The diplomatiti from the Storm Kingdom had set up their area of Jason’s cloud ship like an embassy. Jason provided the space, tailored it to their requests, ahem to it. Like an actual embassy, any snty the Storm Kingdom representatives held olite fi, agreed upon with the host. As Jason made his way to that area of the ship, he reflected that civilisation itself was really just a series of fis, collectively agreed to.

  Many within a society didn’t even realise the degree to which it was, essentially, just made up. How many of the bedrocks on which they built their lives, their very identities, were arbitrary iions. Lines on maps; the value of a bank note. Who was born to rule, and who to serve.

  It was disruption that revealed those fis, breaking the illusion and f people to front the world in which they lived. This was what Earth had been going through sihe revetion of magic. Jason had seen the beginning, but the ges had tinued in his absenations had fallen or transformed, devoured by their neighbours. Others had risen or expahe ey had colpsed, and the very nature of ownership had shifted. The ability to hold a thing was being more important than a piece of paper saying who ow.

  Spirit s had bee widespread while Jason was away, challenging the dominance of fiat currency. Spirit farms had bee viable oh, not just in astral spaces. The Asano had been a rge factor in this, freely disseminating guides on how to set up such farms. More than anything else they or Jason had dohis earhe ire of nations who still did not hesitate to use those guides.

  Although he had been studying the ges to Earth through his avatars, there was only so much Jason could learn from the fines of his spirit domains. He o get his head around a situation that was still in flux. His arrival had already exacerbated instability, and diplomatitact with representatives of an alien power would do the same.

  Jason’s i was currently on only a single member of the Storm Kingdom delegatioered the lobby of their shipboard sute and walked up to the woman sitting behind the desk. If she had been ahling, the silver-rank woman would have been powerful and important, even with the monster core residue permeating her aura. Iorm Kingdom, she was a receptionist.

  “Lord Asano.”

  “G’day Kara. And again, not a lord.”

  “But you are a king. I address you as ‘your majesty,’ if that is your preference.”

  “My preference would be to have you call me Jason.”

  “As you wish, Lord Jason.”

  “How about we stick to the unadulterated Jason.”

  “I have my instrus, Lord Jason. And, if I might ask, when was the st time you could holy cim to be unadulterated? I’m not sure I’ve entered anyone as politically encumbered as you, Lord Jason, and I work for interdimensional diplomats.”

  Jason held out his hands in surrender as he let out a chuckle.

  “I’m not sure I argue past that,” he said. “Is the princess ready?”

  “That teically could include a third of the delegation, Lord Jason. I assume you mean Princess Zara?”

  “Yes, Kara. I am waiting for Zara.”

  “She’s on her way. And, if I might make a suggestion, Lord Jason?”

  “By all means.”

  “Most women don’t find you paring their o other women amusing, even if you do.”

  Jason raised his eyebrows, then bowed his head.

  “Good looking out,” he said gratefully.

  He looked around the room as he waited for the prio emerge. The white marble streaked with blue was native to the Storm Kingdom. Jason had fed half a quarry’s worth to the cloud fsk on his st visit, to better aodate the Rimaros diplomats. The pnts were likewise his, but the decorations otherwise beloo the delegation. With tapestries, paintings, statuaries and carpets, they had not been shy about making themselves at home.

  The delegation appeared to include an interior decorator, and the results had Jason nodding his head in approval. Imposing, yet not intimidating, the room showed off the kingdom’s wealth, but with a reserve that avoided ostentation. The decorations told the story of a kingdom with history, power and dignity. The way they were dispyed was a message of restraint and maturity. Jason could see the message it preseo ah politi who saw it.

  “Knowih politis,” he muttered to himself, “they may want to have gone less subtle.”

  “What was that, Lord Jason.”

  “Don’t mind me, Kara.”

  When Zara emerged, her attire was ingruous with the imposing lobby. She wore a light summer dress, sandals and wide-brimmed sunhat. The print of her dress and the flo her hat set off the sapphire in her eyes, and in the hair spilling out from under her headwear. pared to the marble auries old decorations that wouldn’t have been out of p a museum, she presented as every inch the cruise ship passehe kind of passenger who would send distracted onlookers tumbling overboard.

  She wandered over to him, a smile pying on her lips. Jason was gd not to have ged out of the suit he wore to the meeting with Earth’s ambassadors. While his normal attire might match hers better thematically, he suddenly felt the need for as much aesthetic appeal as he could muster.

  “Princess,” he said with a slight bow.

  “Captain,” she replied, not putting too much effort into supressing a grin.

  “While I am teically captain of this ship, you realise that no one else calls me that, right?”

  “Would you like me to stop?”

  “No,” he fessed.

  The giggle she let out at the awkward expression was like water tinkling in a stream. It triggered lizard-brain instincts he didn’t realise were still there, given his new nature. Her presence sent aric spark running through his body, reag through his avatar and into his soul. In New Water, residents looked up as thunder pealed on ay blue sky.

  She was looking him up and down more overtly than he was taking itire.

  “I’m gd to see that you have finally discovered that fort and dignity are not mutually exclusive,” she teased.

  “Are you saying there is an issue with my fashion sense?”

  “I think ‘sense’ might the wrong word to describe the way you normally dress. I’m sure that Danielle has expihat how you garb yourself is as critical in diplomacy as the armour you wear into battle.”

  He ughed.

  “Almost word for word.”

  “You do uand that you’re a king, do you not? A strange messenger king, of a people who would murder you if they could, but still royalty.”

  “Does your nation even formally reise my astral kingdom?”

  “That is an opeion, at the moment. Ohat I suspect will be closed soon enough.”

  “Are you saying I should get a ?”

  “I’m saying that perhaps your current attire should be your model going forward.”

  “And why exactly is that, Princess? Would you describe me as dapper, perhaps? Dashing? Rakishly handsome?”

  “I would describe you, Captain, as g in humility.”

  “At least I’m not going to be on a foot website once pictures of me in sandals start cirg.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “I do not know what that means,” she said, “but I find myself uhe distinct impression that you deserve to get spped. Are you looking to get spped, Captain?”

  He gnced around in exaggerated spiratorial fashion, looking over at the receptionist, Kara. He then leaned in to whisper in Zara’s ear.

  “Out of curiosity, would it be good or bad if I said yes?”

  Her snort of ughter was decidedly unprincess-like, earning raised eyebrows from Kara. Zara pushed her hands against his chest, shoving him back lightly.

  “You, Captain, have a long way to go in the cultivation of de.”

  “If you wao be more decorous, you o stop looking so stunning.”

  He dropped the pyful lilt for that st ent and she flushed at the sudden pliment amongst the teasing. He took it as a win and held out his arm for her.

  “Shall we, Princess?”

  She couldn’t force the smile from her attempted glower as she pced a hand in the crook of his elbow.

  “Lead on, Captain.”

  They strolled down the hall, side by side, and took aing ptform to one of the promenade decks. Jason had refigured the ship from its previous bat orientation, shifting to cruise ship designed for t with friends and family. It was ideal for looking out at the Australian outba which the artefact city below them was located. They did just that, walking along the deck at a gentle meander.

  “I somehow think that this is not the most effit way to your family gathering,” she observed.

  “I thought we’d take the sic route.”

  “Why are we still here, floating over this city? It’s starting to feel like you’re stalling. Finding reasons to stay around instead of heading for your territory. You even portalled your family here, rather than go to them.”

  “ing from the woman who was too nervous to e out and fight evil with us.”

  “I was not nervous.”

  “Uh huh.”

  She batted him lightly on the arm.

  “I am the highest-ranking member of an inter-universe diplomatic delegation. I thought it was best that my first appearance before the people of another world was not killing people with explosive storm magic.”

  “If I had explosive storm magic, that’s how I’d introduce myself to everyone. G’day, I’m Jason… boom. Lovely day for a dog show. Boom. I’d like to apply for a library card. Boom.”

  “Now, you’re stalling me. Are you keepis, Captain?”

  “Always. Do you know how many rec devices are directed at us right now?”

  “I sehe attentiveness of quite a few auras, yes. But isn’t this ship shrouded in privacy magic? At best they will see us here, our mouths blurred to prevent lip reading.”

  “Doesn’t blur your feet, though.”

  “Why do you keep talking about feet?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that.”

  “You’ve been thinking about my feet?”

  “I’ve decided that it’s definitely best you don’t know.”

  “About my feet?”

  “About i search histories.”

  She shook her head in exasperation, sending her sapphire curls dang around her head. Jason mao avoid letting out a whimpering noise.

  “I am stalling,” he admitted. “About not moving, not about your feet. Shade only has a couple of hundred bodies, and it’s a big world.”

  “You have him out spying. For the people who called in the pirates?”

  “No, they’ll keep. My is with the vampires. I’ve e up against their leader, Elizabeth, in the past. She got the better of me, and I don’t want that to happen again. The vampires have known I was ing back since I massacred many of them to help make my avatar. That made an impression, and Elizabeth has had time to prepare. The vampires got a taste of my power, so I doubt she’ll take a direct approach.”

  “What are you expeg?”

  “Best guess? Holding cities hostage. There are ohat wipe out whole cities. After magic came out into the open, several nations with access to those ons were annexed or fell into disarray. The vampires were amongst those who snatched up some of the ons during the chaos. They’ve already used one, and hold more as a deterrent against simir attacks against them. I expect they’ll use the same threat to try and ward us off as well.”

  “Do you think they’ll use one of these ons again? To punctuate the threat?”

  “That’s my , along with the earthling intelligence agencies Anna Tilden put me in tact with to coordihe search. Shade move fast and infiltrate any security that this p muster, but he needs at least some idea of where to look. He’s already firmed or disfirmed hundreds of small groups, mostly blood sves, rather than vampires proper.”

  “You io wait here until you’ve found all of these ons?”

  “No. There’s no real ce of getting them all, and Elizabeth will realise we’re moving before we get close. I don’t know how ected the vampires are, but this is too global. She’ll realise what we’re up to and find a way to force our hand. The most we hope for is to eliminate enough of the ons to reduce Elizabeth’s hand at the iating table.”

  “You think she’ll talk rather than fight?”

  “The footage of the team fighting the pirates has leaked by now. Elizabeth will have realised that if roup joins the fray, the stalled war will resume, and the vampires will lose. But they could do a lot of damage in the meantime, be that through nuclear ons or by culling the blood farms they still hold. Her stro py is iation, and she’s too smart to not realise that.”

  “Will the people of Earth eveiate? With what the vampires have done? And the fact that they’re vampires.”

  “The humans won’t rest until the vampires are a history lesson. Elizabeth will lean into the deterrent approach. Push for discussion; angle for cessions. For her, maybe some chosehe rest of her people she’ll sell out to save herself. I’ve seen her do it before.”

  “Will you let her live? After what the vampires have done under her and?”

  “Probably. I have ps she ’t escape, aer to let her rot there than watch cities burn.”

  “And the rest of her kind? Will they just y down and die because she cut a deal?”

  “No. I’m ined to offer other leaders the same deal, along with as many vampires as they want to take with them. Any vamps I get off Earth without violence, I will. I just don’t think it will work that way. Some, yeah, but most will fight to the end, or try and hide themselves away.”

  “If this Elizabeth is gone, what of the ons? Will those left behind try and use them in her absence?”

  “If they get them to work. Elizabeth will have to give up locations, and I’m willing to bet she’s got a failsafe. Otherwise, one of the other vampire lords would have used one for themself. Elizabeth knows that if she ’t hand over the on stockpile, she has no leverage. As you say, the vampire in line would take her spot and leave us with the same problem. I think she’ll make a deal to save herself ahe rest burn. She knows she has lost, and that we ’t let the vampires live. My guess is that she’ll angle for passage to Pallimustus.”

  “A gold-rank vampire? She’d be killed on sight.”

  “Part of her demands will be assurahat she’s cut loose safely.”

  “Would you accept that?”

  “Not if I help it. Her, and any other vampires willing to go, go to one of my ps. One far away from the sun. It’s not a bad deal.”

  “It’s about leverage, then. How many of the ons you take from her, and how effectively she sell out the other vampires to humanity.”

  “Yeah,” he said grimly.

  A frown crossed her face as she heard the gravel in his voice. It was a hint of the icy tone he used when fighting enemies. She patted him gently on the arm.

  “I’m sorry,” she told him. “This was meant to be a roll, and I’ve made it bleak and political.”

  “It’s okay,” he said, turning to her with a soft smile. “I always knew we’d have to wade through the mud to reach clear water.”

  They met each other’s eyes. His amusement was gone, and the spectre of violence faded as vampires fell from his thoughts. He didn’t make a joke, or let his mind darken with bloody purpose. He wanted her to see past the armour. Vulnerability didn’t e easy, but he had gotteo opening his soul. If he could do it for a battle over a magic throne, he could do it for a woman with a sharp mind, an imp’s smile and eyes like sapphire pools.

  her spoke, as if afraid of breaking the spell. Her hand ressed against his chest, her quite certai had found its way there. He leaned in but hesitated, his face h before hers. He could see nothing but her eyes, clear and direct, with none of the uainty he knew filled his. She reached up and pced a gentle hand on the side of his face. She drew him in, closing the final distance, and pressed her lips onto his.