by K. B. Wagers
“It’s a justifiable reason for taking a job,” I replied with a smile. “How did you hear about it?”
“There was a recruiter for the company at Krishan University. I’d just started my second semester, but I wasn’t—” He made a face and glanced up at me before returning his eyes to the floor. “I wasn’t doing all that well. I went to college because my parents expected it. This seemed like a steady paycheck.”
“You’re from Pashati?”
“Yes, ma’am. My parents live in the Bilmont Province. I got to see them last year.”
“Majesty, room’s clear.”
I smiled at Zat and gestured for him to lead the way into the control room as he began his practiced spiel about how the mining operation worked.
“Salt is extremely important,” I said, and looped my arm through Hao’s, trying to act as though I didn’t want to punch him then and there. “Humans can’t survive without it.”
“Correct, Majesty,” Zat said when he heard me. “Lucky for us it’s plentiful in the universe. The other three planets in this system were once all oceans. The climates shifted and the oceans evaporated.
“Everything is automated,” he said, gesturing at the bank of screens behind him as he wrapped up his script. “There are personnel on the planets and we do also occasionally go down into the tunnels themselves to do equipment maintenance and for tunnel checks.”
I couldn’t suppress the shudder that ripped through me, and it didn’t go unnoticed. Hao’s jaw flexed, the muscle ticking away by his ear, and he swallowed but didn’t look at me.
“I am not a huge fan of tunnels.” I looked over at Hao for just a moment as I said it and watched Nakula’s eyebrows furrow with curiosity. “This part isn’t so bad, but if you put me in a dark tunnel? Things get a little ugly.”
Hao looked away.
We moved through the tour, with me asking questions and various members of the mining crew speaking up to answer. Lunch was in the tiny mess hall, and Johar entertained the miners with a long-forgotten—and heavily edited—story about the first time Portis and I had met Bakara Rai.
“She’s having too much fun.” I elbowed Hao. “You should take lessons.”
“Chatting it up with miners isn’t really my bailiwick,” he replied.
“Why are you so grumpy?” I knew very well what the answer was. I also knew I hadn’t been helping matters with my carefully placed barbs.
“What’s with Gita? I thought she was going to shoot me for touching you earlier.”
The question surprised me. “Maybe she’s mad at you.”
“What for? She dumped me,” Hao hissed.
“Doesn’t mean you didn’t break her heart,” I replied, and went back to my food.
28
Are you going to clue me in on what’s going on?” Nakula asked later that afternoon as we stood shoulder to shoulder at the wide window that dominated the southern wall of Jia’s waiting room.
“I’m so busy with being empress these days you’ll have to be more specific.”
Nakula ran his tongue over his teeth and subvocalized his next thought over a private com link. “Hail, what the fuck is going on with you and Hao? You keep looking at him like you want to punch him in the throat and he’s wound tighter than a sparse-coil.”
I slid a sideways glance to where Hao was in conversation with Johar and Dailun on the other side of the room before I answered. “It is the worst sort of feeling to not know who you can trust.”
“He’s a complicated man, Hail, but he—”
I looked back at the window, my reflection on the reinforced glass overlaid on the bustling streets below us. For just a moment I let the sorrow I’d gone to such great lengths to hide show on my face. “He’s been working for his uncle this whole time. I assume you heard about Aiz’s showing up in Krishan and kidnapping me. He only got close to me because Hao gave him access.”
“Hail, he wouldn’t.”
“I have video proof, Vasha.”
The grief on his face was identical to mine, swallowed just as quickly by fury. I snapped my hand out, closing it around Nakula’s before he could pull his gun free, and gave a silent shake of my head. “Do not. I’ll handle this.”
Nakula took a breath and made his expression impassive, but the fury in his eyes was painfully clear and I squeezed his hand once before I let go.
“I should be less surprised,” he said finally, grief sliding back into the empty space when the anger drained out of him. “There has been an enormous amount of chatter about Po-Sin lately. I just assumed.” He sighed out loud, too quiet for anyone but me to hear. “I assumed that with all the talk you would show up here with him in tow. Just under better circumstances.”
“Why is that? Po-Sin’s about to announce his partnership with the Shen and my brother will go where he is ordered.”
“I don’t think it’s as simple as all that, Hail. Yes, we’ve caught wind of Po-Sin and the Shen. The Shen are buying up mercenaries faster than a casino winner buying shots for the bar. But there’s more than that. Lately there’s been a whole lot of chatter that sounded like Hao was about to break with Po-Sin.”
“What?” My question slipped out in the open air before I could stop it, and I could feel everyone’s eyes on me.
Thankfully Jia broke the awkward silence by coming out of her office. “Majesty, do you have a moment?”
I followed Nakula into her office, closing the door behind me after a quick look at Emmory.
“Everything is set,” Jia said. “I’ve got Caspel on the com link. He’s got more news about the unrest between the Farians and the Shen.” She gestured at her chair.
I sat and the screen flickered to life.
“Majesty.” Caspel nodded, his gaze taking in Jia and Nakula, both standing behind me. “We’ve received confirmation that Po-Sin will publicly announce a partnership with the Shen sometime in the next thirty-six standard hours. This news is bound to make the Farians nervous, but I don’t know if it will be enough to push them to the table. The Cheng gang controls most of the smuggling activities in the Solarian sector, and they are the largest criminal syndicate operating out of the Cygnus arm. I anticipate the Solies will start putting serious pressure on the Farians to come to the table, and if that doesn’t work they’ll turn their eye to us.”
“I’m not changing my mind about Fasé’s involvement, Director. It’s necessary.”
“I understand, Majesty.” Caspel gave me a sharp nod. “And for what it’s worth I agree with you. My assessment of the current situation is changing by the hour, but the Farians embroiled in a civil war in addition to a fight with the Shen ends badly for everyone in the galaxy.”
I exhaled and smiled. “I’m glad to hear it. We are set up here to take care of this”—the words stuck in my throat for a moment—“security issue.” I’d messaged Caspel before we hit the ground at Hothmein with the news of Hao’s betrayal, as much as it had hurt to admit how wrong I’d been. I’d known that I needed my intelligence director’s expertise.
“I understand.” Caspel nodded, his face solemn. “You have my hope that it goes better than any of us are expecting.”
“Thank you. Is there anything else?”
“No, Majesty.”
“I’ll have Nakula message you after to let you know how it went,” I said, and disconnected the link.
I turned as I got out of my chair and spotted Jia and Nakula sharing a look, that kind of silent communication people who loved each other shared. For a moment I ached for the loss of that connection.
Welcome to your new life, Hail, Portis whispered in my ear. Empresses rule alone.
“I won’t stay in my office, Vasha, so don’t even suggest it,” Jia said, and I had to muffle a smile not only at her use of his other name but the defiance in her voice. “I’m not any safer in here and if anything, maybe there will be less chance of violence if I am out there.”
“Everything will be fine,” I said, patting him on the arm.
“He’s armed, Hail.”
“He won’t be for long.” I headed to the door and opened it with a smile. Alba was standing by the door, talking with Emmory, and she looked up as we came out into the main room. I nodded to them both and she swallowed.
“Majesty, dinner’s almost ready.”
The door opened and Gita came in, followed by Fasé and Sybil. Major Gill and her team were just outside the door if we needed them, though I truly hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
Strolling across the room to the bar, I touched Hao on the arm on the way by and gave him a smile. “Drink?”
“Sure.” He got up from his seat and followed me.
“I’m understanding better why Wilson went to a lot of trouble to secure this planet. The amount of money that’s funneled through here is incredible. Your uncle has some mining concerns at the outer edge of Solarian space, doesn’t he?” I asked, leaning past him to grab the bottle on the far side of the bar with my right hand. Hao’s preferred weapon, a Type 883 pistol, was in a holster at his hip and it came free easily in my left.
I slipped it into the waistband of my pants, the metal cold against my lower back through the material of my shirt, and poured our drinks with a smile.
“Probably,” Hao replied. “I haven’t paid all that much attention to his various businesses over the last few years.”
“I would have thought that was a requirement of your position.” I looked up; Dailun was perched on the arm of the couch next to Johar, and he’d distracted her at the exact moment I’d lifted Hao’s weapon.
I leaned a shoulder against the wall and sipped at my drink. “Po-Sin might want to hold off on a decision about backing the Shen.”
Hao froze and turned away from the bar. “What?”
I lifted a hand, hoping that my façade of carelessness wasn’t completely see-through, though my heart was steady in a way that Fasé would be proud of. “I said Po-Sin might want to hold off on backing the Shen. I suspect even with the latest round of posturing by the Farians we’ll still end up at the table, especially if the Solarians refuse to back down. The Solies will get their way in the end. They did with us and the Saxons after all.
“I’m not holding out a lot of hope it’ll accomplish anything in the long run, but it’s their time to waste, I guess. I’m surprised Po-Sin didn’t tell you; you are his right-hand man, after all.”
“Is there any particular reason you’ve mentioned my uncle multiple times in the last two minutes?”
Setting my drink back down on the bar, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I suppose I’m just curious when you’re going to go back to being a gunrunner instead of staying here pretending to care about me.”
“Excuse me?” He stiffened, finally noticing my Ekam and Dve, stone-faced on either side of the only exit and the others in the room staring at us. His hand dropped to his holster, and his jaw clenched when he found it empty. “What is this?”
Oh, brother, you are slipping, I thought, allowing myself a tiny smile. You never used to be this slow.
“You heard me.” I struck him in the chest with the palm of my hand, sending him back a step. “I saw you. Saw Aiz wearing your fucking face and walking past my Guards. You helped him kidnap me. You’ve been working for the Shen this whole time.”
Johar went from relaxed against the couch to on her feet in the blink of an eye. “You did what?” She gaped at Hao.
Something inside me wept with relief at the incredulous note in her voice. Hao betraying me was soul-shattering enough on its own, and if Johar had also been involved I wasn’t sure I would have survived it. But that kind of shock and fury couldn’t be feigned, not without warning of what was going to happen.
Dailun urged Johar back down into her seat.
Hao took a step toward me. “Hail—”
“I may not understand just why I’m a problem for the Farians, and the Shen, and your uncle, and you. However, it’s clear that I am. What you should know is I’m not just going to go away. You of all people should know that. I’ll play the long game on this. The odds are in my favor anyway.”
“You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?” I shoved him again. He knocked my hands away with a curse, and everyone in the room tensed, bracing for a fight. I shook my head, anger filling the cold smile that spread across my face. “I understand we’re not family, despite everything you’ve said to me. I understand you fucked me over when I, like an idiot, proclaimed your loyalty to me over and over again. I understand that you’ve been lying this whole time.”
“You stop right there, Hail. I have never lied to you.” Hao held up a hand, his face hard. “I haven’t told you everything and I haven’t answered questions you never should have asked in the first place. That much is true, but I—”
“I just want to know why, after all this time, you’d sell me out like this.”
“I don’t have a good answer for you,” Hao said, his eyes locked on the floor. “I thought—I should have known avoiding the choice was only going to make it worse.”
“Avoiding the choice? You didn’t avoid anything. You sold me out. You let a man who could have killed me walk right up and put his hands on me.”
“He just wanted to talk to you, Hail. It seemed like the easiest way to make it happen. I should have—He was never going to hurt you. That would have escalated the very war he’s trying so desperately to avoid. I have never lied to you. You are my family, Hail. This would have been so much easier if you weren’t.”
“You are so full of shit,” I replied, curling my hands into fists. The urge to pull Hao’s gun and shoot him was a copper tang in my throat. “You talk about easier? How was any of this easy? No, it’s fine.” I sliced a hand through the air before he could respond. “It’s not like you betrayed me, put my life at risk, let a fucking madman drag me down into the dark where you know I am terrified of going.
“Except you did.” I fed my grief into my rage, keeping the words even and as cold as I could make them. Watching him flinch when they landed gave me surprisingly little satisfaction. “He dragged me into the dark!” I grabbed Hao by the shirtfront and slammed him back against the wall. Emmory didn’t move, but Gita jumped at the impact. “Shiva damn you for all eternity.”
He bowed his head, his hands hanging limply at his sides this time when I hit him. He made no attempt to defend himself. This new, broken Hao was an unfamiliar and unwelcome sight that only fueled my anger.
“I have stood for you. Stood with you. Taken gunshots and beatings for you. Put my life at risk time and again for you. Because I thought you were my brother. Do you know how many times I told them that I trusted you more than anyone?” I took a step away, unable to keep the disgust off my face as I flung a hand at Emmory and Gita. “After everything we meant to each other. How could you?”
“I was trying to get clear! My uncle—” Hao dragged his hands through his hair. “Damn it, Hail. I saw. I saw what it did to you. Aiz said he just wanted to talk to you and that he wouldn’t hurt you. I thought I knew him well enough. I thought he’d do it right there in the café and I had no idea Mia was there also. It never occurred to me he’d take you, especially not underground. And the second I heard what he’d done I knew I fucked up. I went looking for you.”
“You went looking for me.” I reached back, pulling Hao’s gun free and hitting the button to power it up. “You should have run the other direction.”
“Majesty, don’t.”
The look I shot Emmory could have melted steel, and my Ekam put a hand up in surrender. “You don’t want to do this,” he said, his voice low.
“This is what we do, right?” I said to Hao, his gun heavy in my hand. Hao didn’t move. No one else breathed. “All those rules about loyalty and honor that you drilled into me. All those speeches. How you hammered it into me that just because we did illegal shit, we didn’t have to behave like criminals. How many times did I watch you execute someone for your uncle becaus
e they had been disloyal?” I pressed the gun to his chest. “At least I’ll give you the respect of looking you in the eyes when I blow your heart to pieces.”
29
Hao didn’t move, didn’t beg. He just stared back at me with resigned sorrow etched on his face, and I felt my finger start to contract around the trigger.
It was Gita’s indrawn breath that stopped me. The almost silent sob that I wouldn’t have heard if she’d been a half step farther away looped a chain around my fury and dragged me back from the brink before I could tighten my finger on the trigger. I powered the gun down and tossed it aside.
It slid across the wooden floor, coming to a stop near her boot.
“I am the Empress of Indrana, as you have so sneeringly pointed out, Cheng Hao. I am no longer a gunrunner. I don’t execute people in my governor’s offices. Consider that a small mercy. I should have listened to everyone who told me you were a risk. That whatever our history together, you would—if the payday was large enough—betray me.” It took all my strength to keep my voice even. “I should kill you, make no mistake and be thankful that I let you out of here with your life.”
There was a heartbeat of silence, and then Hao dragged in a breath.
“Yes, you should have listened, but I know why you didn’t. I know why you stood by my side for all those years and even after. Don’t think I am not both endlessly grateful and ashamed of your loyalty to me.” Hao’s voice was raw as he slid down the wall to the floor, his hands in his hair. “Believe what you want about me. I never would have let Aiz get that close had I known.” His words were muffled by his arms, but the pain was clear enough.
I backed up. The desire to hurt him was still acid in my veins, and I didn’t trust myself to not grab for the gun still in my own holster. I looked away. Dailun watched us, relief tinged with sorrow sliding over his face. He met my eyes and nodded, a silent confirmation of Hao’s words.
“I have no right to ask you for forgiveness,” Hao said, lifting his head as I looked back at him. “My cowardice and indecision have been far more than I would have tolerated from anyone, and I would not blame you if you kicked my ass and then dumped me into the black to crawl back to my uncle in dishonor.”
