by Lili Zander
I get to my feet. “You can count on me, General,” I lie.
Once I have proof of this man’s treachery, I will take it to Empress Astrid. To quiet the souls of my teammates who died on Rothis, I will make sure Harek Levitan is destroyed.
4
Zeke
Starra
Sundown, SecondDay of FourthMonth
Once we’re safely in the tower chutes, I activate my scrambler. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the General, but I’ve seen Ottar Thistle before.”
“Where?” Saber asks immediately.
“At a party on Starra, four years ago.” I hesitate. “Thistle was with a friend of mine, Adam Masev.”
Saber hears the wariness in my voice. “What aren’t you telling me, Zeke?”
I should have known the Colonel would pick up on that. “Adam is human. He’s involved in the resistance movement.” I look Saber in the eye. “Adam saved my life once, when he didn’t have to. Because of that, I don’t ask him any questions about what he does, and I don’t look into his activities.”
“You don’t want your loyalties to be divided,” Saber says. “The thing is, we really do need to know what Thistle was doing on Boarus 4. The local enforcers are perfectly capable of finding the human woman. It makes no sense for the General to send us all the way there.”
“You think it’s a trap?”
“I think something’s going on,” he replies soberly. “The man in the vid didn’t look dangerous. Why open fire on Ottar Thistle? They could have arrested him.”
“They wanted him dead. They were covering up something.”
“Exactly. And the General is sending us after the woman. We need to understand what’s going on.” He turns to Nero. “You have good instincts for trouble. What do you think?”
“We should have died in Rothis,” Nero says grimly. “We didn’t. The General wants the woman, but he also wants us dead. Boarus 4 is remote. The ice deserts are vast and dangerous. If we have an accident out there, would anyone really ask too many questions?”
Saber gives me a sideways glance. “Talk to Masev. I won’t ask any questions.” A smile flickers over his face. “Plausible deniability.”
I’ve never trusted Harek Levitan, and I’m not about to start now. The General likes to treat us as if we’re pieces in the ancient human game of chess, but I’ve been his pawn once, and that was enough. “I’ll call Adam.”
“So, you’re Saber Hafsson.” Adam surveys Saber thoughtfully and then turns to Nero. “And you’re the wildcard.”
Showing a restraint that I didn’t think he had, Nero refuses to rise to the bait. He’s full of surprises today.
“Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?” Saber says tightly. “You trust Zeke, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. But you don’t trust Nero and me. The real question is, are you going to respect Zeke’s judgment?”
“No bullshit. I like that.” He takes a seat and leans back. “You will forgive my hesitation. Recent events make me wonder if Colonel Saber Hafsson is as committed to equal rights for humans as I’d believed.”
Rothis again. Not surprising, but I wish Adam would shut up. Saber already blames himself for the death of our teammates. He has beaten himself up over and over again for failing to anticipate the ambush. It’s been a month, but his eyes are still haunted.
“Have you reached a conclusion?” Saber asks coolly.
Adam inclines his head. “I’m here, am I not?”
I cut in before things get tenser and pour Adam a glass of slenti. “We’ve been assigned to Boarus 4.”
I did some research while we waited for him to arrive. The planet was settled eight hundred years ago by a small renegade band of vampires who imported human workers as soon as the boarium deposits were discovered. The humans had been prisoners. They’d been offered an impossible choice. Hard labor on Boarus 4, or the death penalty. A dirty little piece of Shayde history, one the Ruling Council prefers to forget, because without boarium to stabilize the space-time warp, fast spaceflight will be a thing of the past.
Adam stiffens. “You have? That’s interesting.”
He definitely knows something. Saber eyes Adam speculatively, but as promised, he doesn’t say anything. “What was Ottar Thistle doing on Boarus 4, Adam?” I ask bluntly.
My friend goes very still. “What do you know?”
“Thistle used compulsion on a human woman. He drank from her without her consent. General Levitan wants us to find her.” I look at him closely. “Thistle is dead.”
The slenti in his glass sloshes. He puts it down on the table with shaking hands. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I watch Adam with concern. From his reaction, he was close to Thistle. I hadn’t realized. Had I known, I would have broken the news more gently.
Nero wordlessly refills Adam’s glass.
There’s a long silence. Finally, Adam breaks it. “Overlord Klaus Zimmer is a canny politician. He sends the Empress her boarium, but in the meanwhile, he’s also working with her enemies. Specifically, Harek Levitan.” He takes a sip of his drink. “As you know, Empress Astrid comes of age in a few months. Once she does, General Levitan will no longer be the Regent.” He looks up. “The General does not like to lose power.”
Saber inhales sharply. “You’re talking about treason. Do you have proof?”
“No. We heard rumors that Levitan was building a weapon on the ice, something powerful enough to destroy the Empire. Ottar went to Boarus 4 to get more information.” He stares into the distance. “And now he’s dead.”
The picture is becoming clearer now. Ottar Thistle found something. Klaus Zimmer, possibly acting on General Levitan’s orders, had him killed. But Thistle talked to the human woman, and they exchanged blood.
Levitan’s tying up loose ends. He might pretend he wants to talk to the human woman, but once she’s on Starra, he’ll kill her.
I exchange a glance with Saber and Nero. I don’t like anything about this mission.
5
Raven
Boarus 4
Sundown, SecondDay of FourthMonth
The searches start shortly after sundown.
After paying Arnie Hento in credits for my blood tax—Arnie and I used to play together as children, something he’d prefer to forget, since I’m tainted by my stint in the re-education camps—I spend the night at the mines, like I always do. Normally, I’m exhausted by the end of my shift, but thanks to the vampire bite, I’m barely winded. No wonder people call it a gift.
I drag my footsteps when I get close to home, afraid someone will notice that there’s something different about me. But when I return to Sector 23, all anyone can talk about are the raids that took place in Sector 25. “The vampires knocked on every door,” my usually taciturn neighbor Masek volunteers. “They took all the bitten women away.”
I bite my tongue to keep from saying something that’ll get me arrested. “To the re-education camps?”
He shakes his head. “Naya said they took a blood sample and released her. Who knows what the Overlord is up to now?” He looks around to make sure he’s not overheard and lowers his voice. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll lead to another increase in the tax.”
A blood sample. Unease skitters up my spine. I drank from the rogue vampire. Did he infect me with something?
The search doesn’t let up at sunrise. The vampires need to slumber during the day, but the human enforcers can still continue their dirty work. I hear the baying of the dogs and the shrill screams of terrified people, and I cower in my pod and pray to the Great Spirit that they stay out of Sector 23.
Over and over, I see the blue rays strike the vampire that bit me. I see him fall to his knees. I see him try to scramble away, try to save himself. But there’s nowhere to run.
Get to Starra. Find Ivar Karling. He will know what to do.
As if it’s easy to get to the Shayde capital. Travel between planets is reserved for the rich. It costs two thousand credits to buy pas
sage on an off-world ship. If I’m very frugal, I save twenty credits each month. At the rate I’m going, it’ll take me one hundred months, nearly eight-and-a-half years to be able to afford to leave. But if the enforcers are hunting me, I won’t survive eight-and-a-half days, let alone years.
All day long, I wait for someone to bang on my door, a sick pit of fear in my belly. Not since my first day in the re-education camps, when I saw a teenager beat a small boy to a pulp for his ration of food have I been so terrified. I don’t know what the enforcers want with me, and I don’t want to find out. I don’t want to go back to Glacis. Four years in the relative freedom of the mines, and I’ve grown soft.
All day long, I sit awake in my pod, imagining the worst. Rumors fly thick in the air, but nobody really knows anything. The holos are useless. The official channels don’t mention the raids. Nobody dares talk about what’s happening on the InfoNet either; everyone knows that our communication is monitored by the Overlord’s spies.
It’s only when my alarm goes off at dusk that I pull myself together. I have to leave. Any change in behavior will be suspicious. If Overseer Thrip mentions to an enforcer that I didn’t show up to work, I’d be painting a large target on my back. No. Until I have a plan, I need to stick to my regular routine.
My stomach growls, despite my fear. I get dressed and make myself a quick breakfast—a savory porridge flavored with herbs, a handful of greens, and a thick slice of imported preserved meat, rich and juicy. The meat is a rare treat, an impulse purchase I can’t really afford. I was saving it for a special occasion, but there’s no point now—not when I could get dragged off at any moment to the Overlord’s dungeons.
It’s sundown again. Time to head to the mines.
After work, I’m walking back home the long way around, avoiding the tunnel that was the scene of my bite yesterday when I hear the sound of footsteps. Someone falls into step beside me. It’s Joanna. Her head is lowered, and her hood covers her face. “Keep walking,” she whispers. “The Overlord has eyes everywhere.”
I might have spent all day freaking out, but I’m not an amateur. I survived ten years in Glacis. I know better than to draw attention to myself. My stride doesn’t falter, not even a little bit. “Why are you here?”
“There were raids all over the colony yesterday,” she replies. “An entire row of houses in Sector 21 has been burned to the ground.”
The vampire bit me in Sector 21.
Keep moving. Don’t stop walking.
“They’re searching for a girl who was bitten. Her cloak was found inside a tunnel in that sector.”
She knows it’s me. “Are you going to turn me in, Joanna?”
She lets her cloak swing open, and I see a bundle of fabric pressed against her chest. The spare cloak she promised me yesterday. “My brother is already in the camps. If it comes out that I’m attending an illegal history class, I’ll get three years, minimum.” Her voice lowers to a whisper. “That might happen anyway. Ma Kaila has been arrested.”
My heart hammers with shock. “She has?”
“It happened an hour ago. She’s been taken to the Overlord’s dungeons,” Joanna replies grimly.
“Not the re-education camps?” Fuck. Most people arrested by the enforcers are sent to Glacis. Only political prisoners are held in Zimmer’s dungeons. My parents were taken there while they were awaiting their sentencing. And then they were killed.
I clench my hands into fists. Is that what’s going to happen to Ma Kaila?
“They will torture her. If she talks…” Joanna’s voice trails away, but she doesn’t have to complete the thought. Knowledge is controlled on Boarus 4. Attending the history class is against the rules, punishable by a sentence in the re-education camps. If Ma Kaila breaks under torture, we are all at risk.
“Hamed wants me to make a run for it. Between the two of us, we have just enough money saved up to get off-world. But I can’t leave Mical behind.” She takes a deep, steadying breath. “Forget me. They’re searching for you. What are you going to do?”
What can I do? I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. I can’t afford to leave, yet if I stay, I will certainly be caught. Even if Ma Kaila doesn’t talk, the enforcers will eventually knock on my door. There’s no place to hide on Boarus 4. “I don’t know.”
Joanna gives me a sidelong glance. “The tournament comes with an all-expenses-paid trip to Starra,” she reminds me. “The Shayde capital is massive. It’ll be easier to disappear there.”
The Night of the Shayde. Of course.
Anger stiffens my spine. I don’t know why the vampire bit me. I don’t know why the Overlord’s men are hunting me. I’ve done nothing wrong, and yet, I’ve spent the day cowering in fear, waiting to be arrested.
I’m done being passive.
Joanna is right; the Night of the Shayde is the only way out of Boarus 4.
“I’ll need a sponsor.”
“There are ways to solve that.” She clears her throat. “Your hair is long and beautiful, and your body is strong. If the right vampire took an interest… if you undid your braids for him…”
Become the mistress of a vampire. No, his property. Part my legs for him and let him touch me, take me. Let him feed on my blood. Can I do that?
Resolve hardens my spine.
If that’s what it takes, then that’s I’ll do. It’s not as if I haven’t slept with men before. If whoring myself out to a vampire is the price of survival, then I’ll pay it. I’ll pay it and live to fight another day. Ten years in the re-education camps has taught me one thing. You do what you have to do to stay alive.
Joanna’s looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something. I nod tightly. “Yes,” I say out loud, committing fully to the plan. “I’m going to do it.”
6
Nero
Boarus 4
Sundown, ThirdDay of FourthMonth
Boarus 4 is about as cold and bleak a place as you can find in the Empire. Most of the planet’s surface is frozen, and it seems largely uninhabitable. The only reason anyone lives here is because of boarium. There are eleven thousand residents here, all connected in some way, shape or form with the mines. Ten thousand humans and one thousand vampires, all tightly packed into pods in twenty-five sectors.
It’s a yellow sun world. We can’t go out during the day; the sun will burn us. We can’t resist the tug of slumber, not unless we take vigilene.
This situation is a shit show.
Ottar Thistle bit the human in Sector 21. The night we arrive, the three of us head out to see the tunnel where it happened. “You should be careful,” Overlord Zimmer warns us. “The humans have taken to forming gangs in the outer sectors, looking to rob anyone that passes by. They won’t dare attack a vampire, of course, but I’d feel a lot better if you took armed guards along.”
I ask the obvious question. “If gangs are roaming around, why don’t your enforcers do something about them?” I demand.
Zimmer looked puzzled. “They’re human,” he said. “Why would I waste my resources on them?”
It’s administrators like this—greedy, venal, and privileged—that give the Empire a bad name and spawn a thousand rebellions. At least in the capital, humans have nominal rights. Here, on Boarus 4, they are no better than slaves.
We don’t learn anything at the tunnel. Zeke’s hacking, on the other hand, proves more useful. “I’m connecting to Zimmer’s systems,” he says when we return to the luxurious palace that we’re being housed in. “Give me a few minutes, and I’ll know everything he’s up to.”
It doesn’t take him long to break in. “Terrible infosec,” he mutters disapprovingly.
“Good for us,” Saber says dryly. “So, tell me. What’s Zimmer up to?”
Zeke reads his screen, and his expression turns stony. “For starters, he hasn’t called off the search for the woman. His enforcers haven’t found her yet, but they’re giving it their best shot. They’re burning large swaths of the colony, and they�
��ve arrested more than two hundred people in the last three days.”
Burning buildings. Arresting people. My blood begins to boil. “If he isn’t careful, he’s going to have a rebellion on his hands. One he deserves. Hell, I’m tempted to stick around and help the humans. People like Klaus Zimmer give the Empire a bad name.”
Saber gives me a thoughtful look. “There’s something to that idea.”
I don’t know why I’m surprised. Saber’s never been one to slavishly follow protocol. I, more than anyone else, should know that. “I thought you’d tell me not to make waves,” I admit. “You want me to start a revolution instead?”
“Let’s look before we leap,” Saber says dryly. “While Zeke and I scour Zimmer’s systems, go talk to people. Buy the enforcers a few drinks. See if you can find out what Zimmer’s really doing with Levitan.”
“You want me to spend time in the taverns?” I grin widely. “Twist my arm, why don’t you?”
I put my coat on. Before I can leave, there’s a knock on the door. It’s Overlord Zimmer again. “We get so few visitors from Starra,” he says with a wide smile. “I’ve arranged a banquet tomorrow night. Everyone is looking forward to meeting you. And on FifthDay, you’ll attend the Choosing, of course, where the contestants of this year’s Night of the Shayde are introduced to the public.”
What’s Zimmer playing at? He’s doing his level best to distract us.
“We’re here on a mission, Overlord Zimmer,” Saber replies politely. “We cannot be distracted by banquets or tournaments. We need to find the human woman.”
Zimmer smiles expansively. “And we will,” he says confidently. “My enforcers are going door-to-door. Saber, I assure you, we’re doing everything we can to find the girl. There are not a lot of places to hide on Boarus 4. We have the situation under control. I don't know why General Levitan thought it necessary to send you.”
