Miles swallowed, trying not to set a seizure into motion. He'd emptied the reservoir after the rescue from the Imperial Residence, just a day and a half ago. Even then, after all this, a combat flashback might be just the trigger. Sebastian's body was face down, at least. The flow of blood was abating. Bursting outward like a flower… no, calm, calm, calm, damn it!

Ekaterin roused herself first. "Alex! All this time, ImpSec was a call away?" Relief and anger sharpened her tone.

Did Alex cringe, just a tad? "My apologies, milady. It was necessary to wait."

"The pentacrine," nodded Miles. "But what's to stop Allegre's programming this time?"

"Pentacrine is voice-specific," explained Alex. "If it's an instant command, and not one arranged in advance, then not even a recorded voice works. One could, of course, program someone to obey a whole roomful of people, if each waited his turn. We ruled that out, in Sebastian's case." He nodded at the corpse.

"Chief Allegre was suspect from the beginning---Sebastian would've had no chance, had he chosen a time period when Simon was Chief and his eidetic chip still worked. So Allegre and I planned a simple counter-measure. My section sent me some pentacrine, and I programmed him to obey me. Thus forestalling any posthumous commands. Even then, had Sebastian been alive to compete with my directions, it would have been too much of a risk."

"You had to make sure that Sebastian died before you called ImpSec," said Aral.

"Exactly. We had to kill him ourselves. By any means." Alex bowed his head. "I'm truly sorry you had to see that. If we could've had more pentacrine, I might have programmed Felice, as well… as soon as he had Raina tied up, I knew there was just one chance."

"But you had a chance, before that," said Miles, trying to keep the accusation out of his voice.

Pain flashed in Alex's eyes. Miles immediately regretted his words. "As Chief of Imperial Security, it helps to know one's limits. Sebastian knows all my terror points, just as well as Raina's. The difference is, she still has the capacity to resist him." He met Raina's eyes. His lips tightened. "God, I hope they get here soon. I don't know how long she can hold up."

Cora rubbed her temples. "Alex, she needs to stay conscious. She has no support. If she doesn't keep her arms tensed, she'll asphyxiate, in that position."

He leaned dangerously towards the force-shield, and began to talk to Raina in their twin-speak, in soft trilling syllables. For several seconds she didn't track his lips, but soon her breathing slowed in response. As much as possible, she shifted her body higher.

"You did right by her, Alex," said Cora.

"If Leo's dead, she'll never forgive me," Alex replied. He did not add, And neither will Father. Miles ached to see that familiar frustration mirrored in his future son's face.

"But Leo…" Ekaterin stopped. "We don't know if anything Sebastian said is true, do we."

"No," said Alex grimly. "I judge most of it to be pure bluff, but we won't know until we re-establish contact with the outside world."

That contact arrived quickly, to everyone's relief. Allegre himself carefully disarmed all the force shields, and gingerly freed Raina. She sank to the floor, and curled into a fetal ball. Allegre scarcely flinched at the strange milieu. Alex probably prepped him well.

When their force shield dissolved, the stench of death assaulted them, full on.

"Prince Leo is all right," Allegre announced. The Countess's expression eased. 'But what about Emperor Leo?' thought Miles. There was a flicker in Raina's eyes, but no more. At a gesture from Alex, the ImpSec chief withdrew. Cora led Felice away, still encased in her force bubble. The rest followed them. Miles and Alex remained at the grisly scene.

Raina sat in the pool of drying blood, where Allegre had left her. She absently rubbed her chaffed wrists, not looking at anything. A shocky smile flitted on her lips. Alex pushed aside cut pieces of wire, and knelt next to her. Gently he wiped her face with the damp handkerchief. Then he called her name. Again. And again. After several tries, she still wasn't responding.

Ekaterin appeared at the doorway, lightly tugging at Miles's arm. He shook his head. She pulled away, but he could sense her presence behind him.

"…Raina? Raina?" At last her eyes looked up at him, but her face remained blank. "Raina," he said softly. "Blood washes away sin, remember?"

Her eyes widened, and blood-caked hands grasped his shoulders, hard. Alex winced.

"Don't. Ever. Lie. To me." She gritted.

Miles and Ekaterin looked at each other.

Alex's tone hardened. "You and I did what had to be done. We obeyed the wishes of our Imperial Master."

Raina relaxed her hold. She looked at the corpse sadly. "To kill Sebastian."

"Yes."

"Poor sod. I'd hoped, deep down, that he'd snap out of it. All he wanted was Cetaganda back, and he thought he could get it through me." She looked up at her brother. "I did love him, once."

Alex nodded understanding. "You were both on a strange see-saw, weren't you? One's survival entailing the other's destruction. Come. It's over, now. You'd better put some clothes on."

Ekaterin came forward, a small cloth bundle in her arms. It was one of the Countess's bathrobes, and they wrapped her with it. Alex helped her up. The twins stood eye to eye, not touching each other.

"Alex." Said Raina. "I… I'm…"

"I'm your brother, Raina. You're already forgiven." A light kindled in her eyes, and she said no more.

More ImpSec men entered, and at a nod from Alex, bundled up the corpse into a body bag. Ekaterin took Raina's arm. When the women had gone, Miles and Alex regarded each other.

"You see?" whispered Alex. "She bounces right back."

"But she doesn't know what it costs you," said Miles.

Alex raised his eyebrows, glancing sharply at Miles. No, neither do I. But I know what that feels like. Finally Alex said, "Maybe not. But that debt pays for itself in other ways. Time will tell." He pocketed the stained handkerchief and walked out of the room.

A cool breeze blew in from the world outside.

There was little time for respite, afterwards. Cora and Felice (recovered and wearing a permanently apologetic expression) took over the garages to repair the temporal interface. Alex and Allegre continued their checks for last-resort booby traps, coordinating with Miles and Emperor Gregor. Ekaterin found a free comconsole and called her aunt and uncle, and Nikki. The Count and Countess ventured down to the village to see if Sebastian had done any damage on the way in.

Only Raina had any time to herself. She'd gone down to the long lake--- Miles spotted her, now and again, swimming laps or just floating. Working it off… working it out of her mind. Alex was right, she recovers quickly. Still, as Alex took to calling Cora for updates every quarter hour, Miles gathered that her recovery would be short-lived if Emperor Leo remained out of reach.

Ma Kosti's lunch call put a stop to all the work. The dining room was still swarming with ImpSec men, so the meal was moved to the pavilion.

Miles found himself fetching Raina from the lake. She spotted him coming down the hill. He held his breath as she broke the surface and pulled herself smoothly onto the dock. She's been swimming for an hour, and she's barely winded. She seemed a minor goddess, or a mythical siren, standing tall and water-flecked in the noon sun. For a moment Miles forgot that she was supposed to be his daughter.

Her features were drawn, her muscles tense. Grey eyes searched his face hungrily. "You must think I'm a horrible, sordid creature," she said at last.

"No!" Miles caught himself, and lowered his voice. "I was just thinking how beautiful you are."

She bared her teeth in a grin. Miles recognized the amused, vulpine smile. It made her seem human again. In a sudden recollection, he thought, 'This was the last thing Sebastian saw---'

"You're cowering, Miles."

He stopped himself from taking another step backwards. Her grin widened.

"Miles, do you have any idea how intimidating you are to us? So many impossible things, in one man. So much forward momentum, so ready to grasp all the worlds in one hand and give it to you. Yet always wiser than the day before. And to have that man as your father?" Raina smirked. "You and I can see the irony, in our positions now. But I rather think . . ." her voice dropped, ". . . I rather think Father underestimated his influence. In public, and in private. For most people, it's not an innate skill to take the border between the Possible and the Impossible, and move it five parsecs over. You taught us how."

Miles blinked. It's just the sun in my eyes, truly… Though he opened his mouth to say something intelligible, he blurted, "I'm not your father. Not really."

Raina cocked her head. "But you're the same person. Temporal mumbo-jumbo aside. Mmm, that smells good." She grabbed her towel. "We'd better go before Ma Kosti throws a fit. She's already annoyed that ImpSec disposed of her breakfast. Oh," she looked down at herself. "Maybe I should put some more clothes on."

"Milady," said Miles, taking her hand, "You may, quite demonstrably, do anything you wish in any state of undress."

Raina laughed. Miles felt his heart lighten. She looks young again.