Tiberius considered it thoughtfully. He’d had all of his pleasure slaves studied carefully after Lord Roosevelt’s death and they’d found nothing. They’d just been pleasure slaves… but the Roosevelt Clan’s security agents would have studied the remains of the assassin after she’d been killed, and compared it to their security checks before accepting her into the household. They hadn’t found anything either, but the death had broken the Roosevelt Clan. Daria’s admission that it was hard to slip them specific instructions meant… what?
“I see,” he said, shaking his head. It was time to be honest and open. “I don’t like the thought of using a wedding as an assassination venue.”
“A wedding or your wedding?”
Tiberius winced. “My wedding, yes,” he admitted. “Your Majesty, I don’t like the thought of exposing either myself or Alicia to an assassination attempt.”
“The attempt will be aimed at Colin, not you,” Daria assured him. Her voice softened slightly. “Besides, can you think of any better time to take a shot at him?”
“No,” Tiberius admitted. As long as Colin was careful, and he had two very competent security officers looking out for him, he would remain fairly safe. The wedding might be the only chance to take him out of the game before it was too late to reform the Empire on their terms. “Are you sure that we can move at once to take control?”
Daria nodded, without going into specifics. “Yes,” she said, flatly. “We can take control at once.” She leaned forward. “And you have my word that neither yourself nor your wife will be in any real danger. The only person targeted will be Colin.”
“How reassuring,” Tiberius said. He claimed no special expertise at military matters, but Joshua had taught him how quickly matters could spin out of control. An inch of prevention, he’d said, was far better than a mile of cure. “If you believe that there is no choice…”
Daria smiled like a little girl. “There is none,” she said. “Believe me, if we fail now, the Families will be swept away and destroyed, along with most of the Empire.”
“Unless Admiral Wilhelm takes control of Earth,” Tiberius said grimly. “Are you sure that we can best him if we have to fight him?”
“Admiral Wilhelm doesn’t have either the past legitimacy of the Thousand Families — and me, of course — or Colin’s democratic state,” Daria said, flatly. “He may have united four Admirals under his banner, but that won’t last if they do take Earth, not when they could fall out and make a grab for the throne themselves. It’s what happened to Angus, a long time ago; his grab for the throne and a chain of successors was eventually defeated by your own ancestors. They chose to share out the booty rather than win or lose it all.”
Tiberius nodded slowly, taking her point. Admiral Wilhelm would only drag the Empire further down into disintegration and chaos, even if he won the war, which would only shatter the Empire and destroy humanity’s unity once and for all. Colin’s plan for a federal Empire would be preferable, even if that risked a power struggle between Earth and the outer worlds that would tear the Empire in two. No, the Empire needed a strong man — or woman — at the helm, who could instigate a process of reform while preventing it from spinning out of control.
If that’s possible, he thought, bitterly. The Empire had changed so much in the months since he’d first heard that Colin Harper, a mere Commander, had raised the standard of rebellion in the Harmony Sector. Who would have believed that the very foundations of the Empire would shake and the Thousand Families — and the Empress they’d betrayed — would be forced to skulk around on Earth, the seat of their power, plotting to tear down a man many of them feared and hated? No one would have predicted that it would come to this — no one, apart from Colin… and the woman facing him, smiling a very slight smile. It was at times like that when he wondered how she managed to fool the remainder of the Thousand Families, including the ones who’d known her as the Empress Janice, into believing that she was simply Daria.
They don’t want to look, he realised, and shivered. They believed, firmly, in their own prejudices and someone who came from the Freebooters could never be taken seriously. They missed the fact that Daria, a woman in a man’s world, had built up a cadre of loyal Freebooters who would do anything for her, having survived and prospered in the most brutal of environments. They might whisper insults behind her back, they might underestimate her — after all, she was only a commoner as far as they knew — but they wouldn’t take her seriously. They wouldn’t realise the truth until it was too late to save them.
She’s going to be in the most powerful position of all, he thought, grimly. If she succeeds in her plan, she’s not just going to be Empress again, she’s going to be the supreme ruler of the Empire, the most powerful person in history. She could not only avenge such insults, but ensure that her own people rise to power… and I’m committed to helping her!
The thought was a bitter realisation. He’d found himself supporting her because his father had set matters up on the assumption that he would still be alive when the Empress finally returned, but now he was committed. Even if he went directly to Colin and confessed everything, it would mean the end for the Thousand Families. Colin would have no choice, but to strike as ruthlessly and decisively as possible and he would wipe out the entire structure. Tiberius had been carefully manoeuvring to keep as much as possible, but now… now, Colin would have all the excuse he needed to obliterate the Thousand Families. Daria had entrapped him as surely as if she’d tied him to her throne and forced him to play her game, knowing that he couldn’t even run.
“I hope you’re right,” he said, neutrally, feeling his senses reeling. He found himself looking at her in a whole new way, seeing past the face to the personality underneath, hungry for power and determined to take the Empire for herself. Perhaps, just perhaps, he could unseat her afterwards… or maybe she would strike first, once he was no further use to her. “The wedding is in two weeks, so don’t you think that you should make preparations to strike?”
“All in good time,” Daria said, calmly. She leaned forward, her long red hair falling down onto her breasts. It would have been almost seductive, but Tiberius could see the cold-hearted manipulation behind the motion. Somehow, he was sure that she might be willing to seduce him, or anyone else, but it would mean nothing to her. The normal human weaknesses had been burned out of her long ago. His father and his allies had created a monster. “I imagine that Pompey will be handling the security arrangements?”
“Unless Colin and his men insist on taking the lead,” Tiberius said. It wasn’t uncommon, when senior Family Members were involved, for their security staff to insist on taking point… and Colin certainly ranked higher than most of the Families, these days. “Would that be a problem?”
“Oh, perhaps,” Daria said, as if it was barely important enough to matter. She tossed her hair back and stood up in one smooth motion. She wore the standard Freebooter outfit, a tight-fitting shipsuit, as if it were a military uniform. It was strange, he realised numbly, that he hadn’t seen that before. “I’ll get in touch with you in a week’s time to arrange for the wedding surprise.”
He watched her leaving the room and scowled. She might just intend to blow up the entire wedding hall with all the guests, including him. It was hard to see how such an act would benefit her, but he’d learned not to underestimate her before… and she had her own agenda. The only guarantee he had was that he was still useful to her… and that wasn’t a sure-fire guarantee of anything. It would be easy to inform Colin of the truth, but that would mean certain destruction.