These thoughts were driven from my mind a moment after, for that other Hadrian’s eyes met mine. Coincidence? One corner of his mouth twisted up in that familiar half-smile. “Do what must be done,” he said—I said—and turned his back on me. “Fire at will.” The vision broadened, blurred, and skipped ahead. I saw the sun split open like a bloated whale and spew its fire forth. Fleets burned and the planet with it . . . and all those lives. “No!” I screamed. “No!” The pain flared once more behind my eyes, and all went white as that murdered sun.
The Suneater.
