23 A Lot More Than a Dating Show
A Lot More Than a Dating Show
E ternally long minutes after Temmi bridged Kalvin in a panic—he was the first person she’d thought of to alert—heavily armed guards tore into the washroom.
They spread out, barking commands, one of them grabbing Temmi by the arm and bodily escorting her into the corridor, commanding her to go to her room .
She did no such thing. A woman was dead. Temmi needed answers.
Down the length of the hall, doors opened, pairs of contestants peeking sleepy faces out of their rooms. Cailin Frederik of New Terra with Jasmine Gross of Old Terra.
Iasha of the Hirain System with Qurain Qu of Luna.
Milea Har Kwan of Hittia with Niyamin Eyeara of Sommal.
Damaya Aleinse of Cartonia with Waiting Willow of Gaoe-Tres.
Rosaria Yune, skin splotchy and face clean of cosmetics with Petra Corran, mouth downturned in a severe frown.
“Contestants to your rooms!” the guard shouted, voice booming. “Doors closed!”
Cailin stepped fully into the corridor, barefoot and wearing emerald-colored silk pajamas. “What’s the commotion about? Has there been an attack?”
“Not an attack, no, or we’d already have evacuated you, Your Highness.” Kalvin’s voice, solid and reassuring, echoed down the hall.
Temmi turned to see him striding briskly toward the washroom.
“Do tell us what is happening, then, Mr. Kar-Beidell,” Cailin commanded. “As a show of good faith, I relinquished my own private security detail and ability to communicate with said detail upon entering the manor. If my safety is in jeopardy, I need to alert my father immediately.”
“No one’s safety is in jeopardy,” Kalvin said calmly.
He slowed to a halt beside Temmi. “Another contestant has taken ill from an unexpected incompatibility with Expan’s atmosphere.
We’re in the process of preparing her for transport to the nearest hospital.
Some fluids and rest, and she’ll be back by breakfast. To protect her privacy, I need all of you to return to your rooms immediately. ”
Taken ill? Temmi’s mind flashed to the image of Kya Ep-Kmin’s bloody eyes.
Her stomach lurched, and she tasted bile.
Kya wasn’t ill; she was dead. Temmi knew dead, was no stranger to the vacant expression of a corpse.
The Graveyard had been rotten with the stench of death, the hacking sounds of failing lungs; she’d learned intimately the agonized way a body breathed in its final moments.
Could atmospheric incompatibility cause bleeding from one’s eyes?
Temmi didn’t know. Had never studied such things.
But she did know one thing that caused eyes to bleed.
Subconjunctival hemorrhage from vascular issues associated with sudden orrist basalt exposure.
A technical way of saying burst blood vessels in the eyes.
Harmless, unless associated with more severe vascular symptoms. A common ailment on X72 for anyone who worked the orrist mines or in the refineries.
The stone around Temmi’s neck burned hot.
But she’d had the necklace in her boot all night; there was no way someone could’ve stolen it and managed to return it without her noticing. She’d been drinking but not that much. Right?
She was being ridiculous. Of course no one had stolen her necklace.
No one even knew she had it on her. And the chances that someone else at the manor was wielding one of the single most protected and sought-after resources in the empire?
Less than zero. Kya couldn’t have died from orrist basalt poisoning.
Surely, lots of things could burst blood vessels in the eyes.
Was Kya’s death foul play? Temmi stared at the row of contestant bedrooms, doors shutting one after the other, the women mollified by Kalvin’s explanation.
The Diplomacy Manor, occupied as it was by the empire’s twin heirs, was likely one of the most secure structures in the entire galaxy.
Multiple squadrons of guards, with weapons capable of incinerating a human with a single shot, stealthily stalked the grounds, in addition to whatever other security measures existed in secret.
It’d be nearly impossible to sneak in and out.
Unless you were already in. Temmi sensed a sudden prickling on the back of her neck and turned abruptly to stare down the length of the softly lit corridor.
Arbora VinVanxin sauntered slowly in her direction.
“Ambassador Ialan, walk with me a moment?” Kalvin said. He gestured down the hall.
Temmi tore her gaze from Arbora. Kalvin immediately took off; Temmi hurried to match his quick pace. “Kalvin, I know what I saw.” She tried to keep her voice low. “Kya isn’t fine—she had no pulse.”
Kalvin glanced sidelong at Temmi. Red ribbons of exhaustion turned the whites of his eyes pink.
“I’m sure that’s what you think you saw.
But it’s been a long night, Ambassador. And you’re under a lot of pressure.
Not only going through culture shock but the stress of being on live holovision.
Add to that certain exhaustion and alcohol consumption, and, well.
..I don’t mean to downplay your account of Ambassador Ep-Kmin’s health, but I can assure you that she’s already recovering under the first-aid administration of Captain Glossen’s prime combat medic.
” He led her into a hidden recess behind an elevator lift.
“Right now, I’m more concerned for your well-being. ”
“ My well-being?” Temmi gaped at Kalvin.
Taking strength from the orrist basalt warming her chest, she hissed in disbelief, “I stood in that toilet stall with her body for at least five minutes before the guards showed up. And who knows how long she’d been there before I found her?
I know a dead body when I fucking see one.
So, don’t gaslight me. Want to prove me wrong?
Then take me to her. Let me see her breathing. ”
A line in Kalvin’s jaw tensed. “I think it’s time you retire to your room and rest, Ambassador Ialan.”
“Of course you’d say that. How the hell did she die? Atmospheric incompatibility? If that was the case, why didn’t she succumb when she first touched down on the planet? You’re lying.” She lowered her voice to a faint hiss. “Someone killed her, didn’t they?”
Kalvin tapped his CB, powering it off, then nodded at Temmi to do the same. She did so immediately, her heartbeat flooding her throat. There’d be no sleeping tonight.
Kalvin’s voice dropped so quiet, Temmi had to step close and strain to hear his words.
“I’m going to need you to trust me, Artemis.
” It was the first time he’d ever used her given name.
Chills swept down her spine. “I intend to find out exactly what is going on—exactly what, or who, has killed Miss Ep-Kmin—but to do that, I need you to stay quiet. Not a word to anyone, not a single hint in your CB messages. If you want to talk about this, we have to meet in person and discreetly. Not just so I can covertly conduct my investigation but for your own safety. The empire won’t hesitate to silence you to rescue whatever image they need to rescue.
Do you understand? Tell me you understand.
” He looked so genuine, so...frightened.
“But this is a dating show,” Temmi whispered pathetically. “People aren’t murdered on dating shows.”
“This has always been a lot more than a dating show.”
Temmi swallowed down an unbidden rise of stomach acid. Dread coiled its way around her chest. Should she trust Kalvin? What other choice did she have?
Somehow, the next few minutes saw her safely to her room.
“You look unwell,” Arbora announced from her bed, in the process of removing her heels.
Temmi made a beeline for her own bed. A part of her wanted to vomit the truth of everything that had just happened at Arbora’s feet. But Kalvin’s warning blared in her mind.
How well did she trust the Moons’ contestant?
The answer was not at all .
After slipping her heels beneath her bed, Arbora sat back and began massaging the bottoms of her feet. “Don’t be shy now. I thought we’d agreed to an alliance of sorts.”
“Where have you been all night?” Temmi shoved her suitcases off her bed and grabbed the single most important item she’d packed—a pair of earplugs.
If anyone had been acting suspicious since arriving, it was Arbora. That whole business with the unrestricted CB?
“I was in Her Highness’s room.”
“Oh.” A sinking sensation slid through Temmi’s gut. Of course Arbora had been with Spie. Temmi’s unwelcome jealousy aside, the alibi made Arbora an unlikely culprit for Kya’s murder. “Anyways, I’m fine. Just a long fucking night.”
She dove beneath her covers and slipped her earplugs in. Her heartbeat reverberated loudly in her temples.
Who else could have killed the Pikliminian ambassador?
Justine had been down the corridor from the washroom.
But, if proximity was a factor, then just about every contestant was suspect—all of their rooms were situated down the corridor from the washroom.
Maybe the better question was motivation.
How did murdering Kya Ep-Kmin benefit anyone?
Had someone seen her as a threat to winning the show?
Temmi hadn’t the slightest idea, but she intended to find out.
Beneath her covers, she turned on her CB’s flashlight.
Soft blue light illuminated her hands. Carefully, and quietly, she slipped her necklace off, then used the flashlight to examine the orrist basalt’s protective sheath.
If someone had managed to steal her necklace, had used it to kill Kya, then they would’ve had to remove it from the sheath.
But she saw no cracks, no obvious place where the orrist basalt had been slipped free.