Ashes of Candesce: Book Five of Virga

'I doubt we'll see any. They're navigation hazards; I can't see the neighbors tolerating them now that Spyre's gone. And it would be cheap to dispose of them; two men with machine guns could pick them off from a safe distance.'

'All right.'

'Venera, please! Don't go this way!'

Something long and silvery shot past to port. 'Razor,' said Venera unnecessarily. 'Oh, look--'

'I see it, I see it.' The yacht twisted, throwing Jacoby against the bulkhead again.

Well, there went any chance he'd had of keeping this capture from Inshiri. With Derance dead, there was nobody loyal to her who'd seen what had just unfolded in Fracas--but that was about to change.

'The old defenses made a kind of shell around Spyre,' Venera was saying. 'Egg-shaped, fifteen miles long by ten. Once we're in there it should be clear and we can take a more leisurely path out. Those big cruisers will have to circle around, they don't have our maneuvera ... What the hell is that?'

A mist of spiked balls flew past, then a few strands of razor wire, and then they were into open air again. Venera and the pilot were suddenly silent, and Jacoby looked past them and saw that there was indeed nothing to hide anymore.

'There must be ... hundreds,' whispered Venera. For the first time, she looked afraid.

Oh, more than hundreds. Jacoby had long ago lost count. He shook his head, defeated and resigned.

'Run up the white flag,' said Venera quietly.

They glided, engines idling, into a cloud of warships miles in extent.

17

KEIR HESITATED, THEN reached out to rap on the door. It was ornately carved, and like everything else in Aerie's new capital city, smelled of wood shavings and fresh paint.

'I said, just a minute!' Leal sounded frantic.

'What, you're not even decent yet?' He heard the assurance in his own voice; back in Brink, he would never have teased an adult like this. But that time was increasingly a blur.

'It's not that,' she shouted. 'I just can't--oh, hell.' He heard her thumping, slightly ungraceful footsteps, and then the door flung open. 'I don't know what to wear,' she said in a defeated tone.

'May I?' She ducked aside and he entered the gigantic bedroom they'd given her. It was so new its ceiling was only half-painted, with scenes of some epic battle in recent Virgan history. Garish, he thought.

'I know how you feel,' he said, spreading his arms to show off his dress uniform. 'I was going to wear my clothes from Brink, but they don't fit me anymore.'

At that she smiled and ran her eyes over his uniform, which emphasized his broad shoulders. Leal herself was in loose pants tied up with a drawstring, and a plain white shirt. Laid out on her gargantuan four-poster bed were six complete outfits, ranging from a golden gown (with, of course, ankle ties for freefall modesty) to a severe black pantsuit. Keir stood over them and rubbed his chin half-consciously. He'd had to start shaving lately, and the process had a reassuring familiarity to it; but he'd never been shaved by another man before, as he had this morning by the footman they'd assigned to him.

'I have to dress to impress,' she said. 'The question is, how?'

He pointed to the gown. 'Too extreme. The rule here is, there'll always be a prettier woman in the room. But looks is all they have. You don't want to look pretty, you want to look important.'

She scowled in annoyance. 'When in my life am I going to get another chance to be pretty?'

He stepped up and took her hands. 'When we've won, and the whole world comes to celebrate.'

She just stood there, smiling up at him, until he stepped back and said, 'Today, you're here to dominate, and frighten. Think Venera Fanning.'

'But she always looks good!'

'The two goals are not incompatible.' He looked at the outfits again. 'Which of these would Venera choose?'

She bit her knuckle, concentrating. 'Not ... any of them. But it's all they gave me!'

'May I suggest we mix and match.' He tapped the suit. 'Too severe. But the trousers work.' Next to it was a black top with corresponding harem pants. 'The pants here are too much. But the top is off-the-shoulder, and the contradictions will be quite impressive.' He handed her the black top and suit pants, and she stepped behind the screen to haul them on.

'Well...' She stood in front of the mirror, obviously pleased. 'But it's not quite there.'

'Gotta put your hair back and tie it off. Did they give you hairpins?' She nodded to the dressing table. He came back with two large red wooden pins and, stepping behind her, began tugging her hair into shape.

'You've done this before,' she said.

'Apparently,' he said past the pins between his teeth.

He was peripherally aware that she was watching him in the mirror, her face serious now. 'Keir,' she said at last, 'where is it going to stop?'

'What?'