Lord Regret's Price: A Jane Austen Space Opera, Book 3

by Joely Sue Burkhart

  His implanted translator said it was dragon.

  Black shapes shot out of the bottom of the ship, and this time it wasn’t the gravity-defying ninjas, but the sleek, uniformed Raven Guards of Britannia. The Queen’s own bounty hunters, bodyguards, and yes, assassins when needed. They swung down out of the ship.

  Toward Charlie.

  Sig leaped forward, wrapped his forearm around his target’s neck, and plunged the syringe into her throat. Princess Rong’an screamed, but her cry was lost in the clamor. She clawed at his forearm and face, but he tucked her closer, ignoring the cut of her lacquered nails.

  The glass tube filled quickly, holding an impressive amount of blood. Alone, not enough to kill her, but when he pulled the syringe out of her neck, blood fountained from the large puncture wound. His aim was always true.

  Dowager Empress Cixi seized the woman’s arm and tugged her free of Sig’s grip. He let her go and shoved the syringe toward her, already moving toward Charlie. Princess Rong’an fell to the ground, gripping her throat desperately. Prince Gong knelt beside her and she clutched at his hand, sobbing and gasping.

  “Why?” Prince Gong’s anguished voice chased after Sig, but he felt no guilt. No remorse.

  The black coin he’d found in her room proved she’d sent the Imperial assassins after Charlie, to kill her before she could heal her sickly brother. In case Sig failed to accept her contract.

  Let her die as slowly and miserably as possible.

  “Because she was going to have Zaichun assassinated,” Cixi said in a cold, hard voice. “So she could be your Empress. She deserves much worse than a quick and tidy death by a skilled assassin.”

  Masters was a dozen paces ahead of him, not that either of them would make it to her before the Ravens, and if the Queen’s guards were here, there were certainly Runners too. Trained to blend in and disappear at a moment’s notice, they’d be hard to spot, even in a sea of Zijin people. The Emperor’s bodyguards had tightened around him in a living wall, giving her some protection, at least. She was rummaging in her reticule as calmly as though she merely looked for the appropriate change to make a trivial purchase at market.

  Clad in black body armor—making them damned near impervious to any hand-held weapon not deliberately modified by Lady Doctor Wyre—the Ravens didn’t attack. They surrounded the pavilion but didn’t try to force their way in toward their target, even though they outnumbered the Emperor’s guards ten to one. Masters jumped on the Raven nearest him, but was picked up and slung backward like an invisible hand had reached down and thrown him like a child’s toy.

  Force field. Grimly, Sig jerked to a halt, trying to think of a way through it. The Ravens made a perfect circle around her. When they advanced…

  He closed his eyes, fighting the image of them closing on her like a pack of wolves so they could carry her back to the ship. Meanwhile the ticking bomb planted in him as a baby would blow them all up if Majel decided she might lose her prey.

  Would Charlie rather I kill her, even accidentally, to keep her out of Majel’s hands?

  Chapter Eighteen

  Charlotte patted the Emperor’s trembling shoulder. “It’s all right, Your Majesty. They’re here for me, not you.”

  He turned his head, his eyes wide with shock and fear. “Are you sure? I did bar the merchants from Hoeng Gong, so I suspected some kind of retaliation.”

  She smiled slightly, shook free of his clinging hand at her elbow and moved closer to the egg pedestal. It did indeed look like a beautiful watercolored stone, lightly sprinkled with pearl and gold dust. A magnificent work of art if hand-painted by some long-dead craftsman. “That was certainly a foolhardy decision, Your Majesty. Queen Majel will retaliate, I can promise you that much, but this time I’m the target.”

  She scanned the egg, unsure if her findings were good news…or a death sentence for someone. “This egg is still viable.”

  “That’s wonderful, but what will cause it to hatch? At least a dozen Emperors have come to offer prayers and gifts to the egg to no avail.”

  Imperial blood. She kept the scanner in her hand because her favorite medical device could also be used as something much more lethal. Should she tell him the truth? Would he then side with his mother, and select one of his family to sacrifice in order to secure his own future?

  She studied his young face, sheltered and ignorant of so much of the harsher realities of the universe. A spoiled brat who’d thrown down the gauntlet to Queen Majel unknowingly, just to annoy his overbearing mother. His slender shoulders were already stooped, as though he bore the weight of the entire universe on his back. In many ways, he does.

  Yet she didn’t dare tell him too much—not with the Ravens watching, and surely recording, everything for the very astute Queen of Britannia. When the ship had first appeared, the clamor from the crowd had been deafening. Now all sound was blocked out. The Ravens must have set up a portable shield rather like the dome that protected Londonium.

  No one inside could get out. No one outside could get in—unless they allowed it. And anything they said was probably echoing in the Queen’s war chamber this very moment. “The legends about your family taming dragons are not entirely fables, Your Majesty.”

  Bewildered, he looked at the egg and then back to her. “You mean…”

  “We are dragons.” Head high, Cixi stepped through the ring of Ravens without pause, her long robes swishing across the ground as she passed. Without even sparing a glance at the foreigners, she approached the egg, uncapping a long, red vial.

  Inwardly, Charlotte sighed. Cixi had been working for Majel all along. Charlotte didn’t whirl around to see who’d fallen to the Dowager Empress’s schemes. It was too late to save her choice.

  “What happened?” The Emperor faltered from the arrogant voice of the ruler and back to the errant son afraid of his mother. Or at least afraid of what she’d done. “Is that…?”

  “Your sister paid Lord Regret to assassinate you.” She poured the blood onto the egg, red dripping down the delicate pearl to mar the pastel colors. “It’s only fitting for her blood to give the last full dragon life. Your rule will become legend, my son.”

  Despite her dislike for Cixi’s methods, Charlotte scanned the egg with interest, watching for changes. Energy sparked deep inside the egg, but quickly guttered out like a fragile flame. After long seconds, she lowered the scanner and shook her head. “It started to respond but has returned to its slumber.”

  “What? But you said…” Cixi fell silent a moment as realization dawned. “It wasn’t enough blood.”

  Charlotte inclined her head. “Or it needed to be fresh and hot directly from the body. The sample had already cooled slightly, and even one degree may cause the revitalization to fail. Without further tests that we unfortunately don’t have time for with these visitors watching our every move, you’ll have to decide on the best method of experimentation without me.”

  She’d meant it as a warning, in case Cixi wasn’t familiar with Britannian methods of gleaning information from friend and foe alike. Evidently, the Dowager Empress didn’t care. “No matter. There are still several candidates we might be able to use.”

  “Mother!” The Tongzhi Emperor stared at her like she was a revolting pile of refuse. “Who else will you kill? Isn’t Rong’an enough for your schemes?”

  “No, in fact, she isn’t. She was willing to sacrifice your life so your uncle could take your throne. Why should you care what happened to her? I’m too busy cleaning up after your mistakes to eliminate every possible threat, but her betrayal and resulting death has helped me decide who should waken the egg. As long as Prince Gong lives…”

  “No,” the Emperor retorted, his voice lower and more full of power than Charlotte had ever heard him speak, especially to his mother. “I refuse to allow any more deaths to bear the cost of my rule. Uncle would make a much better Emperor. He should have taken the throne anyway. Without your scheming, he would have.”

  While the p
air argued, Charlotte kept a careful eye on the Ravens. Why did they wait and watch? They could have closed the net and tried to take her at any time, but they were content to let this little Imperial drama unfold. It made no sense. Unless they were waiting on a signal from Queen Majel. But what was she waiting for?

  The Dowager Empress Ci’an also passed the Runners without hesitation. Her smug smile at her greatest ally—and greatest enemy—set Charlotte’s defense mechanisms on full alert. Their enmity had originated in the Xianfeng Emperor’s harem where they’d both competed for his attention, but only Cixi had born him a son. The two women had worked together to secure that child’s throne, but since then…

  Ci’an set a small box on the egg pedestal and pressed a button. A holographic image of Queen Majel flickered into existence before them.

  Involuntarily, Charlotte gasped. Not with surprise at the technology or even who else was working with the Queen, but at the shocking image itself. She quickly smothered the sound, but Majel heard it, transparent or not. Her eerie faceted eyes narrowed with warning. To anyone who didn’t know her intimately, she probably appeared as powerful and regal as always, if a tad eccentric with all the feathers decorating her hair. She even wore a black stole of feathers around her neck.

  Yet Charlotte knew that was no costume. No wonder Majel was so desperate that she’d betray her bug’s presence to Sig and risk losing the Crown’s greatest asset for hundreds of years. She was turning into a crow. Her House’s namesake.

  But how had crow DNA been introduced?

  Charlotte closed her eyes, remembering how she’d found the young princess near death. Her insane mother, Queen Georgiana III, had locked her sixteen-year-old daughter in the highest room of the Tower after she fell ill and the Royal Physicians had urged her to quarantine the princess before everyone in Londonium was exposed to the deadly virus. Once a fortress to protect all of Londonium, in later generations the Tower had become a prison for royal inmates. The high, circular room was more windows than walls, all of them open to the air.

  And the resident crows had made themselves at home.

  At first, Charlotte had thought that she was too late and the crows were actually devouring the deceased princess. Horrified, she’d scared them away and found Majel unconscious, scratched and bleeding, but whole. Desperate to save the princess before House Lizbonne joined with York to remove their crazy monarch, Charlotte had injected Majel with her nanobot prototype. The experiment had worked. The virus introduced by Francia during the darker days of the biological warfare had been defeated, and Majel lived to see her mother imprisoned in the very same room until her death five years later.

  A cold, hard lump swelled in Charlotte’s throat, nearly choking her. Her nanobots must have taken a sample of crow DNA from that attack, and then at some point decided to use it for improvements to Majel’s human body. Charlotte hadn’t been there to note the differences and to correct the original, flawed programming which wasn’t tight enough to prevent such mistakes.

  She swallowed, forcing herself to remain as calm as possible. Majel wouldn’t want anyone to know how bad it was. I can help her, I think. Though not all of the damage will be reversible.

  She shuddered, forcing her mind to focus instead of whirling with horror and guilt.

  Majel needs my help more than ever. She’s certainly not going to kill me today. Not willingly, at least.

  “Greetings, Queen Majel,” Ci’an said. “Everything’s prepared as we agreed.”

  “No, it is not.” Majel’s hard voice, as sharp and cold as ice, made everyone inside the pavilion flinch, except Charlotte, of course, for she was well used to Majel’s temper. “There are too many witnesses. I couldn’t care less how many Zijin Imperials and commoners alike must be eliminated to secure our secrets, but you might.”

  Now that Majel’s attention was wholly locked on Bei-Jing as her target’s location, Charlotte unobtrusively tapped the scanner’s display to execute her own little surprise. Now the Queen wouldn’t be monitoring Sig’s whereabouts, so it was entirely safe for her dissemblers to attack and hopefully disintegrate the Scorpion bug. Assuming she didn’t accidentally blow him up.

  She could see Gil and Sig both at the edge of Ravens, but they were too far away to catch their gaze and try to pass a message only they would understand. She certainly couldn’t trust the untried communication protocol she’d just added to their nanobots. Damnation, we need to get that bloody force field down at once!

  “What have you done?” Cixi retorted. “You fool. If she eliminates us all, only Prince Gong will be left! Exactly the one we should want to eliminate the most!”

  “Peace, sister.” Ci’an made a slow circle about the egg, trailing her finger over its gilded surface. “Queen Majel has agreed to leave Zijin unharmed, despite our son’s meddling. All we have to do is cede Hoeng Gong to her. Oh, and of course, deliver Lady Wyre to her unharmed. Which that idiot child almost fouled up with her assassination attempts. Thank goodness you got to Lord Regret first before he could complete her contract.”

  “You’ve both betrayed me to Britannia?” The Emperor stared at the Dowager Empresses like he’d seen a ghost. Or a living nightmare. “I’m not giving Hoeng Gong to Britannia. It’s our main marketplace, open to the entire universe! If Uncle has taught me nothing else, it’s the importance of trade. If we lose Hoeng Gong, we’ll be forced to trade directly with Britannia for everything.”

  “Exactly,” Queen Majel purred. “Yet on the bright side, I won’t assimilate you into our Empire. Isn’t that kind of me?”

  She turned those glittering black eyes on Charlotte. In response, she lifted her chin and clasped her hands at her waist as though she stood ready for the Queen’s wishes, carefully keeping the scanner shielded.

  “You’re needed in Londonium at once, Wyre.”

  Evenly, Charlotte held the Queen’s gaze. “And what of Zijin, Your Majesty?”

  “I always keep my agreements, don’t I? They’ll get exactly what they’ve asked for.”

  Her smile only stirred up the dread churning in Charlotte’s stomach. That smile meant Majel was up to no good at all. “And your Scorpion?”

  “Ah.” Majel softened that hard, toothy smile to something more genuine, although only for a moment. It could almost have been a flash of pride, if they weren’t deadly enemies. “How did you discover the truth about my dear boy?”

  This time it was Charlotte’s turn to give a warning smile as sharp as the glass blade hidden in her fan. “You’ll leave my dear boy be, Your Majesty.”

  “I shall?” Majel coyly widened her eyes with surprise. “Whyever should I? He’s done exactly as I wanted all these years, without even knowing my wishes. I can’t lose such a talented killer. I need him almost as much as I need you.”

  “Either he goes free or you lose us both.”

  “I don’t want to make this difficult, Wyre. I need you in Londonium and I’m willing to forget every past indiscretion, let alone the inconvenience of looking for you all these years. Come home and I’ll make it worth your while.”

  Charlotte pretended to consider it, even gnawing on her lip as though deep in thought. “I suppose Wyreton is gone now,” she said wistfully. “My family and staff are ashes, forgotten and dispersed to the winds.”

  “Not at all,” Majel said in the kindest voice Charlotte had ever heard her use. “Granted, I was very wroth with you when you disappeared without a trace. I valued your service too much to wipe out everything you hold dear. Although I admit I never allowed your cousin to inherit the title. I knew you were still alive and I refused to grant her petitions to take over in your stead. Despite all the trouble you’ve caused me, you’re still the Duchess of Wyre.”

  More likely, the Queen wanted to keep everyone alive in case she needed to torture a few hostages in hopes of luring her back to protect her family. “I can sincerely thank you for that, Your Majesty. Samantha would have done a wretched job as Duchess. She’s too rigid and stuffy by far,
and in her jealous rage she would have razed Wyreton to the ground just to spite me.”

  “She always hated you,” Majel agreed. “Now. Are we agreed that you’re coming home at last?”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte noted that the circle of Ravens had begun to tighten. Her pulse fluttered frantically, her palms dampening. She even allowed anxiety to widen her eyes and visibly quicken her breathing. It was important for everyone to believe she was frightened. Trapped. Alone. All dreadfully true for the moment.

  Only she could feel the frenzied pulse of technology in her body, heightening her senses and promising the assistance of not one or two but three men determined to come to her aid. She didn’t look again, but she was sure Prince Gong had joined Sig and Gil’s efforts to break through the Ravens.

  Without lazors, there was very little they could do to cut through their lines. All they did was risk their own lives. But if she delayed long enough, the shield would come down to give her access to the waiting ship.

  Silently, she tried to communicate with them through her nanobots, even if she wasn’t sure how they could possibly relay such messages. Protect yourselves and be ready to take cover. Soon!

  “My lady, surely you’re not considering this,” the Emperor said, his pale face streaked with sweat. “If you need a way out of Zijin, I can promise you safe passage.”

  His breathing was short and rapid, his hands shaking. Anxiety worsened his condition, and the doctor in her insisted his mysterious illness had taken a sharp turn for the worse. If she had time, she’d run some tests on the alien DNA he carried. She guessed that he suffered from an unknown deficiency thanks to the dragon heritage, just as the egg itself needed the alien proteins in the Imperial blood to hatch.

  Weak and clammy, he wasn’t going to survive much longer, despite whatever deal the Dowager Empresses managed to eke out with Britannia.

  “Shut up,” Ci’an hissed, even tugging on the long, full sleeve of his ceremonial robe. “She’s nothing to us.”