by K. B. Wagers
Caterina Saito had also changed. The stately matriarch was fourteen years my senior but had done better than I’d expected from a noble when the negotiations with the Saxons exploded and we’d fled from Red Cliff. Her time away from home opened her eyes to a galaxy outside Indrana.
Which wasn’t to say that she hadn’t been outspoken and determined when we’d gone to Red Cliff to negotiate with the Saxons. It was one of the reasons I’d chosen her for that trip.
However, she had been a matriarch, born and bred in the very system we were now trying to tear apart. Our flight from the unexpected attack and our time on the run had hardened her into a woman a bit more like me and slightly less like a noblewoman of Indrana.
Heela slammed a fist into the tabletop. “Your arrogance is astounding!”
“I’m being arrogant?” Saba Hassan snorted. “All we’re asking is for fair treatment for our brothers, Heela. How is that arrogant?”
“The empire teeters on the brink of disaster and you—”
“Enough!” My voice echoed through the room, cutting off the arguments and shocking everyone into silence with the force. “That is quite enough. Reconstruction from the war damage is almost complete—with the exception of the palace—so now is the time for us to focus on the future.
“Since the council is deadlocked, I will put in my vote. Integrate the Ancillary Council, ladies. That’s an order from your empress.”
A large part of my decision to stay was the knowledge that I was the only one who could move Indrana in the direction she needed to go. I had the spine to weather the storm against the nobles’ protests on equality and the social capital as the “gunrunner empress” to push through enough legislation at the lower levels for a solid foundation.
“The people will not approve of this.”
“Seventy-nine percent of them already do,” I replied, raising an eyebrow at Heela’s response. “Or do you think this gunrunner hasn’t read the reports?”
She swallowed. “Your Majesty—”
“You are behaving like spoiled children who are mad that others among you were also given toys. Learn to share”—my patience gone, I snarled the order over the top of Heela’s protest—“or I will turn you over my knee and spank you until you do. You are the leaders of your people. Behave like it.”
There was a moment of awkward silence as I settled back in my chair and tapped a finger on the table. “Caterina, move on to the next item on the list.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She cleared her throat.
The remainder of the meeting was more subdued and wrapped up without further argument. The women filed out with murmured good-byes until only Caterina and Adi remained.
“They mean no disrespect in their opposition, Majesty,” Adi said, her eyes pointed at the floor.
I lifted a hand before Caterina could say anything. “Adi, look at me. Heela was being deliberately disrespectful, and while I am getting gods-damned tired of it, that’s a matter between me and her. Do you really think this is about me feeling disrespected?” I asked. “Is there anything about me that suggests my feelings are easily hurt?”
Her dark eyes flicked to her sister standing silently behind my chair and then back at me. Adi shook her head. “No, Majesty. I just don’t want you to think we are being disloyal—to you or to the empire.”
“I’m not worried about enemies lurking under my bed, Adi.” I tried and failed to keep the amusement out of my voice. “Nor am I so arrogant as to think we’ve caught everyone who was involved in Wilson’s scheme. Someone always escapes, slips through the cracks. If they have any sense they have run far from here like Elsa Khatri.
“That said, the matriarchs have my trust, even when I don’t agree with them.” I held out a hand to her, pleased when she took it. “I understand very well your concerns about integrating the council. However, I don’t share them and I’m going to overrule them. Everyone is invested in this, from my BodyGuards to the people on the street. You will have to learn to be uncomfortable for the good of Indrana.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I snorted and squeezed her fingers. “You say that like I just ordered you to eat peas. Talk to Caterina. Talk to your sister, Adi. Fires of Naraka, talk with your brothers. You have one who will be on the Ancillary Council if my memory is right. Find a way to see past your discomfort and work for a solution instead of just pushing it away. If you love Indrana, Adi, love her people, too. All of them.”
Adi blinked at me as if she were seeing me for the first time. I released her and she curtsied again. “Yes, ma’am. I will.”
Caterina watched her go. “You’re going to bully them all until they agree with you, Majesty.”
“I’ll do no such thing.” I shot her a smile. “Though what good is a reputation if you can’t cash in on it from time to time?”
She laughed, shaking her head as I got to my feet. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for your support today. All joking aside, I think it did make a difference.”
“You have it whenever you need it.” I patted her shoulder. “Would you like to join me for lunch? Or do you have plans?”
“I’d love to.” She gestured at the door and we headed back down the hallway toward my rooms.
“Stasia, we’ve got a visitor for lunch,” I said over my smati.
“Yes, ma’am. No trouble.”
Stasia was setting out another place at the table when we returned to my rooms. My head maid had been with us since I’d set foot back in the palace. The quiet young woman was now made of steel, forged in the same crucible we’d all endured over the last year. She was still quiet, but she ran my staff with a firm hand. Even Alba didn’t dare to challenge Stasia when she put her foot down.
I squeezed her arm on my way to the screen on the far wall. Caterina stopped to exchange greetings with my maid, and I heard the door open and close again as my BodyGuards went through their shift change. A few taps of my fingers and the news came on, adding to the noise in the room.
“The attack was carried out by the new leaders of the Shen, and though no one was killed, it appears the rebels took possession of several ships.” Serita Gupta, lead anchor for Indranan National News, faced the camera with the calm composure she’d carried through the coup. Her steadfast commitment to the truth even in the midst of Phanin’s takeover was being hailed as the best reporting in decades.
Several images flashed on the screen, stock footage and stills of the pair of siblings now in charge of the Shen—Mia and Aiz Cevalla—and I hummed thoughtfully as the camera returned to Serita.
“The Farians are being understandably tight-lipped about the security breach, but we will have more as the story develops. Indrana is bound up in a collective defense treaty with Faria, and there is concern we will be required to join the fight against the Shen. However, there’s been no word from either government as to the state of that treaty and whether the Farians will request Indranan help in the matter.”
“Majesty.” The bass tone of my Ekam dragged me away from the news report. Emmory Tresk had a few centimeters on me and at least a dozen kilos. My primary BodyGuard was an imposing figure, made all the more impressive by the matte-black uniform and the silver star tattooed onto his left cheek.
“That’s the sixth attack in three months,” I replied, pointing a finger at the screen as I turned on him with a half smile.
“Seventh, actually, though the skirmish three weeks ago didn’t do any damage, so I think most people are discounting it.”
My smile vanished as Fasé’s warning resurfaced and I wondered again just what she’d meant. The Farians wouldn’t have sent a message through Fasé. They would have sent it through the ambassador here on Pashati. “There hasn’t been a sound from the Farians about needing our help.”
“You could send Fasé a com and ask,” Emmory said.
“I could.” I sighed. But we both knew I wouldn’t. My issues with Fasé aside, as the empress of Indrana if I wanted answers I’d cause far less of an uproar by messaging the Farian
ambassador instead of a former Imperial Tactical Squad medic.
The Shen and the Farians had been at war for longer than the existence of human civilization; the few encounters in human space had all happened after the great exodus into the black. For the most part they kept their fight contained to the interior arm where the Farian homeworld was rumored to be. I doubted they needed our help; despite this long-running war with the Shen, the Farians never gave the appearance they needed or wanted outside assistance.
“Should we be worried?” I asked, still frowning at the screen, which had moved on to a news story about the upcoming marriage of one of Krishan’s sports heroes and her movie star girlfriend.
“At the moment I don’t have it on my list, and I don’t think it will pose a problem during the tour,” Emmory replied, glancing away from me to the screen.
I was slated to leave on a welcome tour of the empire shortly after the treaty signing. An eighteen-month ordeal that would send me in a big loop around our arm of the galaxy. There were plenty of stops at friendly planets, but just as many that had sided with Wilson during the coup. PR was careful to edge around that point, but I knew enough about shows of force to know what the real purpose of the tour was.
The fighting between the Farian and Shen had never come this far, though, and I thought back to Johar’s comment on the beach. A worried Johar made me nervous for no reason I could articulate to my Ekam, so I pushed it aside and went for the easy response.
“Your list?”
“Of things to worry about, Majesty.”
I laughed. “Oh, I’d love to get a peek at that list,” I teased.
My Ekam’s smile had been a rare thing in the early days, but now it appeared more frequently. It creased the tattoo on his left cheek, the Imperial Star, our empire’s highest award. Given for those who walked the road to temple in service of the empire, it was almost always awarded posthumously.
I’d have given him another if he’d allowed it, but despite my outranking him, my Ekam refused to admit that dying while trying to keep me safe was anything more than part of his job.
I’d hated the silent, barely civil man who’d dragged me home to become empress, at least at first. Then I’d realized he had more honor than the entire Indranan court and was my best hope of staying alive.
I hadn’t been wrong. Without Emmory it’s likely I would have died long before my showdown with Wilson, but try as I might he refused to let me repay him. I still didn’t know what I’d done to engender such loyalty from these men and women who were my BodyGuards, but I was endlessly grateful for it.
“Matriarch Saito.” Emmory nodded to Caterina.
“Ekam, how are you?”
“Thankful for peace, ma’am.”
“Aren’t we all?” Caterina smiled.
“Lunch is ready, Majesty,” Stasia announced.
I took a seat at the table where I could keep one eye on the news and one on the door because old habits die hard and even surrounded by peace and protection I was forever going to keep my back to the wall.
4
Majesty, are we friends?”
I raised an eyebrow at Caterina’s curiously worded question. We were alone in my room; Emmory and the others had departed as soon as the food was served. The conversation during lunch had revolved around the gender reforms and some of the easier laws we’d been able to enact without a lot of pushback from either the Matriarch or the Ancillary Council.
Now, judging by the tone of her voice, something was bothering Caterina, and I settled back in my chair. “I assumed so. What is it?”
Caterina swallowed, obviously thinking the words over in her head before she allowed her mouth the right to speak them. I didn’t push, content to let her wrestle with whatever it was that bothered her enough to preface the question with a reassurance of our friendship.
“There is some concern, Majesty, and I’ve been asked to speak with you on the subject. However, I’d like you to understand that I do so as a friend, not as a matriarch, and that I also share these concerns.” She stopped and inhaled, then met my eyes. “There is some concern, Majesty, as to the company you have chosen to surround yourself with.”
“I see. You could just say you’re worried about Hao and Johar.”
Caterina winced at my tone but continued. “I understand they are your friends and Indrana owes them a debt of gratitude for the fact that they fought by your side during the coup. There is no doubt that they helped us win; however—” She looked down at her hands and tried to collect her thoughts. “You continue to ask them for advice on policies that will have no impact on their lives. You share information with them that could be used against Indrana.”
“I know better than to throw classified information around, Caterina.” I kept my eyes on her as I picked up my chai and took a sip.
“I know, Majesty.” She held her hands up. “I’m not accusing you of that; no one is accusing you of that. Sometimes there is information that, while not classified, could not be easily obtained.”
“You’re asking me to believe that Hao would do something to put me in danger, Caterina. If I believed that, he’d have been gone a long time before I ever set foot back here.”
She shook her head. “I’m not suggesting he would, Majesty. The man clearly adores you, and he’s loyal to you or I would eat my sari. But to him, you are not Indrana, not in the same way you are to those of us who have lived here all our lives and given ourselves to this empire. I know you trust him, but this is not a gunrunning operation. It is an empire. Can I ask you to consider trusting those of us who have experience running the empire over those you call friends?”
I stared unblinking at the screen on the wall without really registering the newscaster’s report about Chennai Pharmaceuticals’ new expansion plans. Alice’s gentle rebuke this morning floated up out of my memory and I sighed, uncrossing my arms to rub a hand over my face. There wasn’t anything to be done about it beyond me taking the advice for what it was—in the best interests of Indrana—and moving on.
“Majesty, I’m sorry. I—”
“Don’t.” I held my hand up. “You’re not wrong, Caterina, and if anyone should apologize it’s obviously me. I’m sorry I put you in this position. I won’t apologize for trusting the people I trust, but I realize how it looks and I promise I will do better at least to keep things to a minimum and out of the public eye.” I smiled. “I do realize this isn’t a gunrunning operation. For one thing it’s far more disorganized.”
Caterina sighed, but smiled. “Majesty, I—”
“Alice said something similar this morning,” I said, cutting her off again. “She was right to bring it up and so were you.” I got to my feet and she followed me up. “I know when I’m out of my depth, Caterina. My business is fighting and war, not peace and politics. I’m learning the latter things. All I can ask is that you continue to support me as we try to do what’s best for Indrana.”
Caterina smiled. “You will always have my support, Majesty, though I think you’re wrong. I think you are more than capable of peace and politics, as you call them. I would never have supported you in the beginning if I believed otherwise.”
I sat alone in my room after lunch, cursing over the budget figures, when Hao and Dailun made an appearance.
My gunrunner mentor and his younger cousin were matched in height and build, but the slight family resemblance in their faces was drowned out by Dailun’s Svatir heritage. The pretty, pink-haired pilot wouldn’t ever achieve Hao’s more rugged look thanks to his Svatir mother’s genes.
The Svatir were a withdrawn alien race whose homeworld was somewhere on the very edge of the Perseus arm of the Milky Way. Their contact with humans was mostly facilitated by those who came our way while Traveling—a rite of passage for young Svatir. It was a chance for them to see the universe, to add to the collection of knowledge they already carried for their entire race.
“Hail,” Hao said after the door had closed behind him. He’d accepte
d my title more easily than even I had, but he still defaulted to my name in private.
I didn’t mind it. Truth was I missed the days of companions on mostly equal footing with one another. Even though over the last few months I’d gotten the majority of the nobles and others in my vicinity to stop bowing and scraping, no one was going to forget I was the empress. Hao gave me some of that quiet companionship, and it was an invaluable gift.
Dailun’s hero worship of me was something else entirely, and I still hadn’t been able to pry a good reason for it out of him. I’d accidentally stolen Hao’s cousin shortly after we met. He’d piloted Hao’s ship and asked to Travel with me while we fled from the Saxons. My agreement meant he would follow me for as long as his Traveling lasted, and he was loyal to me for the duration of his journey. In turn I was responsible for his welfare and making sure he had as many experiences as he wanted. Since I was stuck on Pashati, he tended to go off with Hao a great deal, but he never seemed to complain about the arrangement.
“When did you get back?” I turned my cheek upward as Dailun leaned in to kiss it and reached a hand out to squeeze his forearm.
“Jiejie.” Dailun’s dark eyes were like stars, the silver running through them a result of his Traveling.
“Little over an hour ago.” Hao stretched his lithe arms above his head. His tattoos ran the length of both limbs, a calling card of his life as a member of the Cheng gang and his status as a member of Po-Sin’s family.
“Thanks for the use of the ship. Fair warning, though, you may have to pry it out of Dailun’s hands when you want it back.” He leaned his hip on my desk and scratched at his metallic-streaked hair, the strands now a deep bronze among his natural black.
“It is an excellent ship,” Dailun said.
“You’re welcome to it,” I replied. “How’s Henna?”
Dr. Henna Brek had saved my life several times when I was on Hao’s crew and when I’d been injured on Candless.
“Settled in with her mother.” Hao narrowed his golden eyes at me. “I can pay her stipend.”
