After the Crown

by K. B. Wagers

  At least he wasn’t wearing his crown, and I felt relieved that my guess on that front had been correct.

  “It’s like two gangs of schoolyard bullies sizing each other up,” I muttered to Emmory. “Come on. If I let this silence drag on any longer it’s going to get awkward.”

  I crossed the space between us, stopping within arm’s reach of Trace and giving him a quick nod. “Trace,” I said before Billings could launch into his speech.

  “Hailimi.” Trace held out a hand and I took it. Covering it with his other one, he squeezed gently, still smiling. “It’s good to see you again. Executor Billings, I do not wish to be rude, but I think we can take it from here.”

  “Of course.” Like any good functionary, Billings knew exactly when to vanish.

  Trace watched him go, then turned back to me. “If you’ll allow me to present my fellow countrymen?”

  At my nod the introductions started and voices filled the air as Indranans and Saxons said their hellos. After half an hour, Trace leaned in.

  “I’ll walk you to your quarters. Our bodyguards can follow and glare at each other behind our backs.”

  I only just managed not to laugh. Trace grinned, folding my hand over his forearm and gesturing toward the back of the hangar.

  Our footsteps and voices echoed off the cavernous ceiling until we reached the doors on the far side. They slid open and we crossed from the noise of the hangar into the relative silence of a well-lit corridor.

  “You look good,” Trace said as we turned a corner. “I wasn’t sure about the hair, but it suits you.”

  “So does yours.”

  He grinned sheepishly. “It’s expected. Truth be told, I’d grow it longer if I thought I could get away with it.”

  “What’s the point of being king?”

  He laughed. “It’s a little easier for you to buck tradition I think, Haili. I’ve been doing this for a while. If I suddenly started acting weird I think Ivan there might have a heart attack.”

  “Not a heart attack, Majesty.” The massive man to Trace’s right had a voice like two battlecruisers colliding. “I would be concerned about the state of your mental health.” His eyes were gray, harder than stone as they bored into mine with no deference whatsoever. “I remember you, Your Imperial Majesty.”

  I blinked at him in confusion for just a heartbeat before the memory came back. This time the laugh slipped free.

  “She punched my charge in the stomach.” Ivan spoke past both of us to Emmory.

  “Knocked the wind out of me.” There was a strange glee in Trace’s announcement.

  I shrugged at Emmory. “He tried to kiss me.”

  Trace was still chuckling. “I guess that answers the rumors about the wedding plans. My little brother wouldn’t stand a chance against you, Haili.”

  I arched an eyebrow at the familiarity, and Trace misread it.

  “I tease; I’m sorry. I know that’s not why you asked me here.” He sobered, waving his free hand in the air. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk about affairs of state, and I don’t want to squander the opportunity to catch up with you. Here are your quarters. I’m up the hallway. There’s a lovely garden on the grounds and it’s spring here, so all the trees are in bloom.” He smiled, releasing my hand from his arm. “If your guards would like to check it over, I’d be grateful if you’d have dinner with me out there this evening.”

  “That would be nice.” I returned the smile. “I’ll let Emmory and Ivan hash out the details.”

  Trace gave me a sharp bow. “I will see you later then.”

  15

  That went better than I expected,” I announced as soon as Emmory let me into my quarters. Gita and Willimet were set up by the wide windows on the far side of the room, and Stasia greeted me with a smile and curtsy. They had come down to the planet with the advance team to secure our rooms. I’d been a bit surprised Emmory hadn’t sent Zin down with them; instead he’d sent Indula.

  “The weather is much nicer, Majesty; would you still like chai?” Stasia asked.

  “If you brought it I may as well drink it,” I said.

  “Were you expecting them to take a shot at us, Majesty?” That question came from Zin.

  I punched him in the arm. “Maybe just at you, because I can see the appeal. No, I was expecting cold, awkward formality.” I frowned. “I wasn’t expecting the humor, or the overly familiar tone.”

  Crossing the room, I rested my elbows on the windowsill and studied the city in the distance. I’d spent most of the trip here rehearsing what I was going to say to Trace, and now it seemed like formulaic garbage.

  “What do you think?”

  Emmory lifted a shoulder at my question. “He was polite, Majesty. Genuinely pleased to see you and more relaxed than he was on that call.”

  “Alba?”

  “Same, Majesty. I saw no tension from the king or from his delegates.”

  Turning from the window, I looked across the room at Zin. “Zin, thoughts?”

  “Their guards were also relaxed, I’d even go so far as to call it arrogance.” The nodding of several heads around the room showed most everyone was in agreement with him.

  “I would agree, Majesty,” Alba spoke up. “It wasn’t quite malice, but…” She frowned. “I can’t find a word for it I like. Arrogance works as well as anything. Even when they didn’t think we were looking, they’re all so relaxed.”

  “Interesting. Gita?”

  “Ma’am?” She jerked, dislodging the ornate vase between us. I caught it with my left hand.

  Setting it back onto the lacquered pillar, I gave my BodyGuard a raised eyebrow. “Thoughts, Gita.”

  “I wasn’t there, ma’am.”

  “We didn’t see very many people, Majesty.” Before I could say anything else, Indula cut in with a sideways look at his fellow BodyGuard. “His staff is efficient and tight-lipped. Stasia had more success, I think, probably because she’s prettier than me.”

  My maid blushed and Indula grinned.

  “Not much, Majesty, success that is.”

  Several people were unsuccessful at holding in their laughter.

  “The king’s valet is a dour old man who did little except tell me good morning. The younger boys were careful, but they let slip a few things—the king had a very loud argument with his mother just before he left.”

  “About?”

  “I didn’t get specifics. I’m not sure they knew, ma’am, but I’ll see what else I can find out,” Stasia replied. “And while the government may be denying it, even the Saxon people think that they have taken over Canafey.”

  “Do they now?” I shared a look with Emmory. “I wonder where they got that idea.”

  “Good question, Majesty.”

  I waved a hand. “Okay, everyone out. I need to get ready for this dinner. Gita, hang back a moment.”

  Everyone else filed out and Stasia disappeared into the bedroom. Gita dropped her chin to her chest.

  “I’m sorry, Majesty.”

  “I depend on my people to see things I might miss. Next time I expect you to be paying better attention.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Gita bowed.

  “Go on.” I waited for her to leave before speaking to Emmory. “I want to trust him. But something is off; I can’t explain it, I just feel it in my gut. The worrisome part is if the Saxons had anything to do with what happened at home, then did Trace know about it?”

  “The best-case scenario here, Majesty, is that someone in his government is in control and he doesn’t know about it. Worst case is he’s actively involved.”

  “Pessimist.”

  “That’s what you pay me for.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Go make sure the gardens aren’t filled with people who want to kill me, Ekam. I’d like to enjoy my dinner.”

  “Of course, Majesty.”

  I managed to get to the garden before Trace and Ivan. Even though Red Cliff’s sun had set, the spring night was balmy and a pleasant change
from Indrana’s winter.

  The garden itself was lovely. Our table had been set up in a little gazebo surrounded by some species of fruit tree in full bloom. The delicate petals were iridescent in the floating lights and their sweet smell reminded me of modak.

  The treat had been a favorite of my little sister’s and the thought of her clung to my heart, making it beat painfully for a few seconds before I shook the sadness loose. “Pace would have loved these trees, Emmory.”

  “So would my mother, Majesty.” He reached up and touched a branch and the light danced through the flowers. “Anything shiny catches her eye.” A smile flickered on his face. “That’s how my father caught her attention—at least that’s the story she likes to tell. He claims it was his intellect.”

  I laughed. “Pace would have loved you, too.”

  Emmory didn’t respond, and the subtle shift of his shoulders welcomed our company. I pasted a smile that was mostly genuine on my face before I turned.

  “Trace.”

  “Haili.” Trace crossed the stone path with his hands held out as if we were old friends, moving with a jerky, barely contained energy that put me on edge. He took my hands and squeezed them, leaning in to press a kiss to my cheeks. “Nice outfit.” He grinned and winked before he pulled away.

  For dinner I’d chosen a pair of black pants and a Nehru jacket in emerald green. I’d worn the only sari Stasia had brought with us for that first meeting. Everything else was an assortment of my usual uniform-styled outfits and a few salwar kameez.

  Trace was dressed in a spotless white shirt and gray trousers. He’d rolled the sleeves up and raised an eyebrow at my amused snort. “What?”

  “Your butler fussed about that, didn’t he?”

  He grinned, the smile calling up the crow’s-feet around his eyes. “Hubert was very put out. Bad enough I refused the jacket, the vest, and his god-awful choice of neckwear. The empress will think I am a total barbarian.” He laughed. “You didn’t have to argue with your staff at all, did you?”

  “They learned quickly.” I slipped my arm around his and headed deeper into the garden. “I’ll give you some pointers.”

  Trace’s laugh this time was tinged with sorrow. “In another life, maybe. It really would create far too much chaos if I started behaving like—”

  His awkward pause was priceless and I couldn’t resist the tease.

  “Like a gunrunner?”

  Trace went red all the way up to his hairline and covered his face with a hand. For a moment I felt slightly guilty, but his shoulders started to shake with suppressed laughter.

  “Hailimi, Saxony is not ready for the likes of you.”

  “If it helps at all I’m sure Indrana wasn’t either, but they’re recovering.” I glanced back over my shoulder. “It appears dinner is ready.”

  I let Trace push my chair in and settled back with a smile as a white-jacketed man wheeled a cart up to the table.

  “They have some very nice wines here on Red Cliff,” Trace said, studying the cart. “Unless you’d prefer whiskey?”

  I kept my surprise hidden behind the smile. “Wine would be lovely. Thank you.”

  Trace poured two glasses. Emmory intercepted mine before he could hand it over and I gave a little shrug.

  “My Ekam is twitchy about such things, if you’ll forgive him.”

  “Ah, yes. Understandable. Proceed, Ekam, I wouldn’t dream of interfering.” He smiled and took his seat.

  “It’s clean, Majesty,” Emmory said, handing Willimet the glass. She’d become my unofficial food taster for the trip and sipped it, wiped off the glass with a napkin, and returned it to Emmory.

  I took it and raised it in Trace’s direction. “To peace,” I said.

  “To peace, and to family,” he replied.

  I swallowed down the lump in my throat with a sip of wine and smiled to Emmory when he handed me the plate from the server. We settled into the meal, a lovely rice dish with chicken and spicy peppers that went well with the wine.

  Trace had far more practice with small talk than I and kept me entertained with stories of his younger siblings’ antics while we ate. He couldn’t seem to stay still though, either tapping a hand on the table or his heel against the floor of the gazebo.

  “It’s a pity we can’t just hash out the issues over dinner and wine, eh?”

  Leaning back in my chair, I rolled my wine stem between my fingers and considered my reply. “It is a necessary evil, I think. With so many lives in the balance, it doesn’t seem right for the two of us to make those decisions alone.”

  “You disappoint me, Haili. What I heard of your exploits while you were away from home seemed to indicate you’d take a more direct leadership role. What’s the point of being ruler unless you rule your people?” he asked, and saluted me with his glass.

  “Don’t believe everything you hear,” I replied with a smile and a tip of my own glass. “I think it’s prudent to listen to older and wiser voices, especially on important issues. That’s what a good leader does.” Or any voices really; Hao hadn’t let the age of the person speaking impact if he listened or not.

  “True, I suppose.” He waved a hand. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

  I pushed aside my sudden annoyance, reminding myself that Trace’s upbringing had been very different from mine. It shouldn’t be a surprise he’d be convinced that his way was the best.

  “Besides.” I smiled. “There are so many issues to discuss we can’t hope to cover them all by ourselves. Canafey itself is going to be quite the puzzle.”

  My heart sank when Trace looked to his left, ostensibly to set his glass back on the table, but he hesitated slightly as he let go of it. “Yes, nasty business. You have my military at your disposal, Haili, to help take care of the mercenaries responsible for this.”

  “That’s so very kind of you.” I set my own glass down, the taste of wine sour in my mouth. “I think we’ll be able to handle it.” I didn’t quite bare my teeth at him as I stood. “If you’ll forgive me, Trace, I think I’m going to retire. The wine appears to have left me with a disappointing headache.”

  He stood. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Me, too. I expected more from it. Good night, Trace.” With a nod I left the garden, Emmory trailing behind me.

  “He knows. Shiva damn it, Emmory.”

  “I’m sorry, Majesty. I know you wanted it to be otherwise.”

  “You know what the really worrisome part of that was?” I didn’t slow my stride as we turned the corner and headed into the living quarters. “He offered me whiskey.”

  “I noticed.”

  “I haven’t drunk it outside of my quarters since I’ve been back.”

  “And you didn’t drink it before.”

  I nodded. “Portis drank it. I never cared for it. We never drank much in public anyway. Hao thought it was poor form to show your enemies your weaknesses—and he considers alcohol a weakness.”

  I knew from the look on Emmory’s face that he was recalling every time I’d had a drink and who had seen me do it, because I was doing the same thing. The list was small and I trusted almost every single person on it.

  Which meant either someone in my inner circle had betrayed me, or Trace had somehow gotten an agent close enough to me to find out such a personal detail. I couldn’t believe Hao would talk about me and Portis to someone he didn’t know. None of the options were appealing. If Hao had turned on me, there was going to be a hell of a splashback from all the stories he could tell.

  “I don’t like this, Majesty.”

  I shoved the door of my quarters open. “I’m in agreement with you, Emmory.”

  16

  Good morning, Fasé, how are you?” The next morning dawned bright and warm, chasing away some of my unease about the previous night’s dinner with Trace. The Farian stood by the door of my rooms talking to Stasia. Her team was in tatters from Christoph’s suicide bomb, and Captain Gill was still healing, and so I’d asked specifi
cally for her to join us for the negotiations.

  “Well, Majesty. Thank you. Did you sleep well?”

  “I did. Thank you. I heard Lieutenant Saito had a good day yesterday at therapy.”

  “She did, ma’am. Stood up on her own and took a few steps.”

  I nodded. Dr. Wendle had been able to save the lieutenant’s other leg. Fasé and several other Farians had been able to heal the worst of her injuries, but learning to walk on her new prosthetic leg would take some time.

  “Morning, Majesty.” Alba came in, Cas and Emmory behind her. “Did you have a chance to look over the briefing I sent you?”

  “I did. I had a question about the file from Colonel Hagen.” Waving a hand at my Guards, I took Alba’s arm and led her over to the far side of the room. “Did we get verification on those images?”

  “Not yet, ma’am, the director is working on it. He said to pass it along to you, but that we definitely didn’t want to say anything until he could get a third-party ID on the uniforms.”

  I nodded, tamping down my impatience. I knew he was right, but part of me wanted to march into the meeting this morning and throw the photos Colonel Hagen had taken during a running battle on Canafey Major onto the wall for all to see.

  The Saxon features of the pale man with ice-blue eyes weren’t the nail in the coffin, but the visible—if blurry—emblems for the Saxon Shock Corps were.

  “Let Director Ganej know I concur with him, but he needs to hurry it up.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Alba nodded.

  “Has anyone talked with the matriarchs this morning?” I asked, checking the time stamp on my smati. “They should have been here—”

  The door opened and the three matriarchs as well as Phanin were ushered in. They curtsied and bowed.

  “Good morning,” I said, taking a seat in a stiff-backed gray chair away from the windows and brushing a piece of lint off my black pants. I could see Phanin’s reflection in the toes of my boots as he took a seat.