After the Crown

by K. B. Wagers

  I tapped Emmory on the shoulder and jerked my head to the left. He frowned but nodded, and I led the way deeper into the shadows.

  “This place smells like sulfur and crime,” Zin whispered, and I had to choke down a laugh as we headed down an empty corridor.

  Emmory punched him in the side. So at least my Ekam seemed to be feeling better, even if he wasn’t back to a hundred percent.

  Security in Rai’s underground city was tighter than at the palace at home, but that didn’t stop enterprising souls from selling schematics to the highest bidder.

  I suspected it was part of Rai’s larger plan, because often the schematics were sadly outdated. No one did that much redecorating without a very good reason.

  The plans I had, however, were limited to two key areas. The outer ventilation shafts—which wouldn’t have changed because they didn’t pose any kind of security risk to the facility—and the location of Rai’s private offices.

  The second plans hadn’t been purchased. There was no one stupid enough to cross Rai like that.

  I’d drawn them from memory. One visit to Rai’s offices followed by a week’s stay on Santa Pirata, where I’d walked every single corridor in the place, had given me more than enough information to complete the map.

  It was a simple matter to trace the route and follow the most logical course from the outer ventilation shafts to the interior ones and from there to Rai’s office.

  A simple matter of locking myself in a tube of plasteel barely wide enough for Emmory’s shoulders.

  “Majesty, we could—”

  “I’m okay,” I muttered, staring into the darkness of the ventilation shaft and trying not to throw up. “Besides, there’s not really another choice.” I forced a bright smile. “I’d better go—”

  “I’ll go first.” Emmory cut me off. “Then you, Majesty. Here.” He flipped on a light and clipped it to my collar. “Focus on where we need to go.”

  Emmory’s quiet assumption that I could suck it up and do it on my own did more to shove aside my claustrophobia than any amount of coddling Portis would have engaged in. With a sharp nod, I exhaled and crawled into the vent after him. Zin followed us, dragging the cover back into place behind him.

  I navigated us through the ventilation shafts with only one wrong turn and a near miss with a total breakdown. Trapped there with the dim light bouncing off the walls, I’d clutched at Emmory’s ankle and fought with the hysteria clawing at my brain.

  “Breathe through it, Majesty.” Emmory’s voice wafted like smoke, wrapping around me and easing some of the panic. “You’re all right. Just breathe.”

  I dragged in a breath, letting Emmory’s words lull me away from the sharp-edged sensation of the plasteel walls closing in on me, and released it. Fear rushed into the vacuum, but I pushed it out with another breath.

  “Very good, Majesty.” The approval from Emmory chased away the last vestiges of anxiety and a hiccuping laugh slipped free. “Now which way do we go?”

  “Give me a second.” We were at the juncture where my maps converged. Emmory had taken my guesswork over where to go next with surprising calm. Bringing up the maps in my head, I overlaid one on top of the other, looking through them at the options in front of us.

  The fork on the left led nowhere, looping back in on itself and wandering off toward the general living quarters. The one on the right was equally useless. Eventually it dead-ended near the restaurant sector.

  Of the three left, two led close to the area I thought was Rai’s, but one of them—I tilted my head to the side and frowned.

  “Emmory, look at this.” I threw the whole mess to his smati. “Why does the path just in front of you break off three meters before hitting Rai’s apartments? It just dead-ends into a wall.”

  “Because it’s what we’re looking for. Come on,” he said almost as soon as the information hit his screens. “Trust me, Majesty,” he chided when I protested. “I do know what I’m doing occasionally.”

  I didn’t grant him a response, settling for a glare and a swallowed curse. Emmory didn’t see it and I crawled after him when Zin carefully cleared his throat behind me.

  “Don’t say a word.” The message from Emmory came across the com line and distracted me just enough I almost ran into him.

  “What is it?” Zin and I asked the question simultaneously.

  “Observation room,” Emmory replied. “Two guards. Majesty. We’ve got enough space to turn around but there’s no way for Zin to get in front of you; we’ll have to do this quickly.”

  I didn’t bother telling him that I had no intention of staying behind anyway. “What’s the layout?”

  “One by the door. One directly under the vent. I want you following right behind me when we exit and then try to stay out of the way. Zin, I’m going after the one by the door. If the other man is still conscious, you take care of him.”

  “Okay.”

  The area we were in had widened just enough to let us flip around. I followed Emmory’s lead and wiggled until I was also feet first. Emmory waited a beat while Zin adjusted, then gave us both a nod and kicked the vent cover off.

  What he did was kick it free and drop from the ceiling, riding the cover to the ground like a plasma surfer from Ontario. The unfortunate guard beneath us played the role of the wave, and I landed to the left of his still form.

  Emmory was headed across the room toward the second guard, who was fumbling for his communication link when I spotted the flaw in Emmory’s plan.

  There was a third man in the room, and no time to wait for Zin to get out of the vent. Time slowed as the wide-eyed young man went for the gun at his side. I vaulted the desk between us and snapped his head back with a spinning hook kick.

  The guard’s pretty blue eyes rolled back in his head, and he dropped to the ground. I landed lightly beside him and turned to find Emmory giving me the Look.

  “What?” I hissed. “He was going to shoot you in the back.”

  “Zin—”

  “Sorry. She beat me to him.” Zin threw me a wink when Emmory looked away and mouthed, Nice work.

  I stifled a giggle, earning a growl from Emmory, and headed for the bank of screens on the far wall. From the looks of it we hadn’t set off any alarms and none of the guards had gotten distress calls off before being neutralized.

  “They’re all still alive,” Zin announced. “I’ll find something to tie them up with.”

  “Here,” I said to Emmory, pointing at one of the screens.

  A man with dark brown dreadlocks lounged on a low scarlet couch, his muscled arms spread out over the back. The casual pose was a ploy; even from here I could see the curious gleam in Bakara Rai’s amber eyes as Hao and the others were ushered into the room.

  “Can we get sound?”

  I swiped a hand over the table in front of me, bringing up the control panel. A few commands later the entire wall was covered with the footage from the camera in Rai’s private rooms, and conversation was as clear as if we were in the room with them.

  “Such an honor to have one of Po-Sin’s greatest generals come all the way out here to visit.” Rai’s voice was rough, a deep, shifting baritone that could go from seductive to deadly in the space between heartbeats. “I can’t imagine what would require such an important man as a messenger and such secrecy that you didn’t ask me for a pass at Midway. Even curiouser to bring the Dve of the currently deceased Empress of Indrana with you, Hao.”

  “He made Cas.” I spat out a curse and grabbed for the gun on my hip.

  “Easy, Majesty. Let’s see what Hao does.”

  I stared at Emmory in shock, but his eyes were locked on the screen.

  Hao folded his hands together, bowing low as he did so. When he came up, he extended his arms and pushed his sleeves up, revealing his uninked skin. “As you can see, Honored Rai, I am not currently in my uncle’s employ. He has released me for a personal issue and Dailun for the Traveling.”

  “Clever,” Emmory murmure
d.

  “Did you really think he’d give us up?” I hissed.

  “It’s my job to be suspicious, Majesty. If it keeps you alive it’s worth it.”

  “One of these days it’s going to get you in trouble. Hao would be mortally offended if he knew what you just pulled, Emmory.”

  “I did not pull anything, Majesty. I merely took advantage of the situation to further prove his loyalty. It won’t do any of them much good to go storming in anyway, so—” He gave a little shrug and looked back at the screen.

  Rai was dressed in a red tank top and loose pants. The gray silken fabric was embroidered with thread as scarlet as the top. He wasn’t obviously armed, but he didn’t need to be. The hired muscle standing behind Dailun had shifted nervously at the mention of Po-Sin.

  “Ah, yes, the Traveling.” Rai eyed Dailun with a smile. “So you’re bringing him here to do what? I don’t do fosters, and some would say that coming to work for me is a bit of a step down for a Cheng—let alone the great-grandson of Po-Sin.”

  “He knows something’s up,” I said to Emmory. “He’s just playing now. We might as well go out there.”

  Emmory didn’t look happy about it, but he at least didn’t argue with me. “Fine. You stay behind us, Majesty. Understood? If people start shooting, you jump back in here and get back to the ship.”

  I nodded, figuring it was a waste of time to tell him that Rai probably wouldn’t shoot us. If he wanted us dead he’d just lock the doors and gas the room.

  I’d seen that happen once before when some idiotic man thought he could strong-arm Rai.

  Portis and I had been waiting for our own appointment, and I’m sure that letting us watch the whole scenario through the wide one-way mirror had been a deliberate show of power on his part.

  Rai had sucked in the blue gas like he was smoking a vanity cigarette, while the other man choked and convulsed on the floor. Later he’d told me about the poison mod he’d had installed that filtered out all the known toxins in the universe.

  The trouble with Rai was it could have all been a trick, an illusion to build up his power and feed the rumor mill that already circulated thousands of stories about him a day.

  Or it could have been real.

  Either way, after that incident I tended to stay as close to the door as possible when I visited.

  The door to our hiding spot slid open, and I followed Emmory and Zin into the next room.

  We were just in time to hear Dailun say, “My jiejie would like a word with you.”

  Rai’s couch was facing the door we exited, with a long bank of windows behind him that looked down on the bustling gambling pit below. The door to the hallway was several meters away, guarded by two granite-faced men. Three more guards stood behind Hao and the others.

  The floor under my feet was satin-wood, gleaming in the overhead lights. Several other couches were scattered throughout the room, and a table of polished steel nearby was so loaded with food it looked as though it would collapse any second.

  “Jiejie, is it?” Rai rose from the couch in a fluid movement. “Now that, Dailun, is a step up.” A sly smile spread over his face, and when he bowed, he kept his eyes locked on mine. “Empress Hailimi Mercedes Jaya Bristol, it is good to see you alive and well. I heard a horrible rumor you were dead, and it drove me to tears.”

  “I’m sure it did.”

  Emmory stood in Rai’s way. Even barefoot, Rai was twenty or so centimeters taller than Emmory—not that it seemed to intimidate my Ekam at all.

  Or me for that matter. I held my ground as Rai stepped around him.

  “So sorry to hear of your boyfriend’s passing also, though I confess I’m relieved the competition is gone. If your Ekam will forgive the impertinence, I’ll greet you properly.” He leaned down to kiss me.

  The telltale whine of my Glock powering up filled the space between my lips and Rai’s as I pressed the barrel to the underside of his chin.

  “He won’t and neither will I.” I increased the pressure until Rai backed up a half step. “You will watch your tongue, Bakara Rai.”

  He tilted his head to the side, watching me with a tiny smile. “Or your BodyGuard will remove it?”

  “Or I will.” The tone in my voice was enough to make Rai’s guards shift uneasily. Mine stayed still as stone.

  “Such an interesting transformation,” Rai remarked to Hao. “I’d always scoffed at the notion of royal blood, but she’s proven me wrong. From gunrunner to empress and back again in just a matter of seconds. I’m honestly not sure who I like more.”

  “You don’t want to cross either,” Hao said, and Rai grinned.

  “Portis was a hero and will be remembered as such.” I returned the Glock to the small of my back.

  “Yes, of course. I meant no disrespect to his memory.” Rai snapped his fingers and a young woman in an outfit of gossamer threads the color of peaches glided over to him with two bowls of something blue and frothy. Rai took them and handed one in my direction. “Come sit down, Your Majesty. We will toast to the fallen. I promise it won’t harm you, but I won’t be offended if your Ekam insists on testing it first.”

  I let Emmory take the drink, picking the overstuffed red chair to the right of the couch Rai sat down on. It gave me a clear view of the door and the guards.

  Rai raised it in my direction. “To Portis, so very noble even at the end.”

  I took my drink back from Emmory and tapped it to Rai’s before taking a sip. A burst of tart lemon filled my mouth, and I leaned back in my chair with a smile. “That’s very nice.”

  “I thought you’d like it.” Rai slung his free arm over the back of the couch again and stretched out his long legs with a sigh. “So, as I said, I have a present for you, but that’s not all.” Rai grinned. “I have a surprise for you also—Johar is here. Do you want to see her?”

  “I thought you banned her from Santa Pirata for life,” I replied cautiously, using the pronoun Rai had chosen even though the last time I’d seen Johar she’d been male.

  Rai gave a little shrug. “I changed my mind. It was a misunderstanding.”

  “She shot you.”

  Rai tipped his head in acknowledgment. “True. It was a misunderstanding. Come on, Hail. We’ll miss it if we don’t go now.” He stood and offered me a hand.

  “Majesty, a moment?”

  I glanced over my shoulder at Emmory and then back at Rai, catching the amusement in his amber gaze.

  “I’ll just wait for you outside,” he said, and headed for the door, leaving me alone with my three Guards, Hao, and Dailun.

  “Is this safe?”

  My eyes snapped wide and I laughed. “We’re in a smuggler’s hideout, Emmy. Safe is relative.”

  “I meant going into the arena, Majesty. Crowd control will be impossible. We should bring the others—”

  “No, leave them on the ship for now. I’d rather not show our complete strength to Rai.” I shrugged. “We’ll be in Rai’s box, not up next to some drunk bastard in the upper decks. That’s safe enough as it goes.”

  “You’ll be spotted,” Zin said. “You’re extremely recognizable, Majesty.”

  “I’m okay with that,” I replied. “I like the idea of making Phanin out to be a liar every chance I have.”

  “This is dangerous, jiejie.”

  I rolled my eyes at Dailun’s input. “No more so than anything else and you know it. Rai’s a potential ally,” I replied calmly. “I can’t risk offending him or Johar. We might need them. And he’s not going to tell me what my present is until he’s damn good and ready, so we may as well play along.” Even if the present wasn’t anything planet-shattering, I would need Rai’s help, for weapons at the very least, and mercenaries if things got bad.

  Mother Destroyer, I hoped they didn’t get that bad.

  Emmory finally nodded. “All right, Majesty. If you think it’s for the best.”

  I didn’t, but it was the best we could do at the moment, and given what we were up against
it would have to do.

  28

  The gleam of plasteel and dead gray concrete faded into the smooth black rock native to Santa Pirata as we left Rai’s operational base and moved out into the public areas of the underground city.

  I was burning with curiosity over Rai’s casual remark about the present, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of asking. Harassing him about it would only make him clam up; that was just the way he was.

  Emmory walked in front of us, having won the staredown with Rai’s head of security after we’d left the room. Not all that big a surprise, considering my Ekam was on high alert. Still, Camon was a force to be reckoned with in his own right, and I could tell from the set of his beetled brows that he was unhappy about the arrangement.

  The walls were so shiny our reflections followed us along like wandering ghosts. It was fitting. I could feel this weight between my shoulder blades, a frozen knife thrusting all the way through to my heart. And any one of the ghosts following me had the right to put it there. Never in all my life had I felt the weight of the dead as keenly as I had since fleeing Red Cliff.

  Santa Pirata had once been packed with volcanoes that burned away the atmosphere and smothered any living things on the surface in a thick coating of ash a few million years ago.

  The quick-cooling lava, a rock very similar to Earth obsidian, had been compressed with the ash, and the resulting substance could be powdered and smoked to produce one of the most powerful highs known to humankind.

  I didn’t understand the appeal. The thought of feeling like you wanted to crawl out of your own skin didn’t sound like a good time to me.

  Rai controlled the distribution with the same iron fist he used in all his business dealings, all too aware that the finite supply of Pirate Rock meant he needed to cash in on it while he still had the material.

  Plus I figured he wasn’t too keen on having to move his entire operation and gutting his underground empire just to make a profit. Though once the man figured out how to build a planet I’m sure he’d be all over it.

  It was an instant death penalty to cut, scrape, or otherwise steal the rock—not only for the one doing the cutting but for anyone who saw the crime and didn’t issue the punishment.