“Hello, old friend,” I began, running my brown-gloved hand over the gleaming surface of her forward cowling. “Itseems I’ve run into a spot of trouble. You know the woman I’ve been seeing? The Imperial demon?” Tilly gave a disparaging blat. “Don’t talk about my girlfriend that way,” I chided.
Tilly warbled unsurely. “Don’t worry. She’s not going to harm you, and she won’t come between us. You’re still my best friend,” I said, knowing it was sad that my closest attachment was to my hoversteed, but still taking comfort in it.
I took a moment to try and word my question to Tilly. She did not understand politics, and I wanted her to make her choice with clear information. Giving her too many details would confuse her, but not telling her enough would be deceitful, and as much as I wanted Tilly with me, I did not want to trick her into following me.
“There’s a problem. The prince doesn’t like my girlfriend.” Tilly blatted in agreement, and I chuckled slightly. “I get it. She’s an acquired taste. But I like her. She gave me a present, and the prince doesn’t want me around because of it. So, I’m going to go stay with my girlfriend for a while.” Tilly beeped a question. I leaned over to see her heads-up display so I could read it, and replied, “No, I’m not joining the Empire. I won’t leave the Commonwealth, not if I don’t have to. I want to stay, but the prince is making that difficult. He doesn’t see that my relationship with the Emperor could help us broker a peace.”
Tilly warbled a worried question and I laughed fully. “I’m sure there will still be a place for hoversteeds after the war. I’d be lost without you, after all.” The joviality left my voice as I continued. “That’s what I’m here to ask you. Will you come with me, leave the Commonwealth, to hunt with the Emperor? To be with the Emperor?”
Tilly beeped.For today?
I shrugged, truly not knowing how to answer. “I hope so, but maybe for longer. Maybe for forever.”
Tilly was silent for a while, then beeped again.But with you?
I smiled and suddenly felt a tear roll down my cheek. When had I started crying? “Yes, with me. I will be with you as long as you want me around.”
Tilly’s response was immediate and definite.Always.
“As you wish,” I said as more tears flooded my eyes. I took a few moments to bring myself under control and wipe my face dry before I mounted up, but soon enough I sat astride Tilly’s saddle and motioned her out into the motor pool floor.
I caught sight of Ankhelina, her hands on her weapons belt, deceptively calm, but worryingly close to the hilts of her weapons. I leaned down and whispered, “Oh, and watch out for demons.”
Tilly beeped an affirmative, then whistled a question. “Because most of them feel like the Emperor did, and they may try to hurt you.”
“So,” Ankhelina growled as we came alongside her, glowering at Tilly with disdain, “this is the monster I’ve heard so much about.”
Tilly growled, a low rumble from her machinery that vibrated through my legs and up into my torso. With satisfaction, I noticed Ankhelina tense, her pupils contracting in the slightest reaction of fear.
I patted Tilly’s cowling. “Now now, be nice. I don’t like her either, but she’s here to protect us. She’ll take us to the Emperor, and if she tries to stab you, I’ll kill her.”
Ankhelina’s eyes flashed at me, trying to intimidate me, but she must have seen the truth in my face, the resolve in the set of my shoulders as my hand dropped to the lancer at my hip. She could tell I would do it.
“Now, shall we be off?” I asked.
“Wait!”
I froze, my hand on Tilly’s throttle. Boleslaw was hurrying towards me. I had a brief opportunity to zoom away from the colonel, but I hesitated, and Boleslaw placed her hand on Tilly’s chassis, ending any plan I had of escaping without tearing her arm off.
“Why?” I asked. “What could the prince’s aide have to say to an exiled officer?”
“Don’t be dramatic – you can’t be exiled without a tribunal,” Boleslaw scoffed.
“I might as well be. Prince Aureli has cast me from his court,” I hissed over Tilly’s growls. “And for what? He ordered me to get close to the Imperial nobles, I got him access to the Emperor, and in return he accused me of treason.”
Boleslaw had the good grace to look ashamed. “Yes, I’m sorry. An inexcusable overreaction to your sudden elevation to the Imperial peerage. Still, it does put you in a legal quandary…”
I forcefully rubbed my forehead with the heel of my hand. “How many times must I say this? My position within the Empire is no different from Lynwyzc’s baronetcies in the League or honorary colonelship in the Urgan army. The Emperor’s Consort has no power.”
Boleslaw gave me a disbelieving look. “Captain, you can’t possibly be that naïve.”
“How am I naïve? I have no authority. I’m not the Emperor’s spouse. I cannot command princes to obey my whims or compel generals to follow my orders. I can’t even boss around one surly guard,” I snarled, jerking my thumb over my shoulder to indicate Ankhelina.
Leaning in, Boleslaw whispered, “Captain, you may not have any official authority, but unofficially, as the Imperial… the Emperor’s Consort, you are now one of the most influential people in the Emperor’s court.”
I laughed out loud at this. “That’s ridiculous. Let’s ask an Imperial. What do you think, Champion? Am I the most influential person at court?”
I expected the Emperor’s Champion to back me up. Instead, her face grew perfectly serious. “As the Emperor’s Consort, you have no official rank in the Imperial peerage, but in terms of raw influence, you outrank all but the most powerful grand dukes, and even that is questionable.”
