Vance didn't comment on my choice of formal wear. He didn't apologize, either. I took his arm when he offered. Neither of us smiled. There wasn't anyone at the mansion to fool, they all knew the truth.
He waited until the flitter was high in the air before he spoke.
"If you aren't happy here, Dace, why haven't you left?"
"Because we're engaged, Vance. I can't desert you." I smiled sweetly at him. "For the sake of our child."
He made a face. "All right, I apologize. I'm sorry. Was it really that bad this afternoon?"
"The luncheon was nice enough. Henry kept the women busy. They didn't have time to make vicious remarks about me."
"Henry. Who is he really?"
"You asked me earlier. He's my cousin. And there was nothing inappropriate between us, despite what the news sheets may have said. Who's Charise?"
He flinched. I waited, staring at his profile as he stared outside, away from me.
"My mother and her mother came up with the idea that we should get married," he said finally. "I've never liked her. Much."
"I don't like her, either, so that makes two of us."
He turned back to look at me, his face highlighted by the lights outside. He studied me a long moment. "She always saw me as the son of the Speaker, a necessary step to her ambitions."
"Then why didn't she go for Max?"
"Because he's been betrothed since he was two years old. He's marrying Olinette DeShrya, for the sake of political alliances."
"Who's she?"
He gave me a long explanation involving politics and centuries of history. My eyes glazed over after the first sentence.
"You've met her," he finished. "She was the one in the pink fluffy outfit last night." She had seemed nice enough, if a bit vague.
"How can he be engaged to her since he was two? She can't be more than fourteen."
"She isn't. Weren't you paying attention?"
"No."
"Are you still upset with me?"
"I'm frustrated at the whole situation right now," I answered truthfully. "And I don't know how much more socializing I can stand."
He laughed and reached for my hand. I pulled away from him.
"Give me space, Vance. Don't push me."
He sat back, turning away from me again. I could like him, I thought. Maybe if life had been different.
The flitter banked, dropping altitude as it circled. I caught a glimpse of golden lights beyond a low roll of hills. The flitter rose over the hills, joining a line of other flitters. I didn't think anything else on Linas-Drias could possibly awe me. I was wrong.
The palace of the Emperor filled the valley hidden behind the hills. It was a fairyland structure of delicate arches and towers and soaring fingers of stone. And all of it was bathed in golden light. I pressed my nose against the window and watched, fascinated by the glimpses I saw of gardens and domed roofs.
"I used to play there," Vance said, pointing past me at a walled courtyard full of grass and flowers. "Max's mother decided it would be good for him to have friends. I was one of the chosen few invited to play with him. Poor kid."
I turned to stare at him in surprise. He was close, but his mind was far away.
"Poor kid?" I asked.
"He wasn't allowed off the grounds of the palace until he was ten. Everything he did was bound by rules and traditions. We used to fight, because he knew he wasn't supposed to." He smiled as he remembered. I almost loved him in that moment, when I saw the unguarded look in his face. Then his mask snapped back into place. He smiled at me and moved back to his own seat.
I watched him as the flitter landed. Was everything he did and said an act? Who was the real man? I thought I knew him on Serrimonia, and maybe I did, then. He was someone else now.
He opened the door for me and helped me out of the flitter. I tugged my uniform straight before we walked to the wide doors waiting open for those invited to the inauguration. He offered me his arm. I took it without comment.
I studied the other people heading for the doors. Most of the men wore formal tunics in various shades of green. Vance wore a dark blue one, trimmed with silver. The women wore gowns in every color of the rainbow. A handful wore dress uniforms, like me.
There was music inside, and golden light, and more people. I kept hold of Vance's arm. He patted my hand, squeezing it, as he introduced me to yet more people. The names were a blur. I smiled and nodded and didn't say much.
"It will be a while before the Emperor makes his appearance," he told me some time later. "Excuse me a moment." He left me standing by a pillar.
I watched people walk past.
"You have the nerve to show your face here, after this afternoon?" Charise stopped in front of me. She wore a low-cut dress of deep red. It was tight and left little to the imagination. She had two friends with her. They both wore dresses of similar cut and color.
"I have the nerve to show up here?"
"Everyone knows what you really are," she said.
"Pity they don't know what you are." I was determined not to lose my temper with her. It wasn't worth it.
"Vance is mine." She thrust her face forward.
I smiled, showing lots of teeth. "I pity the poor man who marries you."
She hissed profanity under her breath. Her hand snaked out and slapped me on the face. Startled silence fell around us.
I reached up and touched my stinging cheek. "The last person who slapped me died for it," I said levelly.
She stared at me, trying to be angry, but I saw fear in her eyes. I'd shot and killed people and she saw it in my face. She glanced down at my uniform.
"Charise, let's go," one of her friends said. She let her friend tug her away from me.
"I say, that was not sporting of her," a man near me observed. "She wants a fight."
"I don't fight amateurs," I said. "Besides, there are probably laws against it."
"The old Enforcers creed?" The man wore a uniform, silver with blue trim, a medic.
"Something like that." I watched Charise and her red dress disappear into a hallway across the reception room.
I was saved from more conversation by a fanfare of trumpets. The Emperor was announced. He came through a set of doors, waving and smiling. A plump woman on his arm smiled brightly and waved a hand sporting several rings.
"The Empress Josephine," Vance said behind me. "Max's mother."
"You just missed Charise."
"I saw her." He glanced down. "Your face is a bit red."
"She slapped me. Should I have called her out for a duel or something?"
He laughed and put his arm around my waist. I leaned against him.
The Emperor was on a platform above the rest of us. A delegation of men stood around him. A man came from the audience, walking slowly up the stairs. He knelt in front of the Emperor for a ceremony involving speeches that I ignored.
The man stood back up to polite cheers from the crowd. It was not seemly to shout in public, not for the cream of society.
The men on the platform shuffled to one side. A new group joined the Emperor, these in Patrol dress uniforms. Vance shifted behind me.
"I wonder what the High Command is doing here," he muttered.
"Lowell isn't here," I said. There were eight men on the platform, none that I knew. Lowell was wanted for treason. Again.
"It has come to my attention," the Emperor said, his voice echoing, "we have overlooked someone. Tonight we present to you one of the heroes of the Empire."
I smothered a yawn. This promised to be boring and I saw no sign of a food table tonight. Vance nudged me forward.
"Admiral Dace," the Emperor said, his eyes finding me unerringly in the crowd.
They were waiting for me, I realized with a sudden shaking of nerves. The crowd turned to look at me. They moved apart, opening a walkway for me. Straight to the Emperor. I walked slowly forward, acutely aware of the attention focused on me.
I walked up the steps, stopping when I faced the Emperor. The Empress gave me a motherly smile and a wink.
"For services rendered to the Empire," the Emperor said formally, "we name you to the Thousand. May you serve long and well."
My knees went weak. I knelt on the platform, my back to the audience. One of the Thousand? The highest award the Patrol offered, given only by the Emperor's hand? Me?
I shook as he placed the medal around my neck and fastened the golden cape to my shoulders. This wasn't real. It couldn't be.
I'd read the history of the Thousand once, back at the Academy. Centuries ago, the Empire was threatened. The palace itself was under attack. The Emperor's guard, the Thousand, defended him until help arrived. They had died, to the last man. Being named as one of the Thousand was the highest honor. I swallowed hard as the Emperor took my hand and pulled me to my feet.
I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I saluted him, one of the very few times in my life I'd truly meant it. The Empress Josephine took my hands and kissed my cheek. The High Command of the Patrol saluted me. I saluted back.
There was polite cheering as I returned to the floor. The Emperor turned to something else. The music started again. I felt the weight of the cape on my back. This had to be some kind of joke. People shook my hand and congratulated me, mostly those in uniform. The women smiled, but I saw the gossip in their eyes.
Max stood next to Vance. He grinned. "Congratulations, Dace. I never suspected. What exactly did you do?"
"It's classified, I'm sure," Vance answered for me. He laughed and took my hand.
"You knew about this," I accused him.
He shook his head. "Not a word, I promise. Although Hester must have been in on it or she would never have let you wear that."
"I think she looks good," Max said and leered.
I laughed. It came out shaky. I still quivered inside.
"You look like you need a nice, relaxing night watching vids," Max said.
Vance groaned. "How about cards instead?"
"Do you play?" Max asked me.
"What game?" I asked.
"Comets." Max grinned.
"What rules?"
"Did you ever meet a spacer who didn't play?" Vance asked Max.
"This way," Max said.
We went to a back room where several dozen men played cards. The women in the room were all older and seemed happy to stay in their corner and gossip. None of them paid me much attention.
"Sit here," Vance said, pushing me into a chair. "We'll be right back."
I watched him cross the room with Max. They stopped to talk to several young men at a table in the corner. They turned to look at me. I put my hands in my lap, suddenly very self-conscious. Paper rattled in my pocket.
I'd forgotten Hester's note. I pulled it out and read it, keeping it under the table. I felt myself go cold.
Watch out for Vance. He knows more than he lets on. Someone close to him is the one you're looking for.
I crumpled the paper, shoving it back into my pocket.
"Something wrong?" Vance asked me.
"Everything's fine," I said brightly.
He knew it wasn't but he said nothing as he and his friends took seats at the table. I watched him shuffle the cards, his fingers deftly flipping them together. I toyed with my medal and felt sick inside.