Augustus will adopt you as his heir. And he will use you as a Praetor in his armada. And if you defeat the Sovereign, he won’t settle for being King of Mars. He’ll want to be Sovereign himself. Help him be. And a year into his reign, Sevro will kill him and pin it on a rival, maybe the Jackal.…” My turn to rock on my feet. “You want me to inherit the empire,” I guess. “The entire Society.” I gawk at him. At Dancer. How can they look so serious? “Yes,” Fitchner says. “After he dies, all will look to the strongest. Be the strongest.
