Jack has been preparing for this as long as he can remember. When he was four, too young to know succession came on the heels of death, he whisked away one of his father's jackets to the attic. He remembers the weight of it--bulky and awkward in his hands, too long beyond his feet, heavy on his tiny shoulders. But he put it on anyway, tightly ( Read more... )

At twelve noon in Gilboa, history will rest on the whim of eight tiny bullets.

( But the day starts with nightsticks. )

( cool, pale shadow of a woman )

William has them in a safehouse in Shiloh, someplace CrossGen owns down to the last bit of mortar. Lucinda is frightened--she should be, it's only sane to fear the wrath of the God-anointed king, worse yet a father betrayed--but she's composed, and when she is settled he thinks of Henry. His work. The promises Jack has made. Later, he will speak ( Read more... )

1 Samuel 19:6
When he stands before the Court of King Silas, he does so straight-backed and chin raised, feet set shoulder-width apart against marble floors. Every glit of metal on his uniform is shining, from the buttons to the twin gold butterflies that mark his rank. The cameras catch him proud and hard as shrapnel. They can't see how he started ( Read more... )

DAVID SHEPHERD ARRESTED

Shiloh (RKG) - Captain David Shepherd was arrested yesterday by the King's Own Guardsmen at his apartment in downtown Shiloh on charges of espionage and high treason. In addition to his duties as the press liaison officer for the military, Captain Shepherd serves as counsel to King Silas. Considered to be a trusted member of ( Read more... )

( In which Jack and Henry discuss violence, science, governance, butterflies, the Civil War, horrible ironies, and Henry having a personal life. )

He touches Lucinda’s shoulder every time he enters the room. Sometimes hardly a brush of contact, the backs of his fingers finding the outline of her for the barest instant. Sometimes longer, sturdier; a reassuring squeeze and a possessive kiss to her forehead to announce his arrival. Fingers gliding past the tips of her dark hair. She wears bare- ( Read more... )

( The New, Improved Character Survey of Doom )

( I don't want to be here, I don't want to be here alone. )