The Diabolic

  Our various Servitors all took positions in the outermost sections just behind the employees. Their heads were tattooed with various family insignias. Everyone wore the ceremonial garb for services, and the metal caught the blinding glare of the stars. I wasn’t sure where to look.

  That was when I noticed the eyes upon me, voices rising and falling in whispers about the Impyrean heir who’d fainted before the court. My ears could pick out the conversations easily.

  “. . . much taller than I expected . . .”

  “. . . pity she hasn’t fixed her nose . . .”

  “. . . surely the Emperor isn’t through with her already. I expected more . . .”

  I lifted my chin. Donia would wilt to find herself the center of so many prying eyes, but I didn’t care about these people. So long as they confined themselves to whispering about me and not threatening, I could eavesdrop on them without a care.

  The vicar began the blessing and the light slanted just so, catching a thousand points along the walls, lighting a ring of sacred chalices, and the heat that filled the room surprised me. I felt sweat trickling down beneath my ceremonial garb. I dabbed at it, and felt a gaze resting heavily on me.

  My eyes lifted to meet those of Salivar Domitrian, and he leaned over to whisper something to his wife. Devineé Domitrian looked at me too. Devineé and Salivar were both examples of false-youth. They were at least in their fifties but appeared no older than Donia. I knew Donia spoke to Salivar from time to time on the social forums, but only at her mother’s urging. She told me that Salivar and his wife had reputations for perversity.

  They both smiled at me slowly, and in that moment they reminded me of a pair of vipers coiled up, ready to spring.

  They watched me throughout the service. I checked discreetly, all the while trying to put on a show of listening to the vicar. It was difficult with the sweltering heat, the presence of the Diabolics whose attention I wanted to avoid foremost, and of course, the behavior of the Emperor’s mad nephew.

  Tyrus Domitrian was living up to his reputation. He burst into frequent, inappropriate laughter throughout the service, and wandered from his place to survey the various Servitors as though pondering which of them he’d kill next. Were he not mad, he’d be considered a worse blasphemer than Senator von Impyrean. At some point, the third Diabolic, Hazard, materialized out of the crowd and took his arm, and Tyrus rolled his eyes, then followed him from the room. The entire assembly pretended not to notice the heir’s disrespect—even Tyrus’s uncle, the Emperor.

  After the service, the Grandiloquy streamed out into the presence chamber to take the vapors. Servitors roved with phials of inhalants to stimulate the senses. I took one for myself and made a show of breathing in a lungful. That’s when Devineé and Salivar Domitrian found their way over to me, smiling slyly. “My dear Sidonia Impyrean,” spoke Devineé, surveying me, “how different you look in person.”

  As the Emperor’s niece, Devineé was a Successor Minor to the throne, so she and her husband outranked me. I dipped to my knees before them, and they each extended a hand for me to clasp to my cheek.

  “Rise, please, my dear,” Devineé said, still wearing a smile. “My uncle was most unwelcoming to you yesterday.”

  I eyed her warily as I straightened. “It was my father’s fault for displeasing him, Your Eminence. I don’t share his strange inclinations.”

  They exchanged a look. “Oh, we are sure you don’t, darling Sidonia,” purred Devineé. “All this nonsense about heresy is so tedious, is it not? I care far more for the finer pleasures of life than the crude workings of politics. We want you to come to our villa tonight. Join us in our salt baths.”

  “Oh, they’re a luxury beyond compare,” spoke Salivar, pausing to draw in a deep sniff of his vapor phial. “You’ll enjoy a dip.”

  There was something that set me on edge about these two, but these were also exactly the sort of people the Matriarch would want Sidonia to associate with. If I could befriend a pair of royals, or show myself a silly girl of some sort too empty-headed and concerned with “luxuries” to care about scientific knowledge, then I could go far in removing suspicion of heretical leanings from Sidonia.

  “I’d be very happy to join you,” I said. “I, too, tire of political nonsense.”

  Devineé’s smile broadened. She blew a gale of vapor from her nostrils. “We’ll send our Servitors to escort you.”

  I nodded my thanks, and with that, they left me. The next person I encountered was the girl with black curls who’d caught me faking my faint the day before. Her eyes locked upon mine, and a dangerous smile lit her lips. She wove through the crowd to catch up to me.

  “Why, Sidonia Impyrean, how wonderful to meet you in person at last!”

  She reached out her hands, and I clasped hers. She wasn’t one of the imperial royals, so she couldn’t possibly be of greater importance than me. I didn’t kneel, nor did she. Instead we held hands in the usual way two women of the same rank did—our fingers compressed tightly until we both let go.

  “Avatars are so deceptive in person,” I said, at a loss. “Please remind me who you are?”

  “Oh, don’t play coy, Sidonia. It’s insulting. Why, I always maintain the same eyes and hairstyle,” the girl said, gesturing to herself—her icy gray-blue eyes, her curly black hair. “They’re my signature. Some of us use avatars that actually resemble ourselves. I’m Elantra, of course.”

  “Elantra Pasus,” I recalled instantly, my muscles tensing. I had to tread very carefully around this girl. Strange to see one of the dreaded Pasus family in person.

  She was so much smaller than me. How easily I could kill her if I tried!

  “It’s such a true pleasure to meet you,” I said, imitating the purring tone Devineé had just used with me. My gaze locked on her neck, so easily snapped, and a longing filled me for the solution that a Diabolic was designed for: simply eradicating all of Sidonia’s enemies with brute force.

  Instead I had to play the refined heir and run through bland introductions. The two companions behind Elantra were Credenza Fordyce and Gladdic Aton, both the spawn of Senators, who’d met Sidonia on the social forums. Their families were in high favor, so they were at the Chrysanthemum as guests, rather than glorified hostages as I was. The employees behind Elantra displayed the sigil of the Pasus family on their heads: a supernova. Fitting for the family that viewed itself as the chief defenders of the faith.

  “How much taller you are in person,” Elantra remarked, surveying me up and down. “Your avatar didn’t represent you very well, did it? Then again, I suppose for some, avatars are exercises in wish fulfillment. . . . Though your avatar didn’t reflect your daring choice with your nose! Was that on purpose, or did it happen on your journey here?”

  Apart from being a Pasus, Elantra was rapidly proving an irritant in her own right. “I had a small mishap.” I touched the bump on my nose, recalling Donia’s suggestion that I retain it. For her, I would show it proudly. “I liked the effect and kept it.”

  “What a different sort of choice, but your family is known for such . . . different ways of thinking, aren’t they?” spoke Credenza Fordyce, her eyes gleaming and intent. There was an avid sort of hunger on her face, as though she hoped I’d give the wrong answer.

  “Did you enjoy the services in the Great Heliosphere? You seemed . . . rather distracted,” Elantra pressed, trying to force something, anything out of me that might be construed as heresy. She wasn’t very subtle about it.

  “It was a long service,” Gladdic said, speaking up on my behalf. His eyes were sympathetic on mine.

  He was a thin boy with skin of chestnut brown, his eyes an artificially bright green. The gold woven in his hair gave him an air of delicacy, like one who’d always been well cared for. He obviously didn’t seem to share the eagerness of his companions to see me slip into heresies. I’d have to remember that.
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  “The service was no longer than usual,” Elantra said. “Or . . . or are services conducted differently at your fortress, Sidonia?”

  Trying, again, to make me slip up and admit that I rarely attended them. Clever girl. She was a snake.

  Little did she know—so was I.

  “Oh, Grandeé Pasus, you are entirely correct. I was distracted during the service,” I said breezily. “It’s just so very exciting to be here at the Chrysanthemum. I cannot wait to experience all the . . .” How had Devineé termed it? “Finer pleasures about me.”

  The two girls broke into smiles, and there was a distinctly malicious gleam in Elantra’s eyes. “Yes, I know you must already have plans to go to Salivar and Devineé’s salt baths.”

  I blinked. Word spread quickly, it seemed.

  “You should really—” began Gladdic.

  “Enjoy your dip,” cut in Elantra, sending him a sharp warning look.

  Gladdic fell silent, cowed by her. He pressed his lips into a tight line, biting back whatever he’d been about to say.

  “Truly enjoy,” Elantra added. “I am quite certain the Domitrians will take your mind off that dramatic scene you experienced before us all. Little wonder you were so overcome!” Her eyes shone into mine with amusement for one last moment, the accusation in their depths, You faker! “I must say, Sidonia, you are already quite unlike anything I ever could have expected.”

  I didn’t have to force a smile. If only she knew. If only I could show her just how different I was from what she’d expected by seizing her throat and watching that smile of hers disappear. . . .

  “I can’t say the same for you,” I responded smoothly. “You are exactly as I envisioned.” Without giving her a moment to wonder about that, I turned and left them.

  I was certain I’d dedicated enough time to the after-service socializing. I was just preparing to depart when Neveni Sagnau met me by the door.

  “Do you have a minute?”

  Irritation flickered through me. I didn’t want to be seen with her. “No, I don’t.”

  She put out a hand to stop me from walking straight past her.

  “Please listen,” she urged me. “You were speaking to Devineé Domitrian and her husband just now. I saw it.”

  “I don’t appreciate being spied upon. Unhand me.”

  “But Devineé and Salivar are . . .” She looked around, realizing anyone could be listening to us. Then she whispered, “Don’t drink the wine. I say this for your own good.”

  Then she tore away from me and hurried off.

  I stared after her, perplexed. I could only assume Neveni was hinting about poison, but Devineé and Salivar Domitrian had no reason to kill the Impyrean hostage.

  And if they tried, well, they’d find out quite quickly they’d made a fatal mistake.

  12

  THE SALT BATHS of Devineé and Salivar Domitrian were in the Tigris, just where the ship joined the Valor Novus. Devineé owned this entire vessel.

  Again, the chamber I entered was so very large it resembled the atmosphere of a planet, blotting out the ceiling. I’d learned these were called “sky domes.” I surveyed the drooping greenery and felt the thick humidity on my skin. I was going to have to get used to this. It had to be something most people actually liked, not seeing the ceiling.

  “Ah, Sidonia!” Devineé called to me. She and her husband were already lounging in the salt baths. “Join us.”

  “The water appears pleasant,” I said, stripping off my garments. A Servitor swept forward to take my clothing, and then I slipped into the warm clasp of the water. My gaze raked the lush trees drooping leaves about us, and the clear greenish-blue pools beneath them. They swirled with the light of bioluminescent creatures, there for decoration.

  The two Domitrians watched my every movement, and although Sidonia would have been squirming with discomfort, something inside me rebelled at the thought of faking the same emotion. They were making no effort to make me feel comfortable, so it seemed they wished me to feel awkward. And because that was what they wanted, I wasn’t going to give it to them.

  “How lovely you are,” breathed Salivar.

  “Yes, you have a magnificent body,” Devineé said.

  “I know,” I said.

  She and Salivar both laughed.

  “To think,” drawled Salivar, “we’ve spent the last month anticipating a dip with the shy and innocent Impyrean girl, but look, my love, she isn’t even blushing.”

  “But she is innocent,” Devineé said, a sort of satisfaction in her voice. “I am certain of it.” They exchanged a glance I didn’t understand.

  Interesting to hear that they’d been anticipating Sidonia’s arrival. I didn’t see what was so important about these baths, that they’d so desperately wanted to introduce her to them. All I could do was play along, though.

  The water was thick and sludgy, and propelled me onto my back. The air was humid enough that I felt sticky and soaked whether under water or over it. My gaze found the clear blue of the atmosphere over us, like a cloudless sky, and I forced myself to stare up at it, trying to accustom myself to the openness of it.

  Devineé watched me with a smile. “And how do you find court so far, Grandeé Impyrean?”

  “Crowded, Your Eminence,” I answered honestly.

  “You are quite isolated in your sector of the galaxy, aren’t you? Oh, how strange this must all be for you.”

  I found a place to balance on the side of the pool. Devineé and Salivar both watched me ravenously, like they were toying with a mouse before devouring it.

  “It’s an adjustment,” I admitted cautiously. “This ship is yours?”

  “Oh, the Tigris is our own domain, but you’re welcome anytime,” Devineé said.

  “Anytime,” Salivar added, smiling.

  “The salt baths were my own idea. I visited a colony where the sea was so heavy with salt, people lounged on the surface like it was grass, and I said—”

  “She said, ‘Salivar, we simply must have that,’” Salivar said.

  Devineé trilled with laughter. “I did, and so he said, ‘You wish to abandon space travel for planet-bound life?’ I said, ‘Stars, no. No.’”

  “And so we have this.” Salivar gestured about us. With the same sweep of his hand, he retrieved a jug resting in the tangle of verdant green plants.

  My gaze sharpened. I was curious about what they planned. Neveni Sagnau had warned me of their wine. Clearly it would be laced with . . . something.

  “Indeed, it was the finest idea we’ve had,” Salivar added, pouring a cup of wine and handing it to his wife.

  She was smiling at me with a gleam in her eye as she raised the wine to her lips—but didn’t swallow. I could see that.

  Salivar poured me a cup and then handed it my way. I inspected the dark red liquid, wondering what could be within it.

  They couldn’t intend to poison me, but they certainly wished me drugged. Sutera nu Impyrean had said that some at court liked to toy with newcomers unaccustomed to intoxicants. They’d drop a euphoric or hallucinogen into a drink and then allow the newcomer to make a fool of his- or herself. It was an easy way to liven up a party and pass idle hours.

  I would have to identify whatever substance this was quickly so I could figure out the proper reaction to fake.

  “A cup of wine and a lounge in the salt baths, beneath this blue sky, and all your troubles melt away,” Devineé added. She raised the wine to her lips again, and again did not swallow.

  I looked between them carefully.

  “Indeed.” I sipped my wine.

  The humidity and heat made my head swim gently, but whatever they’d laced in the wine passed through my system without touching me. I drank more, trying to figure out the faint tinge of citrus, trying to recognize it. Sidonia and I had sampled such a vast array of in
toxicants with Sutera, so surely I’d tasted this one before. They continued their inane small talk.

  “. . . services here are much more grandiose than anywhere else in the Empire . . .”

  “Have you been planet-side, my dear? Oh, it’s worth trying once. So many people scorn planet-side existence. Gravity bound, they say, just for the Excess, but I’ve learned an appreciation for it.”

  “. . . pity your parents couldn’t join us, but we were eager to meet the young Sidonia Impyrean . . .”

  And then as I raised the glass to my lips, halfway empty, Salivar gave a laugh and reached out to slip it from my hand. “You drank that faster than anticipated. That’s quite enough!”

  “Yes, we added a little something to your drink,” Devineé said, “but we don’t want you comatose.”

  I still hadn’t figured out what substance it was, but I knew how to react here. I sprang out of the salt baths, certain to plaster on a look of horror. “You’ve poisoned me?”

  “Not poison,” Devineé trilled. “Something to help you relax. Try not to make so many sudden movements. You’re about to get very dizzy.”

  Dizzy. Listless. Those were the reactions I needed to fake. I let my eyelids droop and made a show of swaying on my feet. To hide my calculation, to behave as Sidonia would, I mumbled, “Why would you do this?”

  “Never fear, Sidonia. We won’t do anything you’ll be able to recall tomorrow.” Her grin broadened, grew predatory. “The girls and boys never do.”

  “You may even enjoy yourself,” Salivar noted, watching me with anticipation.

  “We certainly will enjoy it,” purred Devineé. She looked me over with a blissful sigh. “True youth. I can never get enough of it. Bring her over here before she collapses, Salivar.”

  I grappled with the situation as Salivar splashed through the salt baths, making his way toward me. This drug was supposed to take my memory, so it wasn’t a recreational substance.