“I know,” Aja replies, but her disappointment is obvious. “The Praetorians will deal with the Horde.
Shall we attend the other matter?”
Octavia glances over to the Jackal and he gives her the barest of nods. “Severus-Julii, come forward,” Octavia says
Antonia does, surprised to have been singled out. A hopeful smile works its way onto her lips. No doubt she’s to receive a commendation for her efforts today. She clasps both hands behind her back and waits before her Sovereign.
“Tell me, Praetor, you were conscripted to join the Sword Armada as it subjugated the Moon Lords
in June of this year, were you not?”
Antonia frowns. “My liege, I do not understand….”
“It’s a fairly simply question. Answer it to the best of your abilities.”
“I was. I led my family’s ships and the Fifth and Sixth Legions.”
“Under the pro tem command of Roque au Fabii?”
“Yes, my liege.”
“Then tell me, how is it that you are still alive and your Imperator is not?”
“I only barely managed to escape the battle,” Antonia says, seeing the danger in the line of questioning. Her voice modulates accordingly. “It was a…terrible calamity, my liege. With the Howlers hidden in Thebe, Roque…Imperator Fabii, fell into the trap twofold, through no fault of his own. Any would have done the same. I made an effort to rescue his command, to rally our ships. But Darrow had already reached his bridge. And torchShips were burning all around us. We did not know
friend from foe. It’s haunted my dreams, the sounds of the Obsidian Horde pouring through their ships….”
“Liar.” Mustang snorts her derision.
“And so you retreated.”
“At grave cost, yes, my liege. I saved as many ships for the Society as I could. I saved my men, knowing they would be needed for the battle to come. It was all I could do.”
“It was a noble thing, saving so many,” the Sovereign says.
“Thank—”
“At least it would be if it were true.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I don’t believe I have ever stuttered, girl. I do, however, believe you fled the battle, abandoning your post and your Imperator to the enemy.”
“You are calling me a liar, my liege?”
“Obviously,” Mustang says.
“I will not stand aspersions against my honor,” Antonia snaps at Mustang, puffing up her chest. “It is beneath…”
“Oh, be still, child,” the Sovereign says. “You’re in deep waters here, with larger fish than you. You see, others escaped the battle, others who transmitted their battle analytics to us so we would know what happened. So we could assess the calamity and see how Antonia of the Severus-Julii disgraced
her name and lost us the battle, abandoning her Praetor when he called for aid, fleeing for the belt to save her own hide, where she then lost her ships.”
“Fabii lost the battle,” she says vindictively. “Not I.”
“Because his allies abandoned him,” Aja purrs. “He might still have saved his command had you
not thrown his formation to chaos.”
“Fabii made mistakes,” the Sovereign says. “But he was a noble creature and as loyal a servant to
his Color. He was even honorable enough to take his own life, to accept that he had failed and to pay justly for it and ensure he would not be interrogated or bartered. His last act in destroying the rebel docks was the act of a hero. An Iron Gold. But you…you scurrilous craven, you fled like a little girl
who pissed her Whiteday dress. You abandoned him to save yourself. Now you slander him in front of all. In front of his friend.” She gestures protectively to Cassius. “Your men saw the reptile underneath, that is why they turned on you. Why you lost your ships to your better sister.”
“I would see whoever lays these claims against me in the Bleeding Place,” Antonia says, trembling
with anger. “My honor will not be smeared by faceless, jealous creatures. It is sad that they would manufacture evidence to smear my good name. No doubt they have ulterior motives. Perhaps intentions against my company or my holdings or they seek to undermine Gold as a whole. Adrius,
tell the Sovereign how ridiculous this all is.”
But Adrius remains quiet. “Adrius?”
“I’d rather have the loyalty of a dog than that of a coward,” he says. “Lilath was right. You are weak. And that is dangerous.”
Antonia looks about like a drowning woman, feeling the water coming over her head, undertow pulling her down, nothing to grab onto, nothing to save her. Aja swells behind her like a dark wave as Octavia denounces her formally. “Antonia au Severus-Julii, matron of House Julii and Praetor First Class of the Fifth and Sixth Legions, by the power vested in me by the Compact of The Society, I find you guilty of treason and dereliction of duty in a time of war and hereby sentence you to death.”