As their ship wallows toward Troy in the golden dawn light, Alex stares at the Pillar of Troy with mounting dread, describing it as "big," then "really big," then "fucking immense" as Vega chimes in. The colossal tree-stump-shaped mountain of masonry thrusts out of the sea with the famous Hanging Gardens at its top and the spikes of smaller towers rising like the prongs of a crown. Alex presses at her churning stomach, terrified that she—a thief once badly beaten for trying to steal a leper's crutch—is about to be made empress of this impossible place. Balthasar quizzes her on the Pillar's history, and she recites that it was built by the Witch Engineers of Carthage, possibly with the demon prince Hoxx K'zeesh as architect, built to control trade routes, strike awe into conquered peoples, and serve as an eastern fortress against the elves. The Baron notes that ancient Carthage had three pillars on an even grander scale until most of the city was sucked through a gate to hell—"a bad day for property values in general."
They enter Troy's swarming harbor where ships from across the world jostle at the wharves, and Alex begins to see the people—thousands of faces that might be aimed directly at her, waiting for her arrival. She chews her sore lip, feeling anything but imperial, and mutters about heading back to the Holy City. Baron Ricard reminds her of the etiquette lessons: there are no strangers, only beloved old friends to whom she's delighted to be reintroduced; an explosion of generosity and good humor must ignite behind her eyes at each introduction; never hunch, never say sorry, never say shit. Alex forces herself to float across the gangplank, glide across the quay, smile as if she's not worried about shitting herself in front of hundreds of future subjects. She meets Lady Sephora, Warden of the Imperial Chamber, an unnaturally tall and elegant woman with emperor skin—"best fucking skin you ever saw"—who sinks into a respectful curtsy despite Alex feeling like a ridiculous beggar child, a speck of shit with the complexion of a wormy windfall squeezed into a golden sausage skin made from a dead man's cloak.
Lady Sephora conducts Alex toward the cavalcade, explaining that Duke Michael has been in Troy for weeks making arrangements and that the people wish to greet their empress-to-be. When Alex admits she rides "very badly" and an awkward silence falls over the crowd, Yakob steps forward and roars at the top of his voice, "A cheer for Her Highness, the Princess Alexia Pyrogenitus!" A child's shrill voice answers first, then whooping and cheering erupts everywhere—they just needed a nudge. The parade winds through the dazzling, colorful city, past markets selling everything on earth, through great dye-works with seas of bright cloth drying on poles, around the base of the pillar where bells peal from churches and shrines. Alex finds herself actually smiling, wondering where Sunny is—weaving through her honor guard, slipping through the crowd, perhaps later clinging to her underside. Despite Yakob's warning that the crowds love only the idea of her and that no matter who rules, the world will still be the world, Alex allows herself a moment of hope.
The cavalcade halts before a platform where Duke Michael waits with the Grand Patriarch Mathodius XIII and various nobles. Alex forgets all proper etiquette and runs straight into her uncle's arms, genuinely moved by how much she's missed him. The Patriarch examines the papal bull, the birthmark behind her ear, and the famous coin that matches Duke Michael's half, then thrusts them up for the crowds to see, thundering that Princess Alexia Pyrogenitus has returned to claim her birthright. Wasn't much proof of anything really—Alex had run cleverer cons on pilgrims for a few coppers, let alone a whole empire—but it doesn't take much to prove what folk already want to believe. Simply like that, Alex is acclaimed by Pope and Patriarch as rightful heir to the serpent throne of Troy, doing her best to pretend she believes it while the high and mighty crowd in, beaming for the honor of being introduced to a piece of shit thief. Strange world, eh? The chapter brings Alex's unlikely journey full circle, from street thief to imperial heir, capturing both the absurdity and the strange possibility that maybe, just maybe, she might actually pull this off.
Chapter 58: To Duel with Giants
The convoy finally arrives in Troy, and Balthasar finds himself ascending one of the city's magnificent ancient lifts alongside Princess Alexia and the other travelers. As the platform rises smoothly up the side of the great pillar, powered by long-dormant Carthaginian machinery restored by the late Empress Eudoxia, Balthasar marvels at the engineering and the breathtaking views of the city stretching toward the azure Aegean. For the first time, he allows himself to feel a flicker of paternal pride toward the street urchin turned princess, recognizing that despite her considerable shortcomings, Alex has shown remarkable grit and an agile mind when properly instructed. He reflects that while there will likely be no rewards or honors for his role in her survival, knowing what he has accomplished might be satisfaction enough.
Lady Severa, the elegant Warden of the Imperial Chamber, approaches Balthasar and engages him in conversation. The necromancer finds himself uncharacteristically tongue-tied in the presence of this paragon of breeding and refinement, but is deeply impressed by her humility and bearing. When he mentions observing phenomena that have led him to reconsider the nature of matter—specifically whether the elements of earth and air might be composed of the same fundamental stuff—Severa asks if he would dare to battle with the ancient philosophers Hasdrubal and Celebus. Balthasar admits he has no desire to duel with giants, but the facts might force him to it. Their conversation touches on the impressive Carthaginian architecture and machinery that still functions in Troy, particularly the pillar and aqueduct.
Severa shares insights about the late Empress Eudoxia, counting her drawbacks on expressive fingers: the coven of sorcerers, the overbearing offspring, the summary executions, and the abominable experiments. Balthasar admits to being impressed by the superb sacramancy he witnessed in the hybrid creatures they encountered on their journey, though he quickly adds that Eudoxia's work was entirely insane and a crime against God. Severa reveals that Eudoxia, afflicted from birth with a wasting sickness, sought to preserve her own weak flesh and became fascinated with the soul—with locating it, releasing it, and capturing it. She also mentions that Eudoxia was an enthusiastic student of history who repaired the dormant machines within the pillar, including the three lifts that are the only way to reach the top unless one is a very confident climber.
As the lift reaches the summit with a lurch, Severa steadies Balthasar and suggests he find time to tell her more about the events that made him reconsider his position on Pope Benedicta. As she glides away with what might have been the lightest parting squeeze of his wrist, Baptiste leans in to mock him, pointing out that Lady Severa is so far out of his league they might as well come from different species. Balthasar doesn't bother to deny it, simply whispering, "Let a man dream," as he watches her depart—a moment of humanity from the usually pompous necromancer who has begun to learn humility through his trials.
Chapter 59: Rivers in the Sky
Brother Diaz steps onto the top of the pillar of Troy and enters what feels like another world. Where the city below had been dry, dusty, and paved over, the royal grounds atop the pillar shimmer with green against dazzling blue. Majestic trees soar overhead, emerald lawns spread out invitingly, and bushes offer up treasures of blossom, all planted with such masterful artifice it seems the seeds must have fallen from the hand of God. A double row of immaculate guardsmen form a corridor of polished metal and gilded halberds for Princess Alexia's arrival. While Alex views the many guards with nervous fear, a hard habit to break, Brother Diaz finds comfort in all that armor, and both dare to imagine that the worst of their trials might be behind them.
The hanging gardens provide a stark contrast to the airless, baking city below with its reek and flies. Here a cooling breeze caresses the skin, making the bright sun flash and sparkle through leaves of a thousand shapes and colors. Brother Diaz breathes in the heavy fragrance of flowers and resin, sighing that this is as near as he's come to Paradise. Duke Michael explains that during Empress Diocletia's reign, every plant God made was represented in the gardens. Despite Eudoxia being a savage, vindictive tyrant who deservedly burns in hell, she spared no expense on the pillar and aqueduct, giving Troy a glimpse of the majesty of old. When Duke Michael was a boy, there was only a brackish trickle and thirsty palms, and just one lift that barely worked. Now rivers flow in the sky—water floods down the aqueduct from mountain springs and flows through hidden pipes, spreading through channels that cascade down the pillar's sides, driving the lifts and flowing out through the districts below.
Duke Michael points out the magnificent architecture built atop the pillar: the Basilica of the Angelic Visitation on the east side, with its towering facade covered in geometric carvings and glittering images of angels, its spires the size of bell towers—a place where Brother Diaz feels he can truly sense the presence of God, far more than in the Holy City. On the west side stands the palace, Alex's palace, topped by Saint Natalia's flame in the Pharos, which for centuries has guided the children of Troy home. Duke Michael describes the city within the city built atop the pillar: the grand dwellings of noble families, the headquarters of army and navy, fortresses for the emperor's elite, and all the machinery of a great empire—truly a city among the clouds.
The group passes the famous Athenaeum, its pediment held up by ten lofty pillars carved with scenes of art and learning. Duke Michael explains that Eudoxia desecrated and diminished it, driving out the scholars and replacing them with sorcerers and alchemists who gave the place over to the study of black arts. Balthasar momentarily forgets himself, imagining with wonder the excavation of arcane mysteries not cloaked in shameful secrecy but proudly celebrated, before remembering to be utterly scandalized. Lady Severa reveals that while some of Eudoxia's students swore loyalty to one or another of her sons, the rest fled after her death like woodlice fearing the light. The Athenaeum yearns to be reborn, and its library remains one of the greatest in the world with well over a hundred thousand volumes. Brother Diaz, who had often boasted about his monastery's thousand books, struggles to picture such a number. Severa warns him not to wander within, as things remain from Eudoxia's experiments in the sealed vaults—the place where the hybrid creatures that fought for Marcian and Constans were made, where Sabbath got his wings and set himself up as the Angel of Troy. Lady Severa's sudden venom at the arrogance of those pampered dolts and the gifts they squandered reveals her own guilt about what she could not prevent, leading Brother Diaz to gently remind her that she cannot blame herself for their sins.
Chapter 60: Before You Ask
Lady Severa leads Princess Alexia into the imperial bedchamber, the place of her birth as pyrogenitus, though Alex's own memory of it is admittedly hazy. The cavernous room looks like a place where high-end brothel meets cathedral to some evil god—all dark marble, gold leaf, and swags of silk the color of a slit throat. Three great arched openings provide an almost impossible view of the western sky and the harbor far below. Alex acknowledges it looks a bit like the room where you'd bed a demon, and given Eudoxia's reputation, Severa agrees nothing would surprise her. She promises to render it less diabolical and introduces Alex to her four handmaidens: Arthine, Cleopha, Zenonas, and Placidia, all selected from unimpeachable families. The street urchin turned princess finds them all impossibly tall and polished, feeling like a ferret being waited on by leopards.
Severa leads Alex to a magnificent bronze bath three times the size of the room she once shared with seven thieves, filled with steaming water, floating flower petals, and scented oils. The handmaidens begin undressing Alex, who protests weakly while feeling desperately out of her depth about being stripped naked by four strangers. Severa reassures her that she will never have to undo another button, which Alex sarcastically notes has been her worst problem up to now. Lady Severa reminds her that Empress Eudoxia was shorter than Alex, had a withered left leg, walked with a stick for much of her life, and yet was the terror of an empire—no one took her lightly. Alex, feeling weird and bony and scarred, covered in the marks of a shit life full of losing battles fought viciously over tiny stakes, says she doesn't need to be a terror, she'd settle for not being a joke. When her hidden dagger clatters to the floor, Severa picks it up with distaste but promises to find Alex a blade that better suits the imperial aesthetic.
Alex sinks into the bath with a gasp, the heat making her clench up before gradually going soft. The handmaidens comb her hair, scrub her heels, and pick dirt from under her fingernails—services Alex has barely provided for herself, let alone received from others. When she catches a glimpse of one girl's knife approaching to cut out a tangle, Alex panics and flounders up with a stab of terror, making the girl cry. Severa steps in calmly, revealing that Duke Michael has told her everything—or enough to know Alex has braved a terrible ordeal that is now behind her. Like Saint Natalia, Alex has passed through the fire, singed but alive. Severa helps her from the bath, assuring her that she has five servants in this room who would give their lives for her, loyalty she already possesses even if she hasn't yet earned it. Below her in the palace are hundreds of guardsmen sworn to protect her, prepared for anything. Alex takes shuddering breaths, trying to convince herself that she is safe, though her hammering heart doesn't quite believe it yet.
After being pampered and perfumed, Alex asks for time alone, and Severa dismisses the handmaidens. Once the doors close, Alex struts to the window eating sweet grapes, marveling at the view that makes ruling easier when it all looks like a toy city filled with toy people. She senses a presence and calls out for Sunny to reveal herself. The elf emerges from her hiding place and they joke about Alex's new luxurious life. Alex has kept the bath full for Sunny, who sheds her clothes and slips into the water. The two share an intimate moment, with Alex combing Sunny's hair and noting the pointed tip of one ear and the obvious lack of the other. When Sunny playfully pulls Alex into the bath fully clothed, Alex realizes she can simply snap her fingers and get a dozen more robes. She peels off the soaked garment and slips into the water with Sunny, skin against slippery skin, and echoes Severa's earlier words about knowing what someone wants before they ask, sealing it with kisses as the chapter ends on their tender, playful intimacy.
Chapter 61: Tomorrow's Ghosts
With a final agonizing effort, Yakov forces his burning, clicking, trembling legs up the last steps to the top of the Pharos of Troy. His knees feel as if they might be wreathed in flames, but as he has ten thousand times before, he makes of his pain a spur to push him on. He reaches the dazzling gallery where Saint Natalia's blessed flame rises from a great bronze dish, tended by a silent nun and reflected in a dome set with mirror chips, bringing comfort to everyone on land or sea for miles around. Those who dare the steps to this highest point in Troy are greeted by the kind of views an angel might have from heaven—the sea and sky struck red by the setting sun to the west, the grand aqueduct curving toward darkened mountains to the east, the ragged coast and the black slit of the Hellespont to the north, and to the south, the Holy Land where the elves had come from and been turned back at terrible cost.
Duke Michael greets Yakov and begins probing about his past, noting that he is different from the rest of the Chapel of the Holy Expediency congregation—he was not tried by the Celestial Court, not condemned to service, but joined of his own free will and could leave right now. Yakov reveals that he once believed in destiny, that he was bound for great things and an instrument of God's purpose, telling himself he couldn't waver no matter what obstacles arose. He sacrificed everything and everyone, covered himself in glory and steeped himself in blood, reaching the summit of a hill of corpses only to discover there was nothing on the other side. He saw he'd never followed God's plan, only the lies he told himself to justify his greed and ambition. Duke Michael suggests that Yakov has made himself an arrow shot from another's bow, washing his hands of right and wrong—some might call that cowardice. Yakov, long past caring what anyone might call it, responds that he's seen it all and then seen it all repeated: one man's cowardice is another's prudence, one man's treachery another's courage, one man's destiny another's disaster. When you reach his age, you've stood everywhere, and to be the arrow takes all the faith he has left.
Brother Diaz arrives at the top, gasping at the climb and marveling at the view. Duke Michael explains the chain hanging beside the brazier, which drops powder into the fire to make it burn blue as a warning that the elves are coming—it hasn't been used in his lifetime, and they all hope it never will be again. Turning to business, Yakov insists Princess Alexia should be crowned as soon as possible. Duke Michael has dreamed of it for half his life and has many supporters—the people yearn for old glories restored and new hopes for the future. He's retaken his position as commander of the palace guard and had them reaffirm their oaths. The remnants of Eudoxia's coven have been scattered to the winds, though resistance to Alexia's claim will come from more mundane enemies. The Church of the East fears the Pope's influence and being stripped of their privileges, though Patriarch Mathodius is not unreasonable. The nobles are a petty set of backbiters who will extract a high price for their support, presenting a list of long-standing injustices that Duke Michael gratefully hands to Brother Diaz to review.
Duke Michael's greatest concern is Eudoxia's surviving son, Arcadius, the cleverest and most influential of the four brothers. As Admiral of the Imperial Fleet, he kept the sailors paid during Eudoxia's neglect and they love him for it. He could mount a blockade of the city tomorrow and starve them out within weeks. Yakov notes that Arcadius is the greatest threat, but has a plan for him involving the Athenaeum's records. As Brother Diaz heads for the steps still poring over the nobles' demands, Duke Michael quietly asks Yakov if there's more to the monk than meets the eye. Yakov responds that there's more to everyone than meets the eye—Brother Diaz is a man in search of a purpose, and if he were to find it, who can say what he might do? Duke Michael reveals he knew it—that Yakov is the same Yakov of Thorn who fought in the Second Crusade over a century ago. Yakov traces names carved into the parapet, memories forged in the white-hot crucible of his youth: King William the Red of Sicily, Battler Beordo Umbra, Sir John Galt the Pillar of the Faith. Duke Michael calls them heroes all, but Yakov calls them yesterday's heroes, tomorrow's ghosts—and admits he's a ghost already. When Duke Michael asks if the elves are really as bad as they say, Yakov takes a long breath and replies that he has come to think they are no worse than men. "So, yes."
Chapter 62: Close to Heaven
Lady Severa leads Brother Diaz into the Athenaeum, announcing the sections for philosophy, history, theology, astronomy, mathematics, and the natural and arcane sciences. Brother Diaz appeals to Saint Jerome, patron saint of learning, as he beholds what feels closer to heaven than he ever expected or deserved to come. The rotunda at the heart of the Athenaeum bathes in shafts of angelic light filtering down from cupolas high above, set into a dome decorated with scenes from ancient Troy's history: Hector humbling Achilles, Cassandra tricking Odysseus, the burning of the Trojan horse, the triumph of Astyanax, and the sack of Mycenae. Dizzying ranks of shelves cover the walls, a curving cliff of them ten times a man's height or more, festooned with a madman's scaffolding of gantries, stairs, and ladders, bursting with mind-boggling numbers of books—legions of them, acres of them. Severa mentions other sections in separate wings, noting this isn't even all of it. Brother Diaz, who had often boasted about his monastery's thousand books, struggles to picture what one hundred thousand volumes might look like.
If the shelves above are heaven, the floor below is perhaps hell. The wide circle is more densely covered with markings than Vega's scarred back: rings within rings, triangles within pentagons, spiraling diagrams of interlocking symbols cast from different metals, painted in different inks, chiseled into the marble—whole incomprehensible treatises in crabby handwriting. It reminds Brother Diaz far more than is comfortable of the apparatus Balthasar prepared in Venice, but on the grandest of scales. The floor has black art written all over it. Severa glides across it and Brother Diaz follows reluctantly. In the center stands a tall copper rod wreathed in wires and blackened as if by fire, flanked by two benches ringed by particularly dense markings. To his discomfort, the benches are furnished with heavy straps as if to hold prisoners tightly in place. This was the apparatus for Eudoxia's final experiment, the one she died performing.
Severa explains that Eudoxia was born sickly, the runt of Theodosia's litter with a saint for a sister and a hero for a brother—small wonder she felt some resentment, though hardly an excuse for stealing an empire. Severa suggests Eudoxia saw herself as protecting it, or at least that would have been her justification. So imperfect herself, she yearned to create something perfect. Her husbands disappointed her and betrayed her one by one, then her sons did the same. She retreated and buried herself among her books, hoping to find perfection in her magic, but that failed her too in the end. Brother Diaz peers through the distorting glass of jars clamped to the copper rod, seeing what appears to be a great black shiny feather floating inside. When he asks what Eudoxia was trying to do, Severa suggests she was trying to free herself from her own decaying body, from her own mistakes. Brother Diaz asks if Severa almost admired her, and Severa responds that Eudoxia was a savage, vindictive, paranoid tyrant whose efforts to save Troy brought it low, whose efforts to build a dream created a nightmare. She admired her not at all, but understood her—we all have our reasons, we are all prisoners of our own flaws.
Brother Diaz slowly nods, knowing he has his own flaws to contend with, his own mistakes to atone for. He tightens his grip on the sheaf of demands Duke Michael gave him and squares his shoulders, declaring they will have a new Empress now, a new chance, and their only option is to do better. Severa agrees, lifting her chin and clasping her hands, once more becoming the stately Warden of the Imperial Chamber—one could never have guessed she had such things as feelings, let alone what they might be. She leads him toward the archives, and Brother Diaz strides after her, fixed on the task at hand, not at all reluctant to leave Eudoxia's mistakes—not to mention his own—behind.
Chapter 63: Clean Inside
Vega awakens in a stable, stark naked and covered in hay, with no memory of the previous night's debauchery. She finds herself with a confused stranger who has no idea what happened either, and after a chaotic morning of retrieving her scattered clothes—including a vest that isn't even hers—she stumbles out into the blinding daylight. The morning-after routine is familiar territory for Vega: the dung in her hair, the questionable fluids, the missing memories of dice games, fountains, and possibly punching camels.
To her annoyance, Baron Ricard has been waiting for her at a canal-side tavern, having apparently appointed himself her guardian against further outrages. The vampire sits drinking blood from a wine glass while serving girls swoon at his touch, and he's ordered Vega a large joint of near-raw meat—which she devours despite her wounded pride at being treated like a dog. Their banter reveals the complicated relationship between these two monsters: the refined vampire who feeds on willing victims and the werewolf struggling to control her beast. Vega discovers they're on the grand aqueduct high above Troy, a revelation that triggers her fear of heights.
As they walk through the bustling streets atop the aqueduct, Vega insists to Ricard that she has mastered the wolf within. She argues that while the beast is still there and always will be, she now chooses when to let it out—not the moon, not goatees with irons, not cardinals with whips, not even the wolf itself controls her anymore. She points to her chest, declaring that she can be "clean inside" even if there's dung in her hair. Ricard seems to envy her claim, murmuring "I wish I was" as he walks away. The chapter explores the parallel struggles of two very different monsters trying to maintain control over their darker natures, with Vega's rough determination contrasting sharply with Ricard's elegant self-loathing.
Chapter 64: The Beautiful Compromise
The throne room of Troy, positioned at the very top of the Pharos beneath Saint Natalia's flame, has been carefully designed to inspire awe through its dizzying height, crushing displays of wealth, and the serpent throne itself—a towering edifice of coiled stone snakes that makes the idea of young Alex sitting in it seem faintly ridiculous. Princess Alexia sits nervously at a polished table with Duke Michael, Lady Severa, and Yakov of Thorn, preparing to face the assembled aristocracy of Troy. Brother Diaz, the assistant librarian from an obscure monastery, has spent days buried in the imperial archives preparing for legal battle.
As the nobles file in with their ponderous names and assault of honorifics, each brings grievances and demands they expect the crown to satisfy. Duke Costas wants compensation for imperial naval bases on his lands, while others claim ownership of galleys, fisheries, and entire cities. But Brother Diaz, fueled by pure administration, systematically dismantles each claim with deeds, ledgers, and compound interest calculations. He reveals that Duke Costas has been illegally grazing crown property for centuries and actually owes the throne a fortune. The monk crosses complaints from his list one by one, even exposing Count Julian's deeds as crude forgeries, while Yakov's grim presence ensures no one resorts to violence when legal arguments fail.
Just as victory seems complete, Duke Arcadius—the eldest son of Empress Eudoxia and seemingly the most dangerous of Alex's enemies—reveals the real game being played. To everyone's shock except Alex's, he expects her answer to his marriage proposal, a political arrangement orchestrated by Duke Michael and Cardinal Zizka before they even left the Holy City. Alex is horrified to learn she's expected to marry her worst enemy and produce heirs to secure the throne. Despite her outrage and feeling of betrayal, even Lady Severa and Yakov acknowledge the military and political sense of the match—Arcadius controls the fleet, holds key fortresses, and his support could transform Alex from weakness to strength. The chapter ends with Alex's imperial dignity evaporating as she realizes that becoming empress means sacrificing the freedom to choose her own fate, and Brother Diaz can only spread his hands in apology, admitting it would solve a great many problems.
Chapter 65: Not Nothing
Alex paces furiously in the imperial bedchamber, raging about Arcadius's marriage proposal, while Sunny lies on the bed where heirs to the empire were born—a luxury she rarely enjoys. When Alex can't understand how Arcadius could be the worst of his siblings, Sunny tries to comfort her friend but realizes she lacks the words that people would know to say. Fighting against her instinct to disappear and pretend this conversation never happened, Sunny instead does what Yakov always advocates: the hard thing. She shows Alex a secret passage hidden behind the chapel paneling, leading to a network of corridors and a small vaulted chamber with a window overlooking the city.
In this hidden space, Alex finally breaks down and reveals the devastating truth: she isn't Princess Alexia at all. Her real mother sold cheese and died, her father dug ditches before selling her to Gal the Purse to be a thief in the Holy City. The real Alexia was another street child who showed her the imperial coin and birthmark, believing in her royal destiny. When the long pox killed the true princess, the girl who would become "Alex" stole everything—the coin, the birthmark (burning herself with bent wire to fake it), even the name itself. She wanted to be "not nothing." The oracles' vague pronouncements about towers and elves and fire were interpreted by Bock and Duke Michael to mean what they wanted to hear. Everyone was so desperate for it to be true that no one questioned closely enough.
Alex begs Sunny to run away with her, to find somewhere they both belong, but Sunny sees what must be done for everyone's sake. She asks Alex where Sunny belongs, and the question lands like a slap. Forcing herself to show no feelings—something she's practiced for years—Sunny tells Alex she has a chance to do some good and shouldn't waste it. There's not enough good in the world. Once Alex is crowned, the papal binding will send Sunny back to the Holy City anyway; they always knew this wasn't forever. When Alex reaches for her, Sunny steps back, declaring that Alex is a princess and she's an elf—it sounds like a bad joke, and it is one. The chapter ends with Sunny finding solace in Yakov's arms, the old knight who spent a lifetime killing elves now gently holding one, while she grieves for the something she had for herself but must now let go.
Chapter 66: The Sword and the Book
The Basilica of the Angelic Visitation stands unchanged since Yakov's last visit—vast silence, forests of candles, endless icons covering every wall, and the star of a hundred spears mounted above the altar alongside five jars of pickled angel feathers. Yakov finds himself drawn to an icon of Saint Stephen, the patron of warriors, remembering when he carried a similar image screwed to the back of his shield before burying it with a friend, or maybe an enemy. He tells Brother Diaz that he hopes to die quietly and leave no trace, despite the monk's shock that such a legendary holy warrior wouldn't want to be celebrated. Yakov reveals his true crusading history: two against the elves, one against pagans, one against Saramites, one against Doubters that was straight murder, and one that devolved into sacking Messina instead of reaching Africa.
When Brother Diaz argues that Yakov deserves recognition for his great battles and victories, the old knight insists his greatest battles were fought against himself and all were defeats. He confesses that the pride Brother Diaz sees in him is exactly his sin—the arrogance of appointing himself judge, jury, and executioner of his own soul. But Yakov pivots to praising the monk, admitting that he's spent his life judging men by the iron he sees in them, their bravery and prowess, but has learned that all a man of the sword can do is cut a chance for better men to take. Men of the book like Brother Diaz are the ones who build something worth raising, and his performance in the throne room was genuinely impressive.
The others gather for the coronation: Baptiste and Balthasar bickering as always, Vega wanting a grand tomb and considering conversion (learning she's already been baptized twice), and Baron Ricard lounging smugly. When Princess Alexia arrives in her coronation finery, Duke Michael announces his engagement to Lady Severa, to everyone's surprise and delight. As the group prepares to part ways—the papal binding will send them back to the Holy City the moment the crown touches Alex's head—she asks Brother Diaz for a blessing. The humble monk delivers a moving sermon about their crooked path together, remembering the trials at the inn, with Bishop Apollonia, at the illusionist's house, the sea battle with crabmen, and the plague pit at the Monastery of St. Sebastian. He acknowledges he once thought them all monsters, but learned they are only people—a set of devils, perhaps, but on this occasion, they've done God's work.
Chapter 67: So Much to Live Up To
Vega suffers through the endless coronation ceremony, bored out of her mind by the droning priests with their enormous beards talking about planting fields and fish when they could just talk about charity. She reflects that at least the pagan gods were understandable—as petty, lustful, and greedy as everyone else, if not more so, which is the point of being gods. But the Savior is so much to live up to, with all her virtues and sacrifice and forbearance. Vega can never forbear anything, even before the bite, unlike Yakov who forbears constantly with no drink, no lies, no fun—why live forever if you're not going to live? Meanwhile Baron Ricard lounges on the pew like it's a brothel couch while the lady beside him sweats and pants, doing everything short of begging to be bitten.
As Alex sits crowned with the purple cloak, wheat, and spear, Vega realizes the point of all the gleaming pomp and ritual: choosing to be ruled by a seventeen-year-old girl just because of the room she was born in seems silly, but wrapped in solemn ceremony, it becomes harder to break. When the patriarch finally lowers the crown onto Alex's head, Vega feels the change—the restless tug in her guts that dragged her to Troy now pulling her back toward the sea. They all feel it: Balthasar, Ricard, the papal binding satisfied. Four noblemen hoist Alex on a golden shield to display her to the crowd, everyone kneels, and bells begin ringing. Vega has to laugh because she's always loved bells since first hearing one being smashed by Olaf on a raid, and the cacophony makes her think she might prefer being saved to being a pagan after all.
Yakov leads them out in single file while Alex's coronation continues behind them, Vega catching one last glimpse of the young empress with Duke Michael and Lady Severa smiling up at her. As Vega relieves herself in the bushes outside—careful to angle properly so she doesn't piss on her own trousers again—she notices everyone looking grim despite the binding being satisfied. Balthasar snaps that they're returning to the Holy City, to captivity, resentment, contempt, and enslavement. Vega realizes she'd forgotten about that part. The chapter ends with the bittersweet reality that their mission's success means a return to their own prisons, the chapel of the Holy Expediency like a corpse-cart: welcome in disaster, but unwanted once the danger has passed.
Chapter 68: Evil Friends
On her wedding night, Alex stands exhausted and terrified as an Empress, dressed and undressed like a mannequin while handmaidens buzz around her. She struggles with the reality of her new role and the impending night with her husband Arcadius, uncertain whether to laugh, flee, or hide. When Arcadius arrives, he proves surprisingly civilized, revealing he has no desire to be emperor and proposing they become friends rather than enemies. The two bond over their mutual preference for their own gender and devise a practical arrangement for their marriage, planning to get drunk and handle the dynasty question with "a small hole" and "fragranced lubricant."
Meanwhile, the Chapel of the Holy Expediency prepares to depart Troy by ship. Brother Diaz, Yakov, Baptiste, Vega, Balthasar, Baron Ricard, and a depressed Sunny board their vessel as the city celebrates Alex's coronation. They reflect on their dangerous work and speculate about their next assignment, with Vega proposing they get drunk while they wait. Back in the palace, Alex and Arcadius are actually enjoying their wedding night over wine when disaster strikes. Placidia and Zenonas reveal themselves as Eudoxia's apprentices and sorceresses. Placidia freezes Arcadius solid and shatters him into chunks of ice, while Zenonas pursues Alex with pyromantic fire.
Alex flees through the secret passages, eventually climbing to the top of the Pharos and pulling the chain that turns Saint Natalia's flame blue, the signal for an elf invasion. From the ship, Sunny spots the blue flame and knows Alex is in trouble. Despite Balthasar's protests, Yakov, Vega, Baptiste, Brother Diaz, Sunny, and eventually even Baron Ricard all choose to return to save her. The vampire reveals he never needed to break the papal binding because he has no soul, and that he came along by choice all along. Only Balthasar remains aboard, furiously insisting he will not go back, as the captain orders the ship to cast off immediately.
The chapter establishes the betrayal at the heart of the conspiracy, with Alex's own handmaidens revealed as enemy agents. It also demonstrates the unexpected loyalty and friendship that has grown between Alex and the devils who were bound to protect her, as each member chooses to risk their life to save her despite having completed their mission. The themes of found family, unexpected evil from trusted friends, and the choice between self-preservation and loyalty drive the mounting tension as the blue flame signals disaster and draws Alex's companions back into mortal danger.
Chapter 69: The Language of Violence
Alex clings desperately to the outside of the Pharos, having climbed over the parapet to escape the sorceresses hunting her. She descends the tower's decorative stonework handhold by handhold, terrified of the dizzying drop to the city far below. Above her, Placidia and Zenonas throw a nun from the tower in flames, and Alex presses herself into an alcove, barely avoiding detection as Placidia leans over to search for her. She edges along the ledges through bird nests and broken eggs, at one point nearly falling when disturbed birds attack her. Eventually she reaches a window to the throne room where she sees the two sorceresses inside, vowing to scour the palace and kill anyone loyal to Alex. She realizes she must warn Duke Michael and continues her harrowing climb down the rain-slicked exterior of her own palace in nothing but a gauzy nightgown.
Yakov, a master of what he calls "the language of violence," leads the group through the drizzle-soaked streets of Troy toward the palace. They encounter a nervous crowd held back by palace guards at the lift, with people panicking about the blue flame signaling an elf invasion. Brother Diaz boldly asserts his authority as the Pope's envoy, and with Baptiste's help, they convince the captain to let them accompany him up. In the lift, Yakov reads the guards' body language and realizes they plan to betray them. He engages them in seemingly friendly conversation about their equipment, then suddenly kicks the captain over the railing when the ambush begins. A brutal close-quarters fight erupts, with Yakov, Baptiste, Vega, and the invisible Sunny methodically eliminating the guards. When the last guard holds Brother Diaz hostage, Sunny bites his hand, and despite the monk's protests, Vega throws him over the railing.
Sunny holds her breath and turns invisible to slip past more guards at the top, racing through the hanging gardens toward the palace as violence erupts everywhere around her. She passes soldiers fighting each other, unable to tell who's loyal to Alex and who isn't, and guiltily avoids intervening. She finds the palace doors open and unguarded, blood trails leading deeper inside. Meanwhile, Alex climbs through Duke Michael's window and collapses, battered and exhausted. She accidentally knocks over his desk and discovers a letter from Cardinal Zizka detailing the entire conspiracy: Duke Michael orchestrated everything, planning to use Alex as bait to eliminate his nephews and position himself as emperor, with Eudoxia's students planted to kill Arcadius and Alex at the opportune moment.
Alex confronts Duke Michael, who admits everything without remorse. He calls his sisters Eudoxia and Irene fools and declares the throne should always have been his. He mockingly thanks Alex for killing three of his four rivals and acting as perfect bait for Arcadius, saving him a civil war. As he advances with drawn sword, Sunny appears and kicks him, giving Alex time to escape. The chapter demonstrates how violence becomes a language of its own in desperate circumstances, how trust proves fatally misplaced, and how those Alex thought were protectors prove to be her greatest enemies, while those she barely knew prove willing to die for her.
Chapter 70: The Right Side and the Wrong
Vega fights with brutal efficiency through palace guards, breaking weapons and bones alike, reflecting that in a fight you can't waste time questioning rights and wrongs or you'll get a spear in your chest. She, Baptiste, and Brother Diaz battle their way through the hanging gardens toward the palace, with the monk surprisingly taking the lead for once. As Vega fights, memories surface of her Viking past before the werewolf bite: raiding monasteries, burning churches full of nuns, watching her crewmate Harold die crossing the sea, and wondering if the worthless coins had been worth it. She realizes she may have always been bad, even before the curse, and wipes away tears she tries to blame on the rain.
When they encounter more guards, they're met by Lady Severa with Vega under her control, a rune-stitched needle stuck to Vega's forehead that makes the werewolf speak in perfect synchronization with the sorceress. Brother Diaz and Baptiste are forced to watch helplessly as the possessed Vega and armed guards close in. Meanwhile, Yakov climbs the endless stairs of the Pharos, each step agony for his ancient joints. He reflects bitterly that steps might finally defeat him where countless enemies could not, but presses on anyway, unable to be himself without a sword in his hand, treating each step like an enemy to be conquered.
Sunny and Alex flee through the palace's secret passages, hunted by the handmaidens. They make for the kitchens where they find servants murdered, then are ambushed by Cleopha and Athanay. Sunny is blasted into a wall by magic, and they flee again through wine cellars, Alex toppling shelves to slow Zenonas's fire. They end up in a boot room where Sunny finds a hidden passage, escaping just as the sorceresses discover them. Alex realizes the handmaidens know about the tunnels and are tracking them. She decides they should head for Duke Michael's rooms, but when she climbs through his window, she discovers the letter revealing his treachery. Michael catches her with the evidence and admits everything, revealing his sisters were fools and the throne should have been his all along. He mocks her as "scrap of rubbish from the gutters" and advances to kill her, but Sunny appears and saves Alex once more.
The chapter explores the difficulty of distinguishing right from wrong in desperate circumstances. Brother Diaz faces the reality that he's now fighting alongside a werewolf, a cursed knight, and an elf against palace guards who think they're protecting Troy. Vega grapples with whether she was always a monster, even before her curse. Alex learns that her own uncle, who seemed her greatest protector, orchestrated the entire conspiracy. The title reflects the central theme: sometimes it's genuinely difficult to tell who's on the right side and who the wrong, especially when good people do terrible things and terrible people claim righteous causes.
Chapter 71: Release the Leftovers
Brother Diaz and Baptiste desperately bar the doors of the basilica against the pursuing Vega and Lady Severa, struggling with the massive wooden beam as guards approach. They manage to secure it just as Patriarch Methodius arrives with his retinue, demanding to know who beats on God's own house. Brother Diaz explains the treachery against Empress Alexia and warns that Lady Severa is a sorceress, but the Patriarch reveals he already knows. He explains his predecessor objected to Eudoxia's black magic and was killed so thoroughly there was nothing left to bury, leaving Methodius no choice but accommodation. The Patriarch refuses to help, declaring the Eastern Church will not be subordinated to women or the Pope, and orders his priests to open the doors. In a moment of desperate outrage, Brother Diaz punches the Patriarch unconscious.
The doors burst open as Vega, still controlled by the rune on her forehead, smashes through with Lady Severa directing her movements. As they advance to kill Brother Diaz and Baptiste, Balthasar suddenly appears among the guards, having swum from the departing ship. He uses his newfound understanding of waves in matter to blast the rune from Vega's forehead with a gust of wind, freeing her from Severa's control. With Vega generating fresh corpses and Balthasar reanimating them, they drive Lady Severa and her guards back through the hanging gardens in a running battle of magic and violence. Balthasar discovers he and Vega work perfectly together: she creates corpses, he turns them into weapons, making them a formidable team.
Lady Severa retreats to the steps of the Athenaeum and orders the "release of the leftovers." The barred gates of Eudoxia's abandoned menagerie rise, revealing her worst creation: a massive chimera assembled from leftover parts of failed experiments, a serpentine monstrosity with dozens of mismatched limbs, multiple mouths nested inside one another, and a body that keeps uncoiling from the darkness. Brother Diaz and Baptiste freeze in horror as the abomination attacks. Vega transforms into her wolf form and battles the creature, initially wounding it before it traps her in its coils. She escapes and lures it between trees where it becomes wedged, then slits its belly open, releasing grotesque worm-like offspring. But the trapped creature tears itself in half to continue the attack, and ultimately swallows the Vega-wolf whole.
Balthasar pursues Severa into the Athenaeum, marveling at the vast library before examining Eudoxia's abandoned experimental apparatus at its center. He realizes with mounting horror what it was designed to do: not just locate the soul, but release it and transfer it between bodies. When Severa attacks with lightning, Balthasar instinctively uses the rune of splitting from the apparatus to cleave the bolt in two, proving his magical genius. As they face each other among burning books, he realizes the truth: Eudoxia's experiment worked. The woman before him isn't Lady Severa anymore but Empress Eudoxia herself, having transferred her soul into her apprentice's younger body. The chapter reveals the depths of Eudoxia's forbidden research and the fate of Vega, swallowed by the monstrous leftovers of mad science, while establishing that the conspiracy's true mastermind has been hiding in plain sight all along.
Chapter 72: A War In Miniature
Yakov faces Duke Michael before the serpent throne, recognizing in his opponent's measured stance the same discipline as his nephew Constans. Michael sits casually in the imperial seat, musing that virtue and goodness are boring while ambition, deceit, and revenge hold glamour. He philosophizes that people can't truly change who they are, and asks if Yakov has had any success in his long attempts at redemption. When Michael asks about the rest of the "lost, cursed, and damned congregation," Yakov replies he'll have to do, though his threat ends in an old man's wheeze. The two begin their duel, and Yakov prepares for a complex fight, drawing on his vast experience. But Michael uses the oldest trick in the book, saying "Alex" and glancing sideways. When Yakov looks, Michael lunges and runs him through the belly with his sword. Though impaled, Yakov catches the crosspiece and refuses to fall, wielding his own blade while Michael's sword remains stuck through him.
Alex and Sunny reach the top of the Pharos again, cornered by the four handmaidens. When Sunny tries to attack invisibly, Cleopha speaks a word that creates mist, allowing Athanay to blast the elf into a pillar. As the sorceresses debate whether to freeze, burn, or throw Alex from the tower, Baron Ricard arrives as a swarm of bats. He immediately begins charming all of them with supernatural fascination, telling them about dumplings in Poland while they stare in worshipful awe. Under his vampiric thrall, Zenonas burns Cleopha alive while the others watch in jealous ecstasy. But the Baron's power begins to fade with effort, his appearance aging rapidly. When Athanay breaks free and attacks, he transforms into smoke to avoid her blasts, then tears out her throat. Alex clubs the distracted Zenonas with a mirror-covered chunk of masonry, and Sunny trips her so she falls through the hole in the dome. Placidia catches Ricard with her ice magic, but with his last strength, he throws her into Saint Natalia's flame and speaks a word that makes it burn white-hot, incinerating her while his own arms catch fire.
Yakov and Duke Michael's elegant duel degenerates into brutal slapstick as the impaled knight staggers after his opponent, blood streaming from his wound. Michael acquires an elf dagger during their wrestling and stabs Yakov in the lung, but the ancient warrior refuses to fall. Half-blind with blood loss, Yakov keeps pursuing Michael between the pillars as they argue about whether God chooses leaders or people choose themselves. A crash from above makes them both pause, and Yakov suggests it might be Baron Ricard, joking about whether he's been playing for time or Michael has. Yakov makes one final lunge, but Michael dodges and pushes a statue onto him, crushing his arm and leaving him pinned to the floor with two blades in his body.
Inside the bloated corpse of the leftovers, the Vega-wolf tears her way free from the monster's stomach, bursting out in a spray of gore and collapsing in exhaustion. In the Athenaeum, Balthasar faces Eudoxia in Lady Severa's body, both surrounded by burning books, the revelation hanging between them that her soul-transfer experiment succeeded. The chapter demonstrates how wars, whether between empires or individuals, are won through preparation, deception, and the willingness to use every available weapon. Yakov's vast experience still cannot overcome a simple distraction and the degradations of age. Alex survives not through her own power but through the sacrifice of her friends, with Baron Ricard burning himself to destroy her enemies, and Yakov pinned beneath stone, slowly dying after a lifetime of violence finally catches up to him.
Chapter 73: Unacceptable Behaviour
Balthasar confronts the woman he believes to be Lady Severa in the Athenaeum, only to discover the shocking truth: she is actually Empress Eudoxia, whose soul has inhabited Severa's body after abandoning her own dying form. The former empress reveals that she has been betraying Duke Michael for years, with him so oblivious he even proposed marriage to his own sister trapped in another woman's flesh. After a fierce magical duel that pushes both necromancer and sorceress to their limits, lightning against dark magic, Eudoxia surprisingly offers Balthasar an alliance—together they could make the princes of Europe and the cardinals of the church tremble. Despite the intoxicating attraction to both her stolen beauty and her genius, Balthasar shocks her by refusing, having found a higher purpose in serving the second coming of the Savior herself.
Outside the Athenaeum, Brother Diaz and Baptiste face the horrific result of Eudoxia's experiments—a monstrous amalgamation of creatures from the menagerie that has swallowed Vega whole. As Brother Diaz prays desperately to Saint Beatrix, gripping his vial with all his soul, the Vega wolf tears itself free from the abomination in a flood of blood and gore. When the wounded, matted beast stalks toward them with murderous intent, Baptiste steps forward and screams at the top of her lungs that this behavior is unacceptable—a moment of defiance that seems to reach through to the person beneath the wolf, at least momentarily.
At the top of the Pharos lighthouse, Alex faces her ultimate betrayer as Duke Michael reveals he poisoned her mother, blamed Eudoxia, and started the Civil War in the first place—all to seize power. He calls Alex "a piece of shit," the same words she's used about herself countless times, but hearing it from this privileged traitor ignites her rage. Though he tries to strangle her and seems certain to win, Alex fights back with street-rat desperation—punching him, biting his nose, and finally digging her broken fingernail into his eye. Just as she's about to lose, Yakov of Thorn bursts from Saint Natalia's flame, his clothes and body on fire, the hilts of weapons still protruding from his wounds. The old knight plunges into Duke Michael with everything he has left, and both men plummet from the lighthouse into the sea far below.
Balthasar returns from his triumph over Eudoxia expecting to brag to Baptiste, only to discover the horrific aftermath—Vega has killed and partially devoured her in wolf form. As Vega vomits up black curls of hair and gold teeth while Brother Diaz weeps, Balthasar screams in anguish at what she has done. The necromancer realizes that the woman who tormented him is gone forever, their story cut off mid-sentence, leaving only the tantalizing prologue of what might have been between them—whether crushing victory, mutual understanding, or something else entirely. The devils have proven as dangerous to each other as Zizka always warned they would be.
Chapter 74: Deep Pockets
Cardinal Zizka arrives at the throne room with her delegation of priests, showing no hint of intimidation by either the majestic serpent throne or Alex's bruised face. She brings a gift from the Pope—a relic of Saint Natalia—but Alex immediately counters by having Father Diaz present the letter proving Zizka's conspiracy with Duke Michael. The Cardinal's reaction is chilling in its calm pragmatism: she merely sighs that this is exactly why she told Michael to burn the letter. When Alex screams that Zizka conspired to have her killed, the Cardinal coolly responds that people try to kill her all the time and she tries not to take it personally. She offers a brief apology, then asks what Alex really wants, treating attempted murder as just another negotiating position.
Alex demands the devils be released from the papal binding and given to her, but Zizka systematically dismantles each request. Vega is an uncontrollable menace who just killed Baptiste. Baron Ricard's bad moods once wiped out tracts of Eastern Europe. Balthasar is a demon-bargaining grave robber. Even Sunny poses a risk—if her kind finds her, she might side with the elves, and keeping her would make Alex's subjects burn them both. Zizka argues that the devils must return to the Holy City where they can be contained, and that sooner or later Alex would have to cage them herself or be destroyed by them. Only Yakov is welcome to stay, but Zizka warns he may be the most dangerous of all.
Zizka then delivers her brutally honest assessment: she once saw Alex as a desperate child entirely unsuited to be even a chambermaid, much less an empress, and expected her to run away or betray them for a crust of bread. Duke Michael was the obvious choice—a predictable snake she knew how to handle. But now, seeing that Alex has developed character beyond breeding or education, and noting that all other candidates have been eliminated in spectacularly violent ways, the decision makes itself again. She needs a dependable ruler to reunite the churches of East and West, and Alex is all that's left. Despite her precarious position with few friends and many enemies, especially with the looming threat of the elves and their mindless gods, Alex's empire desperately needs the support only a Europe united under the one true church can provide.
Father Diaz and Alex exchange glances, acknowledging they knew this was coming all along. Thieves and empresses alike must make the best of what they're given. Alex slumps back in the uncomfortable serpent throne and agrees to consider a union between the churches of East and West, working toward an end to the Great Schism—but warns Zizka it's going to cost her. After a tense silence, Cardinal Zizka gives the faintest smile and replies, "God has deep pockets."
Chapter 75: Another Man's Poison
Yakov awakens on a fishing boat, having been netted along with the daily catch after his fiery plunge from the lighthouse. Naked, battered, and stabbed through with agonizing wounds to his chest and side, he experiences his usual sting of disappointment at finding himself still alive. When the astonished fishermen ask how he can possibly be alive, Yakov croaks that it's a long story. Learning that Empress Alexia rules Troy, he allows himself a moment of relief before hobbling through the Hanging Gardens in borrowed fisherman's rags, each shallow breath causing fresh agony through his half-healed wounds. He finds Baron Ricard sunning himself on a bench, transformed from the young god who paraded through the city days before into an ancient, withered creature with white wisps of hair and baggy, sagging skin—both of them reduced to shadows of their former terrifying selves.
The two old warriors compare their wounds and grimly joke about the torments of hell, wondering how they would differ from their usual mornings. Yakov sits with difficulty beside the Baron, and they reflect on how they were once the terrors of their day, but time lays low every empire and topples every tyrant. The Baron delivers the devastating news: Baptiste is dead. According to Brother Diaz, "she stuck her neck out—she never could help doing that." The news hits Yakov as hard as any stabbing he's endured. Baptiste always seemed so alive, and he'd always thought he'd go first, but he's always wrong about that. With the Baron's borrowed walking stick, Yakov makes his way into the basilica.
Inside the Basilica of the Angelic Visitation, Yakov finds Alex standing by a freshly cut marble tomb at the shrine of the Second Crusade—Baptiste's final resting place. Their reunion is bittersweet, both bearing the marks of their struggles, with Alex planning to commission a statue of Baptiste to stand beside William the Red. She offers Yakov the sword of John of Antioch, Marshal of Troy, asking him to lead the New Crusade against the inevitable return of the elves. It's exactly the kind of offer the young squire Yakov once was would have dreamed of—to wear such a legendary sword and lead an army for an empress. But Yakov refuses, explaining that each just cause and good fight he's joined has worn away the good until he's made himself a devil. That's why he swore to serve Her Holiness, and why he must keep his oath.
Alex reveals the darker truth about John of Antioch—after the First Crusade, he turned traitor, tried to seize the serpent throne, unleashed a civil war, and died blind and banished in penury. Before leaving, Yakov takes a small icon of Saint Stephen, patron of worries and protector of the desperate, from beside the shrine. Alex promises to keep the remaining grave free for him "in case he gets lucky." As Yakov limps toward the door, Alex calls after asking if he thinks she'll need luck. Without turning back, he simply says, "We all need it."
Chapter 76: All Bad Things
Alex finds Sunny in the gardens, sitting beneath the dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves. When Alex announces they're leaving that day with Cardinal Zizka back to the Holy City, Sunny already knows—she and Zizka had a disagreement about Alex nearly being killed. Alex admits she tried to get Zizka to release Sunny, but the Cardinal refused, arguing that if the elves find Sunny, she might side with them against humanity, and keeping her would make Alex's subjects burn them both. The narrow space between them proves unbridgeable. When Alex offers to give Sunny something as she deserves, Sunny considers asking for one last kiss but realizes a kiss is the start of something, a doorway with promise—and a kiss leading nowhere is just a reminder of what you don't have, the first sentence of a story that will never be told.
Alex angrily protests that Sunny risked everything for her over and over, and she can't do the same in return. Sunny suggests Alex do it for someone else instead, do it for everyone else, creating a circle of goodness that might come back around one day. When Alex asks about doing good "for the people," Sunny admits she likes people and wishes she was one. Alex insists Sunny is the best person she ever met—perhaps the nicest thing anyone has ever said to her. As Alex stands with tears in her eyes but grinning, she notices Sunny smiling for the first time, and Sunny seems surprised by the unfamiliar shape of her own cheeks.
Vega lies in her cage, having crawled in herself like a rat rather than a wolf. She's cut, gashed, and chewed all over with ragged wounds from giant teeth and bandages she worried at until Cardinal Zizka threatened to flog her. One leg is badly injured and may never heal properly. She sees herself as an animal that deserves to wear a collar and crawl in filth—Baptiste was her friend, and the wolf killed her, but it's Vega's nails with Baptiste's blood crusted underneath and Vega's mouth that still tastes of her meat. No matter how she scrapes her tongue raw or stuffs her mouth with straw, that taste remains forever. She realizes she's more terrible and pitiable than any monster because she pretends to be a person and sometimes even tricks herself, though she's a fucking idiot easily fooled.
When Father Diaz approaches the cage and calls her his savior, noting she saved him in more ways than one, Vega grunts that while she's glad, she can't save herself. Cardinal Zizka's voice echoes nearby, explaining to Father Diaz that before the werewolf bite, Vega was already a monster—a Viking who burned churches and killed monks for sport. Zizka sees her as a weapon to be used against the unholy, no different than guard dogs, which is why she's been suffered to live. Vega recognizes that the pagans and the saved don't hate each other because they're different, but because they're so alike—both would chain her, starve her, and use her to kill their enemies. Father Diaz whispers that she saved him, but Vega refuses to look at him, burrowing into the straw, insisting she's not safe, not clean, and never will be.
Chapter 77: Saint Tabitha's Day
On the fourth of Generosity, Mother Beckert finds herself sharing a carriage to the Celestial Palace with a handsome young man named Caruso—a man from everywhere and nowhere who does a little of this and a little of that. As they crawl through the Holy City's chaotic streets on Saint Tabitha's Day, surrounded by flagellants, prostitutes, and the cacophony of competing church bells, Mother Beckert makes clear her contempt for the hypocrisy of the so-called Saved who have made this the most unholy place on God's earth. When Caruso seems to mock her disapproval of prostitutes, she fixes him with an unwavering stare and explains that her mother was a prostitute and a very good one—it's not the prostitutes she condemns but the scale of desire and sickness they represent, especially in a holy city where all eyes should be turned to heaven.
Mother Beckert, a mongrel from everywhere and nowhere herself, has spent her life carrying the Savior's word to the benighted corners beyond the map's edges—from the steaming jungles of Afriek to the freezing mountains of Norway, where she bathed in icy rivers and asked for more ice. Heat purged the body; cold sharpened the mind; the greater the bodily discomforts, the purer her faith. She explains to Caruso that the one sin the Savior cannot forgive is hypocrisy—the pretense of being something better, nobler, holier than you are. Both travelers have been summoned by letters bearing the papal seal, sent as replacements for someone, though neither letter specifies who. Mother Beckert knows their appointment may be with Her Holiness, but their real meeting will be with Cardinal Zizka, head of the earthly Curia.
The old priest reveals she and Zizka were cellmates at seminary, and they have despised and admired each other from the moment they met—each is everything the other is not, but both know the Church needs both. Zizka is like the sea, ever hungry, always flowing and adapting, making new principles when old ones get in the way—a politician whose nature is both blessing and curse. Mother Beckert, by contrast, is the rock on which the water breaks, though she knows that over years the sea will wear the rock away. Caruso reveals he's been sent to replace someone at a chapel, and Mother Beckert hesitates before naming it: the 13th Chapel within the Celestial Palace.
When Caruso protests there are only twelve chapels for twelve virtues, Mother Beckert smiles, having been proved exactly right in her suspicions. She sits back, surrendering to the jolting movement of the carriage and looking out at the crowds of pilgrims and prostitutes. She tells Caruso that while he may know a little of this and a little of that, about virtue he has a lot to learn. The Chapel of the Holy Expediency, the devils' chapel, the one that embodies the virtue no one speaks of—the thirteenth virtue—awaits its new steward.