by C. F. Harris
I surveyed the crowd of Livisk nobles. This was going to be interesting, but I figured if this was a group who hated the emperor then I was more than happy to go mingle with them and figure out if there was some way to use that.
5: Dangerous Currents
Jorav:
I hadn’t taken two steps into the crowd of vultures before a group of younger women moved in and surrounded Talia. At first she seemed a bit unsure of herself, but that didn’t last for long. In an instant she was smiling and laughing at all of them and allowing herself to be drawn out into the crowd.
I sighed and shook my head. I really hoped she knew what she was doing. She had a reckless habit of being, well… Reckless. It was what drew me to her, but it was also what had me constantly worried about her safety.
Even if she had broken and vaporized every Livisk who threatened her safety. I almost felt sorry for any noble out there who thought to use her in one of their games.
Yet I could feel that same sense of reckless abandon pulsing through the bond. Not only was she excited about going off with a group of strange Livisk nobles, she was enjoying herself. Enjoying the idea of being surrounded by her enemies and figuring out their weakness. I shook my head. This human was an amazing creature. A true warrior. Unlike any female I’d ever known before.
It still amazed me that I’d found such a warrior spirit among the enemy. And in such an attractive package, too. Nothing like the statuesque blue women I was used to, but exotic and strangely compelling nonetheless.
“I see your pet human is already doing well enough for one of these parties,” a voice said from behind me.
I turned and narrowed my eyes. “Dovar. I wondered if I might see you here.”
Dovar held up a glass of something. I wasn’t familiar with the latest drinking fashions with society. I usually kept to water. I was certain Dovar could tell me all about the fabulously expensive properties of his drink, but the only thing I could tell was that it was green.
“I wouldn’t try to get you out to one of these things and then not show up myself,” Dovar said. “To do that would be to miss the show, and I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
His eyes glinted for a moment as he said that. They darted around the room as though he was looking for something. No doubt it was a well practiced gesture that meant something to the nobility. Perhaps it was supposed to be threatening.
I resisted the urge to shake my head in disgust. If Dovar thought darting his eyes around the room was going to intimidate him when I’d stood alone on a planet surface with thousands of humans bearing down on me then he was sorely mistaken.
He waited for a moment and sighed when the look had no effect on me.
“You really are no fun, Jorav,” he said. He placed a hand on my shoulder and I resisted the urge to grab it and send him flying over my shoulder. For some reason he provoked that enemy response in me, which told me something.
Though I might have had some trouble with Dovar. After all, he wasn’t a slight man. Not as bad as Rfalv, but only in comparison.
“Come Jorav,” he said. “Let me introduce you to Ergohl, our host for the evening. I’m sure he’ll be very interested to meet you. He didn’t believe me when I said you were bringing your trained human here tonight to amuse us.”
“She is not a trained human,” I growled. “She is my mate and you will treat her with the respect that deserves.”
“Oh but I am treating her with all the respect she deserves as your mate, Jorav, and I’m sure everyone else is going to treat her with that same respect this evening.”
I forced down a growl and reminded myself that this was the one place in the entire Livisk Ascendency, outside perhaps the imperial palace itself, where flying off the handle and trying to kill a man for insulting me so would be a bad idea. A very bad idea. If it was just me then I might still rise to the challenge, but Talia was out there somewhere in this party and she’d no doubt be killed right along with me.
I couldn’t have that.
“My my you certainly have changed Jorav,” Dovar said. “There was a time when you would have tried killing me where I stood for saying something like that. Perhaps it’s not you who trained the human but the other way around? No matter. I see Ergohl up ahead. He’ll be very interested in meeting you.”
I looked around the room for Talia but couldn’t see her in the press of bodies. I suddenly had the very strong feeling that I was surrounded by enemies on all sides. I tried to convey that thought through the bond, but I was met only with amusement. Amusement!
“Of course we’re surrounded by enemies,” the thought drifted through the bond along with that feeling of amusement. “Wasn’t that the whole point of coming here?”
I shook my head. Amazing. She was completely unafraid of the potential danger even as I was terrified on her behalf. It was a strange new feeling and I didn’t particularly care for it. Still, she’d proved time and again that she could handle things well enough on her own. I needed to trust her.
“Damn right you do,” Talia thought at me.
I looked again, but I didn’t stand on my toes or anything. That felt like it would be giving something away. I wished I knew where she was or who she was talking with, but instead I allowed myself to be pulled over to Ergohl, our host for the evening.
Ergohl was most definitely a surprise. The man was tall and muscled and looked as though he could’ve stepped off of any troop transport just a few moments ago. Of course he was older with his hair pure white and a mustache that drooped down almost to his chest which was covered with elaborate tattoos. Several of those indicated that he’d participated in battles that happened before I was old enough to lift my first blade.
I found myself nodding in respect. This was a man who was no stranger to fighting even if he was a noble. That was a rarity. I’d even heard that some of the younger nobles had taken to killing human slaves for their Bloodying rather than going into true battle as was expected of them.
That obviously wasn’t the case with this one. He looked me up and down as though sizing up an opponent, and I felt a prickle along the back of my neck. This was a man who was my equal. Not some noble dandy who spent all of his time pretending at having power that was snatched from him in the imperial restoration.
“Jorav,” he said. “So nice to finally meet you. I admit I was a little surprised to hear that you’d arrived, and that you’d been so uncivil to one of my servants.”
“Ergohl. It honors me to finally meet you. I hadn’t realized you had such a storied career when you were younger,” I replied. I made a show of examining all of his tattoos as was only proper. Each one told a story, though of particular interest was the imperial crest on his right breast. That was the highest honor a warrior could receive.
I wondered what he’d done to earn it. I still didn’t trust the man any more than I trusted Dovar, which is to say not at all, but I could respect his accomplishments while not trusting him in the least.
“It brings me honor to have you in my house,” Ergohl replied. “The great general Jorav. Greatest of your generation, some say. A pity that you were always too busy campaigning to come and make our acquaintances, though your wife always did an admirable job of that before all that unfortunate business.”
I fought back a grimace. If he thought he was going to get me to give something up by mentioning my wife or the greatest shame of my life then he was sorely mistaken. I might not travel these circles terribly often, but I knew how the game was played.
“Yes, well, that was in the past,” I said. “I am focused now on my current mate, and that means that I may have to do more of the things that my former wife did when she was still alive.”
I didn’t like that thought. She’d always been much better at the politics side of things than I was. Though the way my career and honor had fallen apart after her death might have been telling me something. Ignoring the politics of the homeworld, something she always deftly navigated, may have been a mis
take.
Though I didn’t relish the idea of having to throw myself in. I could only hope that we managed to destroy the old order before I had to spend too much time wading in it.
“Ah yes, your trained human,” Ergohl said. “I’ve heard quite a bit about her. Is it true the emperor tried to execute you by bonding you to her?”
“Something like that,” I growled, feeling the floor shift underneath me.
Ergohl shook his head and laughed. His whole frame shook. “That was rich. The emperor thinking he could kill you by bonding you to a human and instead being confronted with the first human strong enough to withstand it!”
Other lesser noblemen surrounding us laughed as well, though it was a nervous laughter. None of them could be happy about having the emperor insulted right in front of them, or being seen to agree with insulting the emperor. Not that any of them likely felt any sort of loyalty to his imperial majesty. They likely all hated him as well. Powerful nobles like Ergohl or Dovar could get away with a free tongue, though, while lesser nobles might find themselves targeted by an imperial listener circulating in the crowd.
Though I noticed Dovar wasn’t laughing either. His lips had compressed to a thin line and he didn’t look at all happy about Ergohl’s words. Perhaps he wasn’t quite as powerful as he’d once been.
Interesting.
“Is your trained human here tonight?” Ergohl asked.
“Her name is Talia,” I said. “You will speak of my mate with the respect she deserves.”
My fists tightened and my muscles tensed. I was ready to fight this one. Perhaps it was because of his decorations. I felt the need to test myself against him in a way that I didn’t feel with Dovar. Even though Ergohl was easily as powerful as Dovar and could have me and Talia killed.
Perhaps the reason I didn’t want to fight Dovar directly had nothing to do with his power and everything to do with him not being a worthy opponent. Very interesting.
I expected Ergohl to launch himself at me. He’d challenged me and I’d called him out on his challenge. Instead he simply nodded.
“Of course. Talia. Is she here? My daughter Sorei has spoken of nothing but meeting this strange warrior human who defied the emperor himself since word of her exploits hit the rumor mill.”
“She is here, but she’s somewhere in the crowd. I couldn’t tell you where she is, though I could summon her if you’d like your daughter to meet her.”
“No, nothing like that is necessary,” Ergohl said. “I’m sure if Talia is out there in the crowd then Sorei will track her down. I was surprised at how insistent she was on meeting this new mate of yours.”
That prickle along the back of my neck grew more pronounced. There was something there. Something that should be worrying me, but I pushed it aside. Talia had demonstrated that she could more than take care of herself. She didn’t seem worried in the least. If something was happening I would know about it immediately through the bond, so I forced myself to calm the fuck down, to use a turn of phrase that Talia seemed fond of using on me.
I could sense from the bond that she was farther away from me, but that was it. No worry. Nothing to indicate that she might be in trouble.
No, now was the time for exploring opportunities. Talia had the feeling that we might be able to use these nobles. I was almost inclined to agree with her. Almost. Though they were a nest of backbiting florg vipers on most days, and I would have to be even more careful with the nobles than I was with the vipers.
“You don’t seem overly fond of the emperor, Ergohl,” I said.
The only sign that he was even slightly interested in what I said was a raise of his eyebrow. He looked around at the entire room, an expansive gesture that took in every noble mingling and chit chatting.
“Who in this group would be a fan of the emperor? His father took our birthright from us. Am I supposed to be happy about that? I’m old enough that I still remember the old days, barely,” he said.
“And yet you have a decoration from the emperor himself,” I said. “You’re a man of contradictions.”
Ergohl shrugged. “Perhaps I am. I might not care for the emperor, but I am still a warrior. I still fight with honor.”
“I feel like the Livisk could use men of honor these days,” I replied.
The nobles around us were shifting even more nervously than before. No, they really didn’t like this conversation at all. Dovar in particular seemed more than annoyed by the treasonous undercurrent to our conversation. Odd. I would’ve figured him to be the least happy about the emperor considering his family was the most powerful noble family left after the restoration and he stood the most to gain if the emperor suddenly wasn’t around.
So his next words were even more surprising.
“Men of honor have nothing but their loyalty, wouldn’t you say Jorav?” Dovar asked.
“I suppose you could say that,” I said. I got the distinct feeling that he was feeling me out for something. I just had no way of knowing if he was probing to see if I was loyal to the emperor or if there was a possibility I might turn on our sovereign. There were too many unknowns and too many dangerous currents running under this party.
“Though loyalty to the emperor might not be all its cracked up to be these days, what with him spending all his time locked up in that palace ordering our soldiers to their deaths. Though I’m sure you’d know plenty about that since you’ve actually been out there fighting the emperor’s wars, right Jorav?”
I didn’t know how to answer. One moment Dovar seemed upset that I was speaking ill of the emperor and now he was spouting things that bordered on the treasonous. Give me a fair head fight where people were honest about wanting to kill one another any day. I’d take it over all this subterfuge and scheming.
I knew one thing for certain. I didn’t trust Dovar. Or Ergohl. I didn’t trust any noble, for that matter. The only person I truly trusted on this world was Talia, and perhaps the men who worked and lived in my tower.
“You’re an old schemer, Dovar,” I said after thinking for a moment. “And I think it would be a good idea for an old soldier such as myself to be quiet and leave you to your scheming. I’ll take a fair fight over your knives in the dark.”
Dovar’s bushy white eyebrows rose and the nobles around us chittered at that. I was sure what I’d just said would become the talk of their ridiculous gossip for days to come, but I didn’t care. I wanted them to know that I didn’t trust them. Maybe then, and only then, could I actually start to use them. You always treated a dangerous tool with care and distrust, and these nobles were the most dangerous of all.
Dovar reached out and took my arm. Pulled me into the crowd and away from the nobles. I glanced down at the spot where he’d taken my arm and considered pulling away, but there was something about the firmness of his grip that stayed my hand.
“Why are you pulling me away from our host?” I asked. “Isn’t that considered the height of rudeness with your people?”
“Perhaps it is,” Dovar hissed. “But you were on the verge of saying some very stupid things, even for you, and I need you alive.”
“You need me alive? There’s a surprise.”
Dovar sighed. “I thought you might feel that way. Your wife was never particularly trusting of me either, but I need your trust and I’m willing to give you something to prove my intentions.”
“She is no longer my wife… I’m mated to…”
Dovar waved a dismissive hand as we reached the edge of the room. “Yes, yes. You’re mated to the trained human you brought to the emperor. That’s what I’m giving you.”
“What you’re giving me?”
“Her life,” Dovar said.
I felt a chill run through me. I reached out to the bond but Talia still seemed fine. She’d been pulled well away from this central room, though, and that was worrying. That could mean that someone was deliberately drawing her out. That could mean that I didn’t have much time at all.
“Speak. Tell me
what you know,” I said.
“Ergohl was going on about how much his daughter wanted to meet your human,” Dovar said. “Did you know that she’s reached the age where she should be Bloodied? Odd coincidence, that.”
The realization hit me as a stab of annoyance filtered through the bond. Talia wasn’t happy about something, and suddenly everything came into place. It hit me exactly why Ergohl’s daughter would be so eager to meet Talia.
She wasn’t looking for a human slave for her Bloodying. No, she was going to take on a captain of the human Combined Interstellar Fleet and someone known to be public enemy number one as far as the emperor was concerned.
I needed to reach Talia. Now.
“Excuse me,” I said. “I have somewhere I need to be.”
“I thought you might say that,” Dovar said. He called after me as I turned to leave. “Remember this gift as you think of me, Jorav, and know that not all nobles are the scheming skulkers you think we are.”
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