The Moon's Shadow (6 page)

Eube had a Lock.

The emperor of Eube was a Ruby Key.

The beauty of it gratified Corbal. Jaibriol could join the Triad. Although they could have used Eldrin to power a Kyle web, Corbal doubted they could have forced him into the Triad. Jaibriol was another story. As the emperor of Eube, he had motivation to do what Eldrin would have resisted with all his might. If Corbal had unlimited access to a Kyle web and the Triad, he might even collapse the power structure of Skolia without going to war. He doubted the restless young emperor could resist the allure of conquest on an interstellar scale.

Closing his eyes, Corbal waved to Sunrise, a gesture she knew well. She unfastened his trousers and took him into her mouth exactly as he liked. He exhaled, his tension easing. He enjoyed his retirement. He enjoyed Sunrise. He had enjoyed Eldrin. He had hated giving up the Ruby Prince, but he hated it even more when ESComm interrogated Eldrin. Damn inconvenient, this business of remorse.

Corbal was tired of wars. He wanted Skolia conquered, yes, but without fighting. Perhaps he was a fool, to let a provider sit on the Carnelian Throne. He could have been emperor himself. But his age had given him plenty of time to contemplate the job. It was an imperial pain. Let Jaibriol have the high profile; Corbal would rule from behind the throne. Through Jaibriol, he would control the Triad; through the Triad, he would control the webs; through the webs, he could manipulate interstellar civilization. Eventually he would dominate all humanity.

To achieve his ends, he needed only to control an inexperienced boy.

P
rince Eldrin stood at the glass wall of his room. Outside, the garden drowsed in the sun, unaffected by the heat of the long day. This view had never changed in the four days he had been here at the so-called Allied Embassy on the planet Delos, where the Traders had purportedly exchanged him for an Aristo. His routine never changed; in the morning, they brought him breakfast, later they came with lunch, and in the evening they brought dinner. Always they were solicitous. Always they plied him for information.

Eldrin revealed nothing. He waited for the game to end, but it continued, and the seeds of hope had grown despite his struggle to stop them. Could this be an Allied embassy? It was still a prison, but far preferable to Eube. He rather liked the Allieds, or he had before today, when they had brought The Message:
You have a visitor.

Was it Corbal? ESComm? Other Aristos? He clenched his fist and stared at the garden. He would rather die than return to the interrogation room.

When the door of his suite opened, he didn’t move. Steps sounded in the hallway, muffled on the carpet. Even when his visitors entered the living room, he remained at the window. The gardens beckoned with their unattainable freedom.

A woman’s voice came to him in a stunned whisper.

“Eldrin.”

No.
No.
Of all the torments they could have inflicted, this was the cruelest. He turned slowly, unwilling to see her but unable to stop himself.

She stood across the room, surrounded by officers, both Allied and Skolian. Small and slender, she resembled a waif more than an interstellar potentate. Her glossy black hair hung down her back, thick and healthy, streaked with gray. Her eyes, a clear green, seemed too big for her face. They had more lines at the corners than before, and he didn’t remember those dark circles under them.

This impostor isn’t a true match.
She had to be an impostor. He couldn’t believe otherwise. She couldn’t be a prisoner, too. It couldn’t be her.

It couldn’t be his wife.

“Eldrin?” Her husky voice was painfully familiar. “Don’t you recognize me?”

Unable to bear her presence, Eldrin turned back to the window, knowing if he looked at her any longer, he would shatter. The Traders had captured him when their commandos broke through to the habitat where he lived with Dehya. Eldrin and Dehya had fled with their son while their bodyguards fought the intruders. In the end, Eldrin had sacrificed himself, blocking the commandos so Dehya and their son could escape. But he had never known if those two people he loved most had made it away.

The Traders had claimed his family died.

As much as Eldrin had denied their words, pain had shredded his heart. He couldn’t bear this hope. It was killing him.

She came to stand with him. Together, they gazed out the window. Blue-tinged light slanted across the gardens outside.

His mind refused to absorb her presence. She spoke and he answered, their words constrained, but he couldn’t hear. Hope was jagged glass that gouged his heart.

Gradually he became aware of a change. It spread over his mind. Warmth.

No.

An impostor could falsify a great deal—face, build, voice, mannerisms—but nothing could counterfeit what he felt now from the woman at his side. He had shared his mind with her for most of his life, through decades of marriage. She was dropping her defenses, leaving her mind vulnerable. His thoughts blended with hers, responding by instinct before he could stop himself.

He could take it no longer. He turned and spoke hoarsely. “Dehya?”

Her voice caught. “Welcome home, Dryni.”

Moisture gathered in his eyes. “It was for nothing.”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought—I thought you and Taquinil escaped.”

“We did.” She said more, but he couldn’t hear. Her mind overwhelmed everything else. The Traders had raised falsehood to a fine art, but he could feel the lies in their minds. Dehya had none: she spoke the truth. It filled his thoughts and flowed into his heart.

Eldrin embraced her then, holding her as if she would break. She slid her arms around him, her cheek against his chest. As he bent his head over hers, a tear slid down his face and dropped onto her hair.

Finally he let himself hope.

Seated behind his desk, Corbal peered at Jai over his spectacles. “Normally you wouldn’t be asked to deal with such a matter. But this case is unusual.”

Jai didn’t believe for one instant that Corbal needed reading glasses. His cousin undoubtedly had perfect vision. By easing his mental barriers, Jai picked up enough from Corbal to know the spectacles were supposed to create a scholarly aspect that would inspire Jai to trust his cousin. It didn’t work. Everything about Corbal made Jai tense, including this office, with its steel-diamond desk, silver walls, and steel-hued carpet.

Jai crossed the room and sat in a chair near the desk. “Tell me more about the case.”

Corbal paused at the blunt question. Jai was beginning to realize that in many situations, direct speech between Aristos was considered an insult. He wondered how his advisers expected him to benefit from their advice when he couldn’t figure out what the blazes they were saying.

Corbal, however, could use more direct speech without giving offense because he and Jai were kin. “The problem,” Corbal said, “concerns two of your more vital people. The man is Azar Taratus, an admiral and also the younger brother of Kryx Taratus, one of the Joint Commanders of ESComm. The woman is Tarquine Iquar, the Finance Minister. Her niece was your grandmother.”

Jai stared at him. “Vital” hardly began to describe them. Tarquine Iquar had formidable authority among his advisers, and she used her power like a honed knife. Few dared cross her. Azar Taratus was one of ESComm’s renowned war leaders, or perhaps notorious was a better word. He had survived the Radiance War by breaking just about every law in the Halstaad Code, which was meant to define civilized behavior during wartime.

With foreboding, Jai said, “Go on.”

Corbal removed his glasses. “Minister Iquar claims Admiral Taratus cheated her.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Surely they didn’t expect the emperor to settle private arguments. “Why bring it to me?”

“An apt question, Your Highness.”

Jai waited. Then, exasperated, he said, “Perhaps you have an apt answer.”

Corbal could have taken offense, but he chose otherwise. “Admiral Taratus sold Minister Iquar a provider. She paid fourteen million for the man.”

Jai barely kept from choking.
Fourteen million?
That could feed the entire population of some planets.

Watching him, Corbal added, “A large amount indeed.”

Jai flushed. He had to learn better control over his face. “It sounds like a matter for the insurance bureaus.” He couldn’t believe the Aristos had an entire industry devoted to insuring providers.

“Minister Iquar has contacted them,” Corbal said.

“And?”

Corbal’s eyes glinted. “Apparently Taratus neglected to tell her this provider was dying.”

“What, he didn’t think she would
notice
?”

Corbal rested his elbows on the arms of his chair and steepled his fingers. “He probably expected her to make a deal with him. If she lied to the bureaus about how much she paid for the provider, reporting a much lower price, she wouldn’t have to pay much for the insurance.”

Jai had seen the criminally exorbitant fee scale used by the insurance bureaus. “I understand the advantage to her if she lies. But why would Taratus?”

“Then he wouldn’t have to pay much tax on the sale.”

Jai could see where this was going. “So when she found out Taratus cheated her, she would have no recourse, because she had claimed she paid almost nothing for the provider. If she admitted she lied, she could be convicted of fraud.”

“Exactly.”

“But it didn’t work?”

Amusement showed on Corbal’s face. “Minister Iquar reported the full fourteen million to the insurance bureau. Then she sued the holy hell out of Taratus.”

Jai frowned. “And just when, in all this, did someone send the fellow to the doctor?”

“I’m afraid that wasn’t possible.” Beneath his reserve, Corbal was positively gleeful.

“Why not? Doesn’t Minister Iquar have doctors?”

“Certainly.”

“But?”

“Well, you see, it seems the provider escaped.”

Good for him.
Jai didn’t see how the blazes the man had managed it, though. “Did Minister Iquar let him go?”

“Of course not. He managed on his own.”

“How?”

“Apparently he was a Jagernaut.”

That
Jai understood; his mother had been a Jagernaut, a Skolian military officer in the elite corps of psions whose ability to link their minds to their ships gave them an immense advantage in battle. They also lived with the danger of what had befallen this man, that they might be captured and sold as providers. The thought made him ill.

Jai strove to hide his disquiet. “Did ESComm question the Jagernaut before he escaped?”

Corbal shrugged. “The fellow had been missing for nearly two decades. His knowledge and internal systems were too far out of date to provide useful data.” His amusement faded. “Still, it was sloppy of Admiral Taratus not to question him more thoroughly.”

“Why didn’t he?” Although Jai was glad the Jagernaut had benefited from Taratus’s negligence, it surprised him the admiral had overlooked such a detail.

“Taratus claims it wasn’t worth the trouble. He wanted the man in good shape for the auction.”

“Do you believe him?”

“It isn’t unreasonable.”

“But do you believe him?”

Irritation flashed on Corbal’s face. “I think our dear admiral wanted to unload the man fast, before his appallingly bad health became obvious.”

“It sounds like a mess.” Jai could hardly admit he supported the Skolian escaping. “But I don’t see why the courts can’t take care of it.”

“Well, you see, we have a bit more of a problem.”

Jai regarded him uneasily. “More?”

Corbal leaned forward. “To escape, this dying provider just walked to a launch bay of Minister Iquar’s space habitat and stole a shuttle.”

“Wasn’t anyone watching him?”

“They were watching the news-holo of your speech when you became emperor.” Corbal smirked. “Minister Iquar says this provider of hers was also watching the speech. The next time she checked, he was gone.”

It still made no sense to Jai. “Her habitat must have security systems that could have stopped him.”

“Indeed it does. State-of-the-art, designed by ESComm.”

“The military? I thought her habitat was civilian.”

“It is.”

“But then why—”

“Apparently,” Corbal said, “your military and finance advisers have, shall we say, ties that are a bit too close.”

Jai had no clue how to unravel the conflicting intrigues here. He stuck to the obvious. “How did the provider escape?”

“It seems that he somehow shoved his mind into the computer networks and shredded the security throughout the habitat.”

Jai had learned enough about ESComm to know what Corbal described couldn’t happen. “That’s impossible.”

“Indeed.” Corbal couldn’t contain his glee any longer. “Astonishing, isn’t it? This man pulverized Minister Iquar’s system and
pfifft
—he was gone. It is one of the worst security breaches in history. And
one
provider managed it, without a single weapon.”

“It’s incredible.” Jai could see why this had reached the highest levels of the government and military. Unfortunately, he had no clue what to do. “Is ESComm working on it?”

“Yes. Also the Ministry of Intelligence.”

Jai squinted at him. The Intelligence Minister, Azile Xir, was Corbal’s son. The chronicles of Azile’s rise to power showed an impeccable record. Too perfect, in fact. Jai had found traces of less-than-impeccable deletions in the files. Having one’s father next in line for the throne had its advantages.

What to do? Jai felt as if
I’m lost!
was emblazoned on his forehead. Trying to project confidence, he leaned one elbow on the arm of his chair, copying his posture from portraits he had seen of his great-grandfather. The pose felt more natural than he wanted to admit.

“What Minister Iquar and Admiral Taratus need is a judge and court,” he said. “Not me.”

Corbal studied Jai as if sizing him up. “Your Finance Minister is set against one of your top admirals in a matter that involves a severe breach of security, and a phenomenally expensive provider with too much military knowledge is gone. This isn’t the time to distance yourself, particularly not from Tarquine Iquar. She has too damn much power, and she isn’t likely to ally herself with us.”

Interesting. Apparently Corbal didn’t much like the Finance Minister. “Why wouldn’t she?”

“She covets the influence of the Xir Line.”

Hah! So Corbal didn’t like the competition. That could be useful. “What do you suggest I do?”

A gleam came into Corbal’s eyes. “I think it is time Minister Iquar and Admiral Taratus paid their respects to our new emperor.”