“He’s not a spy, Sire. We’ve been through life and death together in the last nine months. He would have gotten fed up and left my side at some point if he didn’t have a very good reason for being there.” Amaranthe glowered at Books, annoyed that he’d brought this up in front of the emperor. Sespian had just met Maldynado and had no reason to trust him yet, but Books ought to know better.
“And what is that reason?” Sespian asked.
“He wants a statue made of himself,” Books said.
“I see,” Sespian said in a tone that meant he didn’t think that was “a very good reason” at all.
Amaranthe sighed. “Let’s wait until we have more evidence before we start accusing comrades of colluding with the enemy. For all we know, those two men followed Books and Akstyr, snuck on board, and were hoping to collect someone’s bounty.”
“That wouldn’t explain why the pilot attacked us,” Books said, “but I’ll agree that there’s insufficient evidence to accuse anyone. Besides, Akstyr might be the one to blame for at least some of our troubles. He has a new bounty on his head, and he told his mother he’d be at Forkingrust or the pass.”
“His mother?” Amaranthe resolved to get the full story from Books, but he’d already said more in front of the emperor than she would have liked.
Someone cleared his throat in the corridor. Basilard. We are approaching a tall mountain, and this boat may need to make a course adjustment.
Books stood, bowed to Sespian with a, “Sire,” and headed for the door.
Also Maldynado is attempting to teach himself how to pilot.
“Dear ancestors.” Books’s calm walk toward the door turned into a sprint.
“Boat?” Amaranthe asked Basilard, in part because the word choice amused her and also because she wanted Sespian to know they weren’t chatting about suspicious things when her people signed back and forth.
No word yet for… Basilard pointed toward the ceiling.
“Not many dirigibles in your mountain homeland, eh?” Amaranthe asked. Though Sespian had other concerns at the moment, it wouldn’t hurt to remind him that Basilard was a foreigner, here helping because he wanted to improve his people’s lot.
Basilard shook his head and lifted a hand for a departing wave.
Shut the door, please, Amaranthe signed. And if you see Sicarius, can you tell him to join us in a few minutes?
After Basilard left, Sespian crossed a finger over his throat and asked, “What’s that sign mean?”
“Ah, that’s the one Basilard made up for Sicarius.”
Sespian grimaced. “I hope you were telling him to have him leave us alone.”
“If you’re left alone with me, I’ll pour all my efforts into convincing you to let us perform this surgery on you and then to use my team as your own personal… emperor’s edge.” Amaranthe felt silly saying the group’s name-Maldynado had teased her about it so often that she’d stopped using it-but maybe it would amuse Sespian.
“Hm,” was all he said.
“Are you thinking of letting us try to remove it?” Amaranthe asked, wanting a feel for where he stood.
“Oh, I’m thinking of very little else. Having the promise of instant death held over my head every day for the last five months has dampened my enthusiasm for my job. In the beginning, I thought I could fight Forge, keep them out of the Barracks and the government, but they have spies everywhere. Knowing they can track me down and end my life at any time has made it difficult to keep up the fight, but if the implant were gone…”
“How did they embed the device to start with?” Amaranthe asked.
“A team of hooded men came into my bedroom one night, held me down, and gagged me. My first thought was that Sicarius had finally come to kill me, but he always worked solo. I didn’t see any of these men’s faces, though the leader was older. He had hard gray eyes, and I could see the hint of a scar under one.”
Amaranthe sat up straighter, but Sespian wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at his lap, and he continued speaking.
“While they held me down, Peadraga, that woman who was with me on the train, strolled in and inserted the device. She didn’t need any tools. She simply laid it on my throat, and it burrowed in while I could do nothing to stop it.” His lips twisted as if he wanted to spit. “I don’t know if my personal guards, who should have been at my door, were Forge’s from the start or were paid to look the other way. Turgonians pride themselves on duty and honor, but it seems there’s little loyalty that can’t be bought. Maybe I’m just not the ruler my father was and people feel they have no reason to risk themselves backing me.” He pushed a hand through his hair.
“That’s not true. You care about the people. They’ll see that one day and appreciate it. You’ve been born into a difficult era, where the empire is trying to reconcile great technological and socio-economic changes with a centuries-old system of government. None of your predecessors had to deal with anything like this. Besides, you’ve yet to have a real chance to rule, so you can’t compare yourself to Raumesys.” Amaranthe realized that what she meant as an encouraging talk sounded a bit like a lecture, so she tacked on a weak, “Sire.”
Sespian snorted softly.
“I honestly believe you’re the open-minded, forward-thinking person we need in charge right now,” Amaranthe said. “We just need to make sure you survive and have the leeway to apply your vision.” It wouldn’t hurt if he had an older, experienced advisor he could trust either. She imagined Books or even Sicarius in that role. Maybe it was hubris, but she thought Sespian would benefit from having her whole team on board. If only she could get him to see that. “Don’t let anyone beat you down. This is worth fighting for.”
“Odd,” Sespian murmured.
That wasn’t quite the response Amaranthe had expected. “Me? Or my speech? Or both?”
“I get a lot flatterers telling me what they think I want to hear in order to get what they want. Why is it that I believe you when you do the same?”
Maybe Amaranthe should feel insulted-he’d just called her a flatterer who was angling for something, after all-but the puzzled crease to Sespian’s brow took the bite out of the words. “Because I don’t hide the fact that I want something? And I don’t think I want anything that’s particularly evil or would require you to compromise your integrity. I just want my name cleared.” All right, she wanted Sicarius’s name cleared, too, but that probably would compromise Sespian’s integrity, and she doubted Sicarius particularly cared about that aspect anyway. “There’s more to it than that, of course,” Amaranthe went on. “Me wanting to be someone who matters and to live up to the expectations of a dead father, for example. But my life story, dreams, fears, and so on can wait for when we have more time. Right now, I only wish to know what reassurances I can give you to get you to say yes to this surgery. There was a beacon of some sort left behind on that cliff, and I’m afraid that means the other craft will know we’re alive. They may already be looking for us. If someone on board that craft can trigger your implant… Well, I’d find it rather inconvenient to lose you so soon after retrieving you. I doubt Maldynado’s older brother would pardon me.” There, finish with a smile. What more could she do?
“I’d like to hear the life story sometime,” Sespian said, surprising Amaranthe. That wasn’t the part of her speech he was supposed to focus on. “If we survive the next few weeks, perhaps you’d like to have dinner with me? Some place quiet? And private?”
“I… uh…” Amaranthe felt like a deer caught on the railway with a train barreling out of the night toward it. Her mind wouldn’t come up with something useful to do, and she could only gape at Sespian. He wasn’t supposed to be interested in dinner with her any more. He was supposed to want to have dinner with Yara. “Sire, you’re…” The son of the man I love, she thought, but she couldn’t possibly say that. “Young. Yes, young to me. I don’t think we’d be a good…” Amaranthe trailed off when she realized Sespian was watching her intently. It wasn’t, she sensed, in hopes that she would agree to his proposition. A moment passed, and he said nothing. Finally, she asked, “Was that a test?”