by K. B. Wagers
“They’re right, aren’t they?” I didn’t even begin to know how to process what Aiz had just said to me, but judging from the looks on Emmory’s and Hao’s faces he wasn’t the only one who felt that way. In so many ways it made me more uncomfortable than the previous conversation about my deadly abilities.
“They want my help because of a desperate need for self-preservation. But we’re in the same fucking situation they are if the Hiervet attack us. I hate to say it but I’m starting to wonder if I should have followed through and fought them.”
“No.” Aiz’s easy dismissal was unexpected. “You made the right call. If there is to be peace between my people and the Farians, it must happen without bloodshed.”
“I have marveled at this change often enough but it truly never gets any less amazing.”
I turned my head to see Mia just beyond Emmory’s profile, and my heart rate kicked up a notch. The barest flicker of a smile appeared, then vanished on my Ekam’s face.
“Not a word,” I subvocalized over our com link.
“I wasn’t going to, Majesty.”
Still, I watched her cross to Aiz and touch a hand to her brother’s chest. “Gentlemen, may I have a moment alone with Hail?”
My heart lurched painfully. I had a fleeting moment where I remembered Fasé talking about how my heart was always so steady.
I doubted she could say the same now.
“Majesty,” Emmory murmured as he pushed away from the wall, then followed Hao and Aiz from the room. The door closed behind them.
“You’ve had a busy day,” she said. “Threatening gods and the Pedalion until they bent to your will.”
I stayed against the wall, face expressionless and arms crossed over my chest even though I itched with the need to bury my hands in Mia’s hair. I hadn’t seen or spoken to her since our brief meeting with the Pedalion. “You saw the announcement, then?”
“I stayed with Fasé and her people to watch.” Mia lifted a shoulder. “It is strange for us—the Shen—especially those who never had an association with those monsters as anything but what they truly are. My brother, for all his posturing, still sometimes thinks of them as powerful beings, but I don’t.” Her eyes were filled with sadness. “They have been my enemies for a long time, but I watched the hearts of Faria break with the news that everything they knew was a lie and couldn’t help but feel sympathy for them.”
I had stayed here on the ship as a precaution in case the situation spiraled out of control. A concession to Emmory, or an apology for my behavior earlier in the day.
“I’m glad you could be there for them.”
Mia crossed the room to me, stopping just out of reach. “It is important for our alliance, and I like Fasé. For all our conflict, I understand where she is coming from.”
“Good. I like it when my friends get along.” I looked down at her, wanting to reach out and brush her curls from her face. “How are you?”
“I am fine.”
I spotted the trembling in her hands when she shoved them into her pockets. “Mia, what is it?”
“It’s nothing,” she whispered, eyes locked on her boots. Then she lifted her head and smiled. It was forced, lacking the warmth I’d come to expect from her, and I pulled her into my arms.
She didn’t fight; in fact, she practically crashed into me, wrapping her arms around my waist and burying her face against my shoulder.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. I have seen nothing new for days. I don’t know what’s going to happen, Hail. All I have are the visions from before and they are—there is nothing but a yawning void in front of me. It is terrifying. How do you live like this?”
The panic laced in her words stopped the gentle tease that I’d been about to say. The realization that it would crush her even further was like a fist in my kidney.
“I could lie to you and tell you that we all live in the present, focused on making every moment count, but you know that’s not the truth.” I rubbed a hand over her back and pressed my lips to her temple. “We just do it, Mia. We try to live and sometimes try to guess the future. We fail badly at it. It costs us everything, changes us in ways we never even imagine.”
“Hail.” She pulled back slightly. “If you’d known where this would lead, would you have left your people behind? Would you have come with us?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered, staring into her gray eyes. “That would have been a difficult choice and I am not certain one that I could have made.” I cupped her face. “Would you have asked me to do it? To walk away from my duty and my people? I don’t think you would have.”
“I did, though.” She lowered her eyes. “It was thoughtless and arrogant of me. I am sorry.”
I tipped her face back up to mine and kissed her, felt her fingers dig into my back as she sank against me with a sigh I caught on my tongue. “This is what I can tell you, Mia Cevalla,” I said in Shen. “We would have ended up here one way or another.”
“Is that so?”
“It is,” I murmured against her mouth, and I felt her shudder as I pulled her against me. “Emmory, I’m taking my bios off-line.”
“Yes, Majesty.”
I dropped my mouth to Mia’s again and let the rest of the world fall away.
7
Aiz was right about my evolution. The woman who walked into the Pedalion chamber the next day was not Cressen Stone, feared gunrunner. She was not Hail Bristol, empress and Star of Indrana. She was not even the broken woman who’d been haunting my steps since Earth.
I was all of these people, the pieces falling into place with the same reassuring sound of an old-fashioned tumbler lock opening.
“Her Imperial Majesty Hailimi Mercedes Jaya Bristol, legendary gunrunner Cressen Stone, Star of Indrana, commander of the Shen forces, and voice of the rebellion,” the guard announced as we came through the chamber doors, following my instructions to the letter.
Emmory was on my left, Gita on my right. The rest of my BodyGuards were fanned out behind us. They were all dressed in their uniforms. I was in a deep gray silk sari with a silver crown on my head, my hair done up in an impressive series of braids considering the amount of time Stasia had had to work with. Kisah’s help on that front had been invaluable.
The members of the Pedalion were on the dais. Adora’s seat was conspicuously occupied by Thyra. Adaran and Priam stood behind her right shoulder, their limbs fluttering, and I wondered if that signified the same nervous worry as a human wringing their hands.
Sybil and the rest of the Council of Eyes stood off to one side, their faces covered by veils of white. The intricate lace crowns they had worn the first time I saw them were gone, replaced by circlets of solid black.
I stopped in the center of the black sixteen-pointed star on the floor and pressed my palms together. “Itegas Rotem, I am here to request an audience with the Pedalion to negotiate the terms of peace on behalf of the Shen and those who follow the prophet Fasé Terass.”
“Under whose authority?” Rotem asked.
I looked over my shoulder as Johar came through the doorway. She escorted Aiz, Mia, and Talos. Hao followed at Fasé’s side, her siblings Veeha and Volen behind them.
“Ours.” Fasé’s voice mingled with the Cevallas’ in the still air.
“This war between the Farians and the Shen has gone on long enough, and this charade by the Farian Hiervet is at its end. Your people deserve peace and freedom,” I said.
“And you think you are the one who decides what form that peace and freedom takes, Your Majesty?” Thyra asked, disrupting the formal ceremony, and I saw the Pedalion members flinch.
I shook my head and gestured at Aiz and Fasé. “I have decided nothing. This is what they have asked of me, Thyra. This is the collective voice of millions demanding what is due them.”
“And if we say no?”
“Why would you? You face a united front of the Shen and Fasé’s people. That means there is a fleet on your doorstep and a
n army of Farians on this soil. They are ready to fight.
“Then there is me. Adora tried to have me killed on Earth.” I spread my hands wide with a smile. I could play the game of going off-script, and the gasps from those assembled as well as Thyra’s suddenly expressionless face told me she’d been unprepared for my response.
“I had little patience with you to begin with, Thyra, and I have run out of patience with the Pedalion. I have the whole of humanity at my back. If you wish to test me on this, be my guest. I’d say ask my enemies how that turned out for them, but…”
“Is that meant to be a threat?” Sou asked.
“It is nothing more than a statement of fact.” Kasio, the head of the Council of Eyes, lifted her veil as she stepped forward. She swept her bright copper gaze over the remainder of the Pedalion. “We have seen what happens to those who choose to stand against the Star of Indrana. We have seen what happens when the Pedalion attempts it. The Council of Eyes recommends that the Pedalion take the path of peace, not only for the good of Faria but for the good of the galaxy.”
“We agree,” Yadira said, getting to her feet, and Delphine nodded as she followed.
“The upheaval that was seen is upon us. We will not fight the change; instead we will embrace it and continue forward for the good of our people and all sentient life in this galaxy and beyond.” Delphine folded her hands together and shook them toward me. “Star of Indrana, we welcome the end of this long war and wish to be the first to offer our hands in peace to our siblings.”
Judging by the shock on Rotem’s and Sou’s faces, there had not been a discussion of the expected responses from the two younger members of the Pedalion.
Had I said the Farians were fractured? I was wrong; they appeared to be shattered.
“Very well,” Rotem said, his mouth tight. “You have your wish, Your Majesty.”
“Good.” I rubbed my hands together. “I will leave you all to sit down somewhere more pleasant and hash this out.” I headed for the doorway.
“Did you seriously just bluff them into agreeing to a peace treaty?” Hao subvocalized over our com.
I dropped one eyelid in a slow wink as I passed him.
The news of the Farian gods’ true identity rocked the faith of the Farians right to the core. Riots broke out. New protests that were no doubt urged on by Adora’s followers were happening daily even as others celebrated the news of the peace talks.
Adora’s followers also demanded her release and, amusingly, my punishment for what they claimed were a multitude of sins. I was privately relieved that a chunk of the population no longer saw me as some prophetic savior.
The unrest didn’t interfere with the talks as Delphine and Yadira pressed and bullied the other two members of the Pedalion until they fell into line. I joined them, though I kept off to the side of the spacious room, arms crossed over my chest with Gita and Kisah flanking me.
The room was packed, a security service’s worst nightmare, with the members of the Pedalion, Aiz and Mia, Fasé and her contingent, and a host of extras.
“This looks like one of Po-Sin’s gatherings,” I murmured to Gita. “Right down to the fact that a number of these people want to kill each other.”
She huffed a quiet laugh. “How did Po-Sin keep things in order?”
“Healthy dose of fear,” I replied. “Gatherings were unarmed, and no one would have dared Po-Sin’s wrath by bringing in a weapon. Disputes were to be settled by ship captains only, or in rare cases Po-Sin himself.”
“I remember that story Hao told on Canafey, though I haven’t been able to get him to tell me the uncensored version.”
I smiled. “That doesn’t surprise me; maybe one day he will.”
“You’re becoming as cryptic as one of the future-seers.”
The introduction of the people at the table started and I listened for a moment before I continued. “It’s not a story he tells often. Surprised me when he did that in front of a bunch of strangers. I think the importance of it was lost on most of them.”
“It did the job he intended it to.”
“True enough.”
We lapsed into silence as the talks began in earnest. I listened with half an ear, preferring to watch the room and the reactions of the various participants rather than focus on the words they were saying.
Aiz was feigning a casual attitude, but I could see the line of tension in his jaw that always happened when he was focused and ready to strike.
Mia, by contrast, was relaxed. Possibly because she was sitting next to Fasé and the budding alliance between their groups had definitely shaken the Pedalion. Fasé was quiet, with a faraway look in her eyes that made me wonder if she was even seeing and hearing what the rest of us were.
The Pedalion was on the other side of the table, various attendants standing behind them. The room wasn’t quiet by any means, with people coming and going, and conversations like mine and Gita’s filled the air with a low murmur that competed with the voices at the table.
With all the movement, the Farian man pacing by the door shouldn’t have attracted my attention, but he did. “Gita, who is that?”
“He’s part of the Pedalion’s security detail.”
“That explains the nerves.” I shifted, checked the time on my smati, and was surprised by the fact that an hour had already passed. “I’m impressed, no one has shouted yet.”
“Give it time, Majesty.”
“Is everyone agreed to a short break?” Rotem asked, and the agreements echoed around the table. The noise level rose as people shifted and stood. Aiz leaned down to say something to Mia and then headed for the door when she gestured in my direction. I pushed away from the wall, intent on crossing the room to speak with Mia, and then I spotted the Farian again.
Then I saw the knife.
“Aiz! Knife!”
He and Mia both turned at my shout, and I frantically pointed at the Farian bearing down on her with a grim look on his face. Aiz barked an order in Shen and his people moved.
We were too far away. I knew it even as I shoved the people in front of me to the side and vaulted the table, trying to cross those last impossible meters in a heartbeat.
“Majesty!” Gita’s shouted protest was lost in the thudding of my blood in my ears.
Mia turned just as the Farian reached her and all I could do was watch in horror as he drove the knife into her chest. Just above the scar I now knew better than my own. She grabbed for him before he could pull the knife out, locking her hands around his forearm.
There was shouting, chaos, but it all existed on the periphery. All I could see was Mia. I reached her at the same time as Aiz.
“Don’t,” she said, the word hardly more than a breath of air, but my hand was already on her shoulder and I could feel the pulse of energy.
It was like grabbing onto lightning.
The Farian attacker made an awful sound. I realized Mia was doing the same thing I had done to Hamah during our fight—pumping her pain back into him. Some of it was bleeding into me and I did the only thing I could think of—pushed it away into the Farian. He shuddered as he died.
I caught Mia as she fell, the knife clattering to the floor. Her eyes were rolled back in her head. “No, no. Mia, come on,” I begged, pressing down on the wound. I could feel the beat of her heart, a slow, sluggish thump, and somehow I knew that the knife had pierced it, but only barely.
Aiz was there, his hand over mine, his voice low. “Hail, it’s all right.”
“She’s dying.”
“And you’re all tangled up with her. I don’t have time to get you clear, so listen and do exactly what I say. Let me see.”
I exhaled a shaky breath and felt his energy slide effortlessly through my hand and into Mia.
“Her heart will stop,” he murmured, and mine nearly did with his words. “It’s okay. We need it to for just a moment, so don’t lose your focus.”
I didn’t, but the sob still lodged itself in my chest when I felt Ai
z’s energy stop Mia’s heart.
“Just a nick. It’s fixed now,” Aiz said. “Restart her heart, Hail.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Yes, you do; you think I’d trust my sister’s life to just anyone?”
I thought he was a bit insane to be using this for a tutorial, but I didn’t say it out loud. Instead I pictured the steady sound of Mia’s heart under my ear as we lay in bed together.
“There you go,” Aiz said. “Heal the rest of it.”
I could feel her heartbeat under my hand again and could almost picture the muscles of her chest knitting themselves back together as the taste of ozone filled my mouth.
Mia dragged in a gasping breath and her sudden convulsion put me on my ass.
“Easy, my sister. You are safe.” Aiz whispered the comfort in Shen.
“Majesty?” Gita crouched at my side and put a hand on my back.
“I’m okay.” I started to rub at my face, realized there was blood on my hands, and wiped them on my pants instead, swaying into my Dve as we rose.
“Hold on to her. She’ll be unsteady for a minute or two,” Aiz said to Gita without looking away from his sister. Talos took my place at Mia’s side, and the grim look on his face was enough to shake me back to the scene around us.
The room had separated. The Shen on our side and the Farians on the other. Everyone was still, the tension in the air enough to choke us.
“Rotem.” My call sliced through the air, having the intended effect of dragging everyone’s eyes to me. “I would like the Farians to leave the room, right now.”
Rotem looked as though he would protest, but Delphine took over. The younger Farian started for the door, ushering the others in front of her.
Fasé caught my eye and nodded once, then gathered her people, and they filed out after. Emmory and Zin slipped through the door as the last Farian left the room.
