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“Oh, I have so many questions already!” Dr. Hayter burbled and proceeded to ask questions about every building in sight.

Jace barely paid attention though he wanted to know too. He longed to take his sunglasses off and gaze out with all the childlike delight and wonder that Dr. Hayter did. But even with the sunglasses on, the light that seeped around the edges hurt his eyes and his head. Auras bloomed around things that moved so he could only glance out at the delicate, almost spun glass buildings that rose up from Haseon’s ground like ice sculptures. He needed to conserve his strength.

He supposed that he should be grateful for the old sickness. The Pilot shouldn’t be ogling the enemy’s city. He should appear unimpressed as if he’d seen better too many times to count.

And yes, the Thaf’ell right now were the enemy until they became their ally. Because they weren’t neutral towards him and his mission. Not at all. He wasn’t even sure what Typhon really thought.

The Justiciar had been clever enough to do all of his communications with his House and Thadden offline, away from even cameras. That showed a disturbing amount of intelligence. Not to mention his fluidity with English… They were missing something about Typhon. Jace grimaced as a throbbing pain went through his skull.

I am monitoring your vitals, the Osiris sounded more robotic than it had in some time. All emotion was drained out of its voice.

I’m going to be okay, Osiris. There’s no need to worry, Jace said.

Already, he could feel the beating in his temples easing and, as he had noted, only moving things bloomed auras. Khoth’s shoulder pressed against his was also helping more than it should. But his Commander’s solid, comforting presence was easing the results of the emotional storm. He was pleased that Khoth was talking softly with his father. He should listen to that conversation too.

I will record it for later viewing, the Osiris promised.

Oh, great.

Jace wished he could rest his head against Khoth’s arm, or, better yet, lay his head on the Thaf’ell’s lap. Khoth’s cool, soothing hands would stroke his forehead, easing the rest of the migraine away. But considering Khoth’s father was on the other side of the Commander and Typhon was sitting opposite the three of them so that was not going to happen.

I am not worried. Worrying is a rather useless human emotion that wastes valuable resources, the Osiris responded crisply.

But Jace liked a snippy Osiris far more than he liked the unemotional one.

Well, worrying would be totally useless in this case, as I’m going to be fine, Jace told it.

Yes.

And that’s final, right? I’m going to be totally fine, Jace repeated.

Yes, more emphatic agreement this time. There was a pause and then a slightly needy thread entered the Osiris’ tone, Perhaps you should return to the ship. Wait for the results of this internecine dispute there.

You know I can’t, Jace said. It’s all about the psychology. I have to be here. You sent me into a Hive without this much concern. Is Haseon so much scarier?

There was a long silence before the Osiris finally admitted, There are more variables. The Khul’s motivations are clear. Your decisions are clear in a Hive. Destroy it. Destroy the Khul. Here…

It’s not so clear and I can’t destroy everyone, Jace chuckled.

The Osiris though didn’t say anything at all. He could take that for agreement or that the Osiris wasn’t going to argue with him about that. For now.

Can’t have an Empire without subjects, Jace thought.

He didn’t know if the Osiris heard that, but, again, there was no response.

Jace shut his eyes behind his sunglasses for long moments. The truth was that he did want to go back to the ship and his wonderfully cool and silent bedroom with the soft as a feather bed that cradled his body just so no matter what position he was in. And it would be even better if Khoth was curled around him, hands carding through Jace’s hair. As excited as he was to be on an alien world, right now he felt fragile as glass.

And the Osiris was right. There were so many moving parts. Killing Khul was cleaner, if not easier. How was he going to move all of this in the right direction? He was so certain of his mission. That he was the one to lead a successful campaign against the Khul. That he had the only path forward. That he would lead them to salvation.

It sounded insane when he really examined his own beliefs. But he knew they were true. Jace wasn’t someone who sought power. He knew that much. While he had imagined himself the hero plenty of times, his illness had taught him that real life was more full of pain than heroic arias. But he was still certain that what he was doing was right.

Jace opened his eyes and caught both Davies and Typhon minutely observing him. Jace resisted the urge to tug at his collar and clear his throat. Had either of them caught his eye closing? Davies knew that he wasn’t feeling well, but did Typhon? Probably.

They will attempt to steal some of your DNA to analyze. They will be sorely disappointed when their equipment malfunctions, the Osiris said with deep amusement.

They want to know what makes me tick, Jace said.

They want their own Pilot, Gehenna put in.