by Nia Mars
The Oath Forger’s palace is shaped like a doughnut, with a garden in the middle. My private living areas are on the inner-side of the ring. The public areas where visitors are allowed are on the outer-side of the ring. That’s where we are heading now. When we reach the formal dining room, the guards who flank the doors in their spiffy, red-gold palace uniforms open them for us.
Here we go. I walk in first.
Three men and three women are seated around the table, waiting, all wearing their official purple robes. So much for an informal breakfast. Maybe I should have listened to Taly about what to wear. I’m definitely going to listen to her in the future.
A long buffet waits by the window, but no one has touched anything yet. Don’t gawk. No matter how many times breakfast, lunch, or dinner appears magically around me, I can never get used to how much food there is in Merim.
Koah introduces everyone. They share a title, but it’s unpronounceable for my earthly tongue. My built-in translator translates it as ‘senator.’
“How are you settling in, Madam?” the smallest of the men asks. He’s about four-feet tall and has extensive facial hair. He might be furry everywhere. He definitely has an unusual amount of arm-hair peeking out from under the sleeves of his purple robe. Senator Wortly.
Since he’s the first to speak, I assume he’s the head of the committee. I relax a little. He doesn’t look formidable.
None of the senators’ faces show any malice. Their expressions are carefully schooled as they watch me.
“It’s a beautiful palace, and I was warmly welcomed,” I respond to Wortly’s question.
“We thought there might be a problem.” The tall woman speaking is Senator Monta. Her features are angular, and her severely-cut, short black hair does her no favors. To my Earth eyes, she seems more masculine than her male colleagues, save maybe Wortly with his excessive body hair. “We thought things might not be to your satisfaction.”
Koah cuts in. “The Oath Forger has been recovering. She was kidnapped from her home planet by pirates.”
“And then the Madam was taken captive by an unmanned pirate ship, if I understand correctly,” a different woman says. Senator Seke.
Her ears are skinny and long, nearly touching her shoulders, but otherwise she could pass for an Earth human. For a second, her gaze hardens as she pins Koah. “While she was under your protection. The Madam was paralyzed.”
Koah’s voice tightens. “Temporarily.”
“And soon after that, she was in another life-threatening situation.” Wortly, the leader of the committee, steeples his fingers on the table. “Kidnapped with the Lady Olipha. Or did the Madam run away? Reports are conflicting.” His small brown eyes are intense and unforgiving, and for the first time, I feel the brush of power.
The youngest member of the committee, Senator Delza, finally speaks. “Also, the Madam was missing from the palace for a period of time the day before that, as well. The palace guards conducted a city-wide search for her?”
I swallow nervously. This is an informal introductory meeting? I feel like I’m on trial.
Senator Delza waits for my answer. Her eyes are lavender. Like Koah’s, her hair is blue, but less indigo and more like the pale blue of the sky. They’re the only two blue-haired people I’ve seen so far. I wonder if they’re from the same home planet, if they know each other. Although, probably not. They don’t appear to be long-lost friends. They never look at each other.
I sit up straighter in my chair. “I wasn’t aware that my movements were restricted to the palace.”
On my left, tension radiates off Roax. On my right, Koah looks ready to come out of his seat. I know they’re only holding back for my sake because they don’t want to make things worse for me.
The protective feelings they hold toward me sit undisguised in their eyes. I’m going to get through this meeting, dammit. The committee is not going to take my kreks away from me.
“Previous Oath Forgers were carefully protected by their kreks,” the woman with the long earlobes tells us.
“I was protected,” I bite out the words. “I’ve come to no harm.”
“You’re not wearing the ceremonial robes of the Oath Forger.”
I’ve just about had it with her, but I keep my tone polite. “I’m not a doll to be dressed and put on a shelf.”
“Meaning you intend to refuse your ceremonial role?”
I look at the speaker, the head of the committee. His small eyes glint with satisfaction. He thinks he’s laid a trap.
They didn’t come to confirm me. The committee came to find fault with me, to prove me a fake. They traveled to Merim with a goal in mind, and it’s to prevent me from becoming the Oath Forger.
Fury bubbles in my stomach. There’s a pressure in my head and a crackling noise in my ear, like when I was fighting the pirates who’d kidnapped Olipha on that stolen Federation ship.
Uthan pushes to his feet. “I see you have not helped yourselves to refreshments yet. Please honor us with partaking in some of the famous delicacies of Merim.”
The buffet table by the window is laden with a long row of crowded platters. I even recognize a few things. Merim cheese. Terrin soufflé. Roast warb with herbs. Taly has been teaching me.
As Uthan gestures then walks to the feast, his smile is soothing. His golden eyes offer peace. The way his bronze uniform shows off his incredible physique doesn’t hurt either, I think, at least as far as the ladies are concerned.
His good manners win the first point. After a second of hesitation, the angular-faced woman follows him, then the one with the strange ears, then the youngest one. And then finally, the men, too, push to their feet.
We make up plates of bite-size treats. Uthan stays on his feet by the window, and the other kreks take their cue from him. Since we don’t sit, neither do the senators. We mingle.
The tension eases.
Yes, this is better than sitting on opposite sides of the table like enemies. I shoot Uthan a grateful smile, and he gives a brief nod, then goes back to chatting with Senator Wortly who is holding his plate with one hand, and stroking his beard with the other. He looks like a thoughtful garden gnome. The thought nearly makes me snort a laugh.
“Five more hard-headed kreks I’ve never seen,” Senator Seke says in a low voice at my elbow.
I turn to her and keep my gaze on her pale eyes, away from the ears that swing as she moves her head.
She flashes a sympathetic smile. “You must feel overwhelmed.”
“We are learning each other.” I hope that sounds neutral enough, and nothing they can trap me with later.
She puts a hand on my arm, her eyes filling with warmth. “I’m sorry that you were torn from your people. Did you leave family behind?”
My heart squeezes. “My sister.”
“You must miss her.” She smiles with sympathy. “I have two sisters. We are very close. When I’m home, we see each other nearly every day. I miss them a ridiculous amount when the Zebet travels.”
Pain slices through me at the thought that I might never see Lily again.
Senator Seke leans a little closer, and her earlobe nearly touches my shoulder. I hold myself still and don’t react.
“If you’d like my help, I can arrange for your return to Earth.”
The noise of the room, the murmur of conversations around the buffet disappear. Blood rushes to my head. Everything else is blocked out but the woman who’s offering me what I’ve wanted since I’ve been sucked up by the pirates’ tractor beam.
“I can get official approval.” She gives me a conspiratorial wink. “Your return is not something a Federation ship could undertake without endless diplomatic negotiations, but my father does own a shipping empire. From what I understand, one of his ships could have you home in a dozen days or so.”
A million thoughts burst into flight in my brain. Lily. The Colony. My life could go back to what it was: difficult, but at the same time immeasurably simpler than here. Real, instead o
f me faking it every minute of every day. True, instead of me constantly lying to everybody.
As I hesitate, images of my sister float through my head and straight to my heart: the two of us laughing together, going on scavenging trips and watching each other’s backs.
I want to see Lily so badly, the need is a jagged blade, twisting in my heart.
Then I catch Uthan’s eyes, and it’s as if he can feel what I’m feeling, as if he knows what I’m thinking. His gaze is a warm, golden sea of understanding.
I draw a deep breath.
I will find Lily someday. I swear I will. I just have a couple of vitally important goals I need to accomplish first.
I turn to Senator Seke and smile. “To be the Oath Forger is an honor and a privilege. I could never leave my kreks.”
Senator Delza’s soft laughter draws my gaze from across the room. She really is stunning with all that sky-blue hair and her lavender eyes. Koah passes her and there’s... I’m not sure what. A moment. A hesitation. On both of their parts.
“They certainly try to pretend, don’t they?” Senator Seke says under her breath.
“Pretend what?”
Her eyes snap wide with fake surprise. Her slim hand flies to her mouth. “Oh, you didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
I make a wild guess. “They used to be lovers.”
This time, her surprise is genuine. “You did know.”
I say nothing. The key to bluffing is knowing when to stop. It’s a skill I learned on Earth while bargaining for food, trying to get a good price for whatever the day’s scavenging netted.
“More than lovers,” Senator Seke whispers. “Krek Koah was going to make Delza his queen.” She forces a cheerful smile. “I’m sure they’ll both get over their disappointment. You’re here now, and that’s the most important thing.”
The hot jealousy that floods through me takes me by surprise. Koah is mine, I want to shout. I want to put my fingers around blue-haired Senator Delza’s neck and squeeze.
“It must be difficult,” Senator Seke keeps going, “to be forced into a relationship with a stranger.” Then she adds, “In your case, five.”
Being with the men isn’t difficult, but worrying about whether or not they truly want to be with me is. I can’t get rid of the thought that their attraction and devotion to me has more to do with the Oath Forger’s office than with me. So I say a quiet, “Yes.”
Senator Seke’s eyes gleam with satisfaction at my admission.
Why do I feel as if I’d just walked into a trap?
Chapter Seven
AFTER WE BEGAN MINGLING around the food, the initial Zebet introduction never returned to its original, tense tone. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half, then the committee members took their leave, with a reminder that they expect to see me in three days at the official hearing at the Onyx Tower.
I am still in the dining room with the kreks when Olipha pops in. She seems to have fully recovered from her kidnapping.
Once again, she’s a burst of sunshine and energy. “The guard said the meeting was done.”
While we all greet her to let her know who is in the room and where we are standing, Tiam steps up to her and tugs her flowing silver hair. “Why aren’t you at the Academy?”
“My next class is not until after lunch. How did the intro go?”
“Well,” Tiam tells her, at the same time as I say, “How much agra do you think they’d let me take along to my exile?”
I’m seriously addicted to the sweet fruit that doesn’t exist on Earth. As far as I’m concerned, it’s worth space travel.
Olipha grins. “That bad?”
“Ava did well. And she’ll be even better prepared for the official hearing,” Tiam promises.
He’s sweet in the big brother role, trying to protect her from worry.
He drops a casual arm around her shoulders. “What are you doing here?”
Olipha reaches out toward where she’d last heard my voice and unerringly finds my hand, takes it and pulls me closer. “I thought I’d show the Oath Forger her office and help her figure out her duties. You need to stop monopolizing her time. It would be better for her if the committee can see her already involved in managing Federation affairs.”
“I have duties?” I look from man to man. They look away, with identical sheepish expressions, except Roax, who shrugs as if the particularities of office work are beneath him.
I knew I’d have to work, that being Oath Forger isn’t just about lying around in bed with the kreks, but I thought the office would have to wait until I was confirmed. I thought there’d be a clearly communicated starting point. But if I have duties already, I want to see to them.
As Olipha tugs me after her down the hallway, I try to keep up. She turns the corner without missing a beat.
Four guards follow us, two for me, two for her. Hers are dressed in Tiam’s silver colors, mine in palace red. Both of mine are men, one of hers is a woman. All four stay at a distance that allows us privacy, but not so far away that they can’t reach us if trouble threatens.
“How do you know the palace so well?” I ask Olipha when curiosity gets the better of me. My impression is that the kreks are only here because I’m here. Olipha couldn’t have had many reasons to visit the Oath Forger’s palace before my arrival.
She drops my hand to gesture to the back of her neck. “You know how you have a translator? I have that, and I also have maps. I have the blueprint of the cities and buildings I might find myself in. Tiam made a transmitter that knows where I am, and in my mind’s eye, I see the doors and hallways coming up.” She grins. “The rooms are labeled.”
“Tiam invented that?”
“When he was at the Academy. He made it for one of his micro engineering classes, but he really did it for me. Now anybody can have it implanted. It’s helped a lot of people.”
I already thought that his nerdiness was hot, but that he helps people with his inventions? Sizzle. Tiam is... I’m pretty sure I’m falling for him, too.
God, I’m a mess. Not to mention the queen of bad timing. I can’t afford to fall for anyone when I’m about to be sent into exile.
The reception area of my work office still stands unoccupied. In all the upheaval of the past couple of days, I forgot about my secretary search.
I follow Olipha into my office. It’s three times the size of the little home office attached to my bedroom. She drops onto one of the plush red armchairs facing my black glass desk and points for me to sit in my place on the opposite side.
“Display engage,” she says to the room. “Small screen.”
Part of the wall behind Olipha turns blue.
“Activate account for Ava Smith, Oath Forger.”
“Password,” says Tiam’s voice, barely mechanical, perfectly recognizable.
I roll my eyes. “I can’t believe he gave his own voice to my AI.”
Olipha snorts. “Then you don’t know him well enough yet.”
I’m about to tell her I have no idea what the password is, but she says, without hesitation, “Tiam, krek of all kreks.”
“Incorrect voice signature.”
She nods at me.
“Tiam, krek of all kreks,” I repeat.
“Welcome, Oath Forger.”
“Change password, please.”
“New password?”
“Tiam is an egomaniac.”
Olipha giggles and gets up to walk around the room. “Ask for your schedule.”
“May I have my schedule?”
A crowded calendar appears.
“Are there about a million entries in red?” Olipha asks.
“Two million.”
“Invitations. You can have them read out, then after each one, you can say accepted or declined. Accepted stays on in green. Declined disappears. Your secretary will do all this, normally. You’ll only be asked if the secretary is unsure.”
I scan the entries. “I don’t even know what half of these things are. What’s FPA?�
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“Federation Pilot Academy. I bet they want you to give the commencement speech. You should decline. I want you to give it the year when I’m graduating.” She grins. “Then you can mention how proud you are of your own good friend, Olipha, at the head of the graduating class, and all the jealous bitches will die in pain.”
Her smile is so wide, it’s a wonder it fits on her face.
I shake my head, but I’m grinning, because the snark is pure Lily. Except, Lily never had a chance to go to any kind of academy. Somehow, I’m going to find a way to change the trajectory of my sister’s life. I swear I will.
“The FPA won’t be offended if I decline right now?”
Olipha plops back into her chair and twirls around. “You can’t do everything.”
She stops to turn to me. “Nobody really expects you to take up your duties until you’ve been introduced to the public. But people are hoping. If you went to an event or two, they’d be deeply honored. And the event would be mobbed. Everybody wants to be first to see the Oath Forger.”
I’m beginning to see where we’re going with this. “We’d kind of force the committee’s hand. If I’m attending events as the Oath Forger that makes it more difficult for them to undermine my legitimacy.”
“I’m an underappreciated genius,” Olipha says with dramatic flair.
And all I say is, “I’m not going to argue with the obvious.”
We go through the list, and based on her advice, I accept three invitations: a hospital opening, the christening of a new, long-range ship in the science explorer fleet, and a masked ball for an interplanetary charity for refugees.
I close the calendar. “Okay, social life organized. What else?”
She comes and sits on the corner of my desk. “Now the really important stuff.” She pauses for effect. “Other than my brother, because we’re never going to discuss that, which one of the kreks is the best kisser?”
My heart twists.
She tilts her head. “Am I being too pushy?”
“No.” I sigh. “It’s just the first question my sister, Lily, would ask.”
“I’m going to meet her someday, and we’re going to be best friends. In the meanwhile, you can practice telling her all your juicy secrets, by telling me.”