by Mason, Jolie
Her hair piled up into elegant curls, and her entire manner looked more the princess than he could ever have imagined. This was the glass figurine version of her taken to whole new place. It was impossible to reconcile this unearthly creature with the doctor from the gutters of Brin. He trailed her, fully alert, as they entered the vaulted courts of the Imperial palace.
They made their way through hallway after hallway of gilded decor and drone security. Far more security than he’d ever heard of in the history of the empire lined the halls. Finally, they approached massive double doors guarded by elaborately uniformed guardsmen in the gold and white of the Empire’s seal.
The guards said nothing to her, but, merely, pushed the doors open ceremonially. Nina never paused or looked back, but strolled proudly through the doors to make her way toward an elegantly raised dais upon which was perched the massive golden and white throne of the realm and the empress with golden hair and eyes like her sister.
“Your Majesty”, Nina said bowing deeply.
“What is this? Has my sister returned?” The Empress Aleria stood coldly looking down on her own sister. Ra’dan felt that cold settle around his chest.
“I have, Your Majesty, with news of the three planets and the Sor.”
Her sister took in the scene letting her eyes brush over Ra’dan, taking in his purpose and moving on approvingly. “I see you have finally taken your position in our world seriously and gotten a slave to watch over you. I am glad. It worries me to know you are unprotected. It makes you a liability to the throne”, her sister chastised.
“He is no slave, sister. You know my thoughts on that. He is a hired mercenary with a talent for weapons. I would have no slave.”
“Is there much difference? Sister, everyone is slave to something. You are slave to your vocation. I am slave to this throne. He is there, that is what counts.” She looked toward a woman near the throne who nodded. “I am afraid that I have obligations at the moment. Can you return tomorrow, my dear Nina?”
“Of course. I will return tomorrow.” Nina curtseyed deeply and turned, meeting his eyes momentarily. Ra’dan froze. Her gaze said as plainly as words that something was off. She left the way she came and with the same grace. Ra left on full alert, waiting for something to jump out and attack his princess. He didn’t breathe easily until they arrived safely back at the penthouse with the scrambler engaged.
“Now,” he said. “What happened in there to disturb you so?”
She leaned forward when she sat down. Her hands were shaking in her lap, twisting in her skirt. “That wasn’t my sister.”
“She’s changed that much?”
“No”, she said sharply. “That wasn’t her. It’s an imposter, a droid. Something. It’s not her. That couldn’t be her!”
“How do you know this, Nina?”
“I just know! That isn’t my sister. The face, the gestures, the clothes; none of that matters, It’s not her. Someone’s hurt her, taken her.”
He pulled her close. She shook in his arms, while he made comforting noises and whispered words he wasn’t sure he meant. She was so sure. Could she be wrong about this or was he just hoping so? Because if the Empress was gone, that meant someone else was in charge of the empire, and how likely was it that it would be a friend of the Sorians? It could explain the recent policy changes, and the government’s sudden swing toward corporate interest.
She sobbed. “I don’t know how, but that wasn’t my sister. She’s gone.”
“Shhh”, he whispered. “We must not talk about this here.”
She clutched his dark jacket. “Is tomorrow a trap? A trick?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know, but it seems likely they’d keep you believing as long as they could. I think tomorrow is for learning just what’s happened here. Do you agree?”
She nodded only slightly. “What if I don’t want to know?“
He sighed in her ear. “Unfortunately, Star, we never get that choice. I can only tell you that I am here. You will never be alone in anything as long as I live.”
They would have to go and make an evening meal, acting as though he were no more than her guard. Ra’dan left her to change clothes and went in search of food for her, though she insisted she could never eat. He knew she needed to be strong for what was ahead. While he went through the mundane motions of making food, he pretended to be scrolling the codex on his pad. What he actually had done was use his adopted brother's highly encrypted portal to ask for information. Jace would get back to him by morning. He loved this tech stuff.
He didn’t know which possibility would be worse for Nina; Her sister taken or dead or a woman so altered that she wasn’t even Nina’s sister any more. Either way, it would hurt her. She had wanted so much to save the Sorians, however, Ra began to believe the Sorians might just have to save themselves. The likelihood of help from the Empire died a little more with each passing moment in this city. The world was definitely not swinging their way.
5
The next morning dawned gray and dreary making Nina think the entire planet might be set against them, but she shook that thought out of her head. She dressed in a shorter gown with a belled skirt that swayed when she walked. The bright blue material made her skin even paler in the mirror than she looked last night. Paler than she’d been in years.
She missed Sor, she thought, staring at her reflection. It was home, and she wanted to go back home. This place was a puppet theater. Without her sister, there was nothing for her here at all. Nina fought back the urge to cry and mess up the meticulous cosmetic display she’d done for the show this morning.
It was bad enough she’d been forced to sleep without Ra’dan the night before, now she had to paint her face and pretend that her sister still held the throne. Aleria had no love for slavery. She detested trafficking in all its forms. Her sister had always held the good of the people far above her own, and she would never so casually dismiss the dignity of any creature with a soul and mind to think. That was when she had known that this could not be Aleria.
Nina took one last look in the mirror and one deep breath to steady herself. Ra waited near the door dressed in his costume. She smiled. It was certainly flattering. He looked every inch the mercenary tough, looking for a fight. It was so outside his nature she wondered how he could pull it off.
His dark glasses hid his gaze from hers, and his skin remained in what she thought of as resting hue. The color he held when he was naturally calm and impassive. It was fast becoming her favorite color, rich and dark. He had a unique olive to his skin that was rare among the Sorians. His marm would have been that color before her illness.
“Are you ready?”, he asked.
“No, but we can’t wait for me to be.”
He removed his glasses to let her see his eyes. They were bright with suppressed fire. “We could run”, he said simply. It was always a choice. She knew that.
“We won’t”, she answered almost regretfully. Neither of them was made to run out on responsibility and feel good about themselves after. Life would be easier if they were. If he were just a little less the hero. If she loved him and his people just a little less. As it was, they were trapped by their own hearts in a war neither of them wanted to fight.
“Let’s get this over with then”, he said putting the glasses back on. He pushed open the apartment door and held it as she walked into the hall. She brushed his hand with hers one last time before they put on the charade that he was nothing more than her bodyguard.
She couldn’t hear his footsteps behind her on the carpeted hallway floor, but knowing he was there helped her face this. They stood silently in the lift to the lobby. The lift doors slid open with a hydraulic hiss to reveal two muscled men in white uniforms. The largest stood directly in her path, making a point she supposed. His sandy brown hair folded back perfectly in a neat wave designed to make him look boyish, but the pistol on his hip belied the image he wanted to present.
“Your highness, we’ve been t
asked with taking over your security.”
She shook her head. “No, you have not. I decide who is in charge of my safety.”
“Your highness, it is an order from the empress.” With that, he looked directly at Ra’dan. “You are relieved, sir.”
Ra looked away one moment then stepped forward, inserting himself between her body and the men before them. “I think not. My client seems reluctant to forgo my services.”
The security officer seemed ready to escalate the tense situation for a moment. Ra made a small bow of deference. “I will, of course, be happy to accept any additional resources the Empress sees fit to provide.”
Both security officers seemed to relax a bit, as if they’d dreaded the outcome of the interview. Of course, the new Aleria would take no refusal. She would insist her sister be within her control at all times. Nina thought she saw a new difficulty looming on the horizon. Her “sister” would be a problem.
They were led to a private craft and airlifted to the palace. Throughout the ride, she thought Ra’dan did a much better job at subterfuge than she did. She’d need to remember that in future.
In the palace, they were led to an inner chamber where Ra'dan took up a position beside the door. The elegant sitting room boasted antiques and modern conveniences. Her “sister” had been making improvements to the palace, but not the realm. Nina had done a search last night on the Codex, something she’d not thought to do this whole time she ran the clinic.
The empire began expanding just about six months ago. Something had changed that made the policy lean authoritarian. The empire charter had signed two new planets in the Kierron system, slaver planets. Planets run by slavers exploiting indigenous populations. There wasn't much information coming out of those planets, but it wasn't hard to guess that the populations were being devastated..
Nina walked around the small table set with refreshments and sat facing the door and Ra’dan. It wasn't easy to keep her calm, but having him in visual range helped. She wished she felt stronger. Something about this place made her feel vulnerable, off balance.
This had been her childhood home. Why did she now feel like a burglar looking to steal valuables?
Aleria entered the room with much pomp and circumstance, escorted by two of the guards Nina hadn’t met. Nina rose to bow at her sister’s arrival. It was so unlike her in Nina's eyes.
The sister she'd known was not unapproachable, cruel, or crazy. This version of Aleria could be capable of anything.
She sparkled, she thought with regret. Aleria sparkled in golden material draped lovingly over her figure to emphasize not only her great beauty, so much more than her younger sister’s own, but her authority. Nina wondered if that was her reminder. Was this false Aleria letting her know where she stood?
“Sister, you have no idea how much we missed you while you were off in the wilderness,”
Nina returned the Empress’ stilted kiss. “You appear to be busy making changes. Too busy to miss me, I’m sure.”
The Empress clutched her hand firmly and sat. Nina had no choice but to mimic the movement or continue to tower over Aleria which would have been poor manners. “Nonsense,” her sister said. “It's been awful without you here, Ninny.”
Her heart clenched at the endearment from her sister that wasn’t one. “What has been happening? Has there been some state of emergency of late?”
Aleria stopped preparing the tea. “Why do you ask?”
“Security is high. Your policies are leaning toward control of the populous and economy. People seem to be afraid.” Nina ticked each point off on a finger.
Nina took the cup of tea her sister offered. Aleria’s reply came in a smooth, measured tone. “There has been some unrest of late. For example, that is exactly why you returned to the fold, is it not? Your indigenous are in the middle of an uprising on the three planets, and you come to beg my mercy.”
Letting the cup drop to her lap, she asked, “Is mercy that much of a gift in these times? It is a question of their dignity and their quality of life, Aleria. The Sorians suffer at the hands of slavers horrible abuses. They are being used as sex slaves and low workers. Some are sent into hazardous mines with ridiculous equipment. Surely you see this for the waste of life that it is? Is it not more efficient to invest in the safety of the mine and save yourself the cost of supplying workers? Is it not better to have a happy, working populous rather than a revolt?”
Aleria smiled stiffly, the expression hard and practiced. “You fail to understand the gravity of your kingdom’s situation, Nina. While you’ve been off playing hero to a bunch of natives, outside influences have begun whittling away at our borders. Mercenary armies and fleets are cropping up every standard year, rebellions are being fomented, even here in our capitol. It has been difficult to keep word of assassination attempts on my life out of the Codex. It is so much more complicated than we believed when we were children.”
Aleria sighed and put her own porcelain cup gracefully on the table. “I needed you here, Sister.”
“Aleria, I’m a medical doctor. What good am I in politics?”
She nodded. “That’s one of the traditions I intend to change. To prepare one heir for a role as leader, but then indulge the whims of their siblings. The Imperium isn’t a small endeavor. It takes many hands to make light the work involved. In future, all the children of our house will train for and carry some of the burden.”
Carefully, Nina said, “That’s logical, Leri, but I’d hardly call myself indulged. Ignored is how I’d have described it. I serve in a different way, a way that preserves the lives of our people.”
“But you haven’t served our people, have you? You’ve been treating the wounds of slaves and vagabonds. Sorians are our property, not our subjects.”
Nina bit back a small gasp at the words. Such bigoted words. She'd never dreamed it could happen.
“They should be people in our eyes. If their allegiances were won and not forced, you would experience a loyal workforce other systems could only dream of. Has the crown changed you so much? The Aleria I knew would have abhorred the keeping of souls as pets. She would have fought father for the liberty these men and women deserve.”
Her spoon clattered sharply to the saucer as Aleria stiffly moved sideways in her chair. “That Aleria is dead, Nina. She’s gone, dead like our father. Life isn’t a romantic story. On my words, worlds turn or fall. We cannot all be equals, not and remain strong. Leaders lead, soldiers die, and slaves work; this is the way of things in any society, modern or ancient. Anything else we tell ourselves is just a collection of pretty words.”
Nina gasped a small sound at the raised tone at the end. “I am sorry that I’ve upset you, Aleria”, she whispered.
Aleria sighed once again. “Everything upsets me now. I am sorry, too.” Neither of them had taken more than a sip of the tea. The cups sat discarded and full on the small surface.
“Aleria, If there is no help for the Sor to be found here, I must leave immediately. People are dying there, and I am, at the very least, useful for that.”
It wasn’t a sister that looked sharply at her now, it was an Empress. “I am afraid that will be quite impossible. You are needed here at home. I’ve arranged for you to stay in the palace for your own safety, Nina.” With that, Aleria rose gracefully and strolled toward the door with her guards trailing, signaling the end of their conversation. Over her shoulder, she said, “Nina, it is my understanding that you’ve been quite insistent about the guard, the Sorian. I certainly realize you are an adult. We all have our needs. Just remember, that here in the palace he would be accorded the respect of anyone in the position of your staff, with the deference that comes with that position as well. Out there,” she nodded out the window. “Out there, he is just another jungle cat to be caged. Don’t leave the safety of the city, I beg you. It’s a good way to break our toys.” The last sentence accompanied an appraising look up and down Ra’dan’s body. He did his best not to react, as did Nina. It was
difficult.
“I understand”, Nina whispered in shock. It, she thought, this could not be a person she'd known. It sounded so much like Aleria, moved like her. How could it not be her? Nina started to doubt her conviction. Except the words. Her sister couldn’t have changed so completely. Within moments, she and Ra stood alone in the room staring at one another.
“So much for our secret”, she whispered stepping toward him.
“It would appear”, he said thickly. “Your sister wants you back.”
She leaned closer, her chin brushing his smooth, leather jacket. “Well, she can’t have me. Now, how do we get out of here?”
He looked around the room. His thin braids tapping her cheeks as they swung lightly with his head as he scoped out the entrances and exits. “Truth is, Star, I don’t know. We may need to think about it a bit.”
“Daunting odds, huh?”
“Very”, he replied.
“If we don't get out of here now, she's going to have you taken or killed.”
Ra'dan nodded while he looked around the room. “Yes, she is.”
The door beside them cracked open slowly, until a timid young girl poked her head through. Freckles everywhere were the first thing Nina saw, even the girl’s eyelids had a dusting of tawny spots. Fiery red hair, brushed to a glowing sheen, fell in straight cascades around a pixie face. She wore the long white robes of a lady-in-waiting Nina had seen every day of her childhood.
“Your highness”, she said softly, then glanced behind her into the corridor. She stepped in and looked around furtively before raising her datapad and scrib, the small pen designed to add signatures to data files. She clicked the end of her scrib twice and tapped the point on her screen.
“Now,” she said. “We have two standard minutes.”
