“I still don’t understand why their relationship is considered taboo,” Kira complained.
“The Overlords will never let Torvald consolidate that kind of power under his rule.Normally, he and Amaris would have never been able to develop that kind of relationship, but the two grew up together.As I’m sure you’ve already seen, Torvald is a stubborn bastard.Despite opposition from within his own camp and without, he prevented their separation.The caveat is that she can never serve as his empress.Outwardly, Jin and Devon are considered motherless.In reality, those in power know their parentage but don’t acknowledge it.”
So, what Harlow was telling her was that Jin’s parents were essentially star-crossed lovers.
Jin was going to flip with excitement when he found out.The situation was straight out of one of those trashy soap operas he’d gotten her addicted to.
“Amaris cannot give the impression of siding with Torvald without upsetting the power balance,” Harlow said.
“But she can make moves in the dark,” Kira guessed.
Harlow’s smile was that of a proud uncle whose niece had finally shown some intelligence.“If Amaris had a hand in theetav’suse, it would drastically rewrite the board.Either she is targeting you using the inquisitors or someone is attempting to take advantage of this chance to advance their agenda.”
“And if she’s targeting me?”Kira asked.
“We have much bigger problems than we previously thought.”Harlow attempted a reassuring smile.“But that’s a concern for a different time.Right now, I called you here for something else.”
The tap, tap, tap of Harlow’s fingers drumming on the desk were loud as he considered Kira.She straightened as he seemed to come to a decision.
Harlow folded his hands in front of him.“Quillon just cleared you for duty.”
Kira glanced at the healer and then back at her uncle.
“I didn’t mention this to the emperor or his Face, but I may have some idea of Caius’s last known location.”
Raider straightened, suddenly looking impressed.“You lied to your emperor?”
“It wasn’t so much a lie as it was an omission.”Harlow ignored Raider’s low whistle to focus on Kira.“You’re to take a team and investigate.”
“If the emperor finds out, we’ll be in trouble,” Kira said.
“Then I guess you just have to make sure he doesn’t find out.”
“Wow, you two really are uncle and niece.That sounds exactly like something you would say,” Raider told Kira.
“Based on the information Talon procured during your sojourn to the Tsavitee planet, I sent Caius on an investigation.”Harlow set a coin on the desk and triggered the information inside.One by one, stars appeared until a map of a section of the galaxy formed.“We discovered the presence of several world gates that shouldn’t exist.That don’t exist on any of our maps.One such gate was found here.”
The map zoomed in on a particular planet.
It looked a lot like Earth, Ta Sa’Riel, and other inhabitable planets.It possessed a bluish lavender ocean and continents.
What Kira found of particular interest was its proximity to the section of space that the perpetrators had fled to.
Raider squinted.“Wait—isn’t that Consortium territory?”
“It’s the border between their territory and unexplored space,” Kira confirmed, staring at Harlow.“You sent Caius there?”
He should have sent her.
“He fell out of contact shortly after letting us know about an enclave of wanderers in the vicinity.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Three weeks.”
The enemy had a decent head start then.
“I assume Roake is being watched.How are we getting off planet?”Kira asked.
