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“Do you re “Octavia had many monstrous machines But none so cruel as the chair She called it Pandemonium With it, she could…pervert the mind When she discovered Anastasia’s treason, she swore she would erase her from history She did not succeed in that But she did steal her from you Lysander, after your oodin the worlds Octavia grew jealous After teeks in the chair, her as done, and you didn’t cry anymore”

I wish I did not believe it, but I do What else could erase the face of a ling to breathe It was not enough to rob h to robthat isthat no one should ever be able to take away

“Did Aja know?”

“Know? She nearly broke her oath to Octavia over it Atalantia didn’t bat an eye She is a nus, and when he found he was dying, he made me swear an oath to her” Kalindora ss “I am a monster I know that I turned my back on the covenants of the Olympics, on my own heart But I will not die a monster I won’t let her devour you She cannot sit upon the Morning Chair Sheas the ashes kneel”

I stand, unable to look at Kalindora

“I wasn’t strong enough to make a stand But when you came back…I kneas time That is why I called the Praetorians” She reaches for n, the last heir of Silenius, the last hope of Gold, and you are good What are the chances? You can repair what Darrow and Octavia broke Make all this horror be for so Fix what is broken in our people, Lysander I knoon’t be easy And I am sorry I cannot be there to help you Keep Rhone and Atlas close He loved your father and mother too much for Octavia to ever tell hi he would never return He will protect you with his life”

I can’t take any more I head for the door

“Do your duty!” she says “Do your duty or the worlds will burn”

I leave the roo atto say farewell to the hero She h beside ht as I sit across froloats over the wreck her creatures have made of the Republic’s Senate, and Darrow’s heart We receive word that Kalindora has died

We attend the spectacle of her sunburial on the Annihilo The honor guard of Praetorians, led by White cereun set in the ar, which fires her toward the sun Rhone stands at attention, Atalantia weeps, Atlas does not speak, Ajax wavers in rage, allares at me with such hatred it is a wonder he does not call ives the benediction with glassy eyes

That night, she sends for me

I have no choice but to go

I find her weeping in her meditation chamber I console her, and we stare at the mural of our family, at the blurred face of my mother, as Atalantia kisses my neck and whispers in my ear for me to take her pain away and take her to bed

When she is done withat the ceiling feeling dead inside

“DEJAH THORIS, THIS IS PHOBOS COMMAND Your approach vector is prin”