by L. K. Rigel
“Understandable.” The Samaelii placed Samael above all other gods, and Red City’s legitimacy derived from Asherah. “I hear this new priest of theirs is rather charismatic.” The fanatics wanted to outlaw worship of other gods completely. Ridiculous on its face.
But the real danger was from the Samaeli insistence on equal treatment of the soulless. Some called for elimination of the liminal gauntlet, saying that if someone was born without a soul, that was what Samael intended and no one should challenge where they’d been placed on the Great Chain of Being.
A neat trick of logic, but cruel to the soulless. And it was also stupid, a threat to the stability of the material world.
Ninshubur ran her fingers down to the sheath on Garrick’s calf. “Would you like to show me your dagger?” He reflexively grabbed her hand and twisted.
“Ow!”
“Forgive me, sweet maiden.” He kissed her wrist. “This was my sister’s dagger. I’m probably too sensitive to jokes about it. I know I should have shattered the blade and returned it to our breeder, but I still can’t bear the thought.”
“Everyone’s heart broke when she died,” Mallory said. The look of compassion in her lovely brown eyes was so sweet, Edmund felt a twinge of jealousy.
Publicly, he’d supported Counselor’s wish that Garrick return the dagger; but in his heart, he’d sympathized with the guy. He’d be lost if Counselor died.
“Come with me, you poor dear.” Ninshubur led Garrick away into the hydrangea bushes. “I’ll make you feel better. And maybe you could help me with my proof.”
It’s What They Train For
“You come with me.” Mallory linked her arm in his. She was lovely and gracious and delicate and all those good things that came with breeders. Strong and self-confident too. She led him to a wall of glass that looked on a courtyard of tables full of young girls, all staring at him.
“This is the only place they can see the princes.” She spread her hands like she was displaying something for show – him. “You’re off limits to them, you know.”
“Oh? I thought it was they who were off limits to us.” He moved closer to the glass to give them a really good look. “Sorry to disappoint. I’m sure they’d rather see Garrick.”
“He is beautiful.” Did she have to agree so readily? “But you’re handsome enough. Look, they’re all in love with you.”
He couldn’t bring himself to smile, but he waved. In Allel he had to display himself to the people from time to time. This was ritual too. He suffered no illusion they’d be as fascinated were he not a future king.
Enough. He moved away from the window. “So you’re not going to have a proof of service pregnancy. You’re above all that?”
“Above it?”
“I heard you tell Ninshubur. I’m glad you can afford such principles. Maybe it will drive down your first bride price. Allel is no match for most of the cities – though we could probably outbid Hibernia if they were in the market.”
She laughed, but not unkindly. Poor Hibernia.
“I shouldn’t joke about Hibernia,” he said. “Harold has always been a good friend to Allel.”
“The KPs are reporting a bad flu season there this year.”
Her concern was genuine. Did she know influenza had killed his father? She seemed to struggle over whether to say something. She looked up at him with those trusting eyes, and he melted inside.
Princes should get emotion-control training too.
“I’m not being grand,” she said. “That’s not it. I’m no Kairo. I don’t even have a provenance. Well, not a good one. You remember they found me in a settlement.”
“I remember that you found the Scrolls of Scylla.”
“No!” Her eyes opened wide and she grabbed his arms. “Please. We agreed to keep my part in that a secret.”
“And it was good of you to agree. It kept us from having to endure a Team of Inquiry until we were ready for them.” She didn’t get that he was joking. A little bit. “But you must let me express our gratitude privately.”
“Please. I have my reasons.” She glanced nervously around the room. “Promise me you’ll never talk about it again.”
“Of course, if you ask it. I’ll only say one last time Counselor and I will never forget what you did for us.” And Mallory didn’t know the half of it.
There was another thing he’d wanted to ask her about, surely a safe topic. “I’ve always wondered about the marvelous honeybee you sent Counselor. The workmanship is extraordinary. Who did it?”
“The man who worked for my guardian. He was always carving things out of wood and stone. I asked him to make the bee for Counselor. She was so kind to me.”
“I’m surprised Garrick would let such talent go to waste in a settlement.”
“Oh, I’m sure Palada would never want to live in a city. Not even Garrick.”
What a thought. As if someone subject to Garrick would have a choice. Maybe Mallory’s settlement origin wasn’t a bad thing at all. Her mind was free of city cant.
She’d become an interesting-looking woman. Her face wasn’t beautiful, but her hair was fabulous. She was actually pretty, in a healthy sort of way. Her skin was too pale, but it was pinkish instead of the sickly tint one usually saw in those with lighter hair. Her eyes were a good dark brown with thick dark lashes. She wasn’t at all repulsive. And her lips were kissable enough. He knew that from last night. And they were so close right now.
He kissed her. So soft, warm. So inviting. He touched her face. The sense of falling into her started to wash over him, losing himself in her as he did last night.
He pulled away. He’d better get his feet back on the ground.
“What is it then, about no proof?” Not that he’d mind having nonritual sex with her – of course he wouldn’t mind! But she had to invite him; that was the rule. “Really, I’d like to understand.”
“You wouldn’t. Even I think I’m an idiot.”
“Well, now I have to know.”
She blushed. Not because of his kiss, surely. He was no Garrick, not in looks and certainly not in fortune. Anyway, chalices didn’t have feelings like normal people. Emotion was trained out of them so they could do their job.
Completely understandable.
“I think it’s wrong. Immoral. There, I’ve said it.” She lowered her voice. “It can’t be right to intentionally create a human being that will never have a soul. You do know we aren’t allowed to ensoul the proofs?”
“Of course.” They sat down on a bench between two white rhododendrons in full bloom. “We can’t have them challenging successions, can we? It’s hard enough to maintain stability. The regent barely kept Allel from anarchy when my father died. And now Red City wants to let nonroyals bid for natural-borns. Aristocrats in every Concord City are salivating. There will be more succession challenges.”
“It’s not the same issue. Asherah made us chalices because she wanted more souls in the world, not fewer. Besides, nonroyals can’t participate in the Rites. By law, they couldn’t raise a challenge.”
“Laws are only as strong as the will to follow them. Better to eliminate the possibility altogether.” She had no answer to that. “As for the proofs, I’ve noticed they’re happy enough without the burden of a soul.” He couldn’t believe they were having a philosophical conversation. She wasn’t the self-absorbed fluff he’d imagined all chalices to be.
“They do live in comfort with never a want,” she said. “They can work if they like. They can play if they like.”
“Many of my people would envy such a comfortable life. No fear of raptors or starvation or some special species not yet discovered.”
“But they’re barred from the liminal gauntlet. They have no choice. They live their comfortable lives and die. Never to be within the All, never to return to immortality. I won’t do that to anyone. Certainly not for a better bride price.”
“But as you say, they don’t have souls, so they don’t really suffer, do they?”<
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“That’s – that’s horrible.” She stood up.
Sting me. There goes your invitation, Edmund.
“I want to go see my – I want to check on something. I will look for you later.”
She even looked good walking away, the Allel mantle billowing and her white-gold hair captured in that Byzantine braid. He could still smell her fragrant, soft skin. She disappeared through the flowers, and he saw her through the glass window, running across the courtyard.
Counselor was right; he was too serious.
Running the city had done that to him, making sure the hospital had power, scheduling the voyages of the Golden Wasp, deciding what crops to plant and which fields to fallow, consulting daily with the Beekeeper.
Then there was Tesla.
What was he doing spending an entire week here? Not to mention travel time. He’d be certified this afternoon. He pulled out his gridcom tablet to order Captain Serna to make the Golden Wasp ready to weigh anchor by the evening tide.
Not possible. The answer came back. Hives not out until tomorrow morning.
He absently touched the honey bee, on his left clavicle. He had brought five hundred hives to Red City on this trip, part of the perpetual contract price his father had agreed to for Celia. Moving hives was slow and gentle work. The crew couldn’t just throw them onto the dock with the rest of the stowage.
Before he knew anything about the world, he’d thought his father a fool to pay so high a price. But during her regency Celia had kept the city intact, kept Garrick and the Drahans off balance and in check, and kept the throne safe, waiting for him. She was worth every drone.
In fact Celia had no interest but to better Allel’s fortunes, and she had been interested in Mallory from the beginning. What was her game?
And did Celia’s interest make the Mallory more or less appealing?
He played by the Concord rules because that’s how the world worked. But for all its pseudo-religious mumbo-jumbo, he’d always thought the Triune Contract dehumanizing. To breed Allel’s future king and Counselor, he would rather not embrace an empty vessel.
Mallory was no empty vessel. She had a mind, and she had a heart too. What if character was transmitted through the genes like eye color? Even if not, surely it was better to possess intelligence and kindness than not.
It was a sign of kindness that she cared about soulless wretches. A sign of intelligence that she even thought of such things.
“You’ve lost your bleeder, I see.” Garrick stepped through some pampas grass. “Mallory, is it? She doesn’t look all that special to me.”
“Good.” Edmund instantly regretted saying it. Nothing was guaranteed to make Garrick desire a thing more than to think someone else wanted it. “And what of yours? I thought she wanted you to get a proof on her.”
“She went to see her dog.” Garrick looked amused. “She suddenly needed to know it had been fed and played with. Thank the gods our contact with bleeders is limited. I’d go mad if I had to talk to one for more than ten minutes at a time.”
“According to the regent, they don’t like being called that once they’re sanctified.” He wasn’t scandalized, but Garrick irritated him. “You should esteem these women for their service.”
“Esteem. That’s rich. We could, all of us, get kids off any number of bleeders in the wild. Hell, I’ve done it myself. Shocked? Don’t tell me you’ve never gone for a little wildling action when you were out on the hunt.”
“Then why are you here?” He hadn’t. But it was none of Garrick’s business.
“Because this is how things are done, isn’t it? The Concords will never recognize heirs that don’t come out of a Triune Contract. The Reds have a sweet game going for themselves. That bit about ‘we’d love it if we were put out of business’? Pure crap.”
Everything Garrick said was true, but the way he said it was crude and unworthy of a prince.
“Ready to see the orchids?” Ninshubur was back. She pulled Garrick to his feet. She had put her hair in two braids and wore a red jumpsuit held together by yellow bows down the front and back. Garrick untied one of the bows and exposed a breast, and she laughed.
“We’d be rude beyond redemption not to appreciate such beauty, eh, my brother?” Garrick teased her nipple with his fingers and bent down to suck. “Very nice.” He turned her toward Edmund and squeezed her breast. “Want some?”
“No, thanks.”
Ninshubur wasn’t offended. She reached above her head to stroke Garrick’s face, facing Edmund while Garrick exposed both breasts and played with them.
“Come appreciate me in the orchids,” she said. Garrick scooped her up and carried her off, giggling like a kid with a new toy. Creepy.
Time to get out of here and get something to eat.
Mallory was standing in his way. She looked different, glowing, like she’d enhanced her makeup or something, and her hair was set free of its braid.
She came to him and put her hands on his chest. He ran his hands through her hair. She looked into his eyes so deeply he had to remember to breathe.
“It must be hard to care so much for Allel and worry about Counselor and the regent too.” She guided his hands to her breasts. Why should he be surprised by this, or the way Ninshubur was with Garrick? It’s what they trained for. It’s what they wanted. He could skip lunch and still make the day’s last lecture. He took her into his arms and kissed her.
What the Shib Are They Up To?
Mal flew down the marble stairs and through the automatic doors, slipping her shades on as she came out into the sun. She was so glad she had waited to use the silk from Allel. The mantle had pleased Edmund. Maybe it made up a little for her rudeness.
It had been stupid to get mad at him when she was the one with the odd ideas.
He had understood her. He might not agree, but he got why she didn’t want to do a proof of service. She couldn’t explain it to the sisters without sounding insulting or as if she was challenging the rules. Edmund had listened without taking offense.
How did she repay him? By taking offense herself when he expressed his own views.
Now she couldn’t wait to play with him, and she knew just where to take him – the place behind the rocks on the beach near the amphitheater. It would be marvelous to feel his arms around her with the waves pounding all around them. Last night during the ritual, he had felt perfect inside her. She wanted to feel that again.
It was going to be fun being a chalice. She didn’t yet feel this urgent desire for other princes, but that was probably because she hadn’t really talked to any of them. Garrick, for instance, looked like he would be very fun to play with.
Nin and Garrick were on the bench beside the indoor fountain. The orchids were amazing. She had made a good choice, bringing him here to do the deed. Garrick’s back was to Mal. Nin was sitting on his lap with her legs wrapped around him as he sucked one of her nipples.
Her eyes were closed, and her face was all screwed up. Pleasure sure did look hilarious on other people. Garrick moaned as Nin rocked against him. She opened her eyes and saw Mal. She smiled, and Mal felt a rush of happiness. From Nin’s expression, she was probably conceiving at that moment.
Mal went over to whisper congratulations and put her arms around them both. Garrick pulled Mal’s mantle aside and opened her top, taking a nipple into his mouth. She ran her fingers through his red-gold hair and pressed his head against her breast. Nin sucked her other nipple, still riding Garrick. Mal closed her eyes and let pleasure wash over her. She really wanted to find Edmund! She pulled away and left Nin and Garrick to their fun.
She saw him before he saw her, at the white rhododendrons where she had left him. He had his arms around someone, and Mal was quite primed to join them – until she really looked at the girl he was kissing so passionately, bent slightly backwards, her long white and gold hair hanging down over a mantle with the Bay of Allel depicted on the back.
Edmund was kissing her, Mal, right before h
er eyes.
She ducked into the pampas grass. He said her name, Mallory. Feeling sick to her stomach, she backed away and ran out of hydroponics, across the courtyard, and up to the main building. She flew up the stairway and nearly ran into Sister Marin coming out of the teachers’ lift.
“It’s back! The Empani. It’s in hydroponics!”
Sister Marin set off, and Mal wished she had on gi pants. She hiked her mantle and dress over her knees to keep up. A few guards joined them, out of curiosity, which attracted a couple of sisters to the chase. Roh and Kairo spotted her from the bistro and jumped up from their table. Mal could hear the word spreading; something was going on in hydroponics.
Edmund was alone and looked pretty happy – and very confused when he saw her. He glanced over his shoulder and back at her braid.
“What’s going on, Mal?” Nin and Garrick had followed her and Sister Marin.
“My dear Prince Edmund,” said Sister Marin. “I beg your pardon for this intrusion. We believe an Empani is in the compound.”
Edmund then looked thoroughly perplexed, but Mal had no desire to enlighten him. What would be the point?
“This can’t be an example of Red City’s famous security.” Garrick’s comment didn’t endear him to the guards. His arm was thrown carelessly around Nin, and she clung to him, disheveled and happy.
“Nin, please take care of our guests,” Sister Marin said. She sorted the rest of the Red City people into search teams and sent them off. Mal joined in the search. She couldn’t talk to Edmund. She was still trying to process what she’d seen.
She found a dull gray cloth caught on a bush at the compound’s edge. It felt coarse, repellant against her skin. She stuffed it into her mantle pocket and went to Sister Marin’s office.
“So our Empani has come to see us again.” Sister Marin picked up the cloth after Mal dropped it on her desk. “What do they want? And how many times have they come among us without our knowing? Perhaps they’ve even talked to one of us.”
“More than talked, it seems.” If Edmund’s satisfied look had meant what Mal knew it meant. “What has the cloth to do with it? The Lily Empani had one too.”