“We knew the Emperor was reacting to the Fall device, but we didn’t know her end goals. For all we knew, she set off the device herself to make an opening in our defense perimeter,” the prince said.
“It’s still a possibility,” Boleslaw added.
“No, it’s not,” I said with vehemence. “Astrid, the Emperor, is terrified of another Fall, and she’d rather give up everything than risk that.”
“So she’s said,” the prince said.
“And if so, it gives us leverage,” Boleslaw said.
I was so flabbergasted, I had no choice but to chuckle. “You care about leverage? We’re talking about a Fall.”
“A possible Fall,” Boleslaw clarified. “This could be the singular action of a panicked officer or rogue Imperial lord.”
“And you’re willing to risk all transhumanity on that chance?” I asked.
“Those in charge must make difficult choices,” the prince said.
“Who else knows? The Federation? The Despotate? The rest of the Commonwealth delegation?”
“Colonel Boleslaw and I are the only Commonwealth representatives here who know. This information is highlyprivileged. Very few people, all at the highest levels, even know at all. As for our allies, we believe many Federation delegates know, but as far as we can tell, no Despotate officers are aware of New Melbourne’s Fall. They’re wondering why we’re asking them to analyze radiation signatures of undetonated MDEs,” the prince said.
“And we’d like to keep it that way. Don’t want them getting any ideas,” Boleslaw said with emphasis.
“Is that why you didn’t tell me? You didn’t want me getting any ideas?” I said, trying to keep my anger out of my voice.
“You lack the necessary clearance for that information…” Boleslaw said.
Before I could stop myself, I was shouting. “I was there, on that planet, hours before the device went off. If you’d told me, I might’ve helped you discover who detonated the damned device. Now we’re a week behind where we ought to be, and we might not ever figure out what happened.”
“To be honest, Captain, we couldn’t trust you. In the first place, there’s your rank, but the moment we learned the Emperor was an old flame of yours, your loyalty became suspect,” the prince said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Now that you’ve managed to re-entangle yourself with the Emperor, your position is even more questionable. But it seems now we have no choice but to trust you.”
“We thought we might be able to negotiate a peace in order to investigate the Fall event, but since the Emperor made her position so abundantly clear today, we must resolve the mystery if we hope to survive this war,” Boleslaw said.
“And so, it falls to you,” the prince growled around his cigar.
“What falls to me?” I asked.
Boleslaw put her hand on my shoulder. “You’re the one everyone’s interested in now. Lady d’Lyre, Princess Marie,even Archduke Darius and some of those demon lords. Heck, if the Urgans had an iota of diplomatic sense, they would have sent someone to amorously entrap you rather than accusing you of treason. We need to use your position to help find who detonated the device.”
“And how do you expect me to do that?” I demanded.
Prince Aureli leaned over the table and blew a line of blue smoke up towards the ceiling. “The same way you got into the Emperor’s good graces. Seduce them.”
***
WIKTOR HAD Anew outfit for me, a green dress tunic enhanced with a wide leather girdle, steel bracers, and chainmail epaulets.
“You know none of this will protect me against a zeroblade,” I commented.
“Oh hush, it makes you look fearsome,” he said as he fastened the waistbelt’s three buckles. “Besides, you can hang all your weapons from the girdle. It will distribute the weight nicely.”
“There aren’t any pockets,” I replied. I normally wore no fewer than six large pockets between my tunic and trousers. Since accepting this mission, I’d worn practically zero.
“You’re going to a fancy dinner party. You don’t need pockets,” Wiktor replied, and that was that.
When he delivered me to the Emperor so we could enter the dining hall together, she smiled appreciatively. “Well, don’t you look nice.”
I glanced back at my valet, who managed to look pleased to the gills without expressing any sort of emotion. “Yes, but don’t say so in front of my valet. He’s hard enough to deal with as it is.”
