As Hightons, Corbal and Kaliga remained standing, as did the guards, both Jai’s four Razers and Kaliga’s four men. The admiral motioned to his guards, and they fell into formation around Corbal.
“Wait.” Jai struggled to contain his alarm. They couldn’t take Corbal. Without his cousin, Jai would be lost.
Kaliga bowed to Jai. “Our good morn to Your Highness.”
“Admiral.” Confused by the out-of-place greeting, Jai barely managed a nod. The commotion in the room disoriented him, as consoles continued to spill out data and voices. While everyone knelt and Kaliga paid him courtesies, valuable facts, figures, and images scrolled by on consoles. But Jai had no clue how to tell everyone—without being direct—that they could return to work. Although technically he could speak plainly to ESComm officers who weren’t Aristos, the ones here had high enough rank to make it an insult. But if he spoke to someone of a lower rank instead of the top officers, that would also be an insult.
Jai fell back on Highton clichés. “A fine morn,” he told Kaliga. “Your staff does it great honor.”
Kaliga bowed. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
That hadn’t helped any. They all continued to kneel. Corbal was frowning, trying to communicate something. Jai concentrated on his mind. Something about moving his hand. Guessing, Jai waved his hand at the major who had first knelt. Although the man had his eyes downcast, he apparently saw, because he immediately stood and bowed to Jai. Then he returned to work, followed by everyone else.
Jai made a conscious effort to restrain his exhale of relief. His reprieve didn’t last long. Kaliga’s guards were escorting Corbal into the hall. Just as Jai opened his mouth to protest, Kaliga said, “Please accept my apologies, Your Highness, for the disorder.” At the same instant, an aide said, “Admiral Kaliga, we have an emerg—” She broke off when she realized he was addressing Jai.
Jai wanted to call Stop! Everything was happening too fast. He spoke to the guards taking Corbal out of the room. “Leave him here.”
The man froze, his gaze shifting from Jai to Kaliga.
Admiral Kaliga addressed Jai with a deference that had an edge despite the outward courtesy. “Would you care to take breakfast in my private dining room, Your Highness? We have delicacies imported from Taimarsia. It would be my honor to entertain your glorious presence.”
Jai barely held back his irate retort. How could Kaliga talk about breakfast while he was arresting Corbal and the console room hummed with activity that demanded attention? Jai was about to refuse when he caught Corbal’s glare. The older man shook his head. Pah. Corbal wanted him to go eat. Highton customs would never make sense to Jai.
Fuming, but hiding it, Jai nodded to Kaliga. “It would be my pleasure to join you for the morn’s repast.”
Kaliga bowed, formal and restrained. As he ushered Jai out of the room, guards took Corbal the other way, down the hall, out of sight.
The delicacies from Taimarsia were spiky sea creatures Jai could barely look at, let alone eat. They had tentacles. He sipped his wine, so Kaliga did the same, leaving his food untouched. Jai would have rather had juice for breakfast, but he understood Highton customs enough now to know he would look childish if he requested it. He had a sense that Kaliga actually liked the monstrosities on his plate. Jai knew the admiral wouldn’t eat unless the emperor did, but he just couldn’t bring himself to force down the creatures.
They talked in loops. Kaliga’s elliptical conversation gave Jai a headache. Nor did it help him find out why ESComm had imprisoned Corbal. Frustrated, he even tried to discover out what Kaliga knew about Jafe Maccar, the Skolian captain ESComm had imprisoned, the man Kelric wanted him to pardon. With a prodigious skill at misdirection, Kaliga avoided telling him anything at all, let alone something useful.
Finally Jai said, “Admiral Kaliga, I have appreciated your hospitality, but I find myself puzzled.”
Kaliga raised an eyebrow. “Indeed.”
Jai thought he would strangle the next person who said Indeed. “Yes. Also troubled.”
“It would honor the Line of Kaliga if Your Imperial Magnificence would allow us to ease any troubles you have encountered.”
Jai couldn’t tell if Kaliga was serious or mocking him with the “Imperial Magnificence” bit. “I have noticed that the Line of Kaliga has taken a security interest in the Line of Xir.”
Kaliga relaxed in his chair, appearing sociable. From his mind, though, Jai could tell he was irritated. “One might think the Line of Xir has taken liberties.”
Jai made a conscious effort not to grit his teeth. “One might also think I have no idea what that means.”
A muscle in Kaliga’s cheek jerked. “It means he committed treason.”
Jai froze. Treason? Impossible. Even through his barriers, he felt the admiral’s annoyance. Angered by Jai’s clumsy Highton discourse, Kaliga had deliberately given a direct answer, a great insult among Aristos, but he assumed Jai had neither the savvy nor intelligence to know.
Jai didn’t miss the irony; had he truly been a naive Highton boy from a sheltered background, he probably would have missed the gravity of Kaliga’s offense. But because he was exactly what Kaliga suggested with his direct speech—a psion—he recognized the admiral’s intent.
“Treason against Eube?” Jai asked coolly. “Or against the courtesy a Highton might expect at, say, breakfast?”
Shock jumped in Kaliga’s mind that Jai understood the insult. He spoke fast. “Your revered presence deserves the greatest courtesy, Your Glorious Highness.”
Jai pushed back his chair. “We appreciate your esteem. We are especially pleased at the opportunity to visit Lord Xir.”
Kaliga obviously wanted to deny him the visit. But he rose to his feet, apparently choosing to avoid the risk of compounding the offense he had given. “Certainly, Your Highness.”
It took an order from Jai to clear Kaliga’s guards out of Corbal’s study, where security had confined the Xir lord. Not that anyone believed sending them away would give Jai and Corbal privacy; with Corbal under arrest, Jai’s people could no longer scan the rooms for monitors.
“You mean Sunrise?” Jai stared at Corbal, certain he had misunderstood. Sunrise would never steal security files from Kaliga. “She isn’t capable of betraying your trust.”
Corbal paced the room. “ESComm agrees with you.”
Ah, hell. No wonder they had arrested Corbal; they believed he had put Sunrise up to the theft. “I thought the monitors showed her in your room the whole night.”
His cousin stopped pacing and scowled at him. “Our most honored admiral believes my own people bestowed their skills on those monitors to ‘improve’ the recording.”
It sounded like they had accused Corbal of altering records to protect Sunrise while she stole from Kaliga. Jai wanted to question him, but he wasn’t certain how to proceed. Although Corbal often spoke more plainly with him without meaning insult, Jai didn’t have a good feel for when direct speech was or wasn’t appropriate among kin.
“Admiral Kaliga is a man of intelligence,” Jai said. “He can work wonders in many media.” It wasn’t the most subtle point, given how close it came to an accusation that Kaliga had forged the record, but it would do.
Corbal began to pace again. “I have been impressed by the elegant dinners set by the Kaliga Line. Many other Hightons share my admiration. Just look at the caliber of the guests who dined here last night.”
“A fine company.” In truth, Jai had thought them detestable. But Corbal was right. Kaliga wasn’t the only suspect.
Corbal stopped in front of Jai, thoughtful. “Our esteemed host has high connections. Few others have the intellect to achieve his accomplishments.”
Jai nodded. In other words, few of the dinner guests had the access and ability for such an audacious theft. Unfortunately, that helped implicate Corbal, who did have both. Admiral Kaliga had the best access, but he was too smart to plan such an outrage in his own home—unless he expected everyone t
o make exactly that assumption.
Jai didn’t think Corbal had done it; he sensed no deception in his cousin’s mind, and he knew Corbal would never endanger Sunrise. But if not him, then who? And why frame Corbal? Given his power and wealth, and his own son’s position as Intelligence Minister, it wasn’t likely ESComm could make a successful case against him.
Although Jai had heard of no conflict between the Kaliga and Xir Lines, that said little, given the incomprehensible tangle of Highton interactions. For all he knew, Corbal and Kaliga were mortal enemies. Perhaps Kaliga wanted to discredit Xir. But Jai found it hard to believe Kaliga would arrange such a crime; it was too extreme, especially given the current disaster with Minister Iquar and Admiral Taratus over Kelric’s disappearance.
Jai left Corbal’s rooms more uncertain than before. Surrounded by Razers, he went out to the gardens and paced down the paths. He would have to return to Glory without Corbal. As much as he had chafed at Corbal’s scrutiny, he had more independence now than he could handle. He needed his cousin; without him, he was lost.
As emperor, surely he could obtain Corbal’s release. The problem was, he didn’t know how, and if he stumbled in this, he could antagonize ESComm. He didn’t trust anyone enough to ask. Corbal had brought up his cousin, High Judge Calope Muze, several times, but Jai didn’t see why he should have confidence in her over any other Highton. He felt more inclined to seek out Corbal’s son, Azile.
Dispirited, he sat on a bench by a lake and stared into the water. Life glimmered in its depths, ribbons flickering here and there.
Jai looked up at one of his Razers, who stood under the overhang of a nearby droop-willow. The man bowed. “May I serve Your Highness?”
Jai motioned him over. As the Razer approached, Jai stood up, feeling vulnerable next to his towering bodyguard. “Is the silver girl still in my suite?”
“I will check, sir.” Using his gauntlet comm, the Razer conferred with guards in the house. Then he said, “She is in her own suite, Your Highness. Housekeeping took her back this morning.”
Housekeeping. Jai hated it when they spoke that way, as if Silver were furniture to be dusted. She had been his first lover, sweet and sensual; in her arms, he had felt like a real emperor instead of a bumbling youth. He started to tell the Razer to show him to her suite, then realized it would be awkward, even scandalous, if the emperor attended a provider. So he said, “Please bring her here.”
His guard bowed. “Yes, Your Highness.” He headed to the house, leaving Jai with the other Razers.
Sitting on the bench again, Jai gazed across the lake to the far shore, where droop-willows were reflected in the water. He wished the tranquil scene could settle his troubled heart.
Silver soon appeared, walking along the lake with his Razer, her blue drapes fluttering around her body. When she saw him, her face suffused with pleasure. Jai rose to his feet and she came to him, her cheeks touched by a rosy blush.
Then, to Jai’s dismay, she knelt. He didn’t know which was worse; having them treat him this way or fearing he would someday come to expect it.
He touched her shoulder. “Please stand, Silver.”
She rose and smiled, her face aglow. “My pleasure at your presence, Most Honored Highness.”
“Jai,” he murmured.
“Jai.” She spoke so only he could hear.
He took her hands. “Thank you.”
Confusion washed across her face. “You are most welcome.”
Jai wanted to explain his gratitude, but what could he say? Thank you for making my first time with a woman such a gift. Thank you for being an island of serenity in a turbulent ocean.
Silver’s gaze softened as if he had spoken aloud. She raised his hands and pressed her lips against his knuckles. With a sigh, Jai pulled her close, filling his arms with her soft curves.
“Come home with me,” he said against her hair. “To my palace on Glory, in the Jaizire Mountains.”
She drew back enough to look up at him, regret dimming her luminous gaze. “It would be an incredible honor.”
“Why are you so sad?” He spoke in a low voice, aware of his Razers under the trees. “Would leaving here give you sorrow? I won’t take you away if you want to stay.”
“I have only joy at the thought of pleasing you.” Her smile was tremulous.
Sensitized to her empath’s mind, Jai picked up her mood through his defenses; Kaliga would never let her leave. If Jai pushed enough, he could force the admiral to let her go; few Hightons would deny the emperor. But Silver would come to him at the price of what little goodwill he had left with the Line of Kaliga.
“Fare you well, dear Jai.” Silver touched his cheek. “You deserve the best of life’s intangibles, those gifts that wealth and power can never measure.”
Jai swallowed, wondering if Kaliga had any clue his provider was so articulate. In revealing herself to him, Silver had given him one of those intangible gifts.
He kissed her for the last time, holding her as if she were a fading light within an encroaching darkness.
13
Tribunal
no ornamentation adorned the marble walls of the High Judge’s courtroom. Its austerity surprised Jai, given the rich decor everywhere else in his palace. He did see one similarity: this room had an octagonal shape. He couldn’t recall seeing a square room anywhere in the palace. They were all round or octagonal. Here, the judge’s bench stood along one wall, and octagonal tables were arrayed before it. The courtroom was too small to hold an audience.
Tarquine Iquar sat with her counsel at one table. Tall and composed, she fascinated Jai, with her aquiline beauty and aura of power. Azar Taratus and his people had another table. Sprawled in his chair, the lanky Taratus watched the room with a sardonic gaze. Legal aces from ESComm occupied two tables, and agents from the insurance bureaus took up two others. Razers stood posted around the walls. Jai sat at an table on a dais to the left of the judge’s bench. Several members of his staff sat with him, including one Highton—Azile Xir, his Minister of Intelligence. Jai barely knew any of them, except for his aide, Robert Muzeson.
The hum of voices filled the courtroom as the various parties conferred. Jai just watched, his head throbbing from the presence of so many Aristos. It was excruciating; the proceedings hadn’t even started and already he longed for them to be done.
A door opened behind the bench, and High Judge Calope Muze entered, wearing the gray robes of her office. Everyone except Jai rose to their feet. Tall and imposing, Calope stood behind her high bench, surveying the court. She bowed deeply to Jai, her white head inclined. It made him acutely self-conscious to receive such deference from someone so many decades his elder.
After Jai nodded to her, Calope sat in her high-backed judge’s chair, and everyone else in the room resumed their seats. Calope was the only other Aristo that Jai had seen besides Corbal who had white hair. As High Judge, she oversaw the Eubian courts and served as chief justice in the Qox palace, giving her a status equivalent to that of Jai’s ministers.
An obsidian mallet lay on the bench next to a small gong with a gold octagonal disk. Judge Muze tapped the gong, sending a clear note throughout the chamber. So the proceedings began.
And went on.
And on.
And on . . .
If Jai hadn’t sat through every excruciating minute, he wouldn’t have believed a hearing could be so interminable. He listened to each side present its purportedly noble cause and accuse everyone else of perfidy. Although the circuitous arguments weren’t quite as abstruse as Highton social discourse, it took forever for anyone to make a point.
Jai’s head ached. Even with his table set apart from the others, their minds pressed on him, crushing. Having Azile Xir at his side multiplied the effect; Corbal might not transcend, but his son did. Jai was exhausted before the hearing even started. He would go catatonic with this much exposure to Aristos. Much as he wanted to be here in person, to pick up mental undercurrents, he was begi
nning to think he would have no choice but to retreat to his private rooms and set up a virtual link to this hall. It would let him attend the rest of the sessions as a VR simulacrum.
Listening to another endless speech, Jai grimaced. He would go catatonic all right—from boredom. If Hightons approached all official matters this way, he didn’t see how the government managed to function. They ought to throw Taratus in prison and be done with it. ESComm should concentrate on fixing the hole in their security that this mess had revealed. And the bureaus owed Tarquine Iquar. She had met their exorbitant fees; now it was time for them to pay up.
He wondered how they would all feel when they discovered her escaped “property” was a Ruby prince who had ascended to the Skolian Triad. As far as he knew, ESComm had found no trace of Kelric yet. It gave Jai hope that his uncle had escaped.
Jai wished he could have told Kelric why he valued their meeting. But his dream of peace between Eube and Skolia seemed more distant every ceaseless minute he spent among the Hightons. The more he learned during these proceedings about Kelric’s failing health, the more it astounded him that his uncle had even reached the Lock. It was harder and harder to believe Kelric would live long enough to assume his place as Imperator.
When Judge Muze finally called a recess, Jai could have wept with relief. He stood, and everyone else in the chamber followed suit. With a nod to the High Judge, he gave his sanction to end the session.
As Jai’s retinue prepared to leave, his gaze went to Minister Iquar. She moved with a feline grace, her sleek curves discreet but visible in the starkly conservative black jumpsuit she wore. When she caught him staring, she didn’t look the least intimidated. Her lips curved and she quirked an eyebrow. Mortified, Jai inclined his head, struggling for that chilly Highton indifference. Then his retinue swept him out of the chamber, using the door behind the bench, giving him the privacy available to only one other person, the High Judge.