Win

  “What’s all over the Palace?”

  Anu and I both turn, and it’s Gennio Rukkat, the other Aide, having just come in through the same door that Anu used.

  Gennio is an older teen about Anu’s age, also out of uniform, and wearing what has to be plain Atlantean clothing, pants and shirt of a somewhat oddball style, with a blue armband on his sleeve. He is thick-set and dark-brown skinned, with short wiry hair painted the same gold metallic hue. His face with its blunt chin and flattened nose is pleasant, and this morning he looks just as sleepy as Anu.

  Their first night back home on Atlantis, it occurs to me. They probably didn’t get enough rest before having to come in to work early the very next day.

  “Good morning, Gwen,” Gennio tells me in his usual mildly polite and friendly manner. “Hope you had a good rest. Getting used to our gravity takes some time.”

  “Thanks,” I say, feeling some relief now that Gennio is here, and the situation is more diffuse than it would be with just me and quarrelsome Anu alone in the room.

  But Anu gets straight to the point. “Hey, fat-brain, didn’t you read your email this morning?” he says to Gennio. “The CP emailed to say he made the big Announcement! He chose a Bride!”

  “Oh, really?” Gennio says with interest. “No, I was going to check email once I got here. So who is it?”

  “I don’t know, he didn’t say.” Anu shrugs. “The email just said to be here on time and be ready to help. And when I asked on my way up here, the servants weren’t sure or weren’t talking. Just my luck, I ran into idiots, and none of my usual guys were around. You’d think an Imperial Aide is already supposed to know these things, so I had to pretend and didn’t dig too far. And stupid Earth girl here has no clue, even though she was there when it happened. But, I bet it’s Tiri. I mean, who else?”

  Gennio places his own bag down and scratches his cheek thoughtfully. “Yeah, probably Lady Tiri. Though, it could be Lady Hathora too, or even Lady Zua, who is quite beautiful and nice. The CP would consider that an important quality, I would think. Lady Zua is nicer than Lady Tiri, but Lady Hathora is smarter. . . .”

  Gennio pauses talking suddenly and sniffs the air. And then he draws closer to sniff Anu.

  I watch the two of them with a kind of painful patience, not daring to say anything, because, well, holy crap, what can I say?

  “Anu? Oh, no . . . I smell fish on you!” Gennio says with accusation. “Don’t tell me, you went to Fish Town last night? Not on your first night back! You knew we were going to be called to the Palace, and you still went ahead and went to Fish Town and ate that filthy stuff! Could you be any more disgusting?”

  Anu stops fiddling with whatever he is doing, and glares at him. “So what if I did? It’s been a year since I had real fish! And Earth fish are all crap, so two years since I had real fish!”

  Gennio shakes his head, and looks at me. “I am sorry, Gwen, but he knows better than to do that kind of thing when coming to work at the Palace. They don’t tolerate these kinds of disgusting habits among the nobility!”

  He turns back to Anu. “You know, his Bride is probably here already, sleeping in the other room! And today, of all days, you are going to stink up the Imperial Prince’s own quarters! What an idiot!”

  “Um . . . Gennio,” I say mildly, interrupting them. “What time is it?”

  Gennio glances at me distractedly then checks a small gadget. “It’s almost seventh hour, Gwen. I mean, sorry, that’s in Atlantean time, so yes, nearly 7:00 AM in Earth time. Well, actually it’s not, since Earth time is based on a different clock, but it is, if you want to use the Earth terminology—”

  Thank goodness, I’m not late, I think, while Gennio is still rambling in his usual techy detail-oriented way, but for once I am not paying much attention.

  And then Gennio returns his attention back to Anu. “You are going to be reprimanded, you know that. Was it really worth it?”

  Anu grunts. “Yeah, whatever. And hell yeah, it was worth it! Big plate of grilled sukrat, spicy guu rolls, maqooi fish eggs on flatbread—best food in ages!” And he rubs his stomach for emphasis.

  Gennio shakes his head with disapproval. “You smell like the eastern wharf at low tide. And moldy scarab beer!”

  “Hah! Not just scarab beer but the best scarab beer in all of Fish Town!” Anu brags. “Man, I missed Shesep’s Bar!”

  Gennio’s usual placid expression becomes painful.

  “Guys,” I say. “Do you know where Ae—I mean, the CP is now?”

  “No idea.” Anu barely glances at me. “Could be still in his bed, but I doubt it. He gets up early. But today, hey, maybe he’s got his Bride in there with him so, hah-hah-hah!” And Anu laughs crudely. “She’s probably in his bedroom right now! All naked and kissy-kissy!”

  “No, she is not,” I say, annoyed with Anu out of my wits at this point.

  “How do you know?” Anu puts his hand up to his mouth and makes sucking noises.

  “We should probably be quiet,” Gennio says politely. “If the Bride really is in there, resting—”

  “Oh, for God’s sake, she is not!” I say. My gut is suddenly full of pain, sharp stabs of nerves wrenching me with what I’m about to say to them. I had no idea this would be so difficult!

  “She’s not in there—” And I point to Aeson’s bedroom. “And not in there—” I point to my own quarters on the other side of the connecting door that I’d shut behind me. “Because she’s in here. She’s me.”

  And I pause, waiting for their reaction.

  Gennio and Anu stare at me kind of blankly. Gennio’s expression is still the same, but his thick eyebrows go up in the slightly confused and uncertain way that he has when he’s thinking very hard. But it’s Anu who suddenly barks out a very loud peal of laughter.

  “Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Gwen Lark, for the first time ever, you made a real joke! It’s a good one too!” And Anu continues laughing, with nasal snorts that sound like a hyena.

  “Quiet!” Gennio says to him with a stern look. And then more mildly to me, “Gwen, don’t encourage him. Not a good time to be joking now, in case we wake them up.”

  Okay, now Gennio is getting on my nerves too. I mean, normally I love the boy, but not this very minute.

  So I give them my most serious stare and I say, “I’m not joking.”

  “Ha-ha-ha!” Anu is practically screaming with laughter, and Gennio is in panic mode, gesticulating for him to keep it down, “before the Prince and his Bride hear us.”

  This is ridiculous.

  My mouth falls open and I am frowning at the both of them. “Okay, you don’t believe that I’m the Bride of the Imperial Crown Prince? All right, I get it, it’s weird, and I hardly believe it too. . . . But let me show you something—”

  “You, the CP’s Bride? Bwa-ha-ha!” Anu gasps out between spasms, as he is holding on to his sides. “It’s official, you went crazy overnight, Earth girl! You think the Imperial Lord Aeson Kassiopei would even look at you twice? You’re just a stupid office assistant—”

  I march over to the door that leads to my quarters and open it with an angry tug.

  “Oh, no, Gwen! What are you doing?” Gennio says. “We’re not supposed to go in there! Those are private quarters—”

  “Come here, right now!” I say in a commanding tone of an older sister. “Both of you!” And I point to the bedroom that’s revealed, with my duffel bag and backpack sitting open on the luxurious bed, and my things unpacked. Gennio and Anu hesitate initially, and Anu is still neighing and snorting, but curiosity wins and they peek inside.

  “See this?” I exclaim. “Recognize my bags? That’s my stuff all over that room! That’s because I spent the night there!”

  Gennio goes really still and starts to frown. I can just see the gears churning slowly in his head.

  But Anu just slaps his thigh and makes another snort noise. “Good one! I get it, the CP put you up to this, decided to play a joke on us, and—and—”

  “An
d what?” I glare at Anu. “Anu Vei, all this time that you’ve worked for the CP, have you ever known him to play a practical joke on anyone? Are you insane?”

  “Whoa!” Anu momentarily goes silent and his laughter stops while he watches my absolutely earnest, angry face. “Oh-ho-ho! No-o-o-oh!” he says again moments later, raising one hand and pointing a finger at me, while starting to laugh once more. “No, no, you’re just saying this, crazy Earth girl! No, no, you think me so stupid, to fall for this? No, for a moment there . . . but, no way! Whose joke is this? Come on, confess!”

  “Anu . . .” Gennio interrupts suddenly. “Maybe you should stop, okay? I’m not really sure what’s going on, but those are Gwen’s things in there—”

  “So what? She just got some servant to put it in there right before we showed up, paid him probably—”

  “Oh, right, because that would make so much sense! Oh, this is just—” I shake my head in disgust and give up.

  I shut my bedroom door once more, and stand with my arms folded at my chest, looking at the two of them seriously. Several long seconds pass, while Gennio sort of stares at me with a look of confusion, while Anu continues to snort and wipe his nose with the back of his hand, but does look somewhat taken aback.

  “Look,” I say in a forcibly calm voice. “This whole thing is just as hard for me as it is for you, all right? My life has just been turned upside down. To be honest, I have no idea what I’m doing or what happens five minutes from now. But—”

  Before I can say anything else, the sound of rapid footsteps comes from inside the Imperial Crown Prince’s actual bedroom, and the door falls open. . . .

  Aeson Kassiopei himself enters the workroom where we’re all gathered.

  This morning he is wearing a far more informal outfit that looks vaguely similar to what the two boys have on—basically a long blue-grey shirt and dark pants, but cut in a very elegant style—and even I with my lousy fashion sense can tell it’s made with expensive fabric. And oh, but it looks so fine on him!

  Even though he’s changed, and showered, and is clean-shaven, while his golden hair falls in beautiful ordered lines down his back, Aeson looks intensely tired, with dark circles under his eyes. I have a gut suspicion that he hasn’t really slept or even been to bed last night. . . .

  Aeson sees me, and immediately his face transforms with living energy, and a smile comes to his features. “Gwen!” he says, crossing the room toward me, and ignoring the two Aides completely. “You’re up early! It’s seventh hour now, and I was just coming to wake you.”

  “Good morning. . . . Oh,” I say, and my own expression melts into an unconscious smile also. “I woke up because of the bright sun, I didn’t think to draw the curtains last night—”

  “Oh, no, no, no-o-o-o!” Anu exclaims meanwhile. Aeson and I both glance at him, and there’s an unbelievable stunned look on the boy’s pasty freckled face.

  “No, no, no, that can’t be right, not her, no, she can’t be!” Anu groans, and points at me, and his head moves from side to side.

  “Anu . . . hush!” Gennio says, but there’s an equally stunned look in his eyes.

  “Oh, man, you picked her?” Anu exclaims, with his mouth still open.

  “Anu!” Gennio is panicking again.

  But it’s Aeson who replies. “Enough! Anu, and Gennio also—Gwen Lark is indeed my Bride, and you are understandably confused. But from this moment on, you owe her a show of respect. Do it now!” The last part is spoken in the hard voice of the Command Pilot and the Imperial Prince.

  Immediately Gennio and Anu stand up straight. They still wear stunned looks, but they nod silently, and both of them slowly turn toward me and incline their heads in proper Courtly bows.

  Holy lord! They are bowing to me!

  I flush a bright red, because honestly, this is highly uncomfortable.

  But Aeson tactfully ignores my embarrassment. He takes my hand in his for a brief caress, squeezing it gently, so that coursing waves of sweet electricity race throughout me. . . .

  “Are you ready to meet my Father, properly this time?” he says. “Because his Summons has just arrived, and it’s a good thing you are up early and ready to go. We have to go see him right now.”

  Chapter 4

  I follow Aeson back through his bedroom with its slightly rumpled bed—which I assume means that he at least made the attempt to lie down—and the rest of the long chain of rooms and suites, including the master, up to the front ante-chamber with the long balcony. This is the room that leads outside the Imperial Crown Prince’s Quarters, and once we exit, I realize we will be in the outer corridor through which we arrived last night.

  As we walk, Aeson begins to tell me in a very composed but serious voice, what to expect. “My Father likes to eat his first meal of the day by himself, and very early,” he says, taking my hand again impulsively, now that we are alone, and massaging it in a way that is both reassuring and innocently sensual—I don’t think he realizes the effect his touch has on me—or maybe he does? “I had hoped he would give us at least some respite first thing in the morning, considering it’s the day after we’ve just landed, but apparently not. Sometimes he eats as early as sixth hour when it is still dawn, as he watches the sunrise from the roof pavilion. But usually it is around seven-thirty.”

  “Okay,” I say nervously. “Will we be actually sitting down and eating with him? Or—”

  “Good question. I don’t know.” Aeson gives my fingers and palm another lingering caress and squeeze before letting go with reluctance. He glances at me as he opens the outer door of the ante-chamber and we step outside. Here I see the security detail, six guards standing at attention, though they are not the same ones from yesterday. Seeing Aeson, they salute sharply, and then fall in line behind us as we walk.

  “Aeson . . .” I whisper. “Do these guards go with you everywhere?”

  He makes a soft sound that could be a snort. “Oh yes, always. . . . You have no idea.”

  My lips part.

  But he continues. “When we get to the Imperial Quarters, do what I do. If I bow, you bow, if I sit, you sit. Try not to speak at all unless he asks you something. Then, speak as little as possible, and to the point. And Gwen—” Here he turns to look at me directly and actually pauses walking, while his face fills with concern. “Gwen, please try not to speak too much even if he asks you to speak. I realize how hard it might be for you, and you like to say things with great emphasis and conviction—which I find admirable—but please—this once, just let it go. If my Father says something you find—difficult in any way, just let it go.”

  I stare up at him, amazed that he is actually pleading with me. “Of course,” I say gently, feeling suddenly very bad on his behalf. Me and my big mouth! Poor Aeson! He is actually afraid I will put my foot in it, in the presence of the Imperator!

  At my response Aeson nods, and we continue walking.

  After a few seconds I turn to him, while my thoughts are churning wildly with alarm. “Aeson . . .” I mutter. “My clothes. . . . Do I look okay? I’m sorry, I know these are old and beat-up, but I don’t have anything else, and Manala’s outfits in that closet are so intricate—”

  Aeson casts me a quick glance. “You look fine, don’t worry about it.”

  “Okay. . . .” But now my thoughts are racing with stress.

  What will the Imperator think? I look like total crap!

  We take the elevator to another level higher up, and then exit into a great lobby-like hall of mauve and cream marble, filled with many other elevators, and many ornate doors, and a variety of Palace servants moving around everywhere.

  “The Imperial Quarters,” Aeson says softly. “This whole floor is my Father’s. My Mother has her Quarters here also.”

  “Okay. . . .”

  We walk across the hall, our footsteps ringing against the shining polished stone floor. Palace servants dressed in pale-colored uniforms with metallic painted hair and kohl-lined eyes deftly move out of our
way, and I notice they all bow before Aeson, backing away politely.

  At the massive double-doorway in the middle of the opposite wall, we stop. A row of Imperial guards holding upright floor-length gold staffs greet Aeson with a salute.

  Aeson acknowledges them with a nod. “The Imperator is expecting us,” he says. And the two guards in the middle blocking the doorway step aside, and open the grand doors before us.

  I follow Aeson inside an immense ante-chamber, while his personal six guards remain behind in the exterior lobby area—only the Imperator’s own security forces are allowed inside.

  After being in Aeson’s own Quarters I am beginning to recognize the general structure and layout of the royal living areas. Except, this ante-chamber is vastly more grand than that of the Imperial Crown Prince.

  The Imperator’s own hall has a vaulted ceiling that rises almost twice as high, and the colonnades lining the gilded walls are stunning things of intricacy. The three interior walls themselves are polished stone, covered with amazing mosaic inlay in shades of black, clay-red, cream, and rose, interspersed with thin veins of gold metal that hold the mosaic together, forming portraits and patterns and courtly scenes of ages past. Unlit light sconces sit at even intervals like frosted glass lotus blossoms growing out of stone, and their bases are shaped into golden branches sprouting golden leaves. . . .

  There is no need for illumination, because the fourth exterior wall is all floor-to-ceiling transparent glass. An outer balcony terrace similar to Aeson’s own stretches on the outside. Hel’s brilliant morning sun glare fills the whole ante-chamber with fierce light.

  This is not a throne room, and yet, a throne rises against the back wall, and a row of lesser high-backed chairs flank it on both sides. I am guessing it serves as a “casual” reception area. A stretch of discreet doors takes up the wall as soon as the row of chairs ends, and they must lead inside the inner sanctum of the Imperator’s personal living areas and master bedroom suites.