She shrugs. “Only an idiot would not.” She looks me up and down. “And Lady Bellona is no idiot.”
Her eagle hisses at me. It’s an attack bird, I’ve noticed. Metal-reinforced talons. Lovely.
“The lady was kind enough to send me Rhone.” I glance at Glirastes, thinking of Darrow and Cassius in Apollonius’s cells. “Perhaps soon, I’ll have a gift in kind for the lady to open a dialogue. Something dear to her heart.”
My concealed com crackles with a priority message. Rhone reports from within theLightbringer. “Dominus,it is urgent.”
Pallas’s eyebrows creep upward. “Problem?”
“It seems we’re out of wine. Excuse me, goodlady.” I step away from the party to have the conversation near a row of Praetorians. “Rhone, go.”
“There has been a nuclear explosion at the Dockyards of Venus. The Carthii have used it as pretext to launch a full-scale invasion of the dockyards. The Minotaur is asking for reinforcements.”
I reach for the Mind’s Eye to quell the reflexive panic. The sounds of the party shrink away. My heart slows. My welling anxieties slide from chaos into even ranks and await my attention. I look past the Praetorians to the dark sky. The clouds move below.
“I see. Is that all?”
“The situation is still unfolding,dominus.”
“Who else knows this?” I ask.
“Anyone with a telescope.”
“Do we still have eyes on Atlas?”
“Kyber has him in Tyche questioning Coppers.”
I trust Kyber’s competency as much as I trust Rhone’s. Still, if anyone could spot a whisper following him it would be Atlas.
“Have Pytha prep our contingencies and get on deck, I need you here.” The threat of exposure is severe. If the Carthii take prisoners, the Martian exiles will tell their torturers how they got to the dockyards. Not good.
Cicero meets my eyes from across the party. He was listening too and had enough sense not to come over. I hail his com. “Cicero. I need you to tell Tharsus to get out of here now. I don’t want a situation that I can’t control. Keep him away from the Carthii.”
“On it.”
I search for Valeria au Carthii. Amidst her brothers, her head is tilted as she listens to someone in her ear. She’s just finding out as well. Her brother points out Tharsus. Apollonius’s brother is wrestling a small carveling atop a tree to the laughter of his friends.
Sensing my distress, Glirastes abandons Pallas and comes over. I deploy a jamField from my ring so our guests can’t overhear us.
“Dockyards have gone bad?” Glirastes asks. I nod. Thankfully, he has the composure to conceal his panic and his urge to remind me his doubts about the Minotaur. “What does Rhone think?”
I spot him exiting the hull via a lift. He jogs over.
“You need to act as if nothing’s happened,” Rhone says when he joins. “But Apollonius is demanding reinforcements. If we want to move out, we should mobilize our legions and Cicero’s as soon as possible. Mercury is closer to Venus than Earth is. We can beat Atalantia there.”
“If we aid him then we’re in open rebellion against our lawful Dictator,” I say.
In the orchard, Cicero has delivered the news. Tharsus comes down from the tree to find the Carthii staring at him. He shouts for his friends. As he desperately tries to collect the deviants lost in their own fun, the Carthii make their move.
I rush to intercept. I almost get bulldozed by Valeria’s brothers, but Iget in front of her before she’s close enough to cause Tharsus harm. She’s within my personal jamField. Her brothers are not. I cover my mouth. “Do you want your inheritance?”
“It is burning,” she says. “So I’ll burn Tharsus. Move or I’ll start thinking you had something to do with it.”
“Your father is not headed for an easy victory. But rather the fight of his life.”
She scoffs. “The only threat was the atomics. I hardly think a handful of Grays will stop our legions—”
I roll the dice. “The Minotaur has eighty thousand Martian veterans.”
