Instead, they returned to the city, passing through the same checkpoints without incident. Anna slowed the car and pulled over into a space when they reached her building. It was a six-story brick structure that sat on the main road. In the distance Damien could see the palace towering over the city. For a moment he experienced the kind of awe and dread that every city-dweller felt every day looking up at its peaks. It was a symbol of power that had stood for centuries.
“This brings back memories,” Damien said quietly as he exited the vehicle. He had been here many times before and enjoyed many nights here as well.
Anna closed the door and looked at him. “Yeah, I guess. You're usually not the nostalgic type.”
She walked past him and swiped into the building. The streets were deserted and Damien felt no danger walking about openly.
“It's different this time,” he said.
“Different?”
The apartment building seemed deserted. Damien poked the “up” button to call the elevator. “I don't think I adequately thanked you for your help tonight. Conrad is stubborn, but he has a fierce loyalty to his house, more so than to the state or himself, but I don't think I could have gotten his help without you.”
Damien stepped into the elevator when it arrived and waited for the doors to close.
“But we've started a war, Anna,” he said. “The Sten House Guard is only the beginning. We'll be joined by my forces and sections from dozens of houses on the border but we'll need more. This will be no small conflict.”
“And so we leave Magdeborg.”
“For a while, yes, but together this time.”
They were quiet until they reached her apartment. The interior was much as Damien remembered: spacious for just one person and immaculately clean. She preferred white furniture and appliances with a streak of royal purple here and there, indicating her ties as a subject of House Mason perhaps. He'd never asked. Once he stepped inside he felt the familiar smells and feelings wash over him again. The place looked no different than when he'd been there last almost twelve years ago.
Damien made himself comfortable at her kitchen table.
“How long is it going to take?” She asked while hunting for coffee.
“For what?”
“For Salena to be deposed?”
Damien sighed. “I don't know. If we get out of here cleanly, we will make a good case to the other houses. The problem is as soon as Peter is buried and Salena's claim cemented the Azuren will cancel the ceasefire and allow the Dominion to invade Goteborg. We'd be fighting a two front war.”
“And it has to be you who leads it? It can't be Aaron? It can't be that kid you claim should be the Archduke?”
“No. As far as I know Kristoffer Sten is not aware of his ancestry. He has no political experience, no military experience. He's a cargo shipper out of Garda station with a spacer crew and no foreseeable future.”
“Wait,” Anna said, taking the seat across from him. “He doesn't even know?”
“No. I got called back to Magdeborg and left Aaron to find him. I didn't tell him to reveal Kristoffer's past and hopefully he won't. He'll keep him safe, but I need to get back quickly with Dietrich and Conrad.”
“And then one day we return to Magdeborg so you can be Archduke?” She asked. She found her coffee and started the machine. It gurgled away like a baby.
Damien took a deep breath and sighed. “I didn't know what I wanted yesterday to be honest. A week ago I did, but I'm less sure now. The throne should have been mine anyway. At any point I could issue an order and the twins would be killed and it would pave the way for my own civil war, but it's all in service to the Commonwealth. Salena can't hold the realm together and she can't fight the Dominion when half the houses don't even see her rule as legitimate.”
“So fighting your civil war in the name of Kristoffer then offing him at the last minute is what's best for the Commonwealth. Is that your master plan?”
“Kristoffer can't lead either. He's too young and inexperienced, the Commonwealth is no better in his hands than Salena's. In fact it is probably worse off, but I must fix my father's mistake.”
“Are you going to kill him when you don't need him anymore?” She asked.
Damien blinked, uncertain. “Circumstances would vary. If he proves to be harmless I might be able to keep him alive, maybe he might even be useful.”
“And the Commonwealth would be better off in your own hands?”
“I can offer stability. I can offer an end to the Dominion war that leaves the Commonwealth as the victor, not struggling for survival.”
“And what about me?”
The question caught him off guard. He looked away for a moment at the clock on the wall, not even noticing the time.
“I can offer-”
“Don't offer me anything. Tell me where you see me in this. This is not a diplomatic negotiation. We are together, a team.”
Damien nodded and smiled. That sounded nice to hear finally. “If I am crowned Archduke, you would become duchess. No longer a concubine,” he said firmly. “Aaron would be my heir until we decided to have children of our own.”
“Ah,” Anna said, crossing one leg over the other taking some sort of perverse pleasure at his conviction. “Though before you make your final decision there's probably something else you should know.”
Damien arced an eyebrow. “What's that?”
“That's a bit complicated. You remember your last few times here?”
Damien nodded with a coy smile. “I remember.”
“We were quite intimate, more so than usual. I didn't understand why at the time. You were going away and you wanted to make the best of it I thought.”
Damien shrugged, blushing a bit with embarrassment as the experiences came rushing back to him. “I suppose.”
“You actually stayed all night several times. I was hoping that might mean you were going to make this official. You couldn't hide me from Peter forever. But then you left and you stayed away for eleven years.”
“I couldn't-”
She held up a hand then stood, walking into the entertainment area and glancing down the hall where her bedroom was. There was a light on down the hall in a room that was her home office.
“Rebecca!”
Damien narrowed his brow and waited as he heard the pitter-patter of small feet. A small girl stepped out into the hallway, silhouetted by the light from the room. She was followed closely by another female, Anna's sister, Daniela, who kept a careful eye on Damien and the girl even as she held a half open young adult's novel. She bowed her head slightly at the royal general.
Rebecca walked forward, dressed in white and blue pajamas and carrying a stuffed animal. She yawned; it was much past her bedtime. She had her mother's straight red hair and facial features and stood with a certain grace usually unfamiliar to pre-adolescent females, but it was the eyes that caught Damien's attention.
As she entered the brighter light of the kitchen he could see the sparkling azure eyes, deeply probing and ever curious. Eyes just like those of Peter, Salena, and himself. Sten eyes.
“Amrah's will...” he uttered in shock.
“Damien, I'd like you to meet your daughter. This is Rebecca Sten.”
Sir Aaron Mercer-Sten
Knight Scion of House Mercer
9 March, 23,423
Scarlet Light, Goteborg, Magdeborg Commonwealth
______________
Aaron cast a glance at Reyna as they stood outside the hatch to the brig. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared. He wasn't sure if the anger was directed at him or at the two thugs locked away behind the door.
“Slader is going to have a lot to account for when Lord Damien returns,” Aaron said.
“We're all going to have a lot to account for,” Reyna shot back. “We'll have to let him sort out this mess.”
Aaron nodded in agreement. He had every confidence that Damien would commend his actions. He had followed his orders to t
he letter, even faced down the Black Lotus and Slader in all his wrath. He'd captured not one, but both of the twins. His orders demanded such and, on a personal note, it was their actions that saved the lives of his own crew which certainly counted for something. Aaron worked his jaw where Slader had hit him earlier.
“I'm interested in what Slader knows,” Reyna said.
“I'm more interested in how he got it,” Aaron responded. “I'm supposed to control him, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.”
“I checked into that already,” Reyna said smugly.
Aaron arced an eyebrow.
“Garda station is pretty abuzz so the information is easy to find. He started asking questions, you know, in the way that Slader asks questions.”
Aaron cringed. “What's the body count?”
“Just one.”
Aaron raised an eyebrow. “That's unusual. Who?”
“Mr. Drayton himself, the twins' employer. He did not survive the interrogation Slader put him through. Apparently Slader learned something awful enough to lead us to this.”
Murder, Aaron thought.
Aaron took a deep breath and swiped his ID and the brig's hatch irised open. The two warriors on duty saluted as he entered. He dismissed them with a wave of his hand and waited until they left the small brig. It could have been mistaken for a hospital so white and sterile was the environment. There were several cells, but only one was occupied. Slader sat beyond the bars and refused to look up at him. His shoulders were hunched and his wounds had started to bruise a plum purple.
“Well?” Aaron started.
Slader looked up at him out of the corner of his eye, but otherwise remained quiet.
“Lord Damien's last orders to me were to protect the twins until he returned. You know that,” Aaron shot back.
“To you, perhaps, but not to me,” he grumbled sullenly.
“Explain,” Reyna cut in.
Slader leaned back against the cold wall and interlocked his fingers behind his head. Aaron watched him carefully, happier there was a set of bars between them now, but never one to underestimate his dangerous cousin. He just might be able to pull those bars apart.
“His standing orders to you might have been protect the twins, but I have counter orders to see both executed if they proved to be more trouble than they were worth. We should assume that Chris' treasonous activity makes him ineligible to be Archduke. We have not heard from Lord Damien to countermand his own orders and he's probably either incarcerated or dead,” Slader said slowly as if explaining to a child.
“Impossible. That is completely absurd. The man is the Archduke of the Commonwealth and cannot simply be executed, no matter the crime. You certainly do not have the authority to judge him,” Aaron said shooting a glance at Reyna. “Besides, even if Damien is incarcerated or worse we'd have heard about it. You are a fool, Slader.”
“Let me put it this way, cousin. Those two are traitors to the Commonwealth. If Lord Damien knew what they had done, he'd have tossed both out an airlock by now,” Slader grinned smugly.
Slader was on his feet and at the steel bars before Aaron could reach the door. “Do you want to know why that little bastard was out in Dominion space? That's why you came here, right? Surely not just to taunt me.”
Slader gripped the bars with enough force that Aaron actually feared they would not be enough to hold him. Slowly, Aaron narrowed his brow. Aaron mentally counted to ten in his mind before responding, “What?”
“Your ward actually crossed state borders illegally with a very special cargo.”
“And?” Aaron growled, losing patience.
“Not just cargo, cousin. They rescued Lord Morlan Pershing himself and dropped him off at a military base in Letterkenny. So now the butcher of House Mercer and a dozen other houses is free to lead the Dominion armies again,” Slader said smiling now. His broken face cracked and bled anew with the effort.
Aaron felt the blood drain from his face. “How do you know?”
“Civilians don't have a high pain tolerance,” Slader said demurely. “That Drayton guy lost a few fingers before he cracked, but he did. It's all recorded if you'd like to review the data.”
“You're a monster, Slader.” Aaron spat through clenched teeth. He clenched his hands into fists and felt anger roll through his mind. The faces of his brother and his father appeared before him and he felt his eyes begin to water. They were gone, killed by Pershing and his murderous thugs. Haberton, his home, was gone.
“But I don't believe you,” Aaron lied.
“Like I said, it's all recorded. You can enjoy it at your leisure,” Slader shrugged and lay down on his bunk. He closed his eyes, apparently satisfied at the havoc he caused. “And if you won't then I certainly will again.”
Aaron fought for words, but found none. He hurried from the cells as the brig spun wildly around him.
“I'm sorry, Aaron,” Reyna said once he was outside. He felt her hand on his back.
Aaron sucked in air, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. “He has no reason to lie,” he gasped. “Pershing is free and the little bastard took him home. That's why he won't speak to us. It's why he had the jump drive and mask. It's why he had a unit of mercenaries and why the Lotus were so interested in him. It adds up.”
He leaned against the hatch, taking huge gasps of air as the universe spun and blurred. That bastard let loose the most dangerous man in the Human Core! I should have let Slader kill him!
“What do you want to do?” Reyna asked.
Slowly, his breathing returned and the universe began to right itself properly. No. I want that opportunity for myself.
“I want to kill the little bastard,” he snapped.
Reyna narrowed her brow and took a step towards the suite the MacCleod's crew occupied, as if preventing Aaron from acting. He noticed.
“Relax,” he said. “They're safe for now.”
He took a deep breath and ran both his hands through his hair. He felt like tugging it all out.
“We need to keep Slader away from them and find you a better outlet,” Reyna said. “Lord Damien needs them alive.”
Aaron headed down the hall. Reyna followed cautiously as if she didn't trust him yet.
“Pershing will be coming for Goteborg. When he does, I'm going to tear him limb from limb. Make sure we capture some of his Vertoxx. I have a very special plan for it.”
Archduchess Salena Teton-Sten
Duchess of Danvers, Archduchess of the Magdeborg Commonwealth
9 March, 23,423
Sten Palace, Magdeborg, Magdeborg Commonwealth
______________
Salena tried to keep her dealings with Azuren to a minimum. It was safer that way. She'd had limited interactions with the Legate at Danvers, the stuttering old fool Thessilony. Fortunately Thessilony had not bothered to deal with mere humans often, so they managed to stay out of each other's way. She remembered the Legate of Magdeborg, Alos, who had attended her father's court and briefly her grandfather's. She'd seen him around the palace on occasion, but she had strict orders from her mother never to speak to him. Even when she was older she was never invited to attend those meetings. But now there was an Azuren waiting for her in the dining hall. Not any Azuren but Alos himself.
Filipov and her other agents had not been able to gather much intelligence on Alos Mazaridas. The report they filed was only a page long and indicated his name, rank and possible contacts with other human factions, and even that was limited to her family members. Because of their genetic alterations, Azuren lived an impossibly long life and Alos had been around to know Peter, Haakon, her grandfather and likely more aged members of the Sten clan. Filipov estimated his age at one-hundred and twenty, making him younger by Azuren standards, but with enough experience to make him capable of handling his post.
The name Mazaridas was comparatively well known, even for the secretive Azuren. The family, if Azuren even used the term, was the current Patriarch of the Faith and ipso facto t
he entire Azuren race. They deployed their family members as ambassadors to the great core states which included the Commonwealth and Dominion. Alos had masterminded the ceasefire between the two states with his Dominion colleague and presented the treaty to Dietrich when Peter died. He was effective and powerful, but also perusing his own agenda. She needed his support, but she wasn't willing to submit to his authority just yet.
The meeting today was to verify Salena's control of the state and to reevaluate the need for the ceasefire. Alos wanted to personally observe whether Salena was a viable archduchess as she promised. That alone was enough to cause her a nearly sleepless night and she stifled a yawn.
“I've never met an Azuren,” Richard said adjusting his cloak. He'd been fidgeting nervously for several minutes, increasing her own anxiety. Salena had always dealt with Thessilony at Danvers. Richard, happily, never was burdened by that responsibility.
“Try not to let it show. Now please calm down. We're masters of our own domain and he is a guest in our territory. There's no reason to fear him.”
Though maybe that's more for my own benefit than for his, she thought. Azuren were dangerous both politically and physically. They were stronger, faster, and more intelligent than any baseline human and the Azuren occasionally reminded their human charges of those facts with an exercise in strength. It wasn't often Azuren took to combat, but she'd heard the stories.
A servant poked his head into the room, bowing slightly even though the custom had been largely done away with by former sovereigns. “Legate Alos is ready for you, Archduchess.”
She nodded and the servant disappeared. Normally, Filipov would have done the honors, but he was off on another more important assignment. There were rumors about her brother, Lord Damien, meeting with a concubine and Lord Conrad Sten late last night. Some of her advisers joked about some potential inappropriate activities they might engage in, but she angrily cut them off. Damien was the Lord General, not a philanderer. A thorough search indicated Damien was not in the palace. Filipov, who should have been watching him anyway, would get to the bottom of it.
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