“Her Private Office is offering me a pay raise,” Bel said. “If I can ‘handle the job.’”
“Might be good,” Kiem said. “Her aides go on to big things. I heard Rakal used to work for her. I mean, obviously you can handle it. You’ve been the brains of the outfit for the whole of the last year.”
“I could,” Bel said. There was a long pause, uncharacteristic for her. “On the other hand, I also heard you might be joining the diplomatic corps.”
“How did you know that?” Kiem said. “Okay, wait, first of all, I’m only taking over social duties for the Theans, and second, I can’t believe you knew I was joining the diplomatic corps and you didn’t tell me.” Bel sort of smiled. Kiem knew he was putting off asking the question.
Jainan asked it instead. “What are you going to do?”
“I was thinking,” Bel said slowly, “it might be nice to see some more of the galaxy. There isn’t much chance of that, with the Emperor.”
Kiem found he was smiling again. “We could probably match the pay raise. Since there’s two of us now and all. And you could always go and work for the Emperor later.”
“I could,” Bel said. “No promises about how long I’ll stay. But I do want to see how Jainan’s engineering thing works out.”
“How did you know about—”
“She asked the Emperor’s aide,” Jainan said, amusement running through his voice. “Keep up, Kiem.”
“And now I need to go and put them off for a bit,” Bel said. “I’ll leave you to it.” She gave them a quick flash of a grin, turned away, and disappeared into the crowd again.
“And now can we have some privacy?” Jainan murmured.
“Yes! Right. Of course.” Kiem opened the door with a flourish that he turned into a bow halfway through. “Your Grace?”
“Your Highness,” Jainan said, with a grave nod. They passed out of the fug of light and noise into the stark, clear darkness outside.
The stars spiraled around them in countless points of light. Thea’s dark and glittering bulk rotated below, limned in sunlight at the end of its night as the station rose around it like a moon. But neither of them really noticed, because the corner of the balcony was the ideal place to lean against.
It was a while later that Kiem took a breath and leaned his head back. Jainan was warm and solid in his arms. “You know,” Kiem said, “we’ve had a shared bedroom for weeks, and instead we’ve decided to go around sneaking kisses on balconies.”
“Your mother was wrong,” Jainan said. He detached himself from Kiem and took his hand instead, leaning next to him against the glass so their bodies were pressed side by side. “I appear to be a very bad influence.”
“I didn’t want you to stop,” Kiem said. Jainan smiled in the starlight, and Kiem leaned over to kiss the corner of his jaw. He was stopped only by the doors bursting open.
“Oh, sweet God,” a Thean voice said, dismayed. “I only came out to grab Jainan. I really didn’t want to catch you necking.”
Kiem groaned theatrically and raised a hand to his forehead. “Jainan,” he said, “tell me Thean law says you’re allowed to space members of your clan in moments like this. I can find an airlock.”
Jainan laughed. It took a moment for Kiem to realize he hadn’t heard that before—Jainan had smiled, joked, suppressed a chuckle, but he’d never given in to it freely like this. Jainan’s laugh was joyful and infectious, and Kiem discovered he loved every nuance of it. “No,” Jainan said, rubbing a hand across his jaw to bring himself under control. “It unfortunately does not. Gairad, try making your entrances more discreet.”
“A bunch of aides from Rtul and Kaan just set up a game of darts in the overflow hall,” Gairad said. “I won my round. Go in and fight for Thea.”
“Gairad,” Jainan said reprovingly, but his heart wasn’t in it. Kiem could feel the way he half turned his head—not in a request for permission, or to check what Kiem was doing, but as an invitation.
Kiem grinned. “All right,” he said. “Let’s go in there, and I’ll watch you win.”
“I’m not going to win,” Jainan said. “I have done it on Thea, and I just think I could outperform some of the more inebriated guests—”
Kiem turned to sneak in one last kiss, extraneous clan members be damned. “You’ll be the best,” he said.
“You don’t know that,” Jainan said.
His eyes reflected the light from the hall; behind him, beyond the void, the stars burned in enduring points; far beyond them, a telescope could have seen the maelstrom of the link, and a million more stars beyond that; and this tiny station spinning around a tiny jeweled planet like the fulcrum of the universe. “I do,” Kiem said. “You’ll see.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Some of you have already read a version of this story. To those of you who have encouraged or worked on it: I can’t say thank you enough.
But while they’ve given me a whole page for this, special thanks go to:
Those who read the first drafts, particularly the very kind people who left comments on early snippets or on AO3, or recommended it on Tumblr, Twitter, blogs, or to a friend. You are all part of the reason it got here. Thank you so much.
Emily Tesh, who beta’d the heck out of this over years from the first conversation to the final edits, you’re the best.
Tamara Kawar, my agent, who was an early champion of Kiem and Jainan’s story, and whose endless enthusiasm, kindness, and keen eye for edits has made this book what it is.
Ali Fisher, editor extraordinaire, for immeasurable improvements to the story as a whole and for gentle editorial hints such as “have you considered putting all the many world-building things you’ve just told me about … in the actual book?”
A. K. Larkwood, Sophia Kalman, Ariella Bouskila, Megan, and Maz for continuing encouragement, jokes, and good opinions. I don’t know how I managed to join a writers’ group made up of these unfailingly smart and funny people but I’m extremely glad it exists. Thank you also to the other authors who kindly took time to read the manuscript and offer advice, and to the Serpents for world-building help and early comments.
My family, who have supported my writing over the years, championed the book, and fed me at Christmas when I was having an editing crisis. Particularly to Mum’s heroic efforts in reading it twice!
The team at Tor with especial thanks to those who have put so much work into the book: Kristin Temple, Caro Perny, Renata Sweeney, Becky Yeager, Natassja Haught, Megan Kiddoo, Steven Bucsok, Greg Collins, Eileen Lawrence, Sarah Reidy, Lucille Rettino, Devi Pillai. Also to Magdiel Lopez and Katie Klimowicz, artist and designer of the US cover. And at Orbit UK: Jenni Hill, Nadia Saward, Nazia Khatun, Madeleine Hall, Joanna Kramer, and Anna Jackson.
And finally and most to Eleanor. I love you, and you were right. It did need more dinosaurs.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Everina Maxwell is the author of Winter’s Orbit. She lives and works in Yorkshire, where she collects books and kills houseplants.
Visit her Online at everinamaxwell.com, or sign up for email updates here.
Twitter: @Av_stories
Tumblr: Avoliot
Instagram: @everina_maxwell
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Cha
pter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
WINTER’S ORBIT
Copyright © 2021 by Everina Maxwell
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Magdiel Lopez
Cover design by Katie Klimowicz
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-75883-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-75885-9 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250758859
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: 2021
Winter's Orbit Page 43