Behind the Throne

by K. B. Wagers

  “What do we do?” I asked.

  “We wait. He won’t hide in the shadows forever. We’ll find him, I promise you. And we’ll make them all pay for what they’ve done.”

  I exhaled, turning my hand up to squeeze his once, and then nodded. He’d promised me revenge, what seemed like so long ago in the temple as I mourned my sisters. Soon I would have it, at least partially. The satisfaction echoed in my hollow chest.

  “Zin’s compiling all the data now. He’ll have a clearer idea in a few hours,” Emmory said, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn.

  “You have time to rest then.”

  “Majesty, I should—”

  I put a hand on his chest and leaned down. “Learn to obey orders. I promise I won’t toss them around frivolously.”

  A crooked smile surfaced. “There is nothing frivolous about you, Majesty. I should go back to my quarters.”

  “You won’t sleep there and we both know it. Just close your eyes, Emmory. I’ll be in the other room if you need me.”

  “I think that’s my line.” His words were slurred, and before I’d hit the doorway of my bedroom, my Ekam’s breaths had evened out into sleep.

  I distracted myself for close to two hours until the jitters won out and I messaged Zin. “What have you got?”

  “Good morning, Majesty. Did you sleep well?” He looked better than Emmory had, but not by much.

  “Well enough, I can catch up later. What have you got for me?”

  “It’d be easier to show you. I’ll come over.”

  “No, you’ll wake Emmory. I’ll come to you.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me. “You won’t get out the door without waking him up.”

  “How much would you like to bet?” I wasn’t expecting him to agree and the number Zin named had me grinning. “I’ve rubbed off on you, Starzin.”

  “Maybe a little, ma’am. I’ll see you and Emmory in a minute.”

  I stuck my tongue out at him before I cut the connection and tossed my robe onto the bed. I took a deep breath and released it as I carefully opened the door to my room. The lights were still dim and Emmory’s breathing steady as I took slow, rolling steps across the room.

  The door to the hallway was the problem, electronic and heavy; all I could do was tap my fingers to the panel and slip through the moment it opened. I reached a hand out.

  “Majesty, what are you doing?”

  “Paying your husband a lot of money.” I slapped the panel and crossed the hallway into the Guard quarters, shooting Zin a dirty look on my way through the door.

  “I told you, Majesty.”

  “How much did she bet you?” Emmory asked, rubbing his face as he followed me through the door.

  “Three thousand.”

  Emmory stopped, whistled, and couldn’t quite conceal his grin. “She did make it to the main door. And her readings were steady the whole time.”

  “What woke you up?”

  He shrugged. “Instinct. Sorry, Majesty, it’s the truth.”

  I made a face and grabbed a chair, spinning it around so I could lean my forearms on the back. “Let’s get down to business. I want to know how someone like my cousin nearly brought my empire crashing down.”

  “We questioned everyone in custody,” Zin said without preamble. “Nal and General Prajapati seemed to know the least—Nal because she’s little more than hired muscle and the general because she was operating under the assumption that Ganda would serve us better in a war with the Saxons than you would. If anything, she’s a weak link in the chain, Majesty. She didn’t come on board the plot until after you came home.”

  “Did you bring Elsa in?”

  Emmory shook his head. “With apologies, Majesty, but we were unable to find Matriarch Khatri. General Saito has released a Tracker team; I doubt it’ll take them long to find her.”

  I waved a hand. Khatri was the least of my worries at the moment. “Go on, Zin.”

  “Obviously Laabh and Ganda were our main focus yesterday. Their stories intersect occasionally, but it’s where they don’t match that things get really interesting. According to Ganda, our mystery man approached her a year ago with this plan to put her on the throne. She met with Laabh, who incidentally claims the mystery man made contact with him separately around the same time about accepting Ganda’s offer.”

  “They both identified him from the image we got from Zaran, Majesty.” Emmory hissed a little in frustration. “Ganda said he called himself Kama. But Laabh said his name was Wilson. I’m running searches on both.”

  “Wilson was also the name he used when I was tracking him. They’re probably both fake.” I shrugged a shoulder. “He hasn’t stayed alive this long by being stupid, and giving either of them his real name would have been very dumb.”

  “Laabh was their connection to the radical Upjas. He befriended Christoph, encouraged his rage, and provided him with his mother’s schedule so that they could plant the bomb. We suspect it was the same type they attempted to use on you.”

  “But they didn’t have the same in with me and couldn’t get a good handle on my schedule?”

  Emmory nodded.

  “Plus we were lucky, ma’am,” Zin said. “That’s the plain truth of it. According to Laabh, Wilson had a plan that would put him on the throne, not Ganda. He played them off each other and yet somehow got them to work together, Majesty. They never even questioned it.

  “Ganda’s job was to insinuate herself into the empress’s inner circle. A job made easier by your empress-mother’s illness.”

  “How did they manage that?”

  “Laabh, Majesty.” Zin swallowed and looked down at his hands. “Sort of. He laced the lokum his brother was bringing on his visits.”

  “And because it was Taran bringing the candy, no one ever checked it?” Rubbing the bridge of my nose between thumb and forefinger, I swore. “I owe you an apology for your obsessiveness, Emmy.”

  “It’s my job, ma’am,” he replied without a hint of a smile. “I think Ven was starting to get suspicious; that’s when they killed him.”

  “So my nephew used his little brother to addict Mother to AVI. He used the Upjas to kill his mother and his sister. Nal said she killed Pace by infecting one of her other Guards with ebolenza. I’m the only one left, but no one knows where I am.”

  Zin nodded grimly. “Our best guess is that Wilson found the man who did your mod and was tracking you himself. He paid off Memz in Shanghai to kill you.”

  “Everyone from the royal family is dead or incapacitated. Ganda takes over. It’s a perfect plan.” I leaned back in the chair. “What happened?”

  Emmory’s laughter was loud in the stillness. “You ruined it, Majesty.”

  28

  I ruined their plans by surviving?” I laughed myself, shaking my head as I did. “They’d have had better luck if they’d just blown up Sophie. Memz never could beat me at anything.”

  “I’m glad Wilson didn’t take the time to figure that out,” Emmory said. “It threw things into serious chaos when you came home. I suspect that’s part of why the attempts on your life since your return have seemed desperate and disjointed. They’ve had to scramble to reconfigure plans that were set more than a year ago. Ganda was supposed to poison your empress-mother further against you, but didn’t count on you cutting off her access or on you working so hard to repair your relationship. She got Nal appointed as your BodyGuard, but we all saw how well that worked out.

  “Matriarch Khatri’s job was to try to discredit you, but again, she misjudged your appeal with both the general population and with the other matriarchs. Even your history wasn’t as much of a black mark as they’d thought. When you owned it, that only weakened their position further, and when the news about what you’d done to track down your father’s killers broke, that was the final blow for any campaign to discredit you.”

  “It pushed them to put a bomb in a little girl.” My amusement fled and I stared at the ceiling until I was able to push Ram
ani’s face from my mind. “How does Bial factor into all this? And are the Saxons working with Wilson or is this just convenient timing on their part?”

  Zin held his hands up. “The Saxon involvement is going to take us longer to suss out, Majesty. My gut says they might have been pushed into making their move on Canafey and the other border worlds without actually realizing the purpose behind it.

  “And as far as I can tell, Bial wasn’t involved. The man has an impeccable past, no gambling debts, no indiscretions, nothing that they’d have been able to use against him to get close to the empress. Don’t forget he was on Ven’s short list. Everything was legitimate in terms of his appointment.”

  “So he was telling the truth? He just hated that I was going to be empress?” I threw my hands in the air. “If that was the case, why did he save my life yesterday?”

  “When we find him, I’ll be sure to ask, Majesty. Good morning, Alba.”

  “Good morning, Your Majesty.” My chamberlain smiled and gave a little curtsy then nodded to Emmory and Zin.

  “You’re still hurt.” I spun out of the chair the moment I saw the shadowed bruising at her temple but Alba waved me off. “Why are you still hurt?”

  “It’s a trifle, Majesty, and already healing. Stasia patched it up last night. The Farians were busy with far more important matters to see to than my head. I’ll be fine.”

  “Your head is my head, Alba. If you’re not better by this evening, I’ll march you to Fasé myself.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Told you she’d say that,” Stasia said as she came in the room with a steaming cup in her hands. “Good morning, Majesty.”

  “Bless you, Stasia.” I took the chai and settled back into my chair. “Why are you looking at me like that, Emmory?”

  “No reason, Majesty.”

  I stared at him a moment longer, then gave up and drank my chai as BodyGuards began to trickle into the room. The sounds of the day starting swirled around me, mixing with the pinging of my smati as Alba sent me the messages she was reviewing. Most were condolences from governors and foreign heads of state, including a note from King Trace that said, Sorry about your mother. Let me know when it’s a good time to talk.

  “Interesting.”

  “I thought so, Majesty,” Alba agreed. “Do you want me to reply?”

  “No, let me think on it. Put it in the file for later.”

  “Majesty, Matriarch Desai has been cleared through the checkpoint and is here to see you.” Emmory rose from his seat and moved toward the door. “Would you like to move back to your rooms?”

  “She can come in here,” I replied with a shrug. “Morning, Clara.”

  “Your Majesty.” Matriarch Desai dropped into a deep curtsy. “We are so very relieved you are well. Please accept the sympathy of my house at the loss of your empress-mother.”

  “Mother would have laughed at you, you know.” I smiled softly and tapped my mug on the edge of the chair. “Get up, Clara, and accept my sympathies at the loss of one of your oldest friends.” I held a hand out and she took it.

  “Thank you, Majesty.” Clara smiled. “We need to discuss the details of your coronation.”

  “Clara, of the six million things I have to deal with today, that’s at the bottom of the list. I am the empress, the coronation is window dressing.”

  “Majesty, it’s an important tradition—”

  “That we will do later, Clara. Right now I have traitors to hunt down, executions to set, funerals to attend, and a war to avoid.” I held a hand up before she could respond. “Here’s what I am willing to do: You may plan the coronation, and if there’s time tomorrow evening, we’ll do it. Deal?”

  “Yes, Majesty.” She nodded sharply and dipped a curtsy. “With your permission, then, I’ll leave you to get your day started.”

  Later that day, Stasia strolled at my side through the ornate gardens at the center of the palace. It was almost noon, and the gigantic atrium was filled with the heavy scents of blooming flowers and greenery. Water splashed and hammered down over the wide bronze waterfall fountain set in the middle of the room, and the calls of several exotic species of birds imported from all over the empire echoed off the wide glass ceiling.

  I’d always loved the atrium, especially in the depths of winter. A storm had hit about an hour ago, and snow swirled above us, battering at the glass with the whim of the wind. But inside it was warm—almost unpleasantly so—and I trailed my hand through the pale orange blossoms on the trellis bush. They danced with the disturbance, releasing their spicy vanilla perfume.

  I was dressed in a cream dress almost the same color as Stasia’s skin with wide, belled sleeves. My crimson mourning sari streaked across the surface of the fabric like a jagged wound. It seemed like a petty, useless gesture.

  Jet deserved better.

  My heart twisted at the sight of the two women I had come here to see, with their heads bent over a wiggling bundle. Jet’s family. I didn’t know what to say. What did you say? What could you possibly say to ease the pain?

  Some noise alerted them to our presence, and the younger of the two raised her dark head. Emotions flashed too quickly through her pale blue eyes for me to read and then she was dropping into a bow, still holding her baby.

  “Your Imperial Majesty.”

  “Up, up, please.” I crossed the space between us with my hands held out.

  Reva Gaiden was about as tall as her husband had been, putting her just above my shoulder. Her hair was a wild mass of dark curls and her face—though lovely—showed the strain of grief. “Majesty, this is my sister, Joi.”

  “Thank you both for seeing me,” I said, feeling awkward as I squeezed one of her hands. The older woman took my other hand with a slight smile.

  “Of course, Majesty. Jet—” Reva stopped and swallowed. “He always spoke so highly of you. He’d said you wanted to see Abha. Would you like to hold her?”

  A thousand panicked thoughts whipped through me, but I nodded and gingerly took the tiny bundle from her mother. She was surprisingly heavy, only slightly more than the weight of the M2220 I’d carried into the palace.

  She was so tiny and perfect, her eyes a startling blue and her hair as dark and curly as her mother’s. I could see the echoes of Jet’s features in her little face and had to bite back the tears.

  “She looks like her father,” Reva said, as if she’d read my mind.

  “She will want for nothing.” I looked up at Reva, saw the confusion in her face.

  “Yes, ma’am. Your Ekam explained Jet’s benefits to us when he escorted us into the palace.”

  “Beyond that, Reva. Those benefits are for you. What’s for Abha comes directly from me. Whatever she needs, whatever she wants to do with her life, I will take care of it. It is not enough to repay what Jet did for me, but—” I lost the words and shrugged helplessly.

  Reva’s composure cracked, tears filled her eyes, and she turned into her sister’s embrace.

  “Thank you, Majesty,” Joi said, her voice filled with soft island lilt. “May the gods bless you.” She smiled sadly.

  Abha wiggled and made a pitiful little noise. I froze and the panic must have shown on my face because Joi’s sadness transformed into amusement that she struggled just as quickly to hide from me. Reva turned, tears still streaking her face, and took her baby back with a soft smile.

  “She’s just hungry, Majesty.”

  “I have to go.” I stumbled over my words like an awkward teen. “I will see you at the memorial?”

  “Yes, Majesty. Thank you.”

  I nodded and strode away from the women before they could see my tears.

  “Majesty?” Cas was at my side, frowning at me. If it had been Emmory, I would have slipped my arm through his, but I had a feeling my baby-faced Dve wouldn’t quite know how to react if I took such a familiarity with him.

  “It seems like such a useless gesture.”

  He glanced back over his shoulder at Reva. “It doesn�
�t ease the pain, ma’am, but at least she won’t have to worry. I was only fifteen when my father died in a mining accident.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “It’s an old hurt, ma’am. He was there that morning to see me off to school and wasn’t there when I came home. My mother had to take a second job to make ends meet because the death bennies weren’t even a fraction of what he’d been making and she refused to let me quit school to get a job. Said I deserved a life away from the mines.”

  “What did you want to do?”

  “This, ma’am.” He seemed surprised by my question. “All I ever wanted was to become a BodyGuard. Same with Jet, you know. He loved this job, and I don’t mean any offense, but he loved you, too. I’ll miss him every day from here on out, but I don’t doubt for a second he’d do it again even knowing the cost.”

  It was too much. I dropped down onto a bench with my arms wrapped around my head and wept.

  “It’s all right, Majesty.” Zin rubbed my back. “It’s all right.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Cas hovered helplessly at my side.

  “Sit down.” I put an arm around his shoulders when he obeyed, and I hugged him. “It’s all right, and thank you.”

  An inexplicable wave of relief washed over me. The grief was still there, true, but something about Cas’s words released the iron bands digging into my heart. I wasn’t alone. I would have preferred it to be more like the crew on Sophie, where we were all more or less equal, but this would do. I had Emmory and Zin and the rest of the BodyGuards. I had Stasia and Alba, Admiral Hassan and some of the matriarchs. I had Leena and Taran.

  It wasn’t all blood family, but it was good enough for me.

  29

  I thought this would be appropriate, ma’am.”

  I nodded in approval at the black uniform that was laid out on my bed. Matriarch Desai had planned the coronation, and true to my word—and some none too gentle nudging from Emmory—I’d agreed to show up the next day.