Noir cleared his throat, as if on cue. “Perhaps I should clarify for his Majesty?”
The emperor stirred, his glazed look shattering. “Hmmm?”
“If I may suggest, your Majesty, before Prince Vere embarrasses himself further, that one of the ladies mi—”
“The ladies, you say,” Emperor Seraphim barked, clearly awake now and struggling to stand to accentuate his displeasure. “What are you saying, Noir? I’m not allowed to enjoy the company of a young lady now without some sniveling little busybody sniffing at my butt?” The emperor, nearly standing, plopped back down and gasped for breath from his exertion.
Noir turned beet red and his eyes showed fear for the first time since I’d known him. He shrank back to the wall, blinking rapidly and shaking his head.
Oh, sweet retribution if Noir had finally overstepped his bounds and gotten smacked down for it. Had Noir actually dared to accuse the emperor of adultery?
I held my breath, not willing to miss the next exchange between the two titans, and I saw that I wasn’t the only one. All attention in the room was focused on Noir and the emperor. The guards openly gaped at the two, and even Lord Oswald broke his façade enough to raise his eyebrows slightly, a hint of amusement playing on his face. Jewel still fiddled with her gown, but she stared open-mouthed at her husband, who was still breathing heavily. Lord Vere looked both shocked and relieved, apparently believing himself escaped from whatever scrutiny he feared.
“Willow is a delightful girl,” the emperor wheezed, “and I won’t have you slander her like that, Noir.”
Willow turned as white and pasty as flour. After I caught her eye, she dropped her gaze quickly, as if she felt guilty about something. Was she involved with the emperor?
Perhaps the rumors about Jewel and Vere were true. Vere was pretty close to the emperor; maybe the four of them had engaged in a little wife-swapping, and the palace gossip just missed Willow and the emperor. When the emperor named Willow, I’d expected gasps and protests, but nobody said a word. In fact, nobody except Noir seemed affected by the revelation at all. Noir still cowered against the wall, apparently not expecting this turn of events.
“I’ve a good mind to have you arrested,” the emperor said, his black eyes narrowing. “Or maybe just executed.”
Noir went even paler somehow, which I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t seen it myself.
“Snowmen,” I heard Lord Oswald whisper, so that only I could hear. One look at the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, and instantly I understood what happened. Lord Noir had threatened Prince Oswald before and my Lord had warned the senior senator with a story about the Pelinese Snowmen. Evidently, while I was chasing Lady Redwing back on Oasis, my Lord had set some kind of a trap for Noir, and it had caught fair Willow upon her return, which was probably a good two or three days before my own, considering the speed of the Raven.
If I had to guess, I’d say my prince lured the Lady Vere to the emperor’s chambers on some pretense without her husband’s knowledge and arranged for Noir to see her leaving. The only question was what had he done to entice Noir into thinking it was a good idea to confront the emperor with it? Maybe it wasn’t the emperor’s chambers at all, but someone else’s? Another heir’s, perhaps? So that Noir, in his circuitous way, would drop enough hints that the lady had been unfaithful, but not realize that she’d been visiting the emperor?
Whatever it was, it seemed to have worked perfectly for Lord Oswald, who looked positively smug about the present outcome. Inwardly, I applauded my Lord for his brilliance, but I secretly wished he’d chosen a different target for the trap. Seeing Willow in such circumstances pained me, considering my recent self-revelation.
“No, no, no,” Noir finally protested, the words coming out in sharp bursts, like gunfire. “It’s not about you, your Majesty. Not you at all. Of course you can entertain whoever you want, your Majesty. I wouldn’t presume to accuse you of any impropriety. If I ca—”
“Shut up, Noir,” the emperor said hotly. “You’re blubbering. Pull yourself together, senator.”
For the next few minutes, there wasn’t a sound louder than the emperor’s wheezing. Noir closed his eyes and stood stock still while he collected himself. Soon, his breathing became more regular and his complexion turned pasty again with a hint of pink — in other words, Noir normal.
Empress Jewel continued looking down in her lap, fiddling with her dress. Lord Oswald looked slightly disappointed, but only someone close to him would have noticed. Prince Vere looked downright haunted, his eyes darting around randomly every few seconds without appearing to focus on anything. His wife glanced up occasionally, but mostly stared at her lap, too, waiting for the next revelation.
Once, Willow looked up and caught my eye. We held the gaze for several seconds, and I saw fear run deeply in her. I was sure she had come to the same conclusion as I had, too. Noir had been building up to some kind of interlude Willow had, but it wasn’t with the emperor. Somehow, he’d seen through Lord Oswald’s trap, and was prepared to denounce Lady Vere when the emperor sidetracked him.
But that meant Noir intended to denounce me, too. Otherwise, why would my Lord and I be required at this little chat? I wasn’t worth this much trouble, was I?
Mind reeling, I tried to reason it out. If Noir had caught Willow with someone else, it would have to be Prince Oswald. The emperor was beyond reproach, as he’d pointed out explicitly, and dallying with her own husband didn’t warrant Noir’s time. So, it would have to Prince Oswald.
Lost in Willow’s deep brown eyes, I couldn’t imagine she’d done anything with my prince. I knew, deep down, looking at her, that the fear I saw in her was for me. It wasn’t something I could put my finger on, but I knew it was true. There was something between us, I wasn’t sure what, but I knew she feared for retribution against me. In a way, it was actually very sweet. On the Raven, I thought that she was just being nice to me because of the situation, but now I wasn’t so sure. Her feelings reflected easily in her eyes, and I could see now that she harbored something stronger for me than I expected.
With tremendous willpower, I closed my eyes, breaking our gaze forcibly, and sighed, resigning myself to the inevitable. There was no other reasonable explanation except that I would be Noir’s target.
“I was referring,” Noir said, breaking the silence as well as my tortured reflection, “to Empress Jewel, your Majesty.”
This revelation did provoke the gasps I’d expected earlier. At least it did from me.
Willow and Jewel? My eyes snapped open, and I could see shock register with both ladies. Lord Vere stared ahead like a zombie, trying to wrap his simple mind around the idea that his wife was bisexual. Even Lord Oswald was surprised. He shot to his feet and took a few steps away from the empress, circling around behind Willow. I’m not sure what I looked like, but I felt detached from it all, as if a small cloud of cotton had enveloped me, preventing me from moving and slowly creeping up over my head.
Through the haze, Noir spoke again, but I couldn’t understand a word he said. It was as if the cotton cloud had stopped up my ears. But I saw the guards step away from their posts at his command and move swiftly toward Willow. I willed the cotton in my mind away so I could hear again, and caught the end of Noir’s command.
“Arrest him for adultery with the empress,” Noir said, as the imperial guards stepped past Willow and seized Prince Oswald.
Chapter 19
Jail
I’M NOT SURE HOW LONG I STOOD THERE IMMOBILE, dumbly staring at the imperial guards while they arrested Prince Oswald. To my Lord’s credit, he shook off the guards’ manhandling and announced, indignant, that he would offer no resistance.
“It’s a preposterous lie,” Lord Oswald said calmly, glaring at the guards. “And you know it, Noir. You should have asked the empress before making such a silly statement.”
Still frozen in shock, I swiveled my eyes toward the empress. Everyone else looked to her, too, for validation.
<
br /> She offered none, nor did she refute the charge. She just sat there, fiddling with her gown. Once, while we studied her, Jewel glanced sideways, ostensibly at her husband, but it might have been Prince Vere, who sat just beyond the emperor in Jewel’s line of sight.
Prince Vere looked away quickly and caught his wife’s horrified eye. He reached out automatically for her hand and patted it, offering her a weak smile for additional consolation. But he refused to look back at Empress Jewel.
The emperor’s breathing came harder and louder and the splotches dotting his wrinkled skin grew increasingly darker red. It was clear that he was upset by the incident. I worried he might have a heart attack on the spot, but against the odds he managed to maintain his composure.
Yet his wife, the instrument of his supposed cuckolding, remained silent.
I yearned to scream out in rage, to bash the offending guards and protect my prince, but there was little point. One thing my Lord had taught me well was to pick my battles, and attacking now would have been a losing proposition. I glanced back at Lord Oswald, the question still burning in my eyes, and he sighed a whisper and nodded his consent at me, mouthing, “It’s okay,” which confirmed my evaluation. Later, should the need arise, I would defend my prince with my life.
But, for the time being, I would stand down and watch.
It was ironic, I thought, as they led Prince Oswald away and my legs began to unfreeze. I had thought the best strategy was to stay silent, yet that same technique, employed by the empress, condemned my Lord in the process.
Why didn’t she speak? Why didn’t she refute Noir? I had been with her the entire time, and I knew, as she did, that nothing had transpired, much less with Lord Oswald.
I opened my mouth to plead with Jewel, to reveal to her husband what had happened, to admit that I had been the one alone with her, not Lord Oswald, but my tongue stilled itself.
What if Noir hadn’t been referring to that incident at all? What if Lord Oswald really had pleasured the empress while I was away, chasing after Lady Phoenix? If he really was guilty, admitting my fruitless interlude with Jewel might raise suspicion against me, too. Jailed along with my Lord, I could do nothing to free him.
I felt a piercing gaze on me, and turned to see Lord Noir scrutinizing me closely, a slight smirk spoiling his hard expression.
Did he expect me to say something incriminating? Was that his plan? Was this an elaborate trap for Lord Oswald and me?
I chose to remain silent again, despite a wild scream within reminding me that the empress’s silence was the reason Lord Oswald was disappearing out the door. Before I could defend my Lord, I needed to find out what had happened while I was away from New Rome.
I needed to talk to Lord Oswald, and fast.
“I demand an answer, Jewel,” the emperor roared shakily. “Did young Adrian seduce you? Did he attempt to compromise your virtue or not?”
Yawning, Jewel stood up and smoothed down her dress where she’d been fiddling with the fabric. “I’m tired, Phim, from all this excitement. We’ll discuss it after lunch.” She glided out the door without another word.
I stared after the empress, open-mouthed, for several seconds while my limbs thawed before lurching out the door, too.
***
Prince Oswald’s jail wasn’t substantially different from our rooms in the palace, except for the lack of any windows and a heavily armed detachment guarding both sides of the single door to his rooms. Despite its similarity, though, I had no wish to move into these rooms instead.
As I stepped in, the prince sat comfortably in an ornate velvet chair in his guarded receiving room, reading. He looked up at me and smiled pleasantly. “Ah, Euclid, my boy, welcome to my home.” He returned to his reading.
I sat down near him and waited until he was ready to speak.
One thing was sure, Lord Oswald’s pride hadn’t taken a beating. It was amazing how he could take being arrested so casually, but then, deep down, I didn’t expect anything different based on my long experience with him. My Lord was always cool under fire — probably due to his early legion training — so why should this be any different? After all, he was only arrested, and the charge wasn’t likely to stick once the whole matter got cleared up by the empress.
It wasn’t like he was being executed.
“You’re wondering,” Lord Oswald said slowly, “if there’s any truth to what Noir says.” He looked up at me. “Right?”
I nodded. “I was gone for several days.”
“I know,” he said. “She could have called on me again during that time. We haven’t really had the time to talk about what happened here while you were gone.”
“So, what happened?”
“Absolutely nothing,” my Lord said. “It was quite the most boring few days I’d had in years. It reminded me of the waiting line outside the Semi-Palace of Semi-Nymphs back home, before they figured out I was the prince.” He winked at me and smiled.
The Semi-Palace suffered from a plain exterior and offered no entertainment for bored overflow patrons left waiting for a Semi-Dance in the Semi-Glade with one of the Semi-Nymphs. Most establishments retained their waiting clientele with floor shows, magic acts — that is, magic of the variety where one might say, “How does the lady manage to make that disappear?” — or at least free alcoholic beverages, but the Semi-Palace didn’t have any of that. It was one of the oldest institutions on Oasis, built in my granddaddy’s day, and the planetary governor at the time had a rather strict code of ethics he enforced at the time. As a result, the Semi-Palace — so named because the interior was modeled exactly like part of the governor’s palace on the inside — had a drab, dull exterior. Only invited guests knew where to find it.
I laughed, the outburst echoing throughout my Lord’s prison rooms. Despite the predicament he was in, Lord Oswald still knew how to lighten the mood, both for him and me.
“Pour me a drink, my boy,” Lord Oswald said, setting his book down and gesturing at a bar across the room, “and let’s talk for a while.”
Frankly, I was surprised that there was a bar in the prison, but I guess it didn’t hurt to let the prisoners get drunk, so why not? I ambled over and poured two Senelarian Mashes, straight up. Mash wasn’t just a drink; it was an experience. A few sips would send your mind reeling into the cosmos, your cares and worries left far behind as you float in space. A full glass and you’d enter the Senelar mind-consciousness ring, essentially becoming Senelarian for a few hours. Senelarian morality is quite different than ours, and those under the influence tended to find their bodies getting caught up in some very strange Senelarian customs, most of which are illegal throughout the Eternal Empire. Generally, it wasn’t a good idea to drink mash in the morning, unless you were looking to wake up in prison before dark, but I didn’t see any harm this time, seeing as my Lord was already in prison.
I handed Lord Oswald his drink, sat down again and whispered, “So, Noir is talking about Jewel’s summons before I left?”
The prince nodded and took a sip of the mash. He scowled, and made a visible effort to swallow the concoction, as if someone had slipped him a cup of blood when he was expecting tomato juice. “That’s right,” he said, his voice strained. He closed his eyes for a moment, shook his head and shuddered before setting the glass of mash on a table between us. “Good stuff,” he choked out, nodding at the glass.
I took a sip of my own mash, with no ill effect. It was exceptionally fine, and I agreed with my Lord. But, I didn’t want to spend the time discussing the liquor, and we weren’t getting any more sober. “The empress refused to discuss it,” I said, “even after you left. Any idea why?”
“No,” he said, then pursed his lips with a new thought. “Maybe she’s the one behind Lord Sumter’s death?”
I admitted I hadn’t considered that possibility.
Lord Oswald shook his head. “No, I don’t think so,” he said, but he didn’t explain his reasoning.
Filing Jewel as a susp
ect for later analysis, I pushed on. “It’s possible she just doesn’t want to raise any suspicion about Vere. If someone were to say he saw Jewel with the prince, she could just say it was you and squash the allegation right there. In fact, she could keep using that excuse long after you’re—”
I stopped short, aware of my Lord’s pained expression.
“After I’m dead,” he completed, somberly. “That’s what you were going to say, wasn’t it?”
Looking away, embarrassed at letting my mouth run away like that without thinking, I decided to change the subject, but before I could speak, the prince added, quietly, “If it comes to that, my boy, tell Z he’ll need to declare himself. Father would want it that way, seeing as he’s technically a blood heir.”
I nodded and cleared my throat. “My Lord, I want to tell you something.”
“Call me Oz,” the prince said. “It may be your last chance to do so.”
Shooting an admonishing look at him, I ignored his remark. “When the emperor called us in, I didn’t think Noir was going to do this to you. I thought he was after me.”
“Why? Granted, Noir saw us both come out of Jewel’s bedchambers, but why would Noir think Jewel was with you instead of me? No offence, but you’re just my secretary.”
I winced at his unintentional jab. “I was with her, remember? But, no, not Jewel,” I said sheepishly and felt my cheeks burn.
“Not Jewel? But, that would only leave ... oh.”
“Nothing happened,” I blurted out, eager to tell my story, to convince my Lord that I hadn’t seduced her. Despite my soft feelings for Lady Phoenix, I couldn’t get Willow out of my mind.
“I got caught trying to steal the Raven — don’t ask, I know I didn’t plan it for then, and I certainly hadn’t thought it through very well — but, anyway, there I was lifting off in the hangar and they caught me. Then Willow showed up out of nowhere and saved me.”
Ninth Euclid's Prince Page 23