Elspeth shudders and plugs her ears and nudges Jake with her foot.

"It's my fault," he says. "Right after she got blasted with the memory payload I said something that pointed out to her that she had pretty up-to-date memories from her dad in there. She remembers... their honeymoon and stuff." He taps Elspeth on the shoulder and her hands come down from the sides of her head. "For whatever it's worth," Jake adds, "I find Bella's rulership pretty satisfactory and I'm not an imperial princess."