We’re several clegs into the meeting when the irritation I’ve been hoarding in my spine reaches a critical point and my head starts to ache.
My suppliers and business partners already came and went, and now it’s just me and my two managers.
“These noble houses are allied with Orunfax.” Pandit moves her indicator across a grid of the heads of noble houses. “The last, House Cullus, is an outspoken detractor, but he originally funded Orunfax’s rise so generously that his house was eclipsed in power and is on the decline. Unlike in other cases, Orunfax never extended him lucrative military contracts and Cullus gave this money for no apparent return. The only thing House Cullus has left is decorative greenstone imports from Eruvis. And that concludes my report on Orunfax’s resources.”
Takoba covers his mouth as he stifles his yawn. He had to get up early for his shift. My staff manager, Pandit, who also doubles as my spymaster, blinks with heavy eyes. She’s coming to the end of her shift. We knew this meeting would go long. These are the clegs they overlap.
“So let me get this straight.” I stretch, hearing the cracks all the way up my spine from my tailbone to my skull. Ahhh. “We could damage Orunfax if we joined forces with the palace, but Erion will never share finances. But your informants say that my brother was going to execute Orunfax and then he changed his mind?”
Pandit nods. “He read secret archives left by your father, abruptly reversed course, and elevated Orunfax to the special adviser position.”
I scratch my head. It’s not as good as when Allie was doing it—her special scalp massage made tingles run down my back and all my hair stand up, it felt so good—but it’s still something. “Erion said he has to ally with Orunfax because of me.”
My two managers are silent. No insight.
“I’ve stayed out of politics.” I tick off the things I’ve done on my fingers. “I’ve built no private relationships with any nobles. No army beyond what’s necessary for the security of this nightclub. And yet my brother considers me more dangerous than our father’s assassin?”
They both nod.
“You are a blade,” Pandit points out. “Although you have no private army, your brother might assume you could easily borrow the blades if you called upon them for loyalty.”
“Which is ironic. The blades would cut me down before I took one step against the emperor. Ishula was ready to cut me down just the other night.”
A ghostly smile plays over Takoba’s lips, probably at the memory. It’s not too often I cross blades with my own. I find it invigorating to face a real challenger, and since Takoba often watches me forcing others to my will, I’m sure he finds it amusing when I run into someone who pushes back.
“What could be in that archive?” I muse. “A dead body? A curse upon our family line? The location of the Harsi’s home planet?”
Allie shifts on her seat. She’s stayed silent this whole time, but when my more grasping suppliers started to weave lies, her presence caused them to choke up and backtrack. I’ve never had a third observer in my meetings, and they didn’t know why she might be observing. She’s already been useful. I like her very much.
And despite her silence, I don’t think she’s forgotten our deal. I think she’s biding her time.
A sudden and hot pulse of awareness fills my groin.
We spent the entire night together, and instead of growing bored, I simply became more intrigued. Now she’s covered up, a mysterious figure in my gold-limned skinsuit, the tint of the hood shadowing her features, and my first impulse is to end the meeting and unwrap her all over again.
I liked how our last deal ended.
Perhaps I can engineer the next one to end in the same place.
“A pet project?” Pandit suggests, glancing at Allie as well and then back at me. My managers figured out who she was right away. “Like your interest in Humana?”
“Do you have any evidence?” I ask.
Both managers shake their heads.
Erion’s been training for the emperor’s position since before I was genetically combined. He has no other interests, no hobbies. No one is more dedicated to the empire than he is.
Focus. “If we can’t partner with my brother, then we raise capital and bring Orunfax down ourselves. Ideas?”
“Yes.” Pandit clears her throat. “We can raise the capital in a few goras.”
“Goras? Enlighten me.”
“Sell your lesser.”
Allie stills.
A hot flare of rage crinkles in my veins. My blades jump into my wrists.
I squeeze the barbs back inside. “Explain.”
“The Vanadisans have a massive bounty on Humana lessers right now. The rumor about them causing madness is clearly false. Her blood isn’t dangerous.”
“Her blood isn’t,” I agree. “But the Vanadisan weapon is very real. A potent version killed my father.”
Allie’s head lifts. The shadow covering her face rises to show her chin. “I thought Orunfax killed him.”
“He did. By unleashing the potent version in an enclosed space and causing my father’s own bodyguards to tear him—and each other—apart.”
My managers are quiet. They both know every aspect of the investigation the same as me.
“So I can’t sell any humans to the Vanadisans,” I finish, “any more than I can sell them our precious lusteal.”
“The offers coming in from other Arrisans are significantly higher,” Pandit says. “You let the scent of her tainted blood fill the nightclub. Everyone’s talking about it as the most powerful aphrodisiac they’ve ever experienced, even more powerful than pure lusteal in the arena. The offers for her are astronomical.”
“And?”
“Your closest trade ships can reach Humana in a gora. If you chose to sweep up the population, the planet is too poor to protest. Because of the orbital move, they’ll probably celebrate you as a hero. And even if there wasn’t an orbital move, Humana is such a basic, moldy asteroid, they’d jump into your cargo bays for a chance to escape the boredom. After the orbital move, of course, their value for their rarity will simply increase, and you can have a full war chest to plan your attack.”
This is a dark exercise.
I don’t shy away from these topics because I know they’re a reality in the empire, and I pay Pandit to think of the most expedient solution to any problem. We must know what we discard. And if she’s come up with it, someone else has as well.
“Find out who else is moving toward Humana,” I order her. “Arrisans, allies, everyone. It’s far enough from Vanadisan space that they can’t swoop in themselves, and there’s no way they’re giving up their test subjects. See who they might have sent.”
She makes a note.
“And keep thinking of ideas. One more thing.” I pivot to Allie. “Our deal.”
Takoba and Pandit orient on Allie with sharp interest. They both watched her performance, Takoba live and Pandit in videos.
Allie sits primly, her fingers curled over my cracked data tablet in her lap. “Selling off my people while you destroy my planet doesn’t fit my definition of saving it.”
Takoba clears his throat. “It is when you’re desperate.”
Her hood orients on him, her face in total shadow. “Can you be more explicit?”
“When you can’t save your planet, when you’re hunted by monsters and the survivors are picked off, you’ll do anything to save your people,” he clarifies. “Anything.”
“But you’re not the alien race who destroys planets.” She orients on me again. “Or are you?”