11 Worsening Relations
WORSENING RELATIONS
PRINCE AURELI WAITED until we returned to the Commonwealth suite to read me the riot act.
He did not stand, nor shout. He called Boleslaw to attend him, then sat himself in the largest, most comfortable chair before the roaring fire, ordered a cordial and a cigar, waited for his footman to pour the sweet liquor and clip his cheroot, then took a sip and puffed while his valet held a lit match to the cigar’s end.
Only after he had blown a fine ring of blue smoke ceilingward did he finally fix his gaze on me and asked, “What the Fall do you think you’re doing? ”
I stood at military ease before him, feet apart, hands clasped behind my back, but looking at him instead of at some imaginary point in space like I would have on deployment. “Sir?”
“We’re here to make a deal between the Empire and the Allies,” Aureli said.
“I strive to support that goal with every action,” I replied.
Aureli leaned forwards. “Then stop antagonizing our allies.”
I snorted before I could stop myself. “Some allies.”
Aureli sat back. “Have some respect, Captain. Without Federation aid, the Royal Commonwealth would have lost this war long ago. The Federation provides much of the weapons and materiel used by Royal Commonwealth soldiers like yourself.”
“You mean the Feds sell us the zeroblades, lancers, and machines we need to fight the war for them,” I said.
“That’s unfair.”
“How, Your Highness? We bankrupt ourselves buying Federation goods, and in return, the Feds don’t even fight. Name one active front where the Feds currently hold.”
“Federation troops hold the Valdotian sector,” Boleslaw said.
“Valdotia’s been quiet for years. The Federation took the most valuable worlds, hunkered down, and dug in.
They’ve spent the last few years laying quiet, refusing to join offensives, allowing the Empire to ignore their worlds in favor of attacking ours.
The Feds look to win this war without sacrificing what’s needed to do it.
If they’d thrown their full might behind the war effort, we could have driven the Empire back and negotiated from a position of strength.
Instead, they’ve waited until we’re at the edge of collapse. ”
“A soldier’s analysis of the war,” Prince Aureli said.
“Then tell me I’m wrong, Your Highness,” I said. I was gratified to see the prince withdraw behind his cigar.
At that moment, Wiktor appeared, possibly to rescue me from a Pyrrhic rhetorical victory. “Pardon me, sir, but there’s a matter requiring your attention in your chambers.”
“What?” I asked.
“It’s a matter better discussed in private.”
I was frustrated beyond my limits. Stupidly, instead of asking to be dismissed, I said, “Damn it, Wiktor, I don’t have time for games. What is it?”
Wiktor paused reproachfully before reaching into his breast pocket. “I have a letter for you, sir. It bears the Emperor’s seal.”
I took the letter, stupefied, and looked at it. “Excuse me, Your Highness. May I go?”
“Oh, no. I want to know what’s in this letter. You should open it,” Prince Aureli commanded.
With a sigh, I broke the seal and unfurled the paper. The note was short. “She’s inviting me to a moonlight stroll around the gardens.”
“Now? Does she never sleep?” Aureli asked.
“Circadian regulators are a Fall of a brain chip,” I said.
Boleslaw’s expression sharpened. “Do you know the Emperor has sleep-regulating brainware?”
I shook my head. “I only suppose. She slept an ordinary amount at the Academy.”
“Where did you get this letter?” Prince Aureli asked Wiktor.
Wiktor was as unflappable in the face of Aureli’s displeasure as he was in mine. “From an Imperial servant who bade me deliver it to Captain Boylan’s hands directly.”
“And you didn’t see fit to report this?” Aureli demanded.
There was a tiny moment between Wiktor and Boleslaw that I could not describe.
Certainly, Wiktor did not so much as glance in the colonel’s direction, but perhaps it was the complete lack of response which made me realize Wiktor had already reported receiving this letter to Boleslaw.
I’d messed things up by revealing it in front of the prince.
“My apologies, Your Highness. I’m sure it won’t happen again,” Wiktor said.
“Make certain it doesn’t,” Aureli replied, satisfied.
I raised the letter. “What do you want me to do about this?”
“Are you willing to meet with the Emperor?” Boleslaw asked before the prince could open his mouth.
I nodded. “If it will help us negotiate a peace, then yes.”
Aureli glared at his aide, then back at me. “Well then, I guess you’d better change into walking gear.”
I stood, saluted, and started back towards my small room. “Do I have walking gear?” I quietly asked Wiktor.
“I tailored something just this evening,” Wiktor replied.
“Before or after you received this letter from your Imperial counterpart,” I asked.
Wiktor slightly pursed his lips. “A good servant anticipates his master’s needs.”
I decided not to pursue Wiktor’s dodged question. So long as I had the correct clothes, I didn’t care how Wiktor had learned I needed them. Much.
Twenty minutes later, clad in plus fours, sturdy walking boots, and puttees wrapping my lower legs, I exited the palace’s back door.
A pavilion large enough to host several hundred dancers looked out over an extensive park of perfectly manicured gardens.
The flanking forests grew tall overhead, but in the gardens, orderly rows of flowers and sculpted hedges lined paved paths winding from fountain to fountain, providing pleasant views to enhance any relaxing stroll.
Wiktor led me through the gardens to a far corner, where a pleasing wilderness artfully shaded a naturalistic fountain spitting water over a crooked tree’s roots.
The Emperor sat, a silver-grizzled black fur stole wrapped around her shoulders against the evening chill.
It looked a more stylistic accent than a necessity.
Her demon guard had donned no additional clothes that I could see.
“Perhaps you should return to the palace,” I whispered to Wiktor, pausing out of earshot as the Emperor rose.
“I would be a poor servant who left his master alone with unfriendly persons in enemy territory,” Wiktor replied.
“You left me in the Emperor’s chambers.”
“That was different. No assassin could strike you there,” Wiktor said. “I see three locations here I would use to take you down should I be so inclined.”
“How do you expect to protect me unarmed?” I asked.
“Whatever led you to believe I am unarmed?” Wiktor asked. I gave him a once-over and saw nothing, but Wiktor arched his eyebrow as if to question my judgment of him. He did not show me his weapons, but I had the distinct impression that he carried more than a concealed zeroblade about his person.
Leaving my valet to trail me at a respectful distance, I approached the Emperor and bowed. I did not speak, uncertain how to begin following the previous evening’s outburst.
The Emperor saved me. “You fought well today.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” I replied. “I was lucky in my opponent.”
“It seems you do not need luck to defeat your opponents. You took that Federation fool as easily as you did my former servitor.”
“An overexaggeration. Count Gretsky was far more challenging a foe than Senator Orsey. Although you prevented me from proving the point.”
Astrid smiled, her first this evening. “I couldn’t let you set a bad precedent. Allow one duel, then every fool with a sword and a grudge will spill blood all over the place. I couldn’t tolerate that at my jubilee.”
“I’d hate to ruin your party, but honor must be satisfied,” I said.
“Satisfy it elsewhere. Here, you must only satisfy me,” Astrid replied.
I fell silent, not knowing what to say. Astrid and I walked along, past a bed of white lilies shining blue-silver in the light of the planet’s rings until we reached a marble fountain spilling into a raised pool.
Astrid sat on the marble ledge and motioned for me to sit beside her.
After a moment’s hesitation, I did so, keeping a respectful distance between us.
“Is your party everything you’d hoped for?” I asked.
Astrid smiled on one side, the sardonic mirth not rising to her eyes. “In some ways. In others, not at all. Most unexpectedly, I find myself presented with an opportunity I did not expect and don’t know how to accept.”
I thought she was talking about me, but it would be presumptuous to assume. “What holds you back?”
Astrid leaned back and looked at the sky. The stars were shrouded by the rings, aurora, and rising moon. “It’s an affair of the heart, which would interfere with my affairs of state. I want nothing more than to pursue this person, yet my position as Emperor has duties which do not include him.”
I squirmed. I did not need to come on a late-night promenade just to receive an official rejection. “Your Majesty, is it safe to speak of such things in the open?”
“The entire gardens are covered by bug stompers. No one can listen to what we say.” Astrid slid close beside me.
I tried to draw into myself, becoming as small as possible.
What was the Emperor playing at? What did I hope she was playing at?
I wanted Astrid back, but did I want the Emperor?
Who was pressed against my side, one hand carelessly reaching across my back to lightly graze my buttock as it rested on the bench beside me? Astrid or the Emperor?
“I thought about what you said. About having the last twelve years back. I wish for that, too.”
I felt my lips quirk in an uneven, rueful smile. “If an Emperor can’t turn back time, a lowly supply captain surely can’t.”
“I know, but if your heart is still free, I would like to claim it.” Astrid hesitated before asking, “Is there anyone else?”
“Dalliances and distractions here and there through the years, but no. No one,” I admitted. “What about you? Have there been others, aside from your husband?”