“I want the name of the person responsible for this action. Someone should have ensured a face-list of all Betters working in the palace was routed to the…” She broke off as Prentice picked up a reader on her desk.
“You mean this list?” He handed it to her.
Destoiya hesitated, reached out and took it. She thumbed it on and perused the ID of all four Betters on her staff. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why is this on my desk?”
“Your signature is required before palace personnel information can be released.” He held out a stylus. “Apparently, you’re the one responsible.”
With a growled murmur, she initialed it and handed it back to him. “How much longer till Alitus gets here?”
Prentice took three long strides to the door and opened it.
Alitus almost fell inside, his hand outstretched for the knob. He drew himself up and tugged his jacket into place as he approached Destoiya. “I hate when he does that,” he whispered.
Prentice rubbed a thumb across his wide lower lip. “I’ll be outside if you need me.” He bowed from the room, closing the door behind him.
Had that been a smile? She shook off the notion and turned her attention to Alitus. Hands on her hips, Destoiya lifted her chin. “Where have you been?”
He gestured toward the door. “I was…”
“Never mind that.” She waved a hand in dismissal. “There’s a crisis at Parliament.”
“Yes, I heard about the dead police officers.”
His words grabbed her attention.How does he always know these things? “I want you to hold a press conference.”
“Of course.” He withdrew a note reader from a pocket and turned it on, but Destoiya laid her hand across it and mimed for him to turn it off. He did at once.
“I want nothing recordable on my end, Alitus. This conference must be a personal appeal from you.”
“Appeal. From me?” Alitus frowned. “In what way and to whom?”
“You’re the best known Better in the empire. You’re constantly seen at my side. I want you to appeal to Betters to wear the veil and obey the law.”
Dragging a hand back through his pale hair, he narrowed his eyes. “I was hoping no one would ask me what I thought.”
“No one has.” Destoiya handed him a chip. “I’m telling you what to say.”
Alitus dropped the chip into his note reader and skimmed the information. While he did, she folded her arms and waited, tapping her fingers against the wool of her uniform jacket. She smoothed the sash and straightened one of her medals.
Alitus lowered the reader, pressed fingers to brow and shook his head, eyes closed.
“Well?” she prompted. “How soon can you present this?”
He didn’t respond right away, keeping his eyes closed as he wet his lips.
“For your own safety, Alitus, you must obey me. If this backlash against Betters continues, every unveiled Better will be a target. Or anyone who’s beautiful enough to be mistaken for one.”
“Majesty, you’re asking me to say things that I don’t believe in. This…” He gestured with the reader. “—says that I accepted wearing the veil of my own accord.”
Destoiya took his arm and led him to one of the wing-backed chairs in her office. “Sit down.” When he complied, she braced both hands on the arms of the chair and put her face in front of his.
Alitus drew back.
This close, his scent enveloped her, sending a rush of heat over her face and down the front of throat. Her breasts tingled. “Mr. Vivaldi, do I have your attention?”
He blinked once. “Completely, Your Majesty.”
“Do not mistake my desire for you for weakness. When I tell you to do something, it is not a request. It is a demand from your empress.”
No anger in his wide, blue eyes—but no simple resignation, either.Well, his intelligence has always challenged mine. It’s one of the things I love about him.
Destoiya stood upright. “My decree that Betters within the palace are not forced to veil does not extend to you. Despite your personal objections, you will comply with this and do as you’re told, for your own safety. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly, Your Majesty.” A muscle in his jaw twitched. “But if you’re so concerned about me being a target, why are you marking me as one? A Better veiled in black will be pretty hard to miss among a room full of normals.”
“If I thought for one moment that was your real reason for arguing with me, Alitus, I’d give it serious consideration. But I know you well enough to understand your motives. There will be no discussion. You either obey me as directed or declare right now that you’re leaving my service.” She folded her arms and waited.
He opened his mouth to object, but pressed his lips together and cast his gaze downward. “Are you firing me?”
“Will it come to that?”
His lips went white. Alitus shook his head once.
Destoiya had no illusions about his acceptance of either the veil or her will on the matter. “I need a verbal answer, Mr. Vivaldi.”
He raised his head. The earlier defiance in his eyes had muted to apathy. “When I accepted my position, I swore to comply with Her Majesty’s wishes in all matters. That has not changed.”
“Good.” She held her head aloft. “Then you will put on the veil, attend the conference and when you’re introduced, lift your veil to let people know it’s you. After you deliver the speech…” She touched the reader in his hand. “—drop your veil. From that moment on, you’re not to be seen in public without it again.”
Chapter Ten
Conqueror’s Palace, Press Room Ante-chamber
Sumertsag 43
Alitus reached beneath the veil and adjusted the fit of it one more time while he waited to be introduced. A cap snugged over the top of his head, the veil itself attached to the top of that. The thick netting made the room dark.
How am I ever going to find my way around at night wearing this thing? I can’t believe she’s handicapping me like this. You’d think she’d give me decent tools to work with instead of making me damned near blind and suffocating me.
He pressed his hands together under the veil as if praying and brought them to his lips. An array of emotions flip-flopped in his stomach: disgust, shame, disappointment, anger, and overriding them all—a gut-clenching sense of betrayal.
Alitus lifted his head.I don’t have to put up with this. I don’t have to stay here. I can quit. He sighed raggedly, lowered his head again.No. There’s no use in lying to myself. I’m as addicted to her as she is to me.
A Better became part of his lover. Separation ached. And who would hire a Better already addicted to someone else? Especially if that someone were the empress and the Better was the most visible one in the empire. He let out a long, sighing breath.
There’d only been one generation of Betters ever born. The public outcry against enhanced beings ended the movement before it gained enough momentum to ever be considered dangerous.
If my parents had known the true ramifications of their choice to conceive me as a Better instead of a normal, would they still have done it? If they’d had any idea how dangerous we could be? Mother always told me all she wanted was a child, so it had to be my father who—
“Is it heavy?”
Alitus started at the deep, masculine voice. He hadn’t seen anyone come close, but Prentice stood right behind him. He did not bother to turn around. “What doyou want?”
“She must spoil you if you get away with that attitude.”
“What do you know about attitude? You’re an android. They just program it out of you.”
“You have a lot to learn.” Prentice rarely intentionally made his presence known, though he was never far from Her Majesty. Easy to forget he was even there. “Her Majesty sent me to watch over you.”
“Ok, you’ve watched me. Now go back and tell her I don’t need a watchdog. I will do my duty.”
“I think I’ll let you tell her that yourself.”
Sighing, Alitus turned around, tilted back his head and set a hand on top of the veil to keep it from slipping. Prentice towered over everyone. “Is she with you?”
“No. But she’ll be watching your speech.”
“Fine.” Alitus turned back around.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“What question?”
“Is the veil heavy? You keep lowering your head.”
“No, not heavy.” Alitus adjusted the hang across his shoulders and pulled it away from his body in front. “It’s hot. I can hardly breathe.”
“Turn it on.”
“What?” Alitus pivoted on one foot. He held the veil against his face so he could see out of it better. “It’s hard to hear in this thing.”
“Reach up inside it and touch the inner brim above your right ear.”
Alitus stroked one finger along the brim. “I feel a series of small bumps.”
“Those are the controls. Press them from front to back to increase the cooling effect.”
Bracing himself for a breeze, Alitus pressed the first bump. Instead, the air immediately lightened and felt less humid. He took the first deep breath he’d been able to draw since donning the veil. “Oh, that feels good.” He pressed the next bump. “Much better. Thanks, Prentice.”
“The ones about a finger’s width above them adjust visibility. Did no one show you how to operate the veil?”
“No. Her Majesty thrust it into my hands and said, ‘This is yours.’ I thought this was all there was to it.” Alitus touched the upper bumps; the room’s brightness increased by half. He tapped the others in sequence. His view of the veil almost disappeared. “Is this thing still opaque?” He held up a hand in front of his face. “I can see every stitch in this glove. It’s like the veil’s not there.”
“You’ll be able to see out in any lighting, but no one will be able to see your face.”
“Great.” Alitus pressed fingers to brow. “I really will be invisible.”
Prentice hmm’d, then ducked his head toward him. “Just like an android.”
The palace press secretary motioned to Alitus that he was on. When he turned back to thank Prentice once more for his help, the tall android was nowhere in sight.
“Sir?” The secretary touched his arm. “Is everything all right?”
Alitus nodded, remembered that the movement couldn’t be seen, and answered aloud. “I’m fine, thank you.”
He followed the woman into the press room and mounted the dais. Praetorian stood on either side of the stage, guns at the ready. For once, seeing them made him feel secure, rather than threatened. He took his place behind the podium, as he had on hundreds of occasions when announcing press releases.
The room held the usual press-droids and cam-bots from the major news outlets. Today, however, humans had crowded into their midst, including DNN’s dual-gendered Androg star, Kamarr Chaffer, notable for his exposés and rogue reporting. Rumors of his alignment with the rebellion abounded and he did absolutely nothing to quell them. That kind of publicity sold public newsfeeds and shot Imperinet ratings through the roof.
“Let me announce first that I will not be accepting questions today.” Alitus lifted the front of his veil and set it atop his head. A collective, unsettling “ooh” wafted through the humans in the room. A few edged back from the stage. He flashed them a wide smile anyway. “Good morning. Thank you all for coming.”
* * * *
Conqueror’s Palace
Office of Her Majesty Rheyn Destoiya
The empress adjusted the volume. Imperinet was broadcasting this vid throughout the empire and she did not want to miss it. When Alitus lifted his veil, the woman beside her leaned an elbow on the desk and stared at the screen.
“This is the one you want me to test for you?”
“Yes.”
Erryq d’Shoreyh rubbed her palms together. “Oh, I do hope he’s naughty. Then maybe you’ll want me to discipline him for you.”
“Behave yourself.”
“He’s incredible, Rheyn. Wherever did you find him?” Erryq’s shimmering liquid-gold gaze turned toward Destoiya. “And do you suppose they have any more? If so,” she grinned, “I want two.”
Destoiya linked her arm with Erryq’s and pressed her lips against the woman’s cheek. “Believe me, darling, you only want two Betters when you’ve never had one. This single Better right here…” She touched his image on the screen. “—is going to send you up in flames.”
“Good morning,” Alitus was saying. “Thank you all for coming.”
The empress set a finger against her mouth, miming quiet, as she sat beside Erryq.
Alitus’ fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes shone against the blackness of the veil around him. “I stand before you today not only on behalf of Her Majesty Empress Destoiya, but also on behalf of all Betters. The recent violence which has gripped Tarth must not be allowed to play out on other worlds. Bloodshed absolutely must stop, for the good of all. I appeal to each Better to do as I have and accept the veil as a requirement of law. Rather than protest its wearing, work to change the law through legal recourse.”
The speech continued its logical appeal to the end. Written for minds that grasped details and would not forget them, presented by one of their own kind and delivered after such shocking violence, it was sure to have a strong effect.
As he prepared to step back, Alitus suddenly reached up and pulled off his veil altogether. He tousled his hair. “I must say one more thing,” he began.
“Here we go.” Destoiya pressed fingers against temples. “I knew he was going to do this. Didn’t I tell you?”
Erryq patted her hand.
“For those of you who think I was forced to stand here and give this speech, you’re right.” The media shouted questions; Alitus held up a hand for silence. “However, I learned long ago that our empress has wisdom far beyond my ability to fathom. If she deems it necessary for me to wear this…” He picked up the veil. “—I trust her judgment. Do not let the opinions of the few determine your acceptance of the veil. I choose to comply for personal reasons. Mine are surely not the same as yours.”
Alitus spread his hands. “Find your own. Do not risk your lives and your families’ lives for the sake of pride. Surely, this law will be overturned soon and reason will return to our society. But until it does,” he flipped the veil around and covered himself with it. “Please,” the genderless robotic voice emitted by the veil gave no hint of the vibrant young man beneath. “Take my advice and save your strength for battles worth fighting. As believe me,I shall be doing. ”
Chapter Eleven
Conqueror’s Palace, Alitus Vivaldi’s Quarters
Sumertsag 43
Alitus entered his apartments and slammed the door behind him. He yanked off the veil, threw it on the floor and ran both hands through his hair. Shuddering, he tore off his gloves, cast them onto the table in the foyer and rubbed his face.
After his speech he’d returned to his office to find it empty, the empress gone and his entire staff sent home for the night. He’d made his way home via the usual back way, taking the servant’s elevator, but this night, there were no friendly greetings. Nobody looked directly at him; a few scurried out of his way. Not one person smiled.
Only four Betters worked in the palace and none of the others had to veil. They had to know it was him. And now the empress was angry with him. She had to be to send everyone home so early.Maybe I am fired, after all.
Grib didn’t make his nightly appearance, so Alitus hung up his own jacket and removed his cuffs. He listened a moment, but the place seemed isolated, silent. Maybe she’d let all of his staff go.
He let out a long sighing breath, opened his bedroom door and halted.
His Empress stood in the middle of his bedroom. The Insatiable Empress, the Queen of Quenchless Lust, his Conqueror.
Salt and pepper hair lay in loose waves around her shoulders. Her sparkling grey eyes held all the
grandeur of a stormy sky. White lace covered the creamy skin of her breasts and a tiny scrap of it exposed her thatch of dark pubic hair. She shifted her weight to one bare leg and pointed the toe of her other foot. Black leather pumps with slender, spiky heels graced her feet.
“Welcome home, Alitus.”
He knelt before her and kissed the top of her foot. The scent of her desire filled him with unbridled lust. Her woman’s hair lay within easy reach of his mouth as he sat up. He inhaled her scent and sighed.
She smiled lazily, placed a kiss on her fingertips, then pressed her fingers against his mouth.
Allen, Kayelle - T4 Alitus (2007) Page 7