commonwealth more bravely and selflessly than I or it deserves.

Katrina looked up as Misha stepped through the passageway and uttered a small cry. She knelt at Jeana's head and lifted it into her lap. "Archon, is she ... ?"

Katrina nodded. She studied Misha's face and the conflicting emotions playing across it. "You know, don't you, that she's not Melissa!"

Misha stroked Jeana's hair. "I never would have guessed. Telling me was the only way she could get me to tell her how to get through the passageway. She knew you were in danger.. .. She said the impostors were from Skye."

The Archon's nostrils flared for a moment. "Yes, they reacted when she quoted them something she'd learned at Sanglamore."

Misha looked up at Katrina. "What are we going to do?"

The Archon stood slowly. "You and Melissa are to be staying at the Winter Palace for a while, correct?"

Misha nodded. "A week."

Katrina thought for a moment, absentmindedly chewing on her left thumbnail. "Your stay there will be extended. Simon Johnson will seal the palace so that no one can see you or Melissa." She smiled wryly. "And then I'll have a special mission for you."

Misha stroked Jeana's hair. "What do you want me to do?"

The Archon peered down at her. "I cannot have you here where your father can ferret out what has happened. Not yet, at least. I have to send you away." Katrina nodded resolutely. "Yes, you'll go to the Federated Suns, and you will escort my daughter back home."

22

Sian

Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation

25 June 3029

The bright vermilion and gold bursts of fireworks in the sky and the sound of cheering from the palace courtyard did nothing to lighten Romano Liao's foul mood. The rocket fire burned red highlights into her hair, but as the shadows fell in an explosion's wake, her mood likewise darkened and deepened. Fools,she thought, looking down at the people gathered in the courtyard. You celebrate one minor victory as if we had won the war. Damn me to the Nine Hells, but you act as though McCarron's Armored Cavalry actually saved Sarna from conquest! They didn't. They just destroyed a Davion regiment. What about the other forty still breathing down on us?

Romano turned abruptly and stalked back in from her balcony. In a pout, she dropped into the chair set before her vanity. Picking up a platinum-handled brush, she idly worked it through her hair, then spun and hurled it against the wall. "You're all idiots! You're celebrating a delay of the inevitable. We must take action to capitalize on the opportunity we now have."

Romano frowned at her own reflection, then forcibly relaxed her fierce expression before it could set wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. They're celebrating the Interdiction as much as McCarron's destruction of the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers. You'd celebrate it, too, if Justin Xiang hadn't embraced it as an omen of disaster for House Davion.

Her green eyes flashed like an angry cat's as she thought about her sister's paramour. You chose incorrectly there, didn't you, Romano ? You thought, with Tsen Shang's war experience on the Marik frontier, that he’d share your hatred of the Free Worlds League. You thought you’d have a powerful ally in a full-blooded Capellan citizen. You thought a man raised in the Federated Suns would be too soft to establish a power base. And you thought wrong. Blood will out!

Romano let a sly grin tickle the corners of her mouth. What sort of a game is Xiang working? Does he know you sent Ling to kill him? Ling did shoot him, of that I'm certain, but did he tell Justin who gave the order? If so, why has Justin withheld the information from Candace? Is Xiang playing with her the same way Tsen Shang has become my plaything ?

She closed her eyes and summoned up one of her more disturbing but favorite fantasies. Justin Xiang came to her, his rage and contempt at her attempt to kill his father changed now into passion. They made frenzied love and she thrilled to the cold caress of his steel hand ...

The staccato string of explosions that mark the end of the fireworks display snapped her out of the phantom encounter with her sister's lover. With him as my right hand, no one could stand before me. With him to oppose me and back my sister, I will never gain the throne I so rightly deserve. Can I co-opt him, or will I have to eliminate him as I have eliminated other threats to the Capellan state?

The image of her dead step-mother lying half-decomposed in the morgue came to her, then was overlaid by another image. It was her step-mother and Colonel Pavel Ridzik rutting together like animals in a bungalow on Terra. She'd not seen it, but she'd heard about it from Tsen Shang. Alexi Malenkov reported it to Justin and Tsen while we were all at the wedding of Hanse and Melissa. Ridzik and Elizabeth weren't even cautious enough to make sure someone did not follow them to their tryst.

A sneer contorted Romano's beautiful features as she thought of Ridzik. You are a contemptible bastard, Ridzik. How could I ever have considered you as a consort to solidify my power base? You toady up to Hanse Davion so he doesn't snap up your precious Tikonov, then you decide to go off on a little crusade of your own. You strike out at the Free Worlds League instead of helping your master subjugate your old homeland. Are we so meager a threat as far as you are concerned?

Romano licked her lips. Yes, it's time to clean up some loose ends before I make my next move. You, Pavel Ridzik, have arrogantly dismissed the Capellan Confederation. My father tried to have you killed before, but he failed. I'll not have the sins of my father visited upon me. It is time for you die.Romano laughed softly as she wove together the final threads in a plot he could never escape.