by K. B. Wagers
“You’re okay. I’m here, little sister. It’s okay.”
Hao got me to my feet with an amazing amount of patience, his words soft, floating easily between Cheng and Indranan as he coaxed me out into the tunnel. He kept an arm around me, anchoring me to his side as he walked me through the darkness.
The light stung my eyes and I turned my head away, squeezing them shut again and hating the whimper that crawled its way out of my throat.
“Is she hurt?” Emmory’s gloved hand was solid against my cheek.
“I don’t think so. But she’s having a bad flashback. She’s talking about Wilson and water.”
“Get her in the aircar.” The rest of Emmory’s words were lost in a blur of movement, and I followed along without protest as Hao ushered me into the aircar.
The door closed behind Emmory and we lurched into the air.
“No.” My breath caught; the iron band that had suddenly locked itself around my chest was squeezing out all my air.
Hao released me and brought an arm up, but not fast enough. My swinging elbow caught him in the throat as I scrambled into the corner of the aircar. He doubled over with a choked sound, and Emmory put his hands up.
“It’s all right. We have to get you back to the hotel. It’s only for a few minutes.”
“I can’t be in here. There’s no air. I’ll drown.”
“You won’t,” Emmory said. “I’m sorry, but you have to be in here. You’re safe. Hail, look at me.”
I pressed my hands to my eyes instead and folded forward, fighting the urge to bolt for the door. I knew it wouldn’t open. I knew even if I could somehow get it open, Emmory would never let me out—and with good reason, as we were several hundred meters in the air.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry.”
I heard the creak of the leather seat as Emmory shifted forward, and a moment later his hand settled gently on the back of my head. “You don’t have to be sorry,” he repeated. “Just breathe for me, and we’ll be out of here shortly. What do you need?”
“I don’t know.” But the weight of Emmory’s hand was grounding, and I felt some of the panic recede. I dragged in a breath, forcing it past the tightness of my chest, and then another until I could sit upright. Emmory shifted with me, his hand moving to my shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” I said again, this time to Hao, who smiled and reached for my hand.
“It’s all right, sha zhu.” He laced his fingers through mine and rubbed at his throat with his other hand. “Did he hurt you?”
The carefully controlled menace in his voice almost sent me back over the edge. Shaking my head, I took a deep breath. “No. Mia was waiting. They just wanted to talk.”
“What did they want?” That question came from Emmory.
“I’ll send you the—” I frowned. “There’s no video. He shorted out my smati.”
“It’s working fine,” Emmory said. “We figured he’d jammed it once you left the café.”
“No. Bugger me. Emmory, he touched me and it deactivated my smati, and then he just turned it back on like it was nothing.”
I watched the thoughts chase across my Ekam’s face before he muttered a curse. “Zin, are you headed back to the hotel with Gita?” he asked over the com link.
“I am. What’s up?”
“I need you to run a full diagnostic on the empress’s smati. I’ll explain more in person.”
“Understood, sir.”
Emmory took my free hand. “Tell me everything,” he said. “From the beginning.”
16
An argument raged around me the next morning as I picked at my breakfast, restlessly flipping the chip from Mia between the fingers of my left hand. Alice and Caterina were going head to head with Caspel and Inana.
I’d slept poorly, waking up almost as soon as I drifted off to sleep gasping for breath and drenched in so much sweat it was difficult to realize I wasn’t wet from drowning. There was whiskey in the glass in front of me, even though it was 08:00 and even though it had earned me dark looks from both Zin and Gita. The burn was the only thing strong enough to chase away the chilling reminder of the tunnels.
“All I’m saying is maybe we need to rethink the Farians’ offer.” Caterina shook her dark head. “If the Shen are just going to stroll in here and take the empress hostage—”
“We should do exactly what we’ve all been saying is a bad idea?” Inana interrupted her. “No, Caterina. That’s the opposite of what we should do. We can’t afford to react without thinking.”
“What Admiral Hassan said,” Caspel replied with a nod. “We need to improve security for Her Majesty and for the rest of the councils. It’s worrisome that he was able to just walk right up to her.”
“How did you not know they were on the planet, Caspel?” Alice’s question wasn’t quite hostile, but there was enough bite in her words that I glanced up briefly before going back to pushing food around my plate.
“Your Highness, despite rumors to the contrary I am not omniscient. I only know the things my operatives tell me, and since this Shen can apparently walk by royal BodyGuards without being flagged, it doesn’t surprise me we didn’t see him until he wanted to be seen.”
“He dragged Hail underground,” Alice hissed. “He could have killed her!”
My vision fogged, the smell of water-wet metal crowding out the whiskey taste in my mouth, and my throat closed up. It only took a heartbeat and I was back in that damned box, the water crawling up my thighs. The argument around me faded away.
“Never did I do fire sacrifice. Chanting millions of mantras,” I murmured.
“Majesty?”
I blinked at Caspel, spying Dailun standing behind him by the window. My brother was watching me with sad eyes. “Sorry, what?”
“Ah, if it is all right with you, the four of us are going to put our heads together and come up with a better plan here. We’ll have to tighten up security for the hotel, and I want a complete overview of the plans for the tour.”
“That’s fine.” I returned my attention to my still-full plate as the others said their good-byes. An uneasy silence filled the room as soon as the door closed. I picked up my glass and drained it, shoved my chair back, and crossed the room to get more.
“I think you’ve had enough, jiejie.” Dailun intercepted me, blocking my access to the liquor cabinet.
“You’re not in a position to lecture me, little brother. Step aside.”
Dailun’s smile was in that vicinity of patient, and his next words were careful, though I suspected that was only because of Gita. “I’m not going to fight with you, honored sister, it’s the last thing you need. So stop trying to pick one.”
“He’s right, Majesty,” Gita said from behind me, and I turned to face her. “And before you say it, I sort of am in a position to lecture you about it.”
I stared at her, calculating my odds in a fight against my brother and my Dve until Dailun stole the glass out of my hand. I bared my teeth at him and for a moment was tempted to just grab the bottle and take a drink. But the likelihood that Dailun would tackle me to take it away was high, and my nerves were jumbled enough without getting into a fistfight.
“Did you have another flashback just then?” He gestured at the table with the glass still in his hand.
“I—” I shoved both hands into my hair and muttered a curse. “I guess? I don’t know.”
“You were praying, Majesty,” Gita said gently. “And that particular prayer, I believe, is now burned into all our brains.”
Dropping onto the couch, I pressed my forehead against my knees and fought down the nausea that threatened to crawl up my throat. I felt the couch shift and the cool touch of Dailun’s fingers on my neck just before he whispered in my ear.
“It’s all right, honored sister. You’re going to be all right. This was expected. It just took you a little longer than anyone guessed.”
I sat up. “You were all waiting for me to los
e my shit?”
“Majesty.” Gita sat in the chair across from us. “Most people struggle to cope with one major trauma. You’ve been through no fewer than four, including dying, in the last year. It was going to happen.”
“And Aiz made sure it happened while I was down there so everyone would be focused on me and not bother to look for them as they escaped. Fuck.” I pressed a hand to my mouth and then dropped it into my lap. “He played us. He—did you figure out how he got past everyone in the deli?”
Gita shook her head. “We’ve been over the footage, every millisecond. He really does just appear out of thin air, but that’s not possible.”
“The kitchen was empty when we went out the back.”
“I cleared it when Emmory gave the order to stand down,” she said. “I was around the corner with Indula when he took you into the cellar. We tried to follow, but he moved too fast. I’m sorry.”
I reached a hand out and closed it around her wrist. “He knew exactly what he was doing. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
“The bigger question is, how do we keep him from doing it again?” Dailun asked.
“That I don’t have an answer for.” I released Gita and stood. “I can tell you I’m not going anywhere unarmed until this whole mess is over.”
“You’re not going anywhere until we get a handle on this, Majesty,” Emmory said as he came into the room.
“If he’d wanted me dead I would be, Emmy.” I saw Zin wince as he followed behind his partner, and I felt a stab of guilt for my words. “They really just wanted to talk.”
“Gita,” Emmory said and she turned to him. “Indula and Iza are going over the digital recordings from everyone’s smatis again; go help them. I want to know how he got through our security. Dailun, find somewhere else to be; I need to talk to Hail alone.”
It was extremely rare for my Ekam to use my first name in front of others and historically he’d only done it when I was in danger. I watched as the others, with the exception of his husband, scattered at his orders.
I felt stupidly fragile, like the slightest tap would shatter me to pieces. I’d survived so much. This couldn’t be the thing that finally broke me.
“You didn’t eat your breakfast,” Zin said, resting his hands on the windowsill. “Stasia is going to have words for you when Emmory finally lets her in here.”
“I don’t suppose I could talk you into eating it for me and saving me from the lecture?”
A smile curved Zin’s mouth, but he shook his head. “You’re on your own there, Hail. The only person I’m more afraid of crossing than your maid is Emmory.”
“He’s lying,” Emmory said from behind me. “Zin is not the slightest bit afraid of me. He ignores me on a pretty regular basis.”
“This must be bad. You’re both calling me by name,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Do we really need to say it?” It was Zin who asked the question, though when I turned it was easy to see the echo of it on Emmory’s face, and I reached for both of them. I wrapped an arm around Emmory’s neck and dragged Zin in close with my free hand, squeezing them tight for a heartbeat.
How I had hated these Trackers who dragged me out of the wreckage of my ship and away from my life to sit on a throne I’d never wanted, but now their solid presence was the only thing keeping me from screaming.
“Aiz went to a lot of trouble so his sister could talk to me in person. Why?” I released my BodyGuards and tossed my hands up in the air. “And why in the fires of Naraka are the Shen and the Farians so damn interested in me?”
Emmory sighed. “I don’t know, Majesty, and it makes me nervous.”
“Join the club,” I shot back. Feeling the need to move, I started pacing the confines of the room. “Let’s be realistic. I’m nothing special, whatever the newslines like to say. And Indrana’s reputation is mighty, but her current state doesn’t put her on any playing field with most of the major governments in the galaxy. We’re better off than the Saxons, obviously, and most of the smaller alliances, but if the Solarians wanted to come after us right now they’d crush us. To say nothing of the tough time we’d have keeping the XiXu, the Parisian Alliance, or the Hampton Planetary Consortium off our backs. The Farians could have gone to any one of them for help, but they didn’t. Why?”
“I don’t know about legendary, but Cressen Stone had a very impressive reputation,” Zin said, and I snorted.
“I have told you not to believe every rumor you hear.”
“The Farians might,” Emmory said. “So might the Shen. And they’re not entirely wrong, Majesty. You are a legend, like it or not. But that’s not the point here and to be fair, this is way out of either Zin’s or my area of expertise. It’s really something you should discuss with Caterina or the other matriarchs.”
“Don’t you start.” Spinning around, I stalked back across the room and poked Emmory in the chest. “I trust you. I value your opinion more than anyone out there, except maybe Hao, and I am tired of everyone trying to make me into something I’m not!”
“Majesty, I just—”
“I am the Empress of Indrana. I have given myself body and soul to this, and Shiva damn them for putting me here in the first place. I don’t care if they don’t like that I ask my BodyGuards or my brother for advice. I’ve fought with you at my back. I know you. The rest of them, they could betray me at any point and we all know it.” I dropped back onto the couch, stunned by my breaking voice and the tears on my face. I wiped them away, cursing under my breath, so frustrated at myself for this ugly tangle of emotions that my interaction with the Shen seemed to have dragged to the surface.
“Hail.” Emmory knelt at my side. “You don’t mean that. The matriarchs are loyal to Indrana. They’re loyal to you.”
“I’m not saying they aren’t,” I snapped. “You know what I mean, Emmory. We’ve fought together, bled for each other. I—there isn’t anyone—” I couldn’t find the words I needed, but thankfully Emmory seemed to understand.
“I know,” he said.
The door slammed open, and the commotion from outside spilled into the room along with Ikeki. Emmory and Zin both drew their guns, bringing the whole situation to an almost comical freeze-frame.
I was halfway to my feet, grasping at the empty spot on my hip where a gun should have been, and when I spotted Adora in the hallway with Kisah’s gun in her face, my sharp laughter cut through the air, startling everyone even more.
“Majesty—” Ikeki broke off when I raised my hand.
“Let her in, Kisah.” I watched my BodyGuard lower her Hessian, but not holster it, and the others moved from the door to allow her into my room. Crossing my arms over my chest, I shook my head. “Ambassador Notaras, it’s never a good idea to try to burst into my rooms without approval,” I said. “But you’ve picked an especially poor time to do so. Is there a reason I shouldn’t have my BodyGuards shoot you and send a nicely worded apology to the Pedalion along with your body?”
Adora seemed surprised, though I wasn’t quite sure if it was from the guns or my words. “Your Majesty, I wanted to see if you were all right. We heard about the Shen attack.”
“I wasn’t attacked.” It annoyed me that the words even left my mouth, but it was too late to stop them. Now it sounded like I was defending the Shen, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming. “We had a run-in with the Cevallas, but I am fine. They merely wanted to talk.”
“To talk? About what? He touched you, Your Majesty. You are unclean. I can make sure he—”
“Ambassador Notaras! If you take another step toward me I won’t even bother with an apology to the Pedalion. You are violating my space, and you are making my Guards uneasy. I have been thoroughly checked out by my doctor and my Ekam. I am fine. I have no need of your assistance.”
Adora’s face went blank. “My apologies, Your Majesty. I am concerned for your health. Despite our recent disagreement, Faria does value its relationship with Indrana and we would mourn
should anything happen to you.”
“I am fine,” I repeated. “It was my understanding you were headed back to Faria.”
“I was.”
“I suggest you be on your way, then.” It wasn’t quite an order, but Adora stiffened all the same before she gave me a sharp nod and left the room.
Emmory and Zin lowered their weapons at the same time and shared a look. “Stay here,” Emmory ordered, holstering his weapon. He grabbed Ikeki by the arm. “What were you thinking coming in here? You don’t ever open the door if the empress’s life is in danger.”
“Sir, I—what was I supposed to do?”
“Shoot her.”
“The ambassador? But, Ekam—” Ikeki’s shocked voice vanished into the hallway with the pair.
“Is it just me or was the ambassador not quite herself?” I mused and Zin frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“She was practically frothing at the mouth about the fact that Aiz touched me, and I’m not entirely convinced it was out of a concern for my safety.” I rolled my eyes. “She said I was unclean.” I shuddered. “That’s got all sorts of connotations and most of them bring to mind a host of religious dogma.”
“She seemed very out of sorts.”
“That’s a nice way of putting it.” I rubbed a hand against the back of my neck, suddenly exhausted. “Something about Aiz in particular seems to put our ambassador off her diplomatic game, bet you ten credits.”
“No thank you on that one,” Zin replied. “To be fair, she’s not the only one concerned. Are you all right?”
“You know I’m not.” I patted Zin on the arm with a wan smile. “But we’ll go on regardless. I have had more than enough excitement for this morning. I’m going to go get dressed and finish going over some reports. Tell Stasia I promise I’ll eat my lunch.”
“Chicken,” he murmured, and I chuckled under my breath as I headed for my room. As soon as his back was turned, my smile vanished and I headed immediately for my wardrobe. The shaking in my hands only dissipated once I had my holster buckled and the heavy weight of my SColt 45 pressing comfortingly against my leg.