8

The sun was shining in through the stained glass of my bedroom windows when I awoke the next morning. Exhaustion had dragged me into a dreamless sleep, and I felt a little more like myself as I stretched.

A riot of colors danced over the white linens, and I lay for a moment on my back, tracing my fingers through wavering diamonds of green and blue.

It reminded me of the waters on Calpis VII, a resort planet we’d stayed at once after a successful drop-off. After several months with Hao, and a brutal induction into Po-Sin’s employ, it had been our first big score as official members. We’d spent a blissful week soaking in the warm waters and dozing on the pink sand.

It was there, floating in the waves, that Portis had told me he loved me for the first time. I could still remember with painful clarity how gentle he’d been that night. How his hands swept over my skin, followed by his mouth, shooting trails of fire through me. We’d gotten along so well, right from the beginning, and now I knew it was because he had known exactly who I was.

“I miss you, you bastard,” I whispered.

“Your Imperial Highness? Are you awake?” My new maid, Stasia, poked her head into the room. Her golden curls bounced merrily around a cherub-like face.

“Come on in,” I replied, sliding from the four-poster bed and padding across the floor. The moment was gone and there wasn’t any point in terrorizing the girl just for having bad timing.

The satin wood covered a complex system of water pipes that kept the floors warm in the winter seasons and cool in the summer. I sighed at the heat under my bare feet.

I’d forgotten about little luxuries like this. Sophie’s always-freezing steel floors had kept me from going barefoot that often.

Stasia averted her eyes at the sight of me naked. I rolled my eyes and headed for the bathroom. Hot water already steamed in the tub, and the smell of lemon and spearmint dragged away the last vestiges of my sleep.

“I’ve brought you breakfast, Princess, and your empress-mother wishes to see you once you’ve eaten.”

“How generous of her,” I muttered, and watched Stasia’s reflection in the mirror wince. “What time is it?”

“Half past ten, ma’am.” Stasia kept her gaze on the floor, her hands clasped at her waist. Skin the color of cream stood out against the drab gray uniform.

“Stasia, look at me,” I said.

She raised her head, and I raised an eyebrow at the vivid blue eyes she’d kept hidden from me the night before. As clear as the Hini sapphire and twice as brilliant.

“Orphan?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Most of the servants in the palace had no sahotra. A position in the palace meant a better life for them since businesses tended to hire within the family or upon recommendations from very good friends. A person without family was lost in Indrana, with very little chance to change their fate.

I added this to the list of things I intended to change if I was going to be in charge around here. You’re just pretending, Hail, remember?

“We have cycled through three different titles in less than three minutes,” I said, keeping my voice gentle. “‘Imperial Highness’ is fucking cumbersome and I’ll forget to answer to ‘Princess.’ My name is Hail.”

“Highness, I couldn’t.”

I smiled. “So let’s stick with ‘ma’am’ for the moment, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” I nodded and waved a hand. “I don’t need an audience. Go entertain my BodyGuards.”

What I did need, I realized when Stasia paled, was to think before I attempted to issue orders. Rumors about the gunrunner princess were no doubt flying with reckless abandon. And the horrified look from my maid told me more than enough what some of them might entail.

I closed my eyes and cursed, opened them just as quickly to look at Stasia with an apologetic smile.

“Poor choice of words. That wasn’t what I meant.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I waved a hand, swallowing back the need to apologize again. “Go find something else to do besides stand there and watch me.” I gave her a second smile, which she hesitantly returned before she bowed and left me alone.

I sank down under the water, letting it close over my head and cocoon me in silence. The beating of my heart throbbed in my ears as I floated to the surface and took a breath.

All your running, Hail. All your attempts to get away led you right back here. There’s a reason for it, don’t waste it. My father’s voice in my head was kind, but firm as it always had been.

I pulled up the local news reports using my smati and started piecing together the timeline as best as I could.

Just a little under three months ago my baby sister had died of ebolenza. There’d been a huge outpouring of grief from the people, but little to nothing reported on the strange, isolated outbreak by the palace-controlled news stations. Two of her BodyGuards and a servant had also died, but for so virulent a disease, the spread had been stopped quickly.

A month after Pace’s death—the empress’s Ekam, four other BodyGuards, and the dismissed Ekam and Dve of the runaway princess were killed in an aircar accident.

Grief ripped through me again at the familiar faces in the news report. Ofa and Tefiz Ovasi had been my BodyGuards from the moment of my birth. When I’d left, they’d been officially dismissed from service for failure to perform their duty but had stayed on in secret to help me with my search.

There’d been a great deal of speculation by the press about why they’d been in the aircar with Ven that day, but no concrete answers.

Then, not even forty hours ago my older sister and niece were killed in an explosion while out on a shopping trip. That, and news of my mother’s dementia, was all the news stations were talking about.

Well, and the return of the runaway princess. Though the off-planet news was by far more amusing. A severe-faced man with shocking purple hair waved his hands in the air on the set of Interstellar Daily. “Cressen Stone, feared gunrunner, is revealed as the daughter of the Empress of Indrana. Is this a plot by Chang Po-Sin to take over Indrana?”

I snorted with laughter, accidentally sucked water down my windpipe, and surfaced in a spray of water and curses. The door to my bathroom slammed open, Emmory and Zin bursting through.

I blinked at them in shock as both men turned their heads fast enough to get whiplash. Stasia came in through the other door and my giggles broke free at the sight of the wicked knife in my tiny maid’s hand. I finally got control of myself enough to gasp, “Emmy, I admire your diligence, but you really need to not burst into my bathroom without permission.”

His face didn’t change expression as he pushed Zin out the door. “Perhaps you would be kind enough to not shout in the bath, Highness. I take it you’re all right?”

“I’m fine; apparently being heir doesn’t mean I can breathe underwater.” I exhaled slowly, pinching the bridge of my nose again with one hand while I waved at Emmory with the other. “I’m fine. Go on.”

He bowed and retreated, closing the door behind him.

“Ma’am?”

“Thank you, Stasia.” I took the towel from her, wrapping it around my soaking hair. I climbed out of the bath, taking the second towel with a smile.

I stopped short in the doorway to my bedroom, eyeing the clothes Stasia had laid out on the freshly made bed. The white skirt and top all but disappeared against the linens, only the golden embroidery giving away their presence.

I took the new robe Stasia offered me and sat down in the plush chair by the windows. I grabbed for the blue-handled mug, sinking back against the garish paisley upholstery.

“I’m not wearing that.” My hand shook and I barely kept from spilling coffee on myself. I sniffed at it, grimaced, and set the mug aside.

“Ma’am, you must wear white to see the empress,” Stasia replied.

“The dress,” I agreed. “Fine. But the sari will be red—the darkest one in there.” I waved my free hand at the wardrobe. “Don’t argue with me on this, Stasia, you won’t win. My sisters were murdered and I will not let anyone forget it.”

A frown worried at the space between Stasia’s pale eyebrows, but she obeyed, and I turned my attention to my breakfast as she flipped through the many saris in the wardrobe. I nodded in approval when she produced the one I’d worn the night before, crimson so dark it looked black. Golden tassels danced from the ends.

I finished eating and got dressed. Stasia urged me down onto the vanity seat, and fixed my hair with startling efficiency.

Twitching my skirts out of the way, I took the sari from her and flipped the end over my left shoulder, winding it around my waist so the extra fabric draped over the white silk of my skirt like pooling blood. I wrapped the other end over my head and my right shoulder, giving Stasia a tight smile.

“Shoes, ma’am?” She hit the panel near the wardrobe, and the door slid open to reveal rack upon rack of shoes.

My laughter was sharp. I grimaced, rolling my shoulders and shaking my head. “I’ll go barefoot. Thank you, Stasia. I’m not sure how long this audience with Mother will take. I’ll call you if I need you.”

She dropped into a curtsy. “Yes, ma’am.”

Marshaling my courage, I strode into the waiting room. Emmory and the other four BodyGuards came to attention. I already knew Nal and Zin, and my smati identified the other men at the same time Emmory introduced them.

“Highness, your BodyGuards—Pezan and Salham.” He pointed at each in turn and the men bowed low.

They were all dressed in the standard matte black uniforms, a crimson piping along their cuffs and worked into the detail of the intricate star pattern on their left breasts.

The Imperial Star wasn’t issued for just any act of valor, but something above and beyond the call of duty that caused the recipient to walk the road to temple. That award was normally given posthumously and I knew firsthand how that trip changed a person. I’d nearly died so many times over the years, but the most recent experience had been the closest I’d ever come. I’d died twice on that backwater planet and still wasn’t sure how Portis had brought me back. Through sheer force of will most likely.

“Are you all right, Highness?” Emmory asked. I was normally so good at reading people, but he was a challenge, and the concern in his voice seemed genuine. “Your empress-mother wishes to see you this morning.”

“Of course she does.” I saw the flicker of disapproval in his eyes and softened my snappish tone with a smile. “We shouldn’t keep her waiting, Emmory. Shall we?”

He nodded, looking at Nalmari and Zin. “You’re with me. You two stay here.” The other Guards saluted. Nal headed for the doorway, exiting my room first, and Emmory fell into step beside me.

A thousand questions raced through my mind. Who was this man who’d pledged his loyalty to me with such quiet determination last night? How had he gotten the Star? I longed to ask him, but with Nal trailing ahead of us, any conversation was unwise—at least until we figured out if we could trust her.

At this point the odds for that seemed pretty astronomical.

Dad was right. All the work I’d done, all my running and hiding, had been useless. Here I was, right back in the gods-damned intrigue. The bitter thought made me sigh, and Emmory shot me a curious look as we marched down the hallway.

We passed several servants and one caught my eye. A younger man, head down and shoulders tight. His hands were bunched in fists.

“Her Imperial Highness, Princess Hailimi, to see her Imperial Majesty.” Nal announced me to the pair of Guards standing like chess pieces in front of my mother’s doorway and jerked my attention away from the servant.

The door Guards conferred with the ones inside Mother’s rooms over the uplink. Then they pushed open the pockmarked metal door and gestured us inside. My BodyGuards handed over their weapons as they crossed the threshold.

I trailed a hand over the damaged door as we passed. The marks on the surface were from a failed coup attempt in 1990 GD. Princess Kastana hadn’t been happy with the idea of being second fiddle to her older sister, Empress Ilenka, for the rest of her life. She convinced her BodyGuards and a large chunk of the regular Imperial Guard to join her cause, and they assaulted the empress’s quarters.

Empress Ilenka’s BodyGuards, her husband, and her two youngest daughters held out against overwhelming odds until reinforcements arrived and shredded the traitors against the very same door they’d been trying to breech.

Princess Wei had earned the Imperial Star in that battle, fighting like a terror as she bled out from a host of wounds. She had not returned from her walk with the Mother Destroyer, dying in the empress’s arms on the other side of this door.

Kastana was executed and her family cast out of the royal city. And the law forbidding weapons in royal chambers that I’d quoted to Bial last night had been enacted.

The door had never been replaced, but instead stood as a warning to those who would raise a hand against their empress.

“Bet you fifty ravga the first words out of her mouth are critical,” I muttered. Emmory pretended not to hear me while Zin turned his laughter into a choking cough. It appeared my Ekam was taking his new position very seriously while his partner was loosening up. Though neither of them took me up on the bet.

“Your Highness.” Mother’s chamberlain, a young, dark-haired woman named Tye, bowed low to me. “Welcome home. Your empress-mother is doing well today.”

Translation: She was coherent today.

I gave Tye a smile and headed into the sitting room—a smaller room off to the side of the large waiting area.

Mother did look healthier this morning, the mahogany gleam back in her cheeks as she sat in a pool of sunshine. The light reflected off the golden embroidery work on the voluminous sleeves of her heavy robe and the crystal cup in her hand.

Bial stood by the window, his hands clasped behind his back. The sunlight threw red highlights into his blond hair. He didn’t turn to look at us when we entered, but I got the distinct feeling he saw everything that happened.

That was fine. I could see things, too. The man was tense but trying to hide it.

I dropped into a curtsy in front of my mother.

“Get up, Hailimi.” Mother’s voice was sharp with an all too familiar annoyance. “Have a seat and have something to drink. There’s no liquor, you’ll have to make do.”

I ignored her sarcastic comment, resisted shooting Zin a look, and took the farthest seat from her even though it put my back to the door. My Trackers settling in behind me was enough to put me at ease.

“Your choice of color is duly noted,” Mother continued with a sniff as I reached for a crystal glass filled with the pinkish juice of a water-orange. “Even if it is too late as usual. The terrorists responsible for the deaths of the princesses have already been executed.”

“What? What terrorists? Who was responsible? How did you find them so quickly?”

“What do you mean what terrorists?” Mother snapped. “Those who would undermine the empire, Hailimi. Those damn Upjas murdered my niece, my daughter, and the Crown Princess!”

I winced at the fury in her voice, and swallowed back the protest that automatically rose in my throat, pleased with myself for not falling straight back into our old pattern of bickering with each other.

The Upjas were a Gordian knot of rebels in the heart of the empire who called for a relaxation of the class system and a return to what they saw as the days of equality when the empire had been a member of the Solarian Conglomerate.

Social, economic, and political equality of the sexes.

I didn’t agree with their demand to abolish the monarchy, but there was also no way in hell I’d ever admit to my mother that the Upjas had a point about some of the more archaic social laws in the empire. Or that both Cire and I had been in contact with them before I’d left home.

Instead, I asked the question I knew put me out on a limb. “You don’t think that’s the slightest bit suspicious? Why didn’t they try to kill you? If they infected Pace with ebolenza, don’t you think they could have struck down the whole palace? It doesn’t make any sense. The Upjas have never wanted us dead. They just want change—”

“They want revolution!” She cut off my protests with a sharp look and a wave of her hand. “We didn’t ask for your return home so we could speak to you of your sisters. They are dead and gone. There is nothing more to do. If you’d cared about them at all, you wouldn’t have left in the first place.”

A cold weight settled into my stomach, and I stifled the smart remark even though it hurt. “Why did you ask for my return home, Your Imperial Majesty?” I didn’t bother to keep the sarcasm out of my voice as I echoed her words. She and I both knew who’d really wanted me back and who’d sent my Trackers after me. Her eyes narrowed at the veiled insult.

“Leave us, all of you,” she said.

That was enough to get Bial away from his contemplation of the window. “Your Majesty—”

“Don’t argue with me, Bial. I’m perfectly safe in my own rooms, and my own daughter isn’t going to try to kill me. It would just bring justice down on her head that much swifter.” Mother smirked a mirthless smile in my direction and I tightened my grip on my glass until I was afraid it would crack in my hand.

She was right, of course. I kind of wanted to smack her senseless, but I wouldn’t kill her. That would just be rude. Not to mention it would immediately elevate me to a position I didn’t want.

“Very well, Majesty.” Bial bowed stiffly and headed for the door.

“I’ll be right outside, Highness,” Emmory murmured.

“Mother—”

“To answer your question—the future of this empire is my concern, Hailimi. As my primary heir—gods help us all—so it is also yours.”

I choked on my juice, just barely swallowing it instead of spraying it all over my dress. Oh, bugger. There was that spark in Mother’s eyes again.

“I’ve assembled a group of suitors for you, daughter. Pick one. Marry him or not, we don’t care. Don’t feel you need to wait for the ceremony, though, if you do. I expect you to have a daughter of your own before the summer comes. The least you could do for our sahotra is to make the same sacrifices the rest of us have.”