Louis woke before his alarm. He had not slept deeply. By the time the knock came, he had showered and pulled on a clean shirt.
“Come in,” he said.
Serana slipped through the door. She wore a pale blouse and dark skirt, her hair tied back. Her eyes went first to him, then to the gun case, then to the phone on the bed.
“Good night?” she asked.
He snorted. “Better than yours, I imagine.”
She rolled her eyes and sat on the edge of the desk. “I’m not the one who made the top of Tengri feeds. Again.” She pulled up her phone and turned the screen toward him. “You look like a very serious man holding a serious gun.”
The image showed him standing beside Angelique at the youth reception, the pistol case open in his hand, the Colt visible inside. The headline read: The Heir Takes Aim.
He sighed. “They’re not subtle.”
“They don’t need to be.” She put her phone away. “And neither do you. The Collective gave you a gun, you took it seriously, and now you’re being photographed like a statesman. Congratulations. You’ve become useful.”
He gave her a dry look. “Thanks.”
She smiled. “Don’t mention it.” She stood. “Breakfast is ready. Mom wants us downstairs in ten minutes. The departure for the ceremony is in an hour.”
“I remember.”
“Do you?” She raised an eyebrow. “Because you look like someone who thinks the Citadel runs on Pacific time.”
“Ten minutes,” he said, shaking his head.
“Good.”
She left, closing the door behind her. He went to the bathroom. In the mirror, he looked no different from yesterday. He splashed water on his face again. Then he called for a valet to help him dress for the ceremony. The valet brought a leather shoulder holster for the M1911. It sat under his left arm, hidden by the jacket. He slid the Colt into it, checked the position, and fastened the thin leather strap over the back of the grip. It was the first time he had worn a weapon in public. The grip pressed under his arm whenever he moved. He noticed it with every breath.
Breakfast was served in a smaller private dining room. Morning light came through the windows. Judith sat at one end of the table with Maria across from her, speaking quietly. Serana poured herself juice. Jacques pushed eggs around his plate. Angelique stood by the window, looking out.
Louis entered. Angelique looked over and gave him a small smile before turning back to the window. He took a seat beside Serana. A plate had already been set for him.
“Sleep well?” Judith asked.
“Well enough,” he said. He picked up a slice of toast. “Where is Dad?”
“With Harvey and Philip,” Judith said. “The morning review started early.” She glanced at him. “They’ll meet us at the field.”
Maria lifted her eyes from her coffee. “The field,” she said. “Such a reassuring word. It makes one think of grass and boys in white trousers.”
Louis smiled slightly. “I take it you are not looking forward to the parade.”
Maria sighed. “Parades are good for one thing only,” she said. “Teaching young men how to stand still while being watched.”
Judith smiled. “You don’t approve?”
“I approve of discipline.” Maria set her cup down. “I find it difficult to admire the performance of it for its own sake.” She glanced at Angelique. “Though I suspect your father would disagree.”
“He loves ceremonies.” Angelique turned from the window and sat down. “He believes they remind people what they are part of.”
Louis watched her cross the room. She wore dark trousers and a fitted gray jacket, her hair loose over her shoulders. Her face gave nothing away. No one at the table would have guessed what she had looked like on his screen the night before. The thought pleased him: all of them saw this Angelique. Only he had seen the other one.
“You’re not wrong,” Judith said, answering Angelique. “Ceremony gives people a country they can see. Your father understands that.” She lifted her cup. “I only think it can be done with fewer uniforms.”
Breakfast never became easy. Every few minutes, someone entered, confirmed a time or a vehicle, and left again. Louis ate without tasting much of it. His phone buzzed once against his thigh. He looked down under the table and opened the message.
Is the holster comfortable?
He typed back, smiling to himself.
I’ll survive.
He locked the screen at once and looked up before he could smile. Angelique looked at her own phone, then set it face down beside her plate. The corner of her mouth moved. Judith looked from Louis to Angelique, then lifted her cup and let it pass.
“The program this morning is straightforward,” she said. “Arrival, welcome, inspection of troops, a brief address, then the civic oath ceremony for the new veterans and lunch.” She glanced at Serana. “The First Consul will take the lead. The rest of us are there to look present and attentive.”
“Which I am very good at,” Serana said.
“Of course you are.” Judith glanced at her daughter. “Just remember that today there are more cameras than usual. And they are less interested in your face than in whether you look bored.”
“Then I will look fascinatingly engaged,” Serana said.
Maria laughed once, quietly. Jacques pushed another piece of egg to the edge of his plate. Judith shook her head and stood.
“Let’s go. The cars are waiting.”
The motorcade left the Citadel in a tight line. Louis sat in the second car with Serana, Jacques, and Angelique. They rode mostly in silence behind the tinted glass.
The parade ground was on the city’s east side, a wide flat stretch ringed by low stands and flagpoles. Companies of young men and women waited in formation under the sun, uniforms pressed, boots polished, rifles held upright. Heat hit Louis as soon as he stepped out. It moved under his jacket at once, and the holster pressed against his side.
The leaders were already in their assigned places. Louis stood with Angelique near the front of the Dominion delegation. Her sleeve almost touched his. She looked at him once, close enough that no one else would have noticed it. Then her face settled, and she turned forward again. The drums stopped.
Louis straightened. The pistol pressed against his ribs under the jacket. An officer shouted a command across the field. The troops saluted as one. Constantine, Philip, and Harvey walked along the first rank. The inspection took nearly half an hour. Louis watched the cadets stand without moving under the sun. Sweat ran down their faces and gathered at their collars. He had never stood like that. He thought he understood Keller a little better now.
After the inspection, the leaders stepped onto the raised platform. Then the units marched past in sequence: regular army, state defense, border security, civil defense, engineers, communications, and public reserves. Each unit carried its flag. An announcer named each one as it passed. Dignitaries rose in applause as the colors passed. Cameras lifted from the press row. Louis clapped and glanced at Angelique. She did not turn her head. Her eyes flicked toward him, then toward the cameras. Louis looked forward again.
An officer gave a final command. The flyover began. Four supersonic fighters crossed the sky in formation. The roar hit a second later, hard enough to rattle the stands and press against Louis’s chest. Louis waited until it began to fade, then leaned slightly toward Angelique.
“Now they’re just showing off,” he said, his voice close to her ear.
She smiled without looking away from the sky. “They do it well.”
The last echoes faded. Harvey stepped to the microphone first.
“Citizens and residents of the Collective, our friends from the Dominion!” Harvey said. “Today we show our enemies the might of our armed forces! Remember this. The Free State Collective is the greatest country in the world!” He glanced toward Constantine. “The Dominion of the Pacific too, of course.”
Louis chuckled. Angelique did too.
“Eighteen years ago, the Army of the Covenant launched three nuclear warheads at Houston. One made it through and detonated downtown. One million died in five minutes! One fucking million! I lost a brother that day! I lost friends! We all lost someone. The city burned for days. The radiation stayed for months. The Dixies thought that was the end of Texas.”
Harvey pointed at the sky.
“They were wrong! Because we survived! Because we fought back! Because we stood together as one people! Because from the ashes we made a promise. That we would never again let any threat—foreign or domestic—ever harm our families! The Free State Collective is the answer! We earned our places in service! We earned our freedom in blood! We earned our security in sacrifice!”
The crowd roared. Louis clapped harder before he noticed he was doing it. Beside him, Angelique clapped with the same controlled rhythm, but her eyes stayed on Harvey. The First Consul waited until the noise went down.
“Men and women of the Collective, look at yourselves! Look at the flags beside you! Look at the people standing behind you! Let every Dixie bastard look at this field and understand what the Collective is made of! Once they gave us fire. Mark my words, we will give them hell! You are the sword that cuts into Montgomery! The shield that defends New Orleans! You are the iron fists of Florida! The storm of Arizona! The wrath of New Mexico! The fury of Texas! We will destroy our enemies! And they will tremble in fear when we make them pay with their blood! Long live the Free State Collective!”
He raised a fist. The field erupted. Soldiers shouted from the ranks. Veterans in the stands rose to their feet. The roar rolled across the parade ground. Constantine stood first. He clapped hard, then put two fingers to his mouth and let out a sharp whistle. Harvey saw it from the podium and saluted him. Constantine saluted back.
The parade ended. A protocol officer appeared beside Louis.
“We will reconvene in the Hall of Remembrance for the oath ceremony,” she said. “If you will follow me.”
Louis fell into step with Angelique. Serana and Jacques trailed behind. As they moved, Angelique spoke under her breath.
“The First Consul is very good at this. Your father too.”
“He’s had practice.”
“I know.” She glanced at him. “You will too, eventually.”
He smiled. “Is that a prediction?”
“Yes.” She kept her eyes forward. “You’re more like him than you think.”
He did not answer. Ahead of them, the doors of the Hall of Remembrance opened.