‘Issues, sir?’
‘We’ll discuss them, in time. Maddalena’s death has not ruined a good day. The day, despite its apparent glory, was ominously marked already. Her loss simply seals that.’
Gaunt sat down, and gestured for Rawne to sit too.
‘How has Felyx taken it?’ he asked.
‘Rough,’ said Rawne. ‘Like you’d expect. Criid’s taken him under her wing. Apparently, that was your woman’s dying wish, and I approved it. She’s got Dalin to keep an eye on Felyx. Keep things as normal as possible. Guard routine.’
‘That’s good. I suppose I’ll have to talk to him.’
‘Well, he’s kind of your son and everything. And he wants a funeral.’
‘Of course.’
‘No, he wants to pay for a private funeral. The works.’
‘Not appropriate.’
‘Oh, let him do it. Maddalena was a mother figure to him. It’s the House Chass way, and he’s rich as feth. Let him do it and save yourself some grief.’
Gaunt didn’t reply.
‘Save Felyx some grief,’ Rawne added. ‘Let him feel like he’s done something.’
Gaunt nodded.
‘I have to go back to the palace this afternoon. I’m needed at staff. There’s a mass of tactical data to go through. This war’s a mess.’
‘It’s a war. When weren’t they a mess?’
‘We’re probably going to have to consider changes, Eli.’
‘Changes?’
‘In regimental structure. We’re special status now. I have Tempestus goons trailing me around.’
‘They’re right outside the door and can probably hear you,’ said Rawne.
‘I don’t particularly care. Anyway, this new rank elevates me too far above the regiment structure. The divide is too great. I’ll need to promote from within.’
‘Promote?’
‘There needs to be a colonel in charge, especially if I’m not present, which I’m not going to be as much as I’d like.’
‘Gol, Bask and I handle the regiment well enough when you’re not around.’
‘Not doubting that, but the Munitorum will insist for appearances and formal process. I’ll have to raise one of you, or they’ll bring someone in from outside.’
‘Really?’ asked Rawne, his face not relishing that prospect.
Gaunt smiled.
‘It’ll be one of you three. Well, I guess Daur, Elam and Pasha are in the frame too, but really it’s one of you three. Ironic. One Tanith, one Verghast, one Belladon.’
Rawne nodded.
‘It should be Gol,’ he said.
Gaunt looked surprised.
‘I’m asking you, Eli.’
‘To be colonel? Colonel Rawne? I don’t think so. Gol’s the better man.’
‘Gol’s one of the best men I’ve ever served with. But it should be a Tanith because of this regiment’s history and name, and it should be you because of your service.’
Rawne sat back and shrugged.
‘Here’s my thinking,’ he said. ‘You told me that staff promoted you for your service record, chief amongst the honours of which is Vervunhive. The People’s Hero. If this is about appearances and show, then the hard-arse Verghast scratch company hero is the one for you. It’s kind of poetic. The People’s Hero and his doughty partisan second. Plus, and again for show, Gol was… like… blessed by the fething Beati and brought back from living death, so he’s probably got feth-arse sainthood in his future somewhere.’
‘She’s here, you know?’ said Gaunt. ‘Here on Urdesh.’
‘So I understand.’
Rawne put his hands flat on the tabletop.
‘I don’t want to be a fething colonel,’ he said. ‘Kolea’s the man you want. We all have authority, true enough. Mine comes from… Well, people fear me. They love Bask. That’s where his authority comes from. Gol… He commands through respect. Everybody respects him. Everybody. He’s the one you want. Plus, he’s never tried to kill you or sworn eternal vengeance against you or anything. I don’t want to be a fething colonel. I’d never be able to look the woods of Tanith in the face again… oh, wait.’
He glared at Gaunt.
Gaunt laughed.
‘And besides,’ said Rawne, ‘I could never ever take Corbec’s place. Not ever.’
Gaunt nodded.
‘We’ll talk about this again,’ he said.
‘We fething won’t,’ said Rawne. ‘It’s a done fething deal, my lord militant commander.’
They sat together on a broken wall behind the billets, looking out across the rubble wastes.
‘How long have you been–’ Dalin said finally.
‘A girl? Are you a simpleton? All my life.’
‘Hiding this, I was going to say.’
Felyx shrugged.
‘Since Verghast. Since birth.’
‘Who knows?’
‘Maddalena knew. Ludd knows.’
‘Ludd?’
‘Yes, “Ludd”,’ she mocked.
‘Why does Ludd know?’
‘Pretty much the same reason you do. He found out by accident. Maddalena went to great lengths to always secure me a private room. When the Armaduke fell out of the warp, I was alone, getting in kit for secondary order, and I was knocked unconscious. He found me.’
‘And he saw–’
‘Yes, he saw.’
‘So that’s why he–’
‘Yes, that’s why. That’s why he wanted me to be placed in his care, to protect my secret. But he couldn’t say so. And your damn mother–’
‘Was doing what Maddalena asked. And trying to help you.’
Felyx shrugged.
‘Doesn’t it hurt?’ Dalin asked.
‘Doesn’t what hurt?’
‘The binding you put around your body, squashing up your–’
‘My?’
‘Your… bosom.’
‘They’re called breasts, Dalin. Grow up.’
‘Sorry.’
‘You get used to it,’ she added.
‘Why?’ asked Dalin. He picked up a stone from the wall top and tossed it across the rubble. ‘Why hide it? Why the secret? There are women in this regiment…’
‘My mother,’ she said, ‘is heir to House Chass of Vervunhive-Verghast. You’re Verghastite, Criid. You know this.’
‘A bit. I was very young when I left. And I’m low-hive scum, right? So the politics of your world are lost on me.’
‘My world is your world,’ she said.
‘Not really. My world is the regiment. For me, Verghast means the regiment.’
Felyx pondered this. She looked out across the rubble flats. The pink dawn was turning to a drab, overcast day, a scurfy, grey expanse of sky. An interceptor, probably a Lightning, soared across the distance, east to west, low over the city, leaving a long, rolling whoosh behind it.
‘My mother is heir apparent to House Chass,’ she said. ‘House Chass is the most powerful of the Vervunhive controlling dynasties. She is the only heir. No sons. The first female ever to hold that rank. She must inherit the full title when my grandfather dies.’
Felyx paused.
‘Time has passed. He is probably dead already.’
She shrugged.
‘Anyway, the hive elders are against a female succession to House rule, and the other noble families… they see an opportunity to undermine House Chass and loosen its grip on the reins of power. Vervunhive-Verghast is a patriarchy, Criid. The Houses all have strong male heads or heirs. If my mother succeeds, she will be deemed weak – it will be a moment to topple House Chass from its long dominance. House Anko, House Sondar, House Jehnik… Throne, they will fight hard. It will be a dynastic war that could collapse Vervunhive more thoroughly than Heritor gakking Asphodel’s Zoican War ever did.’
She glanced sideways at Dalin. He was listening, frowning.