Bond Proof

by E G Manetti

  “As you so rarely are.” Lucius smiles and brushes her lips with his. The days are long gone when he could take advantage of his children’s absence and deepen the kiss. She will not refuse him, but while her lips remain sensitive, beyond that she cannot respond, and he will not torment her with what she has lost.

  »◊«

  Paying off the driver, Tabitha steps out of the mile-by-miler. The night is cool, and the gathering clouds threaten a shower, but with Apollo hosting Katleen’s birth anniversary festival, they will be within Hidaka’s restaurant and not the less expensive patio. Two years gone, she could not imagine being a guest at a celebration hosted by any warrior, let alone Adelaide’s Lord Prelate. Since the battle of Serengeti, she has suspected that the Shades put her in Lilian’s path not for Tabitha’s sake, but for Lilian’s and Serengeti’s. Had Tabitha remained in Grey Spear under Sebastian Mehta’s control, he might yet be Grey Spear preeminence and the cartel under Despoiler control.

  Shaking off the vile notion, she enters the restaurant, wondering if the prelate will host a similar celebration for Lilian’s birth anniversary. Probably not. While it would be a stretch to make an indictment of excessive consideration hold over such an event, Monsignor Lucius would not permit the risk. There are too many who wish to see Lilian fail her trial and consume the Final Draught.

  Inside, it is easy to locate the party, Chrys’ broad shoulders towering above the seated patrons as he adds a green and silver package next to several other gifts. When she first met Chrys, he appeared nondescript in the black suit of a Blooded Dagger apprentice. She has since come to realize that the boxy cut hid his well-muscled form as the dark hue washed out his complexion. Chrys prefers to be overlooked and underestimated unless he chooses otherwise.

  She is the last to arrive, Douglas rising to offer her the chair between him and Clarice. Chrys, as always, is between Katleen and Lilian, Lilian and Douglas on either side of Apollo, leaving Clarice and Rebecca to either side of Lady Helena.

  A fit man of average height and broad build, Apollo’s springy, red-brown hair forms a halo above a narrow, mobile face with a wide, full-lipped mouth, a hooked nose, and prominent amber eyes. It is not a handsome face, but the brilliance of the lurking intellect and the energy of the man’s personality make him impossible to ignore. Lilian’s spiritual mentor since he was Adelaide’s Discipline Master at the University of Mulan, since his elevation to Adelaide’s Lord Prelate, he has used his considerable influence to ensure she survives her Trial by Ordeal.

  With bright exuberance, Katleen bounces forward with a happy greeting. Her heather-blue frock is of fine quality, but loose and a bit long. Another of Lilian’s university frocks repurposed for the growing teenager. Tilting her head, Katleen displays the prim gold posts set in ears pierced that day. They are identical to Lilian’s, a gift from Trevelyan procured with the assistance of his executive servitor. For all Clifton is pompous, he is dedicated to the spymaster and took issue with the paltry gift. Face and posture stiff, Lilian informed the man that only the vulgar would post anything larger in the ears of a child.

  Taking an open chair, Tabitha accepts a tray of small bites from Clarice as Douglas offers wine. Beyond Douglas, Apollo turns to Lilian. “Why do you insist on denying Adelaide’s touch?”

  Adelaide’s touch? Tabitha looks around the table; everyone else seems to understand the discussion. Clarice leans in, her black eyes intent, her delicate features fixed in concern. “Lilian had an insight after Flavia’s contrition. I know naught of the details, only that Lord Apollo is convinced it is more evidence that Adelaide favors Lilian.”

  Tabitha’s spine tingles; the discussion mirrors her thoughts a moment gone.

  Shaking her head, Lilian shoots a frown at her sister. “Katleen has made too much of it. Master Chin believes the episode was due to the stress of the scourging combined with the residual effects of the poison and the potions he used to counteract it.”

  An episode? When Lilian returned from Fortuna, Tabitha was delighted to discover that Lilian had regained flesh and lost the signs of exhaustion and stress that marked her during the Despoiler investigation. The sevenday gone, she showed no signs of residual damage from the poisoning. “You were well enough this past sevenday. Why would there be residual effects now?”

  Katleen ignores Lilian’s frown. “It was not the poison. It was an insight. She could not break free until Monsignor kissed her.”

  Monsignor kissed Lilian in front of Katleen? That Lucius Mercio beds his apprentice is well known and expected. That Lilian takes joy in it gives Tabitha no end of relief. She loathed Sebastian Mehta’s touch. For Monsignor Lucius to embrace his apprentice in front of others is a shocking breach of custom. Before Tabitha can form a question, Lady Helena says, “That is enough, sweetling. It is not a matter to be discussed in a public venue.”

  Chastened, Katleen subsides, leaving Tabitha beset with curiosity. She will have the tale from Rebecca as soon as they return to the Serengeti Associates’ Quarters.

  “Poison or insight,” Rebecca says, “it is but one occurrence among many. Without your actions, Chrys, Clarice, and I would not have risen so far. Without the experience of the festival brawl, would we have been prepared for the battle of Serengeti, and would Serengeti have fared so well?” Motioning to Tabitha, she adds, “And what of Tabitha? Think you an apprentice, even one as clever as you, would have succeeded against Seigneur Sebastian without the aid of the Five Warriors?”

  Tabitha is about to enter the conversation when Clarice says, “And Adelaide. Do not slight a deity who hung her belt with the shrunken heads of her enemies.”

  At Apollo’s murmur of approval, Lilian bites her lip. “I do not discount the influence of Adelaide and the Five Warriors on the events of our lives or the fate of the cartel. I challenge the notion that I am the instrument of all such influence.”

  Rebecca’s mouth opens as she leans in, but Lilian shakes her head and keeps going. “Masters Nickolas and Fletcher owned the success of the festival brawl as much as any of us. As for the success we have achieved, we have worked together to do so.

  “You know that Chrys had as much to do with laying the trail to Mercium as I did. Without Tabitha and Clarice, Seigneur Sebastian might remain a monsignor and the events of the rainy season could have run a much different course. Without Katleen’s delight in lurid entertainment, I would not have recognized Fyona as a Despoiler. I can continue. It serves no purpose. You see what you wish to view.”

  “Well, for that last, it is a fault you share,” Rebecca retorts.

  “Peace,” Douglas says. “We are agreed that the Shades evidence a remarkable interest in the events of the Third System and Serengeti. As to their chosen soldiers—we have all served and will again as the Shades require. As to the Shades’ purpose, I suspect the Five Warriors—and Adelaide— are enthralled by the Nightingale, as are all within the Twelve Systems.”

  “Hear! Hear!” Apollo raises his glass and is echoed by the table.

  Two servitors appear with trays of meat and vegetables. Spearing grilled lamb, Tabitha meets Douglas’ gaze and nods. He was one of a handful of Grey Spear who aided her when he could. She is glad he has found favor with Apollo. She had worried he would be bereft when his bond proved and he was severed from Aristides’ bed. Although he hides it well, he was enamored of his master and grieved the loss of intimacy. His brilliant defusing of the escalating tension shows he is worthy of Aristides. Mentally damning the hypocrisy of warrior society, Tabitha raises her glass. “Katleen, you have passed fourteen years. May your next hold honor, success, and delight.”

  As the table cheers, Douglas produces a small package and hands it to Katleen. With a glad sound, she snatches it, excitement evident in every line of her body.

  Eyes bright, her broad smile warms the table as she holds up the gift. “The Warriors’ Expansion.”

  It is the most anticipated entertainment in a half decade. Prerelease subscriptions have exceeded the most
popular offering to date. Katleen does not know that the entertainment depicting the exploration of the Thirteenth System is of Lilian’s design, nor that the group-participation version is a trap for whatever vestiges remain of the Despoilers.

  Unable to contain herself, Katleen offers Douglas an exuberant hug along with her correctly worded thanks.

  2.

  Enter the Heir

  There are six Vistrite Crevasses within the Twelve Systems: five within the Third System and one on Desperation in the Sixth System. Metricelli Prime in the Third System has the two largest, the Great Crevasse in the Plains of Dominion on the Central Continent and the Southern Crevasse named for the continent on which it is located. Metricelli Deuce holds three Crevasses: Ascendant, Juniper, and Wonder.

  By tradition and stricture, the Vistrite seigneur is the conservator for both the Great Crevasse and the Southern Crevasse and is supported by two master associates who manage local operations. Similarly, the Metricelli Deuce Vistrite seigneur is supported by three master associates. Only the Desperation conservator is both conservator and master, supported by a refinery master and a Crevasse master located on Desperation. ~ excerpt from Vistrite Crevasse, Serengeti Archives.

  Sevenday 134, Day 1

  I am the sum of my ancestors. Lilian steps from the transport and into the shadow of Serengeti Headquarters. The thirty-six-storey tower encompasses an entire city block, the Blooded Dagger entrance centered on the northern face and oriented toward the source of the Great Crevasse beyond the towers of the city.

  I am the foundation of my family. She knows she is being foolish, but the notion of the monthly Vistrite operations review without Seigneur Solomon has her heartsore. The review the month after the battle was an abbreviated affair that she did not attend, committed to the Despoiler investigations. Milord commanded the review before the Nightingale launch, as he had done for nine years before appointing Seigneur Solomon Vistrite conservator.

  Honor is my blade and shield. Eyes pricking, she eases to the back of the riser carriage, swallowing against the lump in her throat. It is not like her to be so overset, but the fallen seigneur was a warrior she admired greatly, and she holds no such sentiments for his successor.

  Honor knows not fear. It was inevitable that Seigneur Jurian would be named Vistrite seigneur. He is milord’s kinsman and has spent his life in service of the Crevasses and Vistrite. There could be no other choice. As of this sevenday, the warrior has left the Metricelli Deuce Crevasse in the care of another and relocated to Crevasse City and Serengeti Headquarters.

  Honor endures. The carriage halts on the thirty-fifth storey. She must show the new Vistrite seigneur all respect and courtesy. She must reveal naught of the pain it will cause her to view him in what was Seigneur Solomon’s office and at the head of the table during the Vistrite operational review.

  Honor acts as duty commands. She passes under the poured-gold emblem of the Blooded Dagger Cartouche and turns for the scarlet door. The plush bench is not empty. A lovely blonde with a sun-kissed complexion, pale blue eyes, and a perfect figure encased in a severe black suit is waiting. Her ankles are crossed in perfect decorum but in a manner that displays dainty feet in heels that make Lilian’s arches ache in sympathy. “Rebecca, what do you here?”

  “Waiting for eighth bell. Did you not know? Seigneur Trevelyan has the southern office.”

  Seigneur Trevelyan has what once was Seigneur Solomon’s office. Milord has the eastern corner of the suite, Seigneur Marco the one on the western side. Lilian drops down next to Rebecca, her heart racing. “What of Seigneur Jurian?”

  “Beyond Seigneur Marco.”

  Seigneur Hadrian’s former office. When the Blooded Dagger financials seigneur was elevated to Serengeti financials seigneur, he was given the southeastern corner of this level and the adjacent area for his master associates. Such arrangements are typical for cartel department heads. Seigneur Rachelle has the northwestern corner with her senior technologists. Seigneur Jurian may feel slighted that he is one office removed from milord instead of adjacent, but he is too experienced a warrior to dare complain. With a lighter heart than when she entered the building, Lilian rises with the eighth-bell chimes and crosses the scarlet threshold. Milord will not be pleased when he learns of her courtyard cover defiance, but she deserves his judgment and would have it behind her.

  »◊«

  Douglas waves from an archives console, where he has two reviewers in play. As Lilian takes the seat next to him, he remarks, “You were long at eighth bell. Is all well with you?”

  “Well enough,” Lilian says, pulling forth her slate. For all her concern, milord was forbearing. Yet again, his will has proven unfathomable.

  Milord’s eyes narrow with his frown. “That your tally can withstand the deduction does not justify disobedience.”

  I am the sum of my ancestors. Milord has not gazed at her so in seasons. The disappointment in his voice and eyes rends her spirit. She deserves the harsh correction due an experienced apprentice for such a transgression. “I beg pardon, milord, it was not a calculated act. I did not think at all. I know not what possessed me.”

  To her relief, milord’s frown fades, replaced by rising heat. Pushing back in the scarlet chair, he spreads his legs. “As you have forgotten the lessons of your first season, you can relearn them. Contrition is best displayed on your knees.”

  Savoring the flavor of milord and its reminder of his forbearance, she scans the media reports on the archives’ reviewer. The counterfable to the guild propaganda is gathering momentum. In another two sevendays it will be treated as fact in the Sixth System that the guild represses dissent while exploiting and endangering skilled labor. It is the perfect counter to the guild campaign to gain a foothold in Desperation Crevasse. Although she long ago dismissed the popular notion that the labor guilds are one multitentacled organization intent on overthrowing the cartels, ignoring their influence in the Crevasse is undesirable. “Douglas, you are brilliant.

  “As it is so proven, I will not deny it,” Douglas returns with a grin, his green eyes sparkling with humor. Pale skinned, he is not so much handsome as interesting with a sharp chin, wide cheekbones, and a blade of a nose. Not of Chrys’ height, he has the same breadth of shoulder and strong build. It is no wonder Apollo is enamored with him. Sobering, he adds, “It is naught but a temporary solution. By the rains, the fable will be exposed. It will be traced to a rival guild, but it will no longer serve. Another downturn, or an increase in Crevasse disappearances, and the guild will resurge.”

  “Two seasons are all we require to give Seigneur Trevelyan’s operatives time to discover the source of this malady. Monsignor Lucius and Seigneur Aristides will be beyond pleased.”

  Something flickers in Douglas’ expression and disappears before she can interpret it. Eyes sparkling with ambition, he says, “You know I would aid you without hope of immediate reward. The acknowledgement of His Preeminence is well indeed, as is the favor of Seigneur Aristides.”

  Shuttering the reviewer, she rises, glad to be able to reply, “Monsignor is well aware of your effort in this and that you have earned your commission on The Warriors’ Expansion.”

  »◊«

  Both the Mercium analytics chamber and the experimental lab have been enlarged, the work completed while Lilian was on Fortuna. There are now three analytics sections and two separate experimental chambers, one for Mercium and its variants and the other dedicated to flexible Vistrite. Even the chambers’ designation has changed. They are no longer the ‘Mercium Lab,’ they are now the ‘Variants Lab.’

  With Nickolas on one side and Chrys on the other, Lilian compares test results and projections. After four months, the research and development team has been unable to create a flexible Vistrite variant larger than a grape. It is wondrous stuff, the only version of Vistrite that can be formed into a sphere or compressed into a disk. To support the revolutionary propulsion design for the Nightingale, the spheres and disks need to be twice th
e size of current results. With Blythe’s assistance, Lilian has calibrated the decision trial to allow for a reduction in propulsion if they cannot create flexible Vistrite forms in time for the voyage to the Thirteenth System.

  “It would be wondrous if we could achieve the full speed of Aidan’s design,” Nickolas remarks, comparing his slate to the reviewer. “But even without the spheres and disks, the Nightingale’s speed will exceed all other interstellar transports by a third. What has you so concerned?”

  Glancing at the reviewer, Lilian validates her results. “It is not the lost speed, but the increased risk. With the adjustment for the lower velocity, the risk of failure increases by three points at the third decimal place.”

  “Such a small change. Is it truly significant?”

  “Mayhap. Mayhap not.” Lilian fingers her scarlet conservator’s seal. “The model is complex, reflecting the risk of the entire voyage. A minor deviation early in the trial results in disaster by the end. It is the same with the risk profile. It will be better to discover a means to counter even this minor increase.”

  Chrys shifts and taps his slate, setting up a new model. “I wonder if Master Aidan could adapt his design to use the smaller shapes. If it achieved half the benefit of the larger spheres and disks, would that lessen the risk?”

  Peering at Chrys’ model, Lilian taps her slate. “Blythe would need to recalibrate the trial, but it might be enough. What think you, Master Nickolas?”

  “I will send a request to Leonardo.” Nickolas’ green eyes shine at the notion of the increased velocity for the Nightingale. With his strong build, chiseled features, and thick copper hair pulled into a queue, Nickolas is one of the most handsome men in the cartel. There is more than one reason the clever Seigneur Aristides uses him in media plays for Bright Star.

  A shadow covers the nearest reviewer as Master Fletcher pulls back the chair next to Nickolas. Dark to Nickolas’ bright, Fletcher is slender and wiry, his dark skin, dark eyes, and charismatic smile as beguiling as Nickolas is appealing. Ignoring the complex array of formulas that cover four reviewers, he asks, “Did the seer truly address Monsignor Lucius as Socraide? Did he return the compliment and address her as Sinead?”