The Blue Empress

The Blue Empress is a short story set in the Silverse; it takes place after The Silver Bullet and follows Laila.

Reading order note: If you’ve read the Solis Invicti series, then I recommend reading Ungilded before you read this short story, but if you’re going straight into the Sovereign trilogy then I would read only The Blue Empress, then read Ungilded as a prequel after you’ve read the other books in the Sovereign trilogy.

Blurb
You have to be sneaky about tyranny.

The Silver king is as good as dead, which is a dream come true for Laila. It's not that she's holding a grudge about the whole unrequited love thing... yes, all right, she is, but she also has a plan.

It's a good plan. A plan that doesn't involve pandering to petty annoyances like 'morals' or the 'truth'. After all, the Silver are not moral creatures.

And she can make it appear necessary. Appealing, even. All she needs is a few key allies, and the city will be hers.

Content warnings
General warning for violence/murder.

General warning for blood/gore, including blood drinking, description of injuries.

Events (Spoilers)
This story is narrated by Laila in the first person. She opens by comparing the Silver to Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite which makes mice love cats in order to make sure the mice get eaten; she likens this to the Silver making humans need them in order to guarantee a blood supply. She makes it clear that she thinks the Silver operating openly is a mistake, and that's 'about to change'.

The action begins at the same discussion at the end of Ungilded, with the Primus and the last of the Solis Invicti having arrived at their new Romanian settlement, discussing how to run the new society. The Primus collapses; Laila describes this as 'a good start'.

Laila takes over one of the big houses in the town, while the Invicti set up their barracks in the former town hall and lay Solomon in a church next door. Carmen visits Laila, and tells her that the Invicti have more or less given up looking for Emmy (apart from Cameron) and they don't expect Solomon to wake. She also tells her that Thomas is calling a vote, but she doesn't know what on. Laila asks her to influence the choice of venue to Solomon's church.

Laila arrives last to the meeting, hoping to convince the Silver that she should be the new leader. She pretends to grieve for Solomon to create a sense of continuity due to her former role as his consort, and Lorelei gives up a front row seat for her. Thomas begins to discuss how the Silver should proceed, and Laila manipulates them deftly into backing her.

A few days later, Laila addresses the humans of the city. She demonstrates the protection the Silver offer them by having Carmen and Lorelei bring out a Weeper, then asks the humans to promise not to try to leave the city (though she also intends to have the walls guarded). She sends them home with plans to assign them jobs the next day. Afterwards, Carmen leaves the Weeper in a well at the edge of the city so they can be seen to defeat it later. Laila sees Thomas and some of the other Invicti watching her, and she knows he might contest her rule soon. The Weeper attack goes off as Laila planned, and the humans seem happy to be protected.

The next day Thomas summons Laila to the Invicti guardhouse, but she ignores the messengers until he comes to her himself. He tells her that now the humans are secure, it's time for her to step aside and let the Invicti manage the city; she refuses, telling him he might be in charge of the Invicti but she rules the city. He tells her the Silver can choose between them. The Silver assemble and both Laila and Thomas address them. She challenges him to a fight and he agrees reluctantly. She manipulates him into hitting her first, feigning weakness despite her strength; the battle is closer than she'd like, but she defeats him. The Silver are happy to accept her as their leader; Thomas insists he serves the Primus, not Laila, but she promises she has the same goal of bringing Solomon and Emmy back.

Outside the city, Laila goes to visit the secret bunker where the Silver originally from the area are being kept to interrogate them. She bumps into Cameron, who assumes she is looking for Emmy like him; she lies to him that she is and he opens up that the Invicti seem to have given up. She tells him gently that they might need to move on, but he refuses. Laila returns to the city with him, unable to interrogate the prisoners. A week later, she has the answers she needs from them, and sends 'the most loyal and gullible' of her guards on a secret mission. She is waiting for their return when Carmen visits her and tells her she's found Emmy with Charles; Charles is willing to keep Emmy hidden and sedated in exchange for a steady supply of uncontaminated blood.

In the early hours of the next morning, Laila and Lorelei stage another Weeper attack at the last unfenced section of the wall. They allow two Weepers to turn three more humans; Lorelei deals with one, while Laila takes on four, cementing her image as defender of the humans. They push the Weepers outside the city boundaries, then the Invicti, inadvertently playing into Laila's plans, arrive and finish them off - given that the new Weepers were friends and family of the remaining humans, it's better for Laila if the blame for their actual deaths falls on the Invicti. Laila fills in the gap in the fence with Silver speed and strength, killing the final (original) Weeper by driving a fence post through its skull. The humans cheer for her.

The first day of blood donations goes well, with no resistance from the humans. Laila wonders what Solomon would have thought of her plans for the city. He wanted symbiosis; she is happy to be a parasite. She gloats at having won.