I thought this would be appropriate, ma’am.”
I nodded in approval at the black uniform that was laid out on my bed. Matriarch Desai had planned the coronation, and true to my word—and some none too gentle nudging from Emmory—I’d agreed to show up the next day.
“Very much so, Stasia. Thank you. Make a note,” I said as I wiggled into the pants she handed me. The long-sleeved shirt slid over my skin like water and I smoothed it out before I sat down so she could fix my hair. “As much as the idea of being fussed over pains me, we’re probably going to have to get a few more maids.” I shot her a sideways glare when she snickered. “You’re in charge there, Stasia. I want you to pick out a few of the younger girls from my mother’s set who can handle themselves.”
“I’m assuming that means what I think it does, ma’am?”
“Yes.” I smiled at her. “I suspect Emmory would like to give you a few names also and he’ll definitely want to vet them.”
It would also give Emmory one less thing to worry about.
Stasia twisted my hair up into a trio of knots at the base of my neck, the severity of the style not softened by the few braids she left out to frame my face. She painted a swatch of black across my eyes, then the same red-gold onto my mouth I’d donned when I first got to the palace.
Had it really been three weeks? It seemed like yesterday. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Here, Majesty.” Stasia handed me a shoulder holster. I shrugged into it and slid the gun she handed me next into place.
I knelt at the altar, but the chant that hissed between my lips wasn’t one for Ganesh. Rather it was to the Dark Mother, a plea for vengeance, for justice. I’d learned the chant in the days after my father’s death, clinging to it with the obsession of a teenage girl, and now it rose up out of me without any thought at all.
As I listed off the names of the dead, I was all too aware that for every one I mentioned, there were ten more whose names I didn’t know. People—my people—who were innocent bystanders like Ramani, caught up in a vicious political game.
“I will not stand for it any longer. This will stop,” I swore after I finished with the names of the dead. I rose to my feet, pulled open the door to my room, and crossed the threshold into the waiting area.
I passed by Cas and Zin with a nod. The whole of Team Five stood by the door, their hands nervously hovering by their weapons. All my BodyGuards were already dressed in mourning black, red slashes of paint arching across their cheeks.
“Are we ready, Emmory?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Let’s get on with this,” I said, heading for the door. The remainder of my BodyGuards fell into step around me, and we strode in silence down the hallway. When we reached the steel door, Emmory pushed it open and held aside the pristine white tapestry so I could pass through.
The throne room was packed. The throne empty, silent. Only the crown sitting on the cushion.
The eyes of the assembled nobles locked on me, and the silence of breathless anticipation built as I crossed over the line of jagged black obsidian and dropped to one knee before the throne. I lowered my head, blinking back tears that threatened to spill over and fall to the white marble floor.
The empress can’t let people see her cry. I remembered Father saying that to me once when I asked why Mother didn’t cry anymore. Now I knew why, and just what it had cost her to keep that stone expression in place.
I stood and the entire assembly went down on a knee, bowing their heads to me when I turned. Looking out at the sea of faces, I suddenly felt very alone. Then I spotted Zin, who raised his head for just a second and smiled at me.
My panic vanished and I folded my hands. “Like my mother before me, I do not suffer fools gladly. There will be no second chances for those who think to undermine my power, or the power of the empire.” I looked out over the crowd, saw the uneasy shifting as people threw glances back and forth.
“This has been a dark time for the empire. These horrible events have tarnished the face of Indrana and brought us to the brink of war. I am here to take the throne that is rightfully mine. Those responsible for the unrest and division in our empire will be punished.” Utter silence echoed back at me.
Zin marched a limping Nal to the front of the crowd, stopping on the far side of the jagged obsidian line. Behind them Kisah practically carried Ganda, dropping her next to Nal with an impassive look on her face. Finally Cas dragged Laabh in. My nephew was disheveled and dirty and had an impressive black eye.
I won’t lie. I struggled with the urge to pull my gun free and splatter their brains all over the marble.
“BodyGuard. Cousin. Nephew.” I came down the dais as I spoke. “Conspirators. Traitors. Murderers.”
The silence in the room was absolute.
“Lady Ganda, so good of you to join us.” I crossed the line of jagged rock and bent down. “I didn’t want you to miss seeing me crowned.” I whispered the words in her ear and watched the hatred flash across her face.
“For waging war against the state, treason, and regicide, you three are sentenced to death.”
That caused a ruckus.
I let the noise swell, watching calmly as the exclamations and protests flew through the air. After counting to ten, I looked at Emmory.
“Silence!” His amplified voice sliced easily through the din.
“Understand these traitors are proclaimed guilty from their own mouths! There will be no trials, no courts for them. There will only be the justice of the throne for the royal blood that has been spilt and justice of the empire for the blood of its citizens. We have other names, other conspirators who can consider themselves lucky that we will turn them over to the courts. But these three…” I gestured at my feet. “These three are mine.
“Ganda Naidu, you are hereby stripped of your titles and any inheritance you may have received,” I continued. “Nalmari Zaafir Windhausen, you are no longer considered a BodyGuard and your name will be blotted from the lists, forever forgotten for your treachery. And you, my dear nephew whose name I will never again utter, you, too, will be erased. It will be as if you had never existed, not even as a warning to those who would think to sink to such defiled depths as you have. I will wipe you from the fabric of the universe, and I can think of no better punishment for one who thought himself worthy to wear this crown.”
The room stayed dead silent for several heartbeats, almost as if the assembled crowd couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
“May the gods turn their merciful faces away from you.” I turned my back on them and went back up the steps, kneeling in front of Father Westinkar.
He held up the crown for the assembled to see. “Hailimi Mercedes Jaya Bristol, recognized Heir Apparent of the Indranan Empire. Receive the crown that the gods in all their glory decreed you were destined to wear.” He placed the crown on my head and the weight of it seemed to sink into my bones, anchoring me to the floor.
Get up, Hailimi. The empress kneels to no one. Mother’s voice rang in my memory and I fought back the cloying panic rising in my throat.
Somehow I made it to my feet without dislodging the crown and turned to face the assembled crowd as Father Westinkar’s voice rose up to the buttressed ceiling of the chamber.
“Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Hailimi Mercedes Jaya Bristol. Long may she reign!”