“Captain Boylan, where did you get a hunting outfit?” the prince exclaimed, regarding me much as one would regard an unappetizing dinner course which had twitched unsettlingly. His mouth stayed tight as he rapidly searched for something to say. When his eyes reached my hip, they practically popped out of his head. “What on Earth are you wearing?”
My annoyance was piqued by the prince’s attitude. I had returned from the dead, insisted Astrid return me to Aureli so I could assist him in his negotiations, and he treated me like a naughty dog returning to its master covered in muck. So I decided to be slightly obtuse.
“It’s my hunting outfit. Do you like it?”
“Is that alanceron your hip?” Prince Aureli demanded.
I gave the prince a level look. “Yes, it is.” It was a damned fine lancer too, with a silver-inlaid ivory handle and gold engraving around the blued damascene barrels. The demon artisans had compressed the complicated barrel cooling system into a tiny volume, far smaller than any replicated weapon could achieve, producing a four-barreled pistol which weighed as much as a standard-issue two-shot Commonwealth sidearm. It was a work of art as well as a lethal weapon. Many of my waistbelt’s pouches contained extra lancer shells set in four-round clips for faster loading.
“Have you gone insane? You’ll have us ejected from the conference. Lancers are strictly forbidden in the Emperor’s presence.”
“This lancer was a gift from the Emperor. She told me to wear it,” I said coolly. “I rather think that overrides any previous provisions regarding acceptable armament.”
“What happened to you?” Colonel Boleslaw asked,forestalling the prince’s next comment and giving the royal a chance to calm his nerves.
I saw no point in hiding the truth from them. “I got shot.”
“By whom?”
“An Imperial guardsman.”
Boleslaw’s eyes flicked to the guard standing behind me. “And what happened to him?”
“The Emperor executed him,” I said dryly before continuing. “I spent the evening on an Imperial medical cruiser while they grew me a new heart.”
“A new heart?” I nodded. “A human heart?”
I raised an eyebrow. “That depends on how broadly you define humanity.”
I expected a disgusted reaction, or maybe a fearful one, but I was not prepared for the prince’s laughter. “That explains it. Captain, you’re obviously under the influence of your new organ. Who knows what the Imps put in there? You are to retire to the Commonwealth suites at once to await medical examination.”
It was a reasonable and level-headed response, one which I ordinarily would have supported, but Ankhelina explained the obstacle before I could.
“The Emperor has commanded Levar Boylan to attend today’s hunt.”
Prince Aureli gave Ankhelina a dismissive glance. “Captain Boylan is not the Emperor’s to command. He’s my subordinate. Now, Captain, go wait in the suites.”
The guard’s gigantic hand pressed against my back in the demonic sign of support as she stepped forwards to tower over the prince. “Do not presume to command those who belong to the Emperor.”
“Belong to?” Boleslaw asked. “Captain Boylan is a Royal Commonwealth citizen. He cannot be sold into bondage.”
“Do you think to call the Emperor’s Consort a slave?” the guard demanded.
Prince Aureli, Colonel Boleslaw, and the other assembled Commonwealth notables all stared at me, utterly flabbergasted.
Boleslaw was the first to speak. “You are the Imperial Consort?”
“The Emperor’s Consort,” Ankhelina corrected.
“What’s the difference?” Prince Aureli tossed off dismissively.
“He’s not fucking the entire Empire. Just the Emperor,” Ankhelina said.
The Duke of Lynwyzc gave Ankhelina a look more suited to the things he scraped off the bottom of his boots, while Boleslaw fell into a pleasant smile I knew repressed a snigger. At a loss for what to do, I gave my best half-remembered courtly bow. “Consort Captain Levar Boylan, at your service.”
“It is an official title? This is not some informal honorific?” the prince asked.
I looked questioningly at Ankhelina, who nodded, before I confirmed the prince’s supposition. “I have been given no titles of land, nor position in government, nor rank in the Imperial peerage…” I began to explain.
