4
"What was that?"a guard whispered.
Caoimhe didn't respond.It surprised her when the guards acted like she couldn't hear them speak.But she could, and she usually did listen to their discussions and commentary about what she was doing.
However, she'd learned to game their attention over the years and use misdirection to accomplish her goals.
So let them focus on her speaking to the Rhimodian in the corridor.They won't realize she carried on a lengthy conversation with him in private.
And that his goals were aligned with hers.
Together, they could find a way to end the war.
He, so he could save his friends.
Her?So she could stop her father.
Now, if rumor came back that Caoimhe had spoken to a Rhimodian, there were witnesses about their innocent conversation.No one, not even her father, would consider it an issue.
Well, he would fluster about it and be negative, but he would not think there was more to it than what was witnessed.
At least, that had been her intention.
And not have anything to do with the fact that she'd considered the Rhimodian handsome.Because he was--most assuredly.Dark hair, deep-set eyes, and even through his suit, she could see the definition of every single muscle--and he was a walking muscle, that was for certain.She'd not met one before and had been surprised at his large build, but his physical appeal could not be denied.He was a handsome being.Were the situation different, she would be interested in spending more free time with him.
Not that she had much.
As the next in line to be the leader of the Terran Empire, here days and nights were filled with every sort of task.Especially when one had designs to stop a war.
After what he'd said--that the Terran Empire had always been the aggressor--she was shocked.Though she should not have been.Her father had never been one to back down from a fight with anyone.She should not be surprised he was the one engaging.
It made her wonder if they didn't engage, would it mean that the war would stop?
What she did next would make her either beloved by her people or hated.But she had to do what needed to be done, to save the Terran Empire.Suppose the war was stopped and peace was established.Would the Rhimodians be willing to share technology with the Terran Empire?All of them become part of one unified force?
"We are here," one of the guards said as he stopped outside of a shop.The sign, dingy and damaged over the airlock entrance, was hardly readable.She could only make out a couple of letters.
Caoimhe nodded."Thank you.Wait outside, please."She leaned down and opened the door to enter.
The lead guard did not like her command, but he followed her order.He stood outside the doorway with the rest as she stepped into the rusty and dirty-looking shop.Their job, of course, was to protect her, come what may.However, they also were not her detail.They were her father's detail, so anything she did was reported back to her father.The fact that she'd gotten away to Disguised Serenity at all without interference from her father was surprising.
No.Surprising is not the right word.
Without ulterior motives.That was a more accurate description.She always expected some kind of motive.Her father did nothing without having a reason for it.Whether a well-constructed, thought-out plan or a spur-of-the-moment emotional reaction, her father had a reason for everything he did.Her father was all about the subterfuge.Something that she had to learn very quickly to survive since her mother's death.
Losing one's mother was not easy.Losing one's mother when she was the Empress loved by many of her people was something else.Finding the line between Caoimhe and Eleanor's duties and what was the most healing was very hard.
But, like her father, Caoimhe learned very quickly how to say one thing or look one way and have another plan going in her mind.
Like now.
Inside, it looked just as the outside looked.What had once been a small tradesman's ship was attached to this particular section of Disguised Serenity.The body of the small transport was all there was to the shop.But for what was done there, it was perfect.One of those stores that it was better if all the doors were kept shut.
The complex smells of the metalwork and the heat hit her first.She knew to be prepared for that, but it still was a bit overwhelming upon the first encounter.She crossed the foyer area of the shop and glanced at the pieces that were on display around the room.While there was an air of soot and sulfur in the air, she couldn't help being drawn to the pieces around the room.Works of art--weapons from all sorts of cultures and abstract designs that served no purpose except to draw the eye.
The art was exceptional.
"What do you want?"a gruff humanoid, who was as thick as he was tall, came around a corner wearing a heavy apron and had a metalworking tool in his hand, the tip red from fire.
