Behind the Throne

by K. B. Wagers

  “Highness.” Emmory’s voice was more insistent and I tore my eyes away from the screen.

  “It’s Wilson.” Blinking the tears away, I faced my Ekam. “It’s the man I was hunting. He killed my father. Killed my sisters. He strolled back onto my planet like he owns it!”

  Rage clawed at my chest and I cast about for something to throw, but Emmory grabbed my arm and didn’t back down even when I snarled at him.

  “We don’t know what his role is, Highness, or even who he is.”

  “Because he’s a Shiva-damned ghost.” I pulled out of Emmory’s grasp and stalked to the window where Zin stood. “I don’t even know why they let me go after him. Why they didn’t send someone better.”

  “They sent the best Trackers, Highness,” Zin murmured. “You’re lucky you didn’t vanish like they did.”

  “I’m not sure luck had anything to do with it.” I tapped my fingers on the windowsill. “The fact that no one but Portis knew who I was out there probably had more to do with it than anything. I tracked the man I knew as Wilson as far as the edge of Solarian space, even met with a man who claimed to have intelligence on his network, but that information didn’t pan out. The trail went cold after that.”

  Turning back around, I called Bial with my smati and projected the link onto the screen.

  “Highness?”

  “No one is to see my mother without my permission with the exception of Dr. Satir.”

  “Dr. Satir is still visiting family, Highness.”

  “Dr. Ganjen then. No one else, Bial.”

  “Highness, your cousin has breakfast with the empress daily.”

  “Then you can meet her tomorrow morning and inform her that I forbid it.”

  “I could call her now and tell her—”

  “Did I fucking stutter?” It was petty payback for the earlier breakfast stunt of hers, but I figured Ganda would come see me when she found out and I didn’t feel like dealing with her right now.

  “No, ma’am. I’ll see that it’s done.” Bial hung up without waiting for my dismissal and I arched an eyebrow at the blank screen thoughtfully.

  “He was more cooperative than I expected. Do you think he’s coming around?”

  “Hard to say, Highness,” Emmory replied. “What now?”

  “I need to send a few messages. I want you to put someone on the security footage of the hallways and inform me if anyone gets in my mother’s door besides the doctor.”

  21

  Ganda was predictably angry the next morning. I could hear her coming down the hallway, though the closed door muffled whatever raging she was doing to something unintelligible.

  I crossed my legs underneath me on the couch and picked up my mug. It was tempting to let her stand outside the door and shout for a bit, but I nodded at Emmory to open it instead.

  “Do you want to explain to me why I can’t get in to see Aunt Divya?” Ganda’s cheeks were flushed and her carefully done hair was slightly disheveled. “We’ve been having breakfast for years. Now she’s all alone and you’re cutting off the one thing she enjoys—that she looks forward to every day? You’ve been gone, Hail. I’m doing the job you gave up to go running around the universe with some commoner.”

  That struck a nerve, but I was careful to keep a grip on my temper, even if it required that I bite my tongue. Ganda was too busy waving her hands in the air to notice.

  “You have no right to keep me from her. None at all, and—don’t you have anything to say?”

  I took a sip of my chai, keeping my eyes on hers the whole time. “My empress-mother is very ill. Dr. Satir thinks it’s best not to stress her too much.”

  “Dr. Satir isn’t here.” Ganda licked her lips.

  “She left the instructions before her departure.” That was a bald-faced lie, but I was better at it than Ganda was. I set my cup down and stood, pleased that Ganda took a step back. “We are grateful for the kindness you’ve shown her over the years, but I’m home and I’m the heir and you will do as I say.”

  “You can’t do this,” Ganda hissed, her eyes narrowed.

  I arched an eyebrow in reply, determined not to show my shock at her unbelievable boldness. “You know, I didn’t miss you at all, Ganda. How surprising is that?”

  “Likewise.” This time she stood her ground when I advanced on her.

  “Well, you can file a complaint with Mother. Though it’s hard to say what kind of reaction you’ll get.”

  “You would have done better to stay away, Hail.” Ganda’s girlish voice became suddenly menacing as she stepped forward and stabbed a finger into my breastbone. Zin’s eyes widened at the enormous breech of protocol, but I just bared my teeth in a lazy smile and stopped Emmory with a surreptitious elbow in his stomach.

  “You know, I was going to, but these two insisted I come home,” I said. “And I’d keep your hands to yourself.”

  “Too bad for you. I’d suggest you find a way to do another disappearing act and go back to that pitiful life of yours before you lose it.”

  Did she really just threaten me? I blinked at Ganda, too stunned for a moment to register Emmory’s hissed exhalation, then the point of her nail dug into my sternum again. I grabbed her finger, bending it back sharply until the bone cracked from the pressure.

  Ganda let out a cry of pain and tears appeared in her eyes. I let her go and she staggered back toward the door. I could see her Guards hovering just outside, unwilling to cross mine to get to their charge.

  “I’ve been out in the world, cousin. I know the value of wheat and lentils. That’s more than you can say, having never worked a day in your life. You overstep your bounds. I’d suggest you find somewhere else to be and that you stay away from my mother.” I waved a hand at her Guards. “I think Lady Ganda might need to see a Farian. It appears she’s injured herself.”

  The woman nodded, not about to argue with me. Ganda shook off the hand she cupped around her elbow and stalked off, hiding her hand within the sleeve of her purple dress.

  “That was worrisome,” Emmory said.

  I kept the smile pasted on my face and tried to shake the chill that Ganda’s words had sent running down my spine. “Tell me about it. She always was an annoying bitch, but direct threats from her are something new. Usually she just liked to whisper and connive behind my back.”

  “I can’t believe she threatened you.” Admiral Hassan shook her head with a frown.

  “Me either, but that just goes to show how much things have changed around here.” I stopped in front of Bial and smiled at my mother’s Ekam. “Good morning. How is she today?”

  “Well, Highness.” Bial exchanged a nod with Emmory that was just a shade frostier than the one he’d given me, and I made a mental note to ask him what the fallout had been from Nal’s dismissal.

  Admiral Hassan and I headed into the room. Mother was standing with Caspel, studying the projected worlds hovering above the massive table in the War Room.

  “If we move the 107th and the 33rd from the Cerulean System, we could put them here and here.” Planets lit up as Mother moved forces around with her fingertips.

  “It leaves us awfully exposed on the backside.” Caspel frowned. “Admiral Hassan, thoughts?”

  “Good morning, Majesty.” Hassan bowed and crossed the room. “It does leave us exposed, but the likelihood of the Solarian Conglomerate attempting anything is extremely small. However, I’d suggest moving the 81st from here to cover some of the gap left behind.”

  I circled around the other side of the table, staring up at all the planets as memories drifted through my head.

  “You used to love coming in here with your father.”

  I bowed. “Good morning, Mother.”

  She smiled. It erased some of the exhaustion on her face. “I hear I have you to thank for me finally getting some peace and quiet in the mornings?”

  I was so shocked, all I could do was blink at her and Mother snickered. Finally, I found my voice. “You’re welcome? If you di
dn’t want her around, why didn’t you do something about it?”

  “She’s family, even if she does chatter like a schoolboy. And in all honesty, I was pretty out of it for a while.”

  “You seem much better.”

  “I’m still dying. Just a little more aware of it now. Dr. Ganjen is trying some experimental new treatment to counter the effects. It might kill me, but I figured since I was going out anyway, I may as well do one last thing worth noting.” She fisted her hand when it started shaking and gave me a rueful smile. “Enough about my tragedy. What do you think?”

  “Ma’am?”

  Mother gestured at the table. “What do you think of all this? It’s going to be your show, Haili. You may as well learn how to run it.”

  Forty-five planets spun around twenty-eight stars. Three of them by Admiral Hassan were red, the three that the Saxons had claimed. In the center of it all was the Ashvin System and home. Blinking designations hung in the air above the naval vessels and I continued my path around the table, studying them intently.

  Two of the worlds the Saxons had claimed—Hanmas and Interia—orbited the same star, but the third was farther out and a reasonable distance away from both home and the border worlds. “Why did they take that one instead of this one?” I gestured at a reddish planet closer to me. “This would have made more sense.”

  “ITS training world, ma’am,” Hassan replied. “There’s no civilians.”

  “Ah, yeah, that probably would have been a little more obvious than they want at the moment.” Clicking my tongue on my teeth, I stared at the pair of planets for so long that my vision blurred. I blinked and froze. “Bugger me.”

  “Highness?”

  “Have you looked at this?”

  Caspel arched an eyebrow and I grabbed Hassan by the shoulders and dragged her in front of me.

  “Look past those worlds, Admiral, not at them.” I sped up the time scale. The planets moved along their paths, opening up a corridor that led straight to home, and I heard Caspel’s quiet curse behind me as it sank in. “I’m only paranoid because people are trying to kill me, but there’s an awful lot of empty space leading right up to Pashati in the next few months.”

  “They would never,” Mother said, shaking her head. “To strike at us here, to strike so deep into the empire, would take a force greater than they have.”

  “Plus they’d be cut off from supplies, support, everything once they got past Canafey. We’d grind them up from the front and the back,” Hassan agreed, though her brows were knitted together as she contemplated the possibilities.

  “I take it you don’t agree either?”

  Caspel wore a deep frown, but he, too, shook his head. “It’s risky. Bold, though, and King Trace is known for that. I need more intel before I’m willing to accept it.”

  “Speaking of Canafey, can we pull the 44th from there and send them back to support the ITS troops on New Vesa?”

  “I wouldn’t, Mother,” I said. “Even with the Vajrayana Initiative docks there, they wouldn’t be able to get them up and running fast enough if the Saxons hit us.” I wasn’t going to say it out loud, but I didn’t know why she was suggesting it when I’d just shown her that taking any troops away from Canafey was a very bad decision.

  “I can take into advisement your concerns, Hail; however, I’d caution you to not jump to conclusions on this, and remember that we’ve been following what the Saxons are doing for quite a bit longer than you have.” Her smile took some of the sting out of her words. “Admiral, send me an action plan by the end of the day for approval.”

  “Yes, Majesty.”

  Mother squeezed my forearm with a second smile. “I’m going to go lie down for a bit.”

  I smiled back and watched her as she carefully walked to the door, then turned back to look at the map again.

  “Highness, whatever your empress-mother says, I will keep an eye on this. If I come across more information, we can perhaps change her mind.”

  “Thank you, Caspel. Let’s hope we have time for that.” My gut was screaming at me, and after all these years, I’d learned to listen to it.

  The GIS director bowed and left the room.

  “Admiral, I’m having dinner tonight with Leena Surakesh and my nephew. If you’re free, would you care to join us?”

  “Of course, Highness.”

  “Good.” I laughed. “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure I trust myself not to grab him by the throat and shake him until he confesses.”

  “Understandable, ma’am.”

  “I’ll see you this evening then.”

  She took the hint and left me alone to stare at the map and wonder just what in the fires of Naraka Trace was up to. I was tempted to just call him up and ask, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t go over well.

  As uneasy as I’d been earlier, it multiplied itself tenfold by the time my aircar pulled up outside Shivan’s later that evening. Convincing Emmory that having dinner with a man we were pretty sure was trying to kill me had taken some doing.

  “I realize the security risks here. Believe me when I say I’m not being reckless. I need to look Laabh in the eye again now that I know for sure. See what he’s made of, and maybe if I drop a few hints, we can shake him up enough that he’ll fold. Shivan’s is one of the few restaurants in the city the media can’t get into, and frankly I’d rather no one overhear this conversation we’re about to have.”

  “I realize that, Highness.” Emmory gave me the Look.

  “Hey, I haven’t killed Nal, have I? I think you can trust me not to kill my nephew.”

  “I’m still getting out of the car first,” Emmory said, stopping me with a hand when I moved forward. “Jet, you’re with me.” The big man nodded and followed Emmory from the car.

  Shivan’s was an exclusive restaurant buried in the heart of the capital’s warehouse district. The building was a narrow, three-story structure covered with unassuming gray brick and surrounded by warehouses that bustled with activity day and night.

  I stayed in the aircar with Zin and Cas, not arguing with Emmory about the need to check out the restaurant. Our enemies had been given plenty of warning if they wanted to try something, and I didn’t want anyone hurt because of me.

  Several moments later, Cas tilted his head to the side and said, “We can go.” The door to the aircar slid open and Zin stepped out as a roar of sound hit us again and the bright snap of digital camera lights filled the air.

  Oh, bugger me. The media.

  Taking Zin’s offered hand, I plastered a smile on my face and lifted my heavy skirts as I stepped from the car. The multihued fabric looked like the ocean after a storm, shimmering with color and light in the entire spectrum of blue.

  “Your Highness, what can you tell us about the accusations you were involved in the killing of children?”

  “Princess! Is it true you were a hitman for Po-Sin?”

  I didn’t know any of the people shouting questions at me. The media events at the palace were more controlled, with carefully selected members of the press allowed in for an audience. My interview with INN had been the third carefully orchestrated one since my return.

  I turned toward the crowd of reporters and released my skirts to give them a wave.

  “Dinner at home might have been easier,” Zin whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

  “I know,” I muttered back. But this was safer, as weird as it sounded.

  “Princess Hailimi, do you have any response to these accusations?”

  I looked at the young man who’d shouted the question. “You’ve seen my interview with INN. I hope that answered all your questions about the incident. If not, feel free to put in a request with my chamberlain about another interview. I will reiterate that the accusations are false, though I think you’ve all figured that out for yourselves. The venerable Po-Sin is not the sort of man who handles dishonorable employees well.”

  Nervous laughter answered my reply.

  “Your Highness,
why are you having dinner with your nephew and the admiral?”

  My reply slipped out before I could stop it. “Because I’m hungry.”

  Laughter echoed up from the cluster of media personnel and I tossed the crowd a wink. “Not now,” I said in response to the deluge of questions. “I really am hungry. Hang around and I’ll answer a few questions after dinner.” Grabbing for my skirts again, I headed up the short stairs toward the orange double doors of Shivan’s.

  Emmory had come back out of the restaurant and was scowling at the crowd. “Hang around?” he said shortly.

  I grinned at him. “They’re harmless.”

  “The media?” He snorted with another sweeping glance. “Maybe. But I’m not worried about them. All they can damage is your reputation.”

  “I think we’re far past that concern, Emmory.”

  He spared me a look. “Inside, Highness.”

  I resisted the urge to give him a salute because I knew the cameras would pick it up immediately.

  “There’s the admiral. You did realize this whole dinner is probably going to tip off our enemies, Highness?”

  “I’m counting on it,” I replied. I wanted to wait for Admiral Hassan, but instead I let Emmory direct me into the restaurant. Adail, Jet, and Salham stood just inside the door. They fell into step behind us.

  The doors shut, closing the jarring roar of the media outside, and I sighed a little as the soothing sounds of the restaurant wrapped around me. Quiet music floated in the background, slipping among conversations without drowning them out.

  The interior of Shivan’s was quite different from its outside skin. The entryway opened up into the wide reception area, and beyond was the first floor dining area. The interior of the building had been hollowed out, and a tower of a glass elevator stretched up through open air toward the ceiling. The second and third floors were sectioned off into private rooms ringing the exterior of the building.

  Orchids and other exotic plants dangled from the balconies, spilled from carefully stacked displays, and filled the air with subtle scents intended to enhance rather than compete with the food.