The Pharaoh didn’t have his mother’s height or strength, but the curve of her face, her green eyes, the sweep of her hair—it was all painfully familiar. He had thought he knew what to expect, but nothing could have prepared him for this. He felt as if he were tearing apart inside.
The EI spoke over a comm in Jai’s ear, using a private channel open only to Jai and Tarquine. “The two of you will walk to the table at the same time as the Ruby Pharaoh and First Councilor. Are you ready?”
“No.” Pressing his thumb and index finger together, Jai activated the privacy shield on his VR console, so neither his words nor his frown showed in the simulation. “Where the hell is Admiral Kaliga?”
“I don’t know, Your Highness,” the EI said.
Tarquine spoke on the private link. “Do you want to wait until we find out why he hasn’t shown up?”
Damn. Given the precarious nature of the talks, which very nearly hadn’t taken place, Jai feared to delay now, lest it scuttle the session altogether. By not showing up, Kaliga undermined the process. It also meant one of his Joint Commanders had openly defied him, an offense that verged on a declaration of hostility by ESComm against the throne.
Jai made himself stop gritting his teeth. “No, I don’t want to wait. The meeting goes on.”
“Without either Joint Commander?” Tarquine asked. “The officers here don’t have authority to speak for ESComm.”
“I speak for ESComm.” Jai knew if his decisions went against Kaliga’s plans, it would be close to impossible to implement them and would further weaken his support among the military. Kaliga knew it, too, the bastard. Jai hoped he rotted in whatever palace or pleasure dome he had gone to instead of showing up here.
The EI interrupted his thoughts. “The Ruby Pharaoh and First Councilor wish to know why we are waiting.”
Jai took a breath. “You may begin the count.”
“Very well. On three, you will all walk to the table. One, two, three.”
Jai and Tarquine entered the hall; at the same moment, the First Councilor and Ruby Pharaoh came forward. All four of them reached the table at the same time. Jai inclined his head, grateful they couldn’t see the sweat on his forehead.
Tarquine spoke on his private channel. “This is an outrage.”
Jai answered on the same channel. “Why?” He waited behind his chair while their honor guards joined them at the table.
“Tikal is a taskmaker,” his wife said. “That would be bad enough. But that woman is a provider.”
“You already knew that.”
“They ought to kneel to us.”
“Tarquine, for gods’ sake.”
“Well, they should.”
“Like Kelric kneeled to you?” It came out before he could stop it.
She didn’t answer. Whatever she felt in seeing Kelric, she hid it well. She was too far away in actual space for him to pick up her emotions.
The Razers pulled out chairs for them. Across the table, Skolian officers were doing the same for the Pharaoh and First Councilor. All four leaders sat down together. Technically, according to Eubian protocol, Tarquine should have waited until Jai sat. Neither the Pharaoh nor the First Councilor would wait, however, and they needed to maintain a balance in the proceedings. Nor was Jai insane enough to tell his empress she had to remain standing while a “taskmaker” and a “provider” took their seats.
They all watched one another, wary and guarded. No one let his or her simulacra give away anything.
At the head of the table, President Loughten spoke in a resonant voice. “We of the Allied Worlds welcome you to the birthplace of humanity.”
So began the peace talks between the Eubian Concord and the Skolian Imperialate.
“Nothing.” Jai was sprawled in a smartchair in his bedroom, brooding. “We achieved absolutely nothing.”
“It’s only the first day,” Tarquine said mildly, looking up from her palmtop. “If you expected more than formalities, you are far more optimistic than the rest of us.”
“Where the blazes is Kaliga?” Jai couldn’t believe the admiral had so blatantly challenged him. It verged on treason.
Tarquine checked her palmtop. “Neither he nor General Taratus have responded to the summons you sent them.”
“It could take days for the message to reach them by ship.”
Tarquine glanced at him. “Only Kaliga has the go-ahead to use a Kyle webnode from his home. Even if we reach Taratus, he has no node that will let him attend the talks.”
Jai crossed his arms. “We need better web access.”
“So we do.” She studied him. “If we had a Key, he could create our own web, and we would be done with our dependence on the Skolians.”
Jai didn’t miss the pronoun she used: “he.” He swallowed, but said nothing.
To her credit, she didn’t push, at least not now. He doubted she would ever let it go.
“You should rest,” she said. “Tomorrow will be more grueling than today.”
Jai lowered his lashes halfway. “Yes. Let us rest.”
“Us?”
He stood up, extending his hand. “Us.”
She motioned with her palmtop. “I’m not done working.”
“Yes, you are.” Jai took the palmtop and set it on a table. He felt as if Kelric’s specter were in the room. “Come, Wife.”
She stood slowly, and Jai felt as if he were on a knife edge, barely able to balance. He couldn’t let her see how much he needed her, but he couldn’t let Kelric’s unspoken presence take her from him either.
Tarquine had a strange expression, as if he had stabbed her, but she was hiding her pain. Jai didn’t understand. He saw no way he could have hurt her. Maybe she no longer wanted him after seeing Skolia’s mighty Imperator. He tried to pick up her thoughts, but she was learning to guard her mind. Although he caught impressions, Kelric was in none of them. Only himself. He made her hurt inside, but why, he didn’t know.
She took his hand, and they walked to the bed.
That night she made love to him with an intensity that burned. She seemed darker in spirit, harsh, as if she wanted to drive him away, but an incongruous tenderness underlay her ferocity, giving her passion a bittersweet quality that threatened to break his heart.
Afterward, as they lay together, Jai knew he would never understand his wife, nor feel secure with her. But this much he did know: he never wanted to live without her.
In the darkness of the living room, the only light came from the faint glow made by the gold desert silhouettes on the wall. Kelric sat alone, unable to sleep. He had thought seeing Tarquine would leave him cold.
He had been wrong.
Kelric knew why Jaibriol had chosen her as his empress. It wouldn’t have taken the boy long to discover she differed from other Aristos in the only way that mattered to a psion. If the emperor truly was a telepath, Tarquine might be the only Highton woman he could marry.
Kelric tried to untangle his responses. He had never been one to dwell on his emotions. As an empath, he often understood the moods of other people better than his own. He didn’t know what he felt now, but it was keeping him awake.
He didn’t want seeing Tarquine to affect him, but he couldn’t deny he had found her compelling from the first day he met her. She was darkness, the opposite of Jeejon, his wife. Although Kelric would never feel the passion for Jeejon that had gripped him in other relationships when he was younger, he loved her in a quiet way. Whatever he felt for Tarquine, it bore no resemblance to love.
Kelric shook his head, trying to clear Tarquine from his mind. He had more pressing concerns about the peace talks. He didn’t trust the Hightons, especially not this Intelligence Minister, Azile Xir, the son of Corbal Xir, who had owned Eldrin, and who had allowed his pirates to terrorize Skolian citizens. The absence of Admiral Kaliga was even worse. The explanation given by the emperor’s office about a “change of plans” convinced no one. It looked like Kaliga simply hadn’t shown up, and it sent an inesca
pable message: Jaibriol III lacked the authority to command his own military. Without their backing, the talks meant nothing.
Kelric had little hope now for the peace process. The Aristos would promise whatever they believed necessary to achieve their goals, but they considered nothing binding in their dealings with Skolians. Other motives drove them here, though what, he didn’t know. Jaibriol III seemed sincere, especially after he had released Jafe Maccar and Jacques Ardoise, but he lacked support in his own government.
Whatever was going on among the Hightons, Kelric wanted no part of it. As long as Dehya maintained psiberweb links with Glory, they were giving the Traders a chance to hack the Kyle web and create interstellar havoc. Better to end the talks now and cut their links to Glory than become a pawn in some Highton intrigue.
His gauntlet comm buzzed. Lifting his wrist, he said, “Imperator Skolia.”
“Lieutenant Qahot here, sir.” Her voice crackled. “A priority alpha communication has come in for you.”
Kelric sat up straighter. “What’s the problem?”
“It regards the peace talks.” She took an audible breath. “Empress Tarquine wishes to speak to you in private.”
36
The Starlight Chamber
White radiance surrounded Kelric.
The light solidified into a room with luminex walls, ceiling, and floor. The EI he had met the last time appeared again, an athletic man in an Allied naval uniform.
“My greetings, Imperator Skolia,” the EI said in perfect Iotic, the language of the Skolian nobility.
Kelric nodded to him. “Has the empress arrived?”
“I believe she is in process. Shall we proceed?”
“All right.” Kelric had no idea what to expect.
They entered a luminex corridor. It was like walking in a tunnel of white light that ended at an arched doorway.
“Do you wish me to accompany you inside?” the EI asked.
“No, that won’t be necessary. Thank you for your escort.” Kelric felt odd thanking a computer, but in the years he had been gone, EIs had become more intelligent. He never felt sure anymore what they expected or wanted, if a computer could “want” anything.
The EI bowed and faded into the light.
When Kelric touched the door, it sparkled into a million pinpricks of light and vanished. He walked into an odd, asymmetrical chamber, apparently on a starship. It was shaped like a narrow pyramid, longer on one side than the other, so it seemed to lean. The opposite wall was a narrow triangle of dichromesh glass about twice his height.
Tarquine stood in front of the glass.
She was facing away from him, gazing out at space, her body silhouetted against the stars. Then she turned—and he felt as if a blast of wind had hit him. Her face had that alabaster perfection he remembered so well, her body its long, lean sensuality. The simplicity of her black jumpsuit underscored her elegance. She emanated power.
He walked to her, and they faced each other in front of the window. She was a tall woman, and her boots added more height, bringing her gaze nearly level to his own.
He said, “Tarquine.”
She inclined her head. “Kelric.”
“You wished to see me.”
“I need to answer a question.”
“Yes?”
She paused, showing hesitation for the first time since he had known her, a response even more startling in that she could have had her simulacrum hide it if she wished.
“It isn’t a question I know how to ask,” she said.
He spoke quietly. “You need to give me a better reason for this meeting. I am the Imperator of Skolia. You are the Empress of Eube. We have been lovers. Some might construe a private conference between the two of us a prelude to treason on an interstellar scale.”
Her gaze didn’t waver. “This is no treason.”
“Good.”
“You choose interesting words.” In the deceptively soft voice, she added, “Such as, say, ‘lovers.’ ”
Kelric exhaled, grateful the simulation allowed him to hide his disquiet. She was as potent across many light-years as she was in person. “It was a figure of speech.”
“Perhaps.”
He knew her direct speech carried a message. They weren’t related; nor were their words meant to establish a hierarchy of dominance. That left only two possibilities, one being that she wished to indicate respect for the Skolian style of communication, which he doubted. The other implied an intimate link between them.
“Whatever we were,” he said, “it ended the day I walked off your space habitat.”
She put her hands on her hips and frowned at him. “You made many problems for me that day.”
“You seem to be thriving.” He had never seen her looking so well, in fact. Being empress obviously agreed with her.
She lowered her arms. “I do have a question I can put into words.”
“Yes?”
“I would know your intentions in these talks. Do you honor my husband’s desire for peace?”
“Of course.” Kelric wondered what she really wanted. Had they truly been in the same place, he might have detected her mind, but she was light-years away on Glory. “The question of intent would seem more appropriate applied to a people other than mine. Such as, say, certain groups among the Eubian military.”
Her lips curved. “Now you sound like a Highton.”
“These talks seem to be missing a Highton.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
“Admiral Kaliga is hard to miss.”
Tarquine clasped her hands behind her back and looked at the stars. “The Line of Kaliga is of no matter.”
“ ‘No matter’?” He let his incredulity show. “How genuine can your emperor’s intent be if his Joint Commander doesn’t even show up to the talks?”
“Emperor Jaibriol commands the Eubian military.”
“In name.”
She turned to him. “Any agreement made by the emperor is binding on ESComm.”
“And if Xirad Kaliga decides otherwise?”
“It makes no difference.”
“I find that hard to believe,” he said. She had to know Kaliga’s absence was a disaster.
“The Line of Kaliga serves the Line of Qox,” she said.
“Neither of us is that naive.”
Her gaze didn’t waver. “Yes, Kaliga has a great deal of influence and my husband is young. But don’t underestimate the emperor, Kelric.”
Hearing his name on her lips startled him. He suddenly remembered a time he had fallen asleep with his head in her lap. And then later . . . no, he must let those memories go.
Kelric knew he wouldn’t forget living in her universe. And yet somewhere, sometime, his craving for her had faded. For all that he had insisted he no longer desired Tarquine, until this moment he hadn’t realized he spoke the truth.
Her motives eluded him, yet in talking to her now, he had the impression she truly wanted the talks to take place. He doubted Jaibriol could succeed without ESComm behind him, but Tarquine’s support might make the difference. Kelric had seen and lived with the power she commanded; if she backed her husband, the peace process might have a chance.
“Very well,” Kelric said. “I will accept what you say about your husband’s intent in these talks.”
Tarquine turned her haughtiest Aristo look on him, an impressive one he had to admit, fit for an empress. “And I will accept the same, for the Ruby Dynasty.”
“So.”
She exhaled. “So.”
He knew he should end the conversation, but instead he asked, “Did you get the answer to your other question, the one you can’t put into words?”
Sadness shaded her response. “Yes. I did.” In a husky voice, she added, “Farewell, Kelric. May you have happiness in your life.”
Softly he said, “And you also. Good-bye, Tarquine.”
Seven people sat at the table in the War Room on the Orbiter: Dehya Selei, the Ruby Pharaoh; Barcala Tikal,
First Councilor of Skolia; Kelric, the Imperator; General Naaj Majda, highest in the military after Kelric; Admiral Ragnar Bloodmark, next after Majda; Eldrin, the Pharaoh’s Consort; and Roca Skolia, the Foreign Affairs Councilor and mother to both Kelric and Eldrin.
Roca spoke flatly. “I don’t see the point in continuing the talks.”
Kelric recognized her tone; she wasn’t going to relent. For all that she looked like the proverbial “sweet angel” described in news broadcasts, she was one of the toughest politicians he knew.
Naaj Majda nodded, her iron-gray hair pulled back, accenting her austere, patrician features. “I agree with Councilor Roca. Without ESComm, these talks mean nothing.”
Ragnar Bloodmark sat sprawled in his chair, his lanky frame stretched out. “ESComm has sent no explanation. All we get are excuses from the emperor’s staff.”
“We need to hear from the Joint Commander,” Tikal said.
Ragnar’s gaze darkened. “Xirad Kaliga can go to hell.”
Eldrin spoke dryly. “Your military insight leaves me in awe, Ragnar.” He made no attempt to hide his dislike of the admiral. Ragnar cocked an eyebrow at him.
Roca glanced at Kelric. “You’ve been quiet. What do you say?”
“That we continue the talks.”
First Councilor Tikal scowled at him. “They’re using us, Imperator Skolia, playing some political game among themselves.”
“Possibly,” Kelric said. “But I’m convinced they at least want to try this time.”
Ragnar gave him a sardonic look. “Of course your sudden interest in these talks has no link to your clandestine meeting last night with the empress.”
Damn. Kelric narrowed his gaze at the admiral. How had Ragnar found out?
“What the hell?” Tikal said.
Naaj turned a cold gaze on Ragnar. “You had better have proof to back up that accusation.”
Eldrin smirked. “Or else you just bought yourself one load of trouble, Ragnar my friend.”
Even Roca looked troubled. “Ragnar, you go too far.”
Kelric spoke quietly. “Yes, my meeting last night with Empress Tarquine affected my opinion.”