Behind the Throne

by K. B. Wagers

  “It’s unseemly.” Mother’s eyes were bright, like twin points of light in her face, a sure sign she’d worked herself into another episode. I wondered how long she’d be able to hold together a tirade.

  “You’re a princess, not a tavern brawler. We won’t have it.”

  “Mother—”

  She cut me off, jamming a finger into my chest. “You’re behaving like a hooligan. We won’t have it in our house, Hailimi.”

  “I’ll gladly move out, or off-planet, Your Majesty. Your choice.”

  I hadn’t meant for it to sound snarky, but Mother’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t think we haven’t heard about you threatening Prime Minister Phanin.”

  “I didn’t threaten him. I put him in his place. Arresting the Saxon ambassador could have started a war.” At least she hadn’t found out about my meeting with Clara and the others; that really wouldn’t have gone over well.

  “He was just sending a message to them. If you’d been in any actual danger, your BodyGuard would have taken care of it. That’s what he’s here for. Not to teach you to fight like a street rat.”

  I gaped at her, trying to follow the tangle of sentences. “If I’d been in danger? Mother, someone tried to poison me. Let’s get something straight here.” I crossed my arms over my chest as I faced her down. Nothing I could say would go over well, but I wasn’t going to stand there and let her treat me like a child. “I’m a grown woman and I’ll be responsible for my own safety. I’m not sitting around getting fat and lazy when there’s someone out there trying to kill me.”

  “Yes, precisely.” I had enough time to frown at my mother’s sudden agreement before she turned on Emmory. “Ekam Tresk, you are relieved of your duty.”

  “What?” Fear clogged my throat and I croaked the word out as the blood rushed to fill my ears with a roar.

  20

  Highness, it’s best if you step away.” Nal closed a hand on my upper arm and tried to pull me away from Emmory.

  I snapped my right hand out, striking Nal in the throat, and she dropped like a rock tossed off a cliff.

  “Highness, please calm down.” Bial had his hands up, trying to placate me while staying out of arm’s reach.

  “Haili, do not make a scene. I have—”

  “I will kill the next person who touches me.” I didn’t raise my voice at all, but the words cut through the din like a monomolecular blade.

  Bial shut up. Mother blinked at me in shock. Nal gasped for breath on the ground like a fish. Zin swallowed back his protests and pressed his lips so tightly together they were a bloodless slash in his face. Cas and Jet had moved to my side and their hands were on their weapons.

  Emmory hadn’t said a word.

  I folded my hands at my waist as everything fell into place around me with stunning clarity.

  I was still only the heir and Mother’s sanity seemed iffy at the moment, so I wasn’t about to risk using the argument that she was willingly going to abdicate the throne. But when it came to my BodyGuards, the law was on my side. Mother couldn’t remove my BodyGuards, not without proof that they were a threat to my life. There was no way I was letting anyone dictate who was keeping me safe.

  I cleared my throat and set my shoulders. “Begging your pardon, Your Majesty. You cannot remove my Ekam. He has sworn an oath to me; only I can release him from it.”

  “He did no such thing.”

  “Ask Matriarch Desai, she witnessed it.”

  “I am the empress!”

  “You are.” I dipped into a reasonably competent curtsy given my lack of skirts. “However, the law dictates you can only remove the BodyGuards of the heir with my agreement or if you have proof the heir’s life is in danger and the Guards are not able to counter the threat.”

  Mother smiled triumphantly. “Three attempts on your life would constitute a danger, Hailimi. As much as it pains me to admit it, I made a mistake. Three times your life has been in danger. It’s clear this assignment is too much for this Tracker. We’ll return him and his partner to their former positions and Nal will take over as your Ekam.”

  Swallowing back all the angry words I wanted to throw at her, I concentrated on the facts. “Three unsuccessful attempts, Mother,” I replied calmly. “In two of those attempts Ekam Tresk was directly responsible for saving my life. You have no proof of incompetence and I will take this fight to the Matriarch Council if it is necessary.”

  The seconds ticked away as Mother and I stared at each other, silently battling it out. There was little question in my mind who was going to win. I was dead if she took Emmory away from me, so from my perspective, I didn’t have anything to lose.

  “What’s it going to be?”

  “Fine. If you’re going to make an issue of it.” She shoved past me, the force knocking me into Zin.

  “Don’t be a brat, Hailimi. We’re sick to death of arguing with you. There will be no more of this foolishness under our roof. And you, BodyGuard Tresk, we’ve entrusted the welfare of the Crown to you.” She glared at Emmory. “Don’t disappoint us again.”

  “Never, Your Majesty,” he murmured, dropping his head.

  “Fix your damn hair, Hailimi.” Mother snapped her fingers and I heard the sharp staccato of her footsteps as she marched back out of the room.

  “Highness, are you all right?”

  I didn’t look up at Zin as he set me on my feet. My hands were shaking. Mother was well and truly gone. I couldn’t do anything to save her, and her behavior was only going to get worse. All I could do was take on the burden she had shouldered for so many years.

  “It’s a responsibility, Haili, not a burden.” Cire’s voice rang in my head as one of the last conversations with my sister floated up from the depths of memory. “I’ve been given the gift of this life. I can do something with it. Make life better for others. I’m not saying it’s easy, duty never is, but it’s a responsibility I’ll take on gladly—the price of everything I’ve been given.”

  “You always were so much better than me,” I murmured, remembering our conversation.

  “Pish,” Cire had declared with a wave of her hand. “You always sell yourself short. Stop playing the ‘poor me’ game, Haili. I know you could do this.”

  She was right, as usual. I’d run from a lot of things in my life, but running from a fight wasn’t my style at all.

  “Nalmari.” I stepped away from Zin and stared down at my BodyGuard. “You told my mother Emmory couldn’t protect me, knowing what’s wrong with her and how she would react.”

  Defiant brown eyes met mine. “I was only looking out for your safety, Highness. This violation of tradition has put you in danger time and again.”

  “I am done with your attitude and your lack of cooperation with my Ekam. You are released from my service.”

  Nal gaped at me in shock. “Highness, your empress-mother appointed—”

  “And I’m unappointing you. I am done. Get out of here before I borrow Emmory’s gun and shoot you.”

  “Yes, Highness.” Nal fled.

  “If you’re going to argue about this with me, too, I should warn you I’m not in the mood.” I didn’t bother waiting for the door to close fully before I spoke and stalked over to grab a towel.

  “I’m honestly surprised you let her stay as long as you did, Highness.”

  I stopped drying my face and stared at him. “Are you kidding me? If you wanted her gone, why didn’t you fire her?”

  Emmory shrugged. “Your empress-mother appointed her. I suspect if I’d tried, we’d have had a much bigger fight on our hands. You have the right—as you just pointed out—to decide on your Guards.”

  “You could have just said something to me. I trust your judgment, Emmory.”

  He shifted uncomfortably. “Your Highness might not think that for long. I owe you another apology and a confession. Nal was on Pace’s BodyGuard team and we have reason to believe she may have been the one responsible for the ebolenza.”

  A meteorite crashed into m
y chest and lodged itself there, burning me up from the inside.

  Nal had been my little sister’s BodyGuard. Nal had let her die. For all I knew, she could have been the one who slipped the ebolenza to her and then watched her choke to death on her own blood.

  “But her files.”

  “I cleaned them before I gave them to you.”

  “You knew. You knew and you didn’t tell me. Not only that but you hid it from me.” I curled my hands into fists as fury closed its teeth in me and everything inside me froze.

  “Highness.”

  I was moving before the plan was fully formed, but I knew I only had seconds. I grabbed Cas, shoving him into Emmory’s path, bolting around them for the door. Jet hesitated, indecision costing him the precious seconds he needed to have a chance of stopping me.

  Zin, however, had learned his lesson about my reaction time back on Sophie. He saw the look on my face, moved when I did, and caught me around the waist before I made it a full meter. I swung at him, my fist connecting with something solid. He released me with a grunt of pain.

  “Highness, listen please. We can’t go after Nal right now. There’s no proof. Emmory kept her on in the hopes that we’d have the time to find it.” Zin held his hands up. “Please.”

  I tossed my towel in one direction and came at him from the other. Moving with more grace than a man his size had a right to, Zin pivoted out of my way, and his blow to my kidney sent me to my knees.

  I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs. Zin followed me down, taking my face in his hands as I struggled for air past the pain.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I need you to listen. I need you to put aside your anger for a minute and let me explain why we didn’t tell you.”

  “No.” I tried to grab his wrists, but I couldn’t get my hands to obey my brain.

  “Nal wasn’t anywhere near her when Pace was infected with the ebolenza. She’s got an alibi, and until we have proof otherwise, we can’t move on her. She may have ties to whoever is behind all this, and we can’t tip our hand. We decided not to tell you because we knew you’d react like this. You can’t kill her. Not even your royal blood would protect you from what would look like cold-blooded murder.”

  Deep down I knew he was right, but I didn’t want logic right now. I finally got my arms to cooperate and grabbed Zin’s wrists.

  He didn’t let me go and instead pulled me in closer until his forehead was touching mine. “I swear to you with all that I hold sacred that we’ll find out who’s responsible for this. We’ll make them pay. You need to trust me, to trust us, to handle this. You are going to be empress.”

  “She was my baby sister,” I choked out. “I was supposed to keep her safe.” Tears spilled out from behind the barrier I’d been desperately shoring up since I first heard the news about my sisters. Without the ice of my anger, the grief took hold and tore me apart.

  “So were we,” Zin replied, sorrow etched into his face. “We didn’t and I’m more sorry for that than you’ll ever know.”

  “I was supposed to keep them safe!” The dam broke at the same time my heart shattered all over again and I began to cry.

  Zin still didn’t release me. He pulled me to his chest, cradling my head against his shoulder as I wept out my broken heart.

  “Zin.”

  “She’s all right, Emmory. She just hasn’t had a chance to really grieve. She needs this.”

  The material of Zin’s uniform jacket was soft under my cheek. He rocked slightly, completely at ease with my tears, murmuring comfort to me until they died out.

  Embarrassment set in shortly after. I untangled myself from Zin and landed on my ass. “Next time we fight, I’m bringing a gun.”

  “It wouldn’t help, Highness. I’m sorry for hitting you.”

  “Stop apologizing. I’m still furious with you both.” I rubbed at my back and shot him a rueful smile. “You’re good. I underestimated you.”

  “Most people do. It’s why Emmory keeps me around.” He got to his feet and held out a hand.

  “I need to clean up.” I took his hand, wincing a little as I got to my feet. I snagged my towel from the floor and headed for the door, but Emmory dropped to a knee in front of me. Zin glanced at us and ushered the other BodyGuards out the door.

  “I am sorry, Highness.”

  Studying my Ekam, I mulled over my replies before choosing the best option. “I’ve trusted you and thought you returned it. I’m not going to lie and say that doesn’t hurt. Remember that next time I doubt you, it’s a problem of your own creation. Get up. That makes me uncomfortable.” I started walking again, figuring that would get him moving. “I’m still going to kill Nal.”

  “That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you,” he said.

  “He’s dangerous,” I said with a wave of my finger ahead of us at Zin as we started down the hallway.

  Emmory’s smile flickered. “You don’t want to fight him, Highness.”

  “I just did and I got my ass kicked.”

  “You know what I mean, you’ve got that look.”

  “So I can’t kill Nal right now,” I said, restarting the conversation as soon as we were safely in my rooms. “Is there anything else I need to know?”

  “Nal and her older sisters were all sponsored to either the Naval Academy or High Point by Matriarch Surakesh’s youngest sister.”

  “And all of them are gone, lost to the war.”

  Emmory nodded sharply. “That’s motive enough to hate your family, but it doesn’t end there. Ganda spent a lot of time with Pace before she got sick. It would have been easy for her to get close with Nal.”

  “And to suggest her as my Ekam when she found out I was coming home.” Hissing out my frustration, I stared up at the ceiling. “I’m going to kill my cousin, too, Emmory.”

  “I would advise against it, Highness.”

  “There’ve been an awful lot of accidents happening around here lately, especially to my family. It wouldn’t be any more suspicious than the others.”

  Silence settled down around us, a cloak as heavy as the snow falling outside the window. Emmory conceded my point with a shrug of his shoulder and changed the subject.

  “I doubt there’ll be much fallout from this, though Bial may protest.”

  “Let him protest,” I said with a shrug of my own. “I could take him if it came down to it.”

  The sound of surprised laughter was quickly—if poorly—camouflaged by a cough. I raised an eyebrow at Jet, who lowered his hand and gave me an innocent smile.

  “Oh, I know it was you.” I threw my towel at him. “I’m going to clean up. Clara sent me Zaran’s full report, but I haven’t had a chance to read it because I’m still working my way through the one Fenna sent me on Bial. Emmory, will you get me food? We can go over it while I eat.”

  An hour later I was clean, comfortable, and relaxing on the couch as I flipped through the report Fenna had sent me. I’d had Emmory put it up on the screen so we could all see.

  “There’s nothing here to suggest his involvement, Highness.”

  “I know.” I made a face. “That’s the problem. His behavior doesn’t match his squeaky-clean file. He’s from a good family, passed all the required loyalty tests. Even has a recommendation from General Saito. He was the first name on Ven’s short list.” I couldn’t bring myself to replay the journal entry by Mother’s former BodyGuard talking about how Bial was a “proud Indranan, fiercely loyal to the throne.”

  “Other than the first night, he hasn’t been outwardly insulting toward you,” Zin said.

  “He doesn’t like me; it’s obvious every time I get near the man. I’m a good liar.”

  “Your pardon, Highness, but your readings go all over the place when you lie.”

  I shrugged. “It’s not worth the effort it takes to hide it from you.” I took a breath and looked right at Emmory. “I slept with Cas last night.”

  Emmory gave me the Look, clearly unimpressed.
>
  “Not a blip.” Zin blinked. “Not bad, Highness. I’m not sure what this proves. We know you’re lying.”

  “Do you? No one was in my rooms last night and Cas wasn’t on duty. Did you see him?”

  Zin frowned and glanced at Emmory. “She’s lying, right?”

  Emmory didn’t look away from me. “I actually can’t tell. Your point, Highness?”

  “I’m better at reading people than I am at lying. Bial’s hiding something; he may as well scream it at me every time I come near him. Practically everyone is hiding something at one point or another, even you.”

  “I’m hiding things?”

  I flipped him off. “I’m assuming it’s normal shit and not that you’re part of the plot to kill me. That may be a stupid move on my part.”

  “I’ve kept you alive so far, Highness.”

  “I know.” I smiled. “My point is can we really discount Bial, or did my enemies do such a good job that they managed to get someone right next to my mother without showing their hand.”

  “The bigger question is why hasn’t he just killed the empress? Why go to all the trouble of making her look crazy?” Zin asked.

  “That’s easy,” Emmory replied, rubbing a hand over his head. “If you want to throw things into chaos, it’s better to damage the foundation. If they’d just killed the empress, someone else would take her place.”

  “But if you make the people fear the monarchy first?” I finished his thought for him. “You get the empress to make a whole bunch of questionable decisions and suddenly people start questioning the government. Then when you kill them, people are a lot more open to a change in leadership.”

  “I’ll keep digging on Bial, Highness,” Emmory said as Stasia came in the room with my food.

  I wiped the report from Fenna off the screen as I picked up my fork and brought up the report Matriarch Desai had sent over.

  My fork clattered to the floor.

  “Highness, what is it?”

  I dragged in a breath and then another; tears were blurring the image on the screen. The face of the man Zaran had seen with her mother. The face of the man I’d seen the day my father was killed.