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“You really think they’ll be able to blame the attack on some other country?” Roman asked.

“I am not sure. Perhaps there is some video footage of the attack which will exonerate any accused parties.”

‘They’ll wait and see what the media learns before making their move,’ said Voreese.

“Even if they fail to garner public support,” the Queen said, “they can simply go to war anyway, and such a ludicrous act could prompt an armed rebellion.”

‘And then it’d just be a civil war, instead,’ said Mehlsanz. ‘All roads lead to war in some way.’

“Unless we kill those assholes and get you back on the throne,” said Roman.

Helen rubbed her forehead and sat down on the black couch. She closed her eyes. “My husband will undoubtedly try to oppose them...”

Mehlsanz floated closer. ‘They won’t kill him.’

Everyone looked at her, all sharing unconvinced expressions.

‘They won’t,’ she insisted. ‘With you gone, power falls to him. It’s too suspicious if you vanish and he dies at the same time. They want public support, remember? To make their war as large as possible, they’ll need him alive.’

The Queen sighed. “I hope you are right.”

Roman and Voreese exchanged glances, and everyone was silent for a while, simply listening to the news reporter drone on about how little they knew at this time. Roman sat down and placed Hector’s head on the small table next to him.

Voreese spoke first. ‘We do have one thing in our favor, at least. They need time to organize their war. Which means we have time to stop them.’

“True enough,” said Roman. “How long do you think we have?”

‘Hard to say,’ said Voreese. ‘I can’t imagine it taking more than six months, though. What do you think, Queenie?’