Over the next few weeks, Regina made a point of going out into the city often.

  As she had expected, reactions varied depending on which of her ‘inner circle’, if any, was with her. But the people also clearly got used to seeing her. As the novelty wore off, her group attracted much less attention. There were still always gawkers, people wanted to catch a glimpse of her and her companions, but the intensity was much less and they could make their way through the city easily.

  It was comforting, even if she also felt a bit embarrassed because it highlighted how rarely she’d shown her face in public before. She’d never set out to be the kind of empress that ruled from on high, sitting pretty in her tower removed from the concerns of the people, but she’d clearly at least been heading in that direction.

  As she’d also expected, Janis was quite popular. So was Kiara, though it was a bit different since she was these people’s queen. June also got some positive attention, probably more due to her status and identity than her previous actions — Regina knew she was as inclined to hole up in an ivory tower, or at most go out to oversee some projects, than she herself.

  Regina did have more reasons to go out than just seeing the people or reminding them of her presence, though.

  The first time she visited the temple of Alianais, the priests assured her she still had the goddess’ support, though not in those words. They were more indirect and circumspect. But they did, indirectly, insist than Alianais had nothing to do with these recent religious upheavals, had not told anyone the meteor shower was intended as a portent of righteous war, and — this was more speculative on Regina’s part — seemed to have a disagreement with the other gods on it. All of the other gods? Some? Most? She wasn’t sure about that.

  Realistically, she should have at least an ally or two, right? Regina hoped so, anyway. Although, Benerron might just be all over this ‘portent of a coming struggle’ thing, if just for the vibes. He’s the god of Struggle after all. If there was one god who might just outright invite a large-scale conflict, just going by their titles and domains, it was probably him.

  Of course, it wasn’t like Deirianon had shown himself as very peace-loving, either, on the other hand.

  Regina kept an eye on the other temples as well, of course, though not personally. As had been pointed out to her, Cernlia was relatively secular or at least less religious than the foreign countries causing this concern. The temples were, accordingly, not the greatest or richest, but the capital city did have some for almost every god. Not Leian, obviously. From what her informants told them, the priesthood seemed unsure what to do.

  Clearly, they didn’t want to break with their fellows in the neighboring countries, but they were also Imperial citizens and beyond any concerns they might have about potentially committing — or being accused of committing — treason, they didn’t necessarily like seeing their country slandered. Or having their own abilities to guide their flocks criticized, perhaps? If other temples insinuated the people of the Empire were all falling into sin — well, Regina would be a bit offended in their place, she could only assume a few priests were feeling the same.

  She should probably offer them some conciliatory gestures and reassurances. It was just hard to decide what the best way to handle it was.

  She had her limits, too. Regina was not going to convert to the worship of any of these gods, hang the optics or PR opportunities. She wasn’t going to worship any of them — building the temple for Leian, and making a sacrifice for her, had already been pushing the limit. There were still times Regina wondered what on earth had made her do something like that. But she could justify it to herself as being a business transaction, or a gift and political move, and everyone understood it as one.

  Regina thought things had been going well. A few weeks after their initial reports of the supposed portent, as snow had wrapped the city in white blankets and fewer people were out when they didn’t have to be, she rode back to the palace escorted by Max and a few other guards. It was calm. As always, they attracted a crowd, despite the cold. It was also the busiest time of the day at early evening. She wasn’t paying much attention to her surroundings, more focused on considering the temples and their relationship with the Empire.

  That was why the incoming projectile almost hit her. She only ducked on instinct as she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

  It took her a moment to realize it was a stone. Regina blinked at it. She’d never even been a target for a tomato. People throwing stones at her was new. It wouldn’t have hit her, of course — Max had put his Shield on her, standard procedure whenever she was out; but she didn’t think anyone would seriously expect her to be without defenses, anyway.

  A second stone was already flying by the time they’d stopped and her guards were heading into the crowd. They’d reacted quickly, but it wasn’t easy to identify the thrower in the press of bodies.

  Now, the crowd was starting to become agitated. People were pushing around others, trying to see who was doing this, letting out discontent murmurs. Her guards showed the bare minimum of consideration for them, pushing past people and trying to corral the crowd.

  Regina absentmindedly soothed her horse with a brief brush of her mind, watching. She briefly considered riding on and heading to safety, but dismissed it. For one, because it would look like fleeing and she wasn’t going to do that. Also, this might be a deliberate attempt to bait her, possibly to alter her route or something; that seemed unlikely but not impossible.

  No other stone followed, fortunately. Instead, a voice called, “Down with the monsterbloods! No oath to godless rulers! Open your eyes and rise, faithful!”

  Regina’s grip on her reins tightened. The voice was coming from behind them, decidedly not the same as the stones, but it was very hard to pinpoint. Someone must have used magic or a Skill, or just thrown their voice conventionally. She turned around, gazing over the crowd. Some were dispersing, people at the edges slipping away, but there were still a lot of people on the street and even more commotion now.

  No one else joined in with the calls. If they’d been trying to provoke a riot or widespread reaction, they failed.

  Be careful, take care of the civilians, she commanded her guards, sending the words to those outside the psychic link directly. The last thing they needed was to give any credence to this nonsense by behaving like thugs and tyrants.

  Then she finally found what she had been looking for. The crowd made it harder to find specific individuals, especially with their heightened emotions. And to make it worse, her targets must have had some basic psychic training. Her own ability was widely known enough that it would be stupid to think she couldn’t find them without it. But they still weren’t professionals, and she’d gotten pretty good.

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  There were three men. They had coordinated. They were in each other’s thoughts enough that finally pinning one of them down made it obvious who the other two were. One of them was already heading away from the commotion, almost managing to slip away unnoticed. She considered it for a brief moment before reaching out to several other guards who were close by — actually watching over one of the more important warehouse-factory-experimental lab combinations — and showing them who to arrest. Then she focused on her current guards and pointed out the other two men.

  The men had focused on their task, letting anxiety and nerves rise to the forefront of their minds, but she could still sense the smothered ember of hatred beneath it, now that she was looking. It was coated in a sheen she hadn’t felt before but recognized — a certain kind of certainty, hollow or not, a self-righteous striving — religious zealotry.

  “Be calm, citizens,” she called out, hoping she managed to look serene and regal. “There are only a few agitators trying to sow chaos. They will be dealt with. You have nothing to fear.” Then she turned and looked directly at who she guessed was the leader, meeting his eyes. “Come quietly. You will be dealt with fairly. There is nowhere to hide and struggling only risks hurting yourself or those around you.”

  The man, predictably, didn’t take her advice. He threw another stone, clearly just out of spite, then turned tail and tried to run.

  He didn’t get very far. As Regina watched the stone clang off the magical shield around her, sighing, Max blurred forward into the path of the runner. The man bounced back as if he’d hit a literal wall. He didn’t have time to do anything else before Max had grabbed him by the neck, bound his hands, and half-carried half-dragged him back towards her. The nearby citizens got out of their way, but many still stood around and watched with wide eyes.

  Regina turned to quickly check on the other man. He’d been apprehended by Jay and the others, a bit less dramatically. Good. Now what am I supposed to do with them?

  Quickly, she decided that whatever it was, she probably shouldn’t do it right now in front of everyone. So she simply waited until they’d brought everyone together, the guards taking the previous runner to the nearest police station (or city guard base, as it was still called).

  “That’s enough of this excitement,” Max called. “Disperse, citizens!”

  Others echoed the order. Regina didn’t wait for the crowd to disperse entirely, but got her horse moving again. Luckily, several other soldiers had shown up by this point and helped with escorting the arrested men.

  When did we start using language like that? she wondered absently. It’s better than calling them ‘subjects’, though. What else was I supposed to do? And now these men — she chewed on her lower lip, her hand tightening on the saddle. Throwing a stone would have been at least attempted assault, right, or just assault? It could kill someone with an unlucky hit. Not so much with magical protection, though. Then the one man was definitely guilty of sedition — that was one law Regina had only signed with knots in her stomach, but she did understand why it was necessary or at least expected.

  “You will never be able to shut up those of the true faith, monsterblood whore!” the leader of the men spat. “Where one of us falls, ten more will rise.”

  Regina sighed and gave Jay a stern look before he could physically retaliate against him, sensing his agitation. “You will have a fair trial, as an Imperial citizen and my subject,” she said. “I have to say, you are not making this easier for yourself by doubling down on sedition and lèse-majesté in front of so many witnesses.” Privately, she wondered if he actually wanted to be a martyr? He clearly hadn’t planned it very well, if so.

  At least that managed to shut the man up for the remainder of the trip. It was thankfully pretty short.

  We can’t let him get away with that, Max commented privately to her. He needs to be punished publicly, and harshly. This was too public, rumors will already be making their way across the Empire.

  Regina pulled a face. I know. Maybe she could just hang the leader and not the others?

  She didn’t think any of them deserved death, objectively, but it would be the expected punishment. And what the man must have expected as well. Any other ruler wouldn’t hesitate. He had basically planned elaborate suicide, she wouldn’t feel guilty about that.

  Either way, there were courts for that.

  The rest of the Star Guard had already been alerted and several soldiers stood ready to take the men into custody. Regina exchanged a few words with them, then headed on into the palace, Max dogging her heels. She wasn’t surprised that he was a little twitchy and felt the need to stay close after an encounter like this. For her part, Regina swept the city with her psychic senses, trying to see if there were any traces of a larger conspiracy she could catch. Unfortunately, she didn’t know if there were none or she failed that attempt.

  Because of the incident, Regina contacted Ira and a few others and reshuffled her schedule. It only took a few minutes before Janis joined her in a sitting room. A few minutes later, Tim, Daine and a few others arrived as well.

  “Max, fill them in, please,” Regina ordered, then listened with one ear while considering the ramifications and potentially similar incidents across the last few weeks.

  “They will be dealt with properly,” Janis noted. “I assume this meeting is about rising radicalism in the Empire? Or the impetus from abroad?”

  Regina gave her a small smile. “How is the current situation in the Western Confederation and Esemen?”

  Daine cleared his throat lightly. “The religious orders are still growing, although they have somewhat stabilized, my Empress. Of particular note are two that have been trying to expand beyond the Western Confederation’s borders, both among the biggest of the lot and styling themselves as knightly orders. The Order of the Sun Temple and the Brotherhood of Violets.”

  Regina nodded. They’d come up in briefings before. “Those are two martial orders, I know. Which of them is the bigger threat?”

  “Our projections estimate that the Order of the Sun Temple’s growth will slow and its numbers stabilize at a moderate range,” Daine replied. “Primarily, this is due to their strict requirements — they are what you would call a monastic, knightly order, and require of their member vows of chastity and poverty. Though the latter seems to be rather lax. They also admit both men and women. While perhaps on the smaller side, they are well on their way to becoming an elite force, however. In contrast, the Brotherhood is male-exclusive, as the name implies, but takes almost anyone willing to fight for what they consider righteous cause. Both groups have attempted to send people into the Empire.”

  “And how has that gone?”

  “Badly, but not terribly,” he replied with a small grimace. “Some villages and smaller towns along the border did not turn them away, and some people appear to have listened, even if there was not much enthusiasm.”

  Regina smiled, showing a few teeth. “We need to keep an eye on them. If they give any sufficient cause, I will see them outlawed in the Empire.”

  They nodded. “As you wish, Your Imperial Majesty,” Daine acknowledged, but she could sense his tentative approval.

  “And the other orders?”

  Regina leaned back and listened as he continued his briefing about the more notable ones, digressing into some information about the temples and priesthoods in the country as well. It was all vaguely interesting, but nothing particularly stood out to her.

  “Is there any indication that these agitators were connected to them?”

  Janis and Max exchanged a glance. “Not so far,” Max answered. “But we’ll be looking. If there’s anything to find, I promise we’ll find it. Personally, I don’t think there was necessarily a direct connection, though. They might have just been inspired.”

  “This might be a good case to test our new protocol for psychic interrogations,” Janis added. “We could send a few of the senior psychic students.”

  Regina frowned, considered it for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. Supervise them to make sure they stick to the guidelines.”

  “Of course.”

  There was not much else to say, and Regina found her focus drifting. She’d known she would be facing opposition from this direction, this incident was only further confirmation. Still, she didn’t like the thought of having to look at her people and wonder about hidden enemies.

  But if her enemies wanted to start a contest of winning the hearts and minds of people, she had no intention of forfeiting.