and for only the second time that Calder had ever seen, she had put effort into her appearance.
Her red hair cascaded down her back in waves, and her outfit—from her tri-cornered hat to the ankles of her pants—was a bright blue trimmed in gold. Medals decorated her chest, though he suspected they were all either self-awarded or meaningless.
Clean and laughing, she was radiant, and when she saw him looking, she shot him a wink that made him clear his throat and glance away.
Jerri wouldn’t let him forget looking at Cheska like…
No, Jerri was in prison. She had betrayed him. He didn’t owe her anything.
Calder added that thought to the long list of things he had to ignore and turned his attention to the next Guild in line. The Magisters milled behind the Navigators, though they came across as somehow grimmer than the Blackwatch. They all wore robes and carried staves, though each robe and staff were distinct from every other, and they all seemed wrapped up in their own thoughts.
Flanked by Imperial Guards, Calder took his place at the front of the procession, with General Teach and Baldezar Kern waiting for him at his right and left hand.
Teach looked the same as ever, wearing armor of red and black from the neck down, her eyes icy and her hair cropped close to the skull. This time, Kern wore armor of his own, and he looked far more comfortable in it than in his stretched-thin civilian shirts.
His armor was a deep slate gray, unornamented and utilitarian, and he carried a leather bag in one hand. Calder didn’t need to Read the Intent radiating from it to know that his weapons—the helmet that was his Vessel and his pair of maces—lay within the bag.
Teach carried her sword, Tyrfang, over her shoulder in its sheath as normal. She looked Calder from head to toe, her gaze lingering on his crown.
“Should I have someone dress you next time?”
“You’re looking radiant as ever, Jarelys,” Calder said. “And I selected my outfit with great care.”
Teach searched his expression as though looking to make sure that he was treating the situation with the gravity it deserved, which was just as well, because he was.
Kern didn’t give him a second glance.
Finally, the Head of the Imperial Guard turned to address the entire column. “Forward!” she bellowed, and the command must have echoed through the entire Palace.
A rough cheer erupted from the Guild members—mostly from the Navigators—and their parade moved forward.
The Imperial Palace was massive, often called a city unto itself, and took up almost twenty percent of the Capital. The convoy of the Imperialist Guilds gathered onlookers from the staff and inhabitants of the Palace, who numbered in the tens of thousands.
They lined the streets, cheering and throwing flower petals, colorful bits of paper, and scraps of cloth into the air in celebration.
Calder wondered if someone had ordered them to.
The Rose Tower was two miles away, on the eastern side of the Palace complex, next to the wall. They took their time on the march, a performance for the onlookers and for the news-sheets the next day.
The tower itself was identical to half a dozen others all around the edges of the Palace. It stood seven stories tall, with flat rectangular sides in smooth white plaster and tiered red tiles on the roof. Arrow-slits pierced the wall every floor or so, and there were openings in the roof where marksman could cover the ground below.
As they came closer to the Rose Tower, Calder began to see evidence of the Independent Guilds’ security. Rather than only Imperial Guards and soldiers standing guard, he began to see men and women in silver armor decorated with the White Sun: Luminian Knights.
They were far less numerous than the Imperial Guard, but if their reputation was to be believed, they would be worth a dozen soldiers apiece in combat.
There were Consultants on security detail as well, he was sure, though he saw none. They would have melded into the cheering crowd around him, and he imagined he could feel their eyes piercing him from the mob.
Even one blind man carrying an instrument seemed to be glaring right at them. Maybe Calder was just paranoid.
Although Calder couldn’t stay too wary when he thought of the crowd. All the cheering was infectious; he couldn’t be the only one among the Guilds encouraged by the support of the people.
Finally, they arrived to see the Independent Guilds spread out before them in the shadow of the tower.
Rather