It didn’t surprise Kelric that Seth was in custody. He doubted the Allieds had been happy to learn one of their war heroes sheltered the heir apparent to the Carnelian Throne. What does Rockworth say?
He didn’t know Qox’s identity. Eldrinson rubbed his chin. Seth also took in three other refugee children. Apparently none was pure Aristo, though all showed signs of Aristo heritage.
Jaibriol III looks pure Highton. Almost too perfect. Where are the other three?
Apparently they ran off. So far no trace of them has shown up. All we have are the names Seth gave them. Jay, Lisa, Peter, and Kelly Rockworth.
Jay. It was obviously short for Jaibriol. Peter is the English version of the Aristo name Vitar. I don’t know about Lisa. Then he scowled. You said Kelly?
His father smiled. You don’t have sole rights to the name, you know.
Who were they?
We may never know. Eldrinson adjusted his spectacles. I do wish we could find them.
Why?
I should like to meet them. To better understand this new emperor. They spent over a year with him in Rockworth’s home. Eldrinson shook his head. During the Radiance War, Jaibriol III was going to high school in the Appalachian Mountains on Earth. Apparently he was a good student, shy and reserved, but well liked. We know nothing of his background.
So strange, Kelric thought. Maybe they would never know the full truth.
Quietly Eldrinson thought, Sometimes the truth does more harm than good. The children are probably safer wherever they went.
Safer for whom? Us or them? Kelric leaned forward. This is a truth, Father. Someday I will see that all our family is safe and free. I swear it to you.
Eldrinson’s face gentled. Then I can rest content, my son.
It was his first sight of Jeejon.
She came in while he was dozing in his raised bed. He opened his eyes to see her reading a chart by his bed. Her face was as he had imagined: strong, with clean lines, high cheekbones, and a firm chin. She had brown eyes. Gray curls drifted around her face, looking as soft as they had felt. However her nose had once appeared, it had a crook now. Lines showed around her eyes and mouth, as if she smiled a lot.
“I knew it,” he said. “You are beautiful.”
Startled, she looked up at him. “You’re supposed to be asleep.” Then she crossed her arms and averted her gaze. “Sorry to wake you, Your Esteemed Imperatomess.”
“Jeejon, come on.” He pulled himself up straight. “Look at me.”
She looked up and glowered at him. “Haven’t the right.”
“You liked looking at me fine what I was a provider.”
“That was before you turned out to be king of the universe.”
Kelric laughed. “I just command ISC.” He moved to the side of the bed. “Come up here with me.”
This time she seemed genuinely puzzled. “Why?”
“Because I want to hold you.”
“why?”
“Why?” He blinked. “I don’t know. I just do. I like to.” He supposed it wasn’t the most romantic declaration. But it was true.
She lowered the rail and climbed up next to him. Pulling her into his arms, he nuzzled her hair. So they sat, she with her head resting against his chest.
“What happens now?” she asked.
“The Allieds will keep me here. Beyond that, I’m not sure.”
“I understand.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. “Understand what? I hope you aren’t planning to walk out on me.”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“I’m not.”
“We both know the reality.”
“What reality?”
She shrugged. “I’m a former slave. No position, no wealth, no nothing. Old. Ugly. Imperator needs a better arrangement.”
“One part of that is true. You are a former slave. Like me.”
“Oh, Kelric.”
“‘Oh, Kelric’? What does that mean? You’re right, you have no wealth. So what? I have more than anyone needs. As for arranged marriages, I’ve already done that. More than you know. This time I choose my own woman. And I like the way you look. I don’t want you to change. So you’re not a vacuum-headed trophy bimbo. Neither am I.”
A smile tugged her mouth. “You certainly aren’t.”
“Will you stay with me?”
“You really want?”
“I really want. I’ll put it in writing.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t want any question about your status.” Without the protection of his title, Jeejon would have a rough time, surrounded by the intrigues of the Imperial court. If he wanted to keep her with him, he needed to make sure no doubt existed as to her position.
Still, that decision left him with a sense of loss. With Jeejon as his consort, he couldn’t return to Ixpar, at least not while Jeejon lived. Although he had already known, at a basic level, that such a return was unrealistic, this made it final.
He feared he wouldn’t have Jeejon long either. She had neither his genetics nor the benefit of life-extension treatments started from birth. The Traders worked their low-rank taskmakers hard and threw them away after they used them up. Jeejon was near the end of her supposedly useful years. But she could still start the treatments. She didn’t have to die just because the Traders decreed it. She wouldn’t have a life span anywhere near as long as his, but they could still have a few good years together.
Jeejon sighed. “It’s crazy, Kelric.”
“I really wish you would quit calling me crazy,” he grumbled. “Say yes instead.”
“You’ll dump me for a pretty provider.”
“We don’t have providers.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Marriages among the nobility don’t work that way. I can’t ‘dump’ you. Adultery is punishable by execution.”
“So why get stuck with me?”
“It’s not ‘stuck.’ I want to be with you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Because we have a good neural resonance, better than I’ve had with most people. Hell, Jeejon, it started the moment I met you.”
At first, when he felt her shaking, he thought she was crying. Smugly he realized he had moved her to tears. That was more like it. Then it dawned on him that she was laughing.
“What’s so funny?” he grumbled.
“‘We have a good neural resonance’? Very romantic proposal.”
He gave a rueful smile. “Well, you know.”
“I suppose it would be good to be queen of the universe.”
“You suppose?”
Softly she said, “I suppose I am deeply honored, Kelric. It is hard for me to say romantic things too.”
He settled her more comfortably in his arms. It was the first time, as an adult, that he had proposed to a woman. He had been married six times, but in every case either he had no choice or else the woman had done the asking.
Kelric bent his head and spoke against her ear. “Too bad we have no privacy in here.”
“We could turn out the lights.”
“They would watch on IR.” In truth, he never wanted to be in darkness again. He would sleep with all the lights on.
. “It’s all right,” Jeejon said. “You can see whenever you want.”
He brushed his lips across her hair. “You see too much.” She might as well be an empath, for how well she was learning to read him.
She laughed softly. So they sat together, each giving the other something they had never known before, she the choice to be free and he the freedom to choose.
Epilogue
A holostage filled the front of the small, elegantly paneled auditorium. Kelric stood back from the stage, with his mother on one side and Jeejon on the other. A few paces away, always discreet but always present, soldiers in the AUC peacekeeping force kept guard on them. Tiller Smith, the Allied liaison to the Ruby Dynasty, stood next to Kelric’s mother.
Today
Jeejon showed less strain. Apparently the treatments to help her deal with the gravity were working. Kelric shifted his feet, leaning his weight on his burnished cane. It was a beautiful piece, carved from pine wood, with vines engraved along its length and the head of a lion for its top. His doctors had wanted him to use a hover chair, but he refused. Until he had full control of his new hydraulics, he needed support in this gravity, but he wanted to be on his own feet. Especially today.
The holostage formed an ellipse. His father sat at one focus, facing a screen that curved around the other focus. Eldrinson’s chair had an ornate back worked with gold and rubies. Kelric doubted it was coincidence that it resembled a throne. Great care had been taken in choreographing this event.
Console banks curved around the back of the holostage, each staffed by three operators. A hum of words passed among them and also over the comms on the consoles, as the many people across Earth involved in the planning for today tried to make sure nothing went wrong. More officials stood near Kelric and his family, all waiting. Harold Cohen, the president of the Allied Worlds of Earth, waited with them. A dignified man with curly brown hair sprinkled by gray, he stood near the holostage watching Kelric’s father.
An operator spoke from one of the consoles. “We’re ready here, Mr. President,” she said.
Cohen nodded and turned to Eldrinson. “At your wish, Your Highness.”
“You may begin,” Eldrinson said.
The president glanced at the operator. “Activate.”
She took a deep breath. Then she spoke into the comm, in Swedish, her voice clear and well modulated. “His Royal Highness Eldrinson Althor Valdoria, Web Key to the Triad and King of Skyfall.”
Kelric blinked. It always disconcerted him when he heard his father called the King of Skyfall. True, “Skyfall” was a Skolian translation for the word Lyshriol, the name of his home world. But “king”? Eldrinson’s title was Dalvador Bard, a hereditary position that involved recording the history of the Dalvador Plains in ballads, commanding the Dalvador army, and serving as the judiciary system for the Plains area. He was hardly “king” of an entire planet. For that matter, since he no longer lived on Lyshriol, the acting role of Bard had gone to one of Kelric’s older brothers. Even if the title lacked accuracy, though, the image of the handsome, rustic king with his gold queen and beautiful children had a great deal of appeal in the media.
A deep voice with a Highton accent came over another console: “His Esteemed Highness, Jaibriol the Third, descended from the Line of Qox, son of Jaibriol the Second, grandson of Ur, great-grandson of Jaibriol the First, and great-great-grandson of Eube, Sublime Founder of the Concord.”
Kelric’s mother snorted. “Give them another few generations and it will take so long to introduce their emperor, they won’t have time to send warships against us.”
Kelric smiled. “A novel method for attaining peace.”
On the stage opposite Eldrinson, a holographic image appeared, a young man sitting in a chair inlaid with carnelian gems. Kelric recognized him: this was the Highton he had met on the Third Lock.
Jaibriol and Eldrinson regarded each other. A tense silence followed, as everyone waited to see who would speak first. Skolian and Eubian protocols, both derived from ancient Ruby formalities, required the person requesting the communication to begin. In cases such as this, which had been a carefully orchestrated proposal from both sides, the lesser power went first. If the powers were matched or disputed, the newest leader went first. If experience was matched, the youngest spoke.
Today, whoever spoke first lost an edge. That leader would be implying either that his counterpart won the Radiance War or else that no one could claim victory. Most agreed the war had no winner, but neither side had made a formal statement. If they accepted an equal balance, then Eldrinson’s greater age and experience required Jaibriol speak first. But if Jaibriol spoke, it implied the Highton emperor considered the Ruby Dynasty deserving of protocols reserved only for those that Aristos considered human—which meant Aristos. If Eldrinson went first, it implied he accepted that definition. It would also weaken his position by relinquishing his rank to a younger ruler.
Kelric didn’t see how they could break the deadlock. Regardless of what people such as Tarquine and Taratus said in private, the Qox Dynasty would never formally acknowledge the Ruby Dynasty as an equal. And Eldrinson would never acknowledge a denial of his rank.
As the two leaders watched each other, the silence became strained. Kelric had an odd sense, almost as if both wished they could speak. It was subtle, an effect he noticed only from a lifetime as an empath who could match body language with what he picked up from people’s minds.
Then Jaibriol spoke in Highton. “The Line of Qox acknowledges the Ruby Dynasty.”
In the resonant voice that had made his spectacular baritone legendary, Eldrinson answered in Highton. “The Imperial Dynasty acknowledges the ascension of Jaibriol the Third to the Carnelian Throne.”
A clever solution, Kelric thought. Jaibriol acknowledged Eldrinson’s seniority, but dictated they use his language, which the Hightons considered the tongue of true humans. Usually Skolian-Eube discussions were carried out in a neutral Allied tongue.
So began the negotiations between Ruby and Qox to arrange peace talks, which would take place on Earth. The Skolian representatives would be First Assembly Councilor Barcala Tikal, Eldrinson, Kelric, Roca, General Majda, and a number of ISC officers and Assembly councilors. The Hightons would include Jaibriol, Corbal Xir, Calope Muze, Admiral Kaliga, and several ESComm officers and Ministers. Kelric wondered what it would be like to see Tarquine again, or what Kaliga would think when his truant rim-walker showed up as Imperator. They would all attend as holographic simulacra. The Allieds had no intention of letting the Ruby Dynasty appear in person, lest they find a way to escape. Also, the risk of putting so many interstellar leaders in one place was far too great. However, everyone benefited from the symbolism of Earth as a neutral site.
After Eldrinson and Jaibriol had spoken for a while, the Allied president beckoned to Kelric. So Kelric limped forward, using his cane. He climbed the dais alone, under his own power, and walked to his father. He stood behind Eldrinson’s chair, tall and strong, like a protective wall. Imperator.
Jaibriol III nodded to him. “Imperator Skolia.”
Kelric nodded. “Emperor Qox.” Would Jaibriol reveal they had met? He doubted it; Qox had nothing to gain and everything to lose if the truth became known.
Jaibriol spoke the formal words. “The Line of Qox acknowledges the ascension of Kelricson Garlin Valdoria to the Imperial Triad.”
Kelric wondered how the emperor felt, having to acknowledge a man who still wore the slave collar of a provider. Strange, how the universe worked.
Standing behind his father’s chair, he listened as his father and Jaibriol resumed their negotiations. After various convoluted exchanges meant to establish goodwill, the emperor said, “As proof of our good intent in this endeavor, I have pardoned Jafe Maccar, the Skolian merchant arrested and imprisoned by ESComm.”
Kelric felt his father’s surprise. “A magnanimous gesture, Your Highness,” Eldrinson said.
Jaibriol glanced at Kelric. His eyebrows quirked. Kelric nodded, astonished, but managing to keep his reaction modulated to a more appropriate reserve.
A channel was opening. Perhaps Qox and Skolia could find a way to navigate its currents. Kelric knew now how to approach the Aristos: more than that, he knew at least two who might be willing to talk. Maybe more.
Hope gusted through his thoughts. He saw a future he valued, one where he might make a useful contribution. Instead of a warlord, perhaps he could truly become a maker of peace.
Tor Books by Catherine Asaro
THE SAGA OF THE SKOLIAN EMPIRE
Primary Inversion
Catch the Lightning
The Last Hawk
The Radiant Seas
Ascendant Sun
The Quantum Rose
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Spherical Harmonic
Moon’s Shadow
Skyfall
Schism*
*forthcoming
PRAISE FOR CATHERINE ASARO
“Asaro’s latest, a direct sequel to The Last Hawk (1997), is the best of her Skolian Empire series and one of the better treatments of the lone-male-on-a-woman-ruled-planet gambit … . Asaro continues to oblige seekers of fast-paced entertainment with literate page-turners.”
—Booklist
“Ascendant Sun, the fifth novel in Catherine Asaro’s fabulous Skolian Empire saga, is an exciting and enthralling work of science fiction. The primary story line is crisp and never slows down for a nanosecond. Kelric is a wonderful hero whose previous struggles (see The Last Hawk) seem soft compared to his current troubles. Though newcomers will be lost with the complexities of the tale, they, like series fans, will become gripped by the lightning speed of action and the radiant vastness of the plot, sending new readers searching for the previous novels. Ms. Asaro continues to rise in ascendancy to the apogee of the science fiction universe with this triumphant novel.”
—The Midwest Book Review
“Yet another fast-paced and pleasing entry in the saga of the Skolian Empire!”
—Publishers Weekly
Time Line
circa 4000 B.C. Group of humans moved from Earth to Raylicon
circa 3600 B.C. Ruby Dynasty begins
circa 3100 B.C. Raylicans launch first interstellar flights; rise of Ruby Empire
circa 2900 B.C. Ruby Empire begins decline
circa 2800 B.C. Last interstellar flights; Ruby Empire collapses …
circa 1300 A.D. Raylicans begin attempts to regain lost knowledge and colonies
1843 Raylicans regain interstellar flight
1866 Rhon genetic project begins
1871 Aristos found Eubian Concord (aka Trader Empire)