Ellis suddenly realized something. They were colorblind. The grey and yellow buttons… that was why. “You can’t tell them apart?” she asked politely, trying not to offend.“No, Empress. Please accept my apology.” Ellis smiled. “There is no need for that. This is green,” she said, touching a green ribbon tied to a lamp. “The one you are holding is blue. Can you tell the difference now?”The Koln looked uncomfortable. “I am sorry, Empress.” He squinted. “Side by side, one is brighter than the other,” the Koln offered hopefully.

“Emancipate the Kolns,” Ellis said in short.Micheal pulled a piece of paper and pen out and scribbled it down. After that, he read it out loud. “All Kolns in the Empire are henceforth and forevermore, free. Any Kolns that take up arms in defense of the Empire shall be granted full rights of a citizen.”There was long silence. Leo was the first to speak up. “We can’t make them full citizens! That would mean they have the right to get mates, right? In the database too?”“No, only fertile men of age are entered into the database. We have never included those that are infertile or too old to reproduce.” But then, he was silent again. Something grated on his mind.Leo fell silent. “But it just… doesn’t seem right.”“What about voting rights?” Isabella interjected.“Strong believer in universal voting rights,” Ellis said softly. “But it al

In the morning they met the minister of finance, the first nerd she had seen in Zothea. He was thin to the point of emaciation and his poor tail was nearly bald from the way he nervously plucked at its hair. She wondered if he suffered from the same color-blindness as the drones because the brown tunic he wore with blue pants clashed terribly.When Logan told him Ellis's plan, the minister sighed and tossed down his pen. He rubbed his eyes as he spoke. "Emperor, I simply do not have the funds. Any reduction in revenue at this point would be catastrophic when we still haven't recovered from losing a planet. We're already struggling to pay for our obligations, let alone the things we need to fight this war. We need ships, but building them would take too long, and the merchants aren't willing to sell us theirs at a decent rate. I keep telling them that they won't have any business left anyway if the Federation crumbles but they either don't believe me or they don't care. We nee

Laurel spent the night on the bed beside Ellis. Ellis knew for a fact that she didn’t get any sleep because Ellis woke up several times to check on the babies and Logan and found Laurel sniffling each time. She laid back down in the bed and stayed away from Laurel, giving her friend the privacy to cry, be angry, and grieve.She knew how Laurel felt, especially having run away from her mate herself. It would be hell and everyone would judge her. Not Ellis, though. Not Ellis.“Laurel,” she shook her awake. “Let’s go take a bath,” she hissed. How the roles had reversed.“Oh, go away!” Laurel groaned. She had gone to sleep in the early morning, so she was beyond tired.“Get up! I’m taking revenge for all the times you dragged me out of bed. Moreover, don’t you want to see the royal bath?” She tried her hand at enticing.“When you put it like that…” she grumbled.

Ellis shook her head. “It does me no good to go on a show right now. I don’t know what I would say either.”They gathered the clothing and Ellis and Laurel set off for the Koln shelter. Some of her own clothes were in the bags, as well. A handful of women had come with some of the Kolns. Some were widows who had fallen in love with the Kolns who served them. A few had left behind husbands, a dangerous situation which would require palace guards to be present.When they arrived at the shelter, Ellis was swarmed. Nin hadn’t exaggerated when she said the Kolns loved Ellis. They wanted to touch the hem of her clothes and Ellis had to bear stoically. Nin, too, was surprisingly gentle as she moved the crowd back a few feet away from the Empress.Ellis and Laurel were passing out the clothing. A man and a woman knelt in front of her and Ellis automatically held out a woman’s tunic to her. Ellis was surprised to see a face she knew…a