“I thought the Empire was the common enemy of the League,” I said.
“Oh, my dear fellow, I’m afraid your information is out of date.” The archduke’s eyes swam with regret as he spoke, as though disillusioning a schoolboy of a childish misbelief. “The Empire has respected the League’s borders since their defeat two hundred years ago. The Urgans, on the other hand, nibble away at our star systems, snapping up entire nations too small and isolated to resist. They’ve pressed at Yezhidian space for decades, and nobody, not even the Royal Commonwealth, stepped forwards to stop them.”
“I thought those nations had fallen to anarchy and wereoccupied to restore order and a defensible border,” I said in my defense.
Darius smiled sadly. “The only anarchy was the fact that those star systems were not ruled by the Urgan Despotate, and sadly, the Commonwealth had more pressing concerns than who governed a few remote planets hundreds of parsecs away.”
A flush of patriotic pride flared in my heart. “Now see here, do you honestly expect we can be everywhere? That we can swoop in and solve all your problems? We cannot save everybody. You have to put some work in yourselves.”
“We did,” Darius replied softly, reasonably. “We found allies who would stand with us, not betray us.”
I wanted to shout that the Royal Commonwealth had never betrayed an alliance, but before the argument could grow any more heated, somebody coughed at my elbow. Well, I say my elbow. It was more like somewhere over my left shoulder and above my head. I turned and saw a towering twelve-foot demoness dressed in the indigo and gold Imperial household livery standing behind me.
“If you’ll excuse me, sir, the Emperor requests your presence for an after-opera brandy.”
I waved for Darius to follow the demonic lady-in-waiting. “Go ahead. Your mistress calls.”
The demon coughed. “I’m sorry, sir, but I was specifically sent to collect you. Not the archduke.”
I gaped, not comprehending. “You must be joking.”
“You are Sky Captain Levar Boylan, of Her Royal Majesty’s 343rd Cavalry Wing, Logistical Corps?” the demon asked. It was only then that I noticed the massive zeroblade-axe strapped over her shoulder and the gigantic multi-barreled lancer pistols hanging at her hips.
I swallowed my sudden fear along with the rest of my champagne. “Nice chatting with you,” I said to Darius,handing him my empty glass. Then I stepped towards the demon. “All right. Take me to her.”
Several servants’ corridors and one express elevator later, I stood outside the Emperor’s private chambers. The ten-foot guards who flanked her door leaned on zeroblade swordstaffs, not steel halberds, and wore four-barrel lancer pistols on each hip. One of the quartet stepped forwards. “Your weapons,” he said, extending a clawed hand.
A memory came back to me: Astrid screaming at a theater usher who asked her to give up her swords. Thus motivated, I glared at the guard.
“You would have me stand before your Emperor unarmed?” The guard hesitated, not sure what to do when confronted by a being half his size. I did not place either hand on my weapons’ hilts, but they stood ready to snatch up a blade on a moment’s notice. I glared even harder at the guard. “You would disrespect your sovereign so?” The guard’s hand wavered, and I pressed the attack. “Perhaps I should inform the Emperor you think so little of her that you would strip me, a pitiful human, of my puny blades before allowing me in her presence. Perhaps you think she cannot handle someone like me?”
My offensive was successful. The guard stepped back, his red lips contorted in a disgusted sneer. “You may keep your blades and pass.”
“Thank you.” I bowed sardonically, expressing a confidence I did not possess. Should this guard decide to make an issue, he could overpower me and have my weapons in seconds flat. But he did not know that, and if I expressed competence with my swords, he would assume I had it.
I walked through the opened door and into a chamber of aquatic blues. Jeweled fish swam in tanks of crystal-clear water taking the place of ordinary walls and casting undulatingpatterns on the floor. Seated behind a table of polished marble, inlaid with shimmering gemstone chips, was the Emperor. She still wore her black gown and platinum crown, but she’d replaced her boots with delicate house slippers, and she wore finger caps rather than her shoulder-length gloves.
“Thank you for coming, Captain. Please, have a seat.” I sat across the table from her, wondering why she’d summoned me. Was this a continuation of yesterday’s dance? A reignition of our romance? Or something else entirely?
The Emperor gestured with her hand, summoning a liveried demon with a decanter and glass on a silver tray. “Brandy?” Despite the friendly offering and intimate setting, her demeanor was detached, professional.
“Yes, thank you,” I replied, then sat in silence as the servant poured me a glass of reddish-amber liquor. Raising the glass to the Emperor, I said, “To your health.”
The Emperor returned my toast, and we sipped our brandies. It was truly excellent. I worried my time here would ruin my taste for cheap liquors when I returned to the star front.
The formalities done, I was at a loss for words. The Emperor had prepared better than I, and she asked, “Are you enjoying your stay? Your accommodations are to your liking?”
My room was small, a servant’s quarters, but it was better than a muddy tent. “The Crystal Palace is a wonder to behold, and my quarters are far beyond what I’ve grown used to since the Academy.” I was prepared to bring up our past lives, but a warning flashed in the Emperor’s eyes, and her lips tightened. I kept my tongue and sipped my brandy to cover the mistake.
“How is your wife?” the Emperor asked. “Has she come with you?”
My heart skipped a beat, remembering our conversations about marriage and consorts at school. “I’m afraid you are mistaken, Your Majesty. I am unmarried.”
It could have been my imagination, but I thought I saw a gleam of satisfaction in Astrid’s eyes when I said I was unwed. “What about your friends? You career Commonwealth officers always have old Academy chums. How do they fair?”
Was Astrid asking about our mutual friends at school? Was she truly interested in their fates? If so, she would be disappointed. Keanu and Kulekani were dead. Maja’s ship had been blown out of space over Kakoda, and no one had heard from Galiza after Caledon’s Lightbridge array was nuked. My baby sister who’d followed me to war… I couldn’t send her body home, as the rest of my family and estates were long lost behind enemy lines, but I’d managed to bury her on a Commonwealth world, before we abandoned that planet as well. The list of our acquaintances’ fates all read much the same.
“I’m afraid there are very few career Commonwealth officers left. Most are dead. We lead from the front, and your demon lords love to single us out. We have a disproportionately high officer-casualty rate. All my school friends are dead or captured. It’s a minor miracle I remain at liberty and alive.” I looked down into my lap, conscious of my faux pas. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. The war has been hard on my military. Regardless, your forces have treated our civilians with admirable civility, and for that I must thank you.”
