Chapter 39

Estelle anticipates the diversion at the campo and concentrates soldiers inside the Mountain around her office and the artifacts—the box, key, and imperiat—while she prepares to act at midnight. Above, Sancia fights the gravity rig’s raw power, retargets its pull toward the Mountain, and drifts in to execute a plan that relies on the rig’s catastrophic potential.

Before Sancia arrives, Gregor Dandolo, compelled and armored in a shadowed lorica, smashes into the office and butchers Estelle’s troops, killing Captain Riggo and most guards with ruthless efficiency. Estelle reveals a scrived “pocket watch” breaker that freezes Gregor’s lorica and detects the Occidental device in his skull, then prepares to interrogate him—until Sancia lands on the skylight and fixes the gravity plates to it at maximum pull.

The rig becomes a blue, crushing star; the Mountain’s dome cracks and implodes toward it. Estelle snatches the imperiat and, using its selective nullification, shelters a small island of floor amidst the collapse, saving herself, the artifacts, and Tribuno. Outside, Orso and Berenice witness the structure fold inward as the gravity well compacts into a black sphere that punches deep into the earth.

Sancia evades the rig’s pull, then persuades the Mountain to lift her to Tribuno’s office to stop Estelle. Inside, Gregor, injured and shaking under compulsion, holds Clef and threatens Sancia. She confronts him, appealing to his ideals; he breaks through long enough to lower his weapon and hand Clef back.

Clef urgently warns Sancia as Estelle, bleeding from Gregor’s shot, crawls to Tribuno with dagger and imperiat. The clock tolls midnight; Estelle plunges the golden dagger into her father’s chest, activating the sachets across the Candiano campo. People collapse en masse, burning from within. Sancia moves for Valeria’s box, but Estelle lifts the imperiat and commands her to stop, erasing Sancia’s thoughts mid-stride.