The Founding Day celebrations went well, though Karis noticed there were a few attempts on the lives of his courtesans. He set his investigation bureau to look for the instigators of those attempts. He checked in on his sons daily after the feasts. Ethian looked ill every day but managed to get through them without too much trouble. Rhys was angry that he was missing the feasts and tried to pick fights with his brothers, but they all ignored him.

After the celebrations were over, Karis started calling for his courtesans again. He tried not to be as distracted when he spoke with them, and they seemed more relaxed because of that. Imre continued enforcing the midnight bedtime that the doctors instigated so Karis was getting more sleep.

Finally, Karis called for Sayana again. She was the one he really wanted to see, but he was trying hard not to let on that she was his favorite. “You are very distracted today, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre was very good at reading him, but it wasn’t too hard to notice. “Your mind is not on your work.”

“No, I suppose it is not.” Karis set his pad down. “I need to focus, or I am not going to get anything done and I will fall behind.”

“Is something bothering you?” Imre watched him closely.

“Not bothering me.” Karis smiled ruefully. “I called for Sayana, and I am more than a little impatient to see her again.”

“I see.” Imre glanced at his schedule and saw that he’d spaced out all the other courtesans over the past several weeks first. “You are taking great pains not to show she is the one you favor, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“I do not want her assassinated.” Karis shuddered at the thought. “And she will be if I show her any kind of special attention.”

“That’s true.” Imre frowned. “Are you also keeping an eye on Rhys?”

“Oh yes. I have not let up my watch on him. He is still a danger to his brothers, and I do not trust him.” He sighed and picked up his pad. “I need to get this done.” He got back to work.

After dinner, Karis finished the last of his work and waited impatiently for Sayana to arrive. When she did, he dismissed Imre and his guards. He rose and pulled Sayana into his arms. “A year seems too long to wait.” She pulled her veil off and he kissed her.

“A year is a long time, but it’s worth it to not draw undue attention to me and have me killed off before we can be married.” Sayana clung to him. “As it stands, the gossip persists that it’s Marin or me because you went after us personally.”

“I have shut down those rumors as fast as they came up.” Karis breathed in the fragrance of sunfire roses and something that was uniquely her. “I reminded everyone that things were too unstable for me to leave when the others were found, otherwise I would have gone after them in person too. That should put those rumors down for a while.”

“I hope so.” Sayana trembled in his arms. “I’d rather not have assassins trying to kill me every time I leave the wing.”

“I have my guards sweeping the corridors before and after our time together.” Karis tried to reassure her that she would be safe. “I do not want another incident like what happened with Tekla to happen to anyone. Especially not you.”

“I do appreciate it.” Sayana pressed her face into his shoulder for a moment before looking up at him with those wide, beautiful green eyes.

Karis guided her over to the couch. “So, tell me what you have been reading.”

“Can you tell me how Ethian is doing? He didn’t look well at the end of the feasts.” He could see the concern on her face.

“He had some trouble with the food.” Karis frowned. “It made him nauseous. The doctors took care of him each night and by the end he found it easier to handle everything, though he has a low opinion of wine. He says it is bitter and vile tasting.”

Sayana laughed. “It seems we have a similar opinion of the stuff. I did warn him he’d have to drink some of it at least.”

“He understands that, but he is getting by drinking as little as possible, and I have left orders that his servant is to bring him water or juice after the feasts if he requests it so he can get something to drink. I did the same thing when I have the boys have dinner with me and the court because he seemed to struggle with the wine then as well.” Karis was amused that anyone could find wine vile, but he supposed everyone had their favorite drinks.

“Thank you, Karis.” Sayana sighed with relief. “I know I shouldn’t worry about him. He’s out of my hands now and in yours, and I know you’ll do a good job with him. I just can’t help it.”

Karis put a hand on her cheek. “I would be surprised if you did not want to know how he is doing. I am shocked the others do not ask me about their sons more often.”

“I think they’re inclined to trust you.” Sayana looked anxiously at him. “I’m not saying I don’t trust you, Karis.”

“I know you trust me, Sayana.” Karis kissed her forehead. “You just had Ethian with you longer than any of the other women had their sons. Even Marin did not have Fallon as long as you had Ethian. It only makes sense you would be concerned about him.”

“Did you make the boys’ birthdays high feast days?” Sayana looked pained.

“By the stars, no.” Karis shook his head. “That is too many high feasts in a two month period, especially considering it is in the fall, and we have my father’s birthday then and the winter festival to look forward to not long after that.”

“Thank the stars.” Sayana smiled. “I love my son, but I was not looking forward to celebrating his birthday with a high feast.”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Karis assured her. “The most that I do is have a special meal sent down to the boys on their birthdays. I will do that for Ethian as well this year.”

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.” Sayana paused for a moment. “Just no chocolate. He’s allergic like I am.”

“Good to know.” Karis had forgotten about the allergy. He remembered Arken telling him about it while they were pregnant. “Rhys loves the stuff, so I always send a chocolate dessert for his birthday.”

“Ethian won’t enjoy that at all.” Sayana grimaced.

“What happens when you and Ethian eat chocolate? I remember Arken telling me once, when you were all pregnant, that you were allergic but he did not tell me what happened.” Karis was curious. “I have never met anyone who was actively allergic to chocolate.”

“Ethian and I throw up from eating it. I barely have time to make it back to the courtesan wing before I am vomiting. Ethian is the same way. We found that out when he was a young child,” Sayana explained.

“I will remember that.” Karis made a mental note of the fact that his future empress and his heir couldn’t eat chocolate. “I often go over desserts with my Minister of Public Affairs. We discuss everything when it comes to the high feasts. I think I will cut back on the chocolate. I cannot cut it out completely because it is quite popular, but I can reduce it, so you and Ethian are not forced to endure it as much.”

“I know I’ll appreciate that, Karis.” Sayana sighed happily.

“Now, tell me what you have been reading.” Karis laughed.

“Read? Me? I never read anything.” Sayana gave him her most innocent look. Then she laughed and began talking about what her latest reading projects were. They discussed them for the next few hours.

Imre returned and reminded Karis of the time, and he took Sayana into his bedroom. He took his time with her and drew out the last hour of the night as long as he could. When it was over, he held her for a few minutes before calling his servants back to help her dress.

“I love you, my heart,” Karis murmured as he let her go.

“I love you too, Karis,” Sayana said softly. She dressed and left. Imre helped him dress for bed and he went to bed. He had no trouble falling asleep.

The next day, he woke early. He decided to go down and check on his sons before his council meeting. He ate and headed out to the princes’ enclave. He knew the boys would be up because they were expected to be up an hour after dawn, and he hadn’t quite gotten up that early.

The boys were already out in the yard when Karis arrived. He stood at the edge of the fenced field and watched as the boys, since it was a fine day, were set to running laps much as he’d been. Rhys looked particularly mutinous this morning and kept trying to slow to a walk. His warmaster teacher kept kicking his ankles and forcing him to run.

“My legs hurt today,” Rhys whined.

“You say that every morning, Rhys.” Nuri had no sympathy for him. “I don’t want to hear it. If you don’t want to run extra laps again this morning, I suggest you pick up the pace.” Rhys started running again.

Ethian and Fallon were pacing each other. They weren’t talking, which showed a great deal of discipline, but they were matching their paces so they stayed beside each other. Reynard and Fallon’s warmaster Azariah didn’t seem to mind this so Karis didn’t say anything. Jair, Hanzo, and Meinard were running with resigned expressions on their faces. They weren’t complaining but they weren’t thrilled by this exercise either.

When they’d finished their laps, the warmasters had them stretch. Then the boys were taken back inside and separated into different tasks. Fallon and Ethian were taken to one area and put to work with vibroblades. Meinard was set to lifting weights. Jair was sent to the climbing wall. Karis felt a momentary twinge. He’d never gotten over his fear of the wall after what his father had done to him. Rhys and Hanzo were set to work on hand-to-hand fighting techniques.

Hanzo was focusing and working well with Cyprian. Rhys was slacking and earning several hard blows. “I already know this,” Rhys whined. “Why can I not learn vibroblade like Ethian and Fallon?”

“You don’t know this, or I wouldn’t be teaching it to you.” Nuri was implacable. “Now, do it properly or you’ll never be allowed to train with the vibroblade.”

“You are just holding me back.” Rhys glared at the man, challenge in every fiber of his being. “You are jealous because I am younger than you and better than you.”

Nuri put Rhys on the ground with one blow. “You may be younger than me, Rhys, but you will never be better than me. Now get on your feet and do what I tell you or I’ll make sure you regret talking back to me today.”

Rhys glared at him but got to his feet. He launched an attack at Nuri who let him wear himself out a bit before putting him on the ground again. “You cheated.” Rhys’ whining was worse than Lynet’s had been, Karis decided.

Nuri kicked Rhys in the gut, driving all air out of his lungs. “Get something straight, Rhys. I don’t cheat. I don’t have to against a weakling like you. You’re pathetic, untrained, and useless. If you want to be the type of man that can hold your own in a fight, you have to learn the techniques I’m teaching you. If you don’t, you’ll never be anything but a weakling who gets beaten every time he fights.”

Rhys couldn’t answer him. He was curled in a ball on the ground. “Is this a daily occurrence?” Karis called.

Nuri looked over at the emperor, perfectly calm. “Almost daily, Your Imperial Majesty. I’ve had to be a bit harsher than normal today because he’s whining more than usual. It was bad enough when it was just Ethian working with the vibroblade. It’s gotten worse now that Fallon has been promoted to vibroblade training. But really, they’re the only two who are ready for that.”

“Meinard is almost ready for it.” Benedikt looked his student over appraisingly. “Another week and I’ll have him over there with them.”

“Jair has a couple more weeks and then I’ll probably have him over there with them as well.” Teodor, Jair’s warmaster teacher, watched him closely.

“Hanzo is making steady progress. I expect we’ll have him training fully with the vibroblade before the year is over.” Cyprian wasn’t as pleased by Hanzo’s progress, but he was not as unhappy as Nuri was.

“At the rate Rhys is going it’ll be after his birthday next year before he’s ready for vibroblade training.” Nuri glared down at the young man. Rhys coughed and struggled to his feet. “Now that you’re back on your feet, Rhys, let’s try this again, shall we?”

Karis returned to his duties and went to the council chamber. “Your Imperial Majesty,” Geraint greeted him. “You are late this morning.”

“I was out watching my sons.” Karis took his usual seat. “It takes a bit to get from their area to the council chamber.”

“How are the princes this morning?” Metis was curious. Karis wasn’t letting anyone in to see them, so the council got their updates on them from him.

“Most of them are well.” Karis grinned. “Rhys is having a bad morning, but that is nothing new.”

There was laughter as it was becoming common knowledge in the court that Rhys was constantly in disgrace. “You would think the boy would learn by now that he would get along much better by not fighting with his teacher.” Trenor shook his head.

“You would think that, but he is as asteroid brained as they come.” Karis sighed. “I thought I had a problem with stubbornness. He takes it to extremes.” He sat down. “Geraint, how are the new infrastructure plans going for Agantu?” Karis looked over at the other man.

“We are running into some difficulties with the tectonic activity.” Geraint looked at his pad. “It is higher than on some other worlds, so we are having to take it into account for all structures and fast travel methods. It is taking a little longer to build up what we need in order to keep everything from collapsing during the first quake.”

“When do you think the new infrastructure will be in place?” Karis knew this was important to the people of that world.

“By spring of next year, Your Imperial Majesty.” Geraint grimaced. “It is not as fast as I would like, but it is better to be safe than fast.”

“Trenor, do we still have that leak in your bureau?” Karis asked.

“No, Your Imperial Majesty.” Trenor checked something on his pad. “I turned him over to Demetrios, who has confirmed his part in feeding the information to the pirates. Lord Durden has put an end to the pirate threat in the Helicor sector, and I have put an end to the selling of the information. Demetrios also confirmed he took the two lords in question into custody some time ago, so we are no longer in any immediate danger, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“Good.” Karis was relieved he wasn’t going to have to restrict another lane. “The last thing we need is to disrupt freight through the Helicor sector. Runa, has there been any push back on the new education laws I have put into place?”

“There was some, but it has died down.” Runa consulted a report on her pad. “I sent the inspectors around to the households to ensure children are being sent to school as you wanted, and they have caught some families not following the law. These are some of the poorest families in the systems where you noticed the disparities and we are not certain how to punish them.”

Karis thought hard for several minutes. “Put the parents to work in one of the Imperial workhouses. They will still earn a wage and can support their families, but they are being punished for not educating their children. Send the children to school once their parents are in the workhouses. Six months in the workhouses should be punishment enough.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Runa noted the punishment on her pad.

“What are we going to do if they are already employed? They could lose their jobs by being placed in the workhouses.” Metis was concerned, and Karis could see why. If they lost their jobs, it would mean they would have to draw on Imperial storehouses until they found some other employment.

“Make certain their employers know that they are to restart their employment after they are out of the workhouse. I will not have them unemployed after their punishment.” Karis frowned. “Let employers know there will be stiff penalties for every employee they terminate the employment of over this, and the employee has every right to file a complaint. Make it clear to the families that if that happens, they have the right to complain. We will find some way to compensate them for that, but do not tell them that part. I do not want false complaints coming in.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Metis looked relieved.

“I think that is everything.” Karis glanced at his list. That was all he’d needed to cover.

“We do not have anything, Your Imperial Majesty.” Veselin, the second Minister of Transportation, looked over his notes. The others all murmured their agreement.

“Then we are adjourned until tomorrow.” Karis rose and nodded to his ministers.

Everyone got up and left the room. Karis returned to his suite. “Your Imperial Majesty, there’s been trouble.” Imre was agitated.

“What is it now, Imre?” Karis turned to him.

“Lord Rahul is dead.” Imre knew the effect that would have on him.

“Rahul?” Karis was stunned. “He was one of the biggest power brokers in the court. How did he die?”

“Doctors are saying it was natural causes, but no one believes it.” Imre read the report on his pad. “He was found in his rooms with no sign of foul play – no wounds, no signs of a struggle, and they didn’t find any poison in his system when they did the autopsy. However, as Your Imperial Majesty well knows, there are many poisons out there that break down into common elements and are undetectable within hours of ingestion.”

“I am very aware of that, Imre.” Karis thought of the athala that Lynet planned on using to kill his sons. “People are crying murder?”

“They are.” Imre nodded. “It’s said that Lord Rahul was planning on presenting his two sisters to you as marriage candidates and was really going to push for you to marry one of them. He was supposed to have some convincing arguments for Your Imperial Majesty to choose one of them over your courtesans and was going to present them at your audiences today.”

“I do not care how convincing he thought his arguments were. No one is changing my mind on this.” Karis shook his head. “People were that afraid I would give in to him that they murdered him?”

“That is the current rumor going around court, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre looked at the report again. “According to Demetrios, there are a number of people who stand to benefit from Lord Rahul’s death and any one of them could step into his position. There is a great deal of power jockeying going on among some of your more powerful courtiers as they vie for the role of top power broker.”

“Rahul was not in the best of health.” Karis pursed his lips in thought. “Even I know that. It is quite possible he did die from natural causes. He was a sick man, though he did his best to keep that concealed from everyone.”

“I’d say he did a good job because no one is taking that into account, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre looked up. “His wife and daughters are inconsolable. Already the unscrupulous are moving in to prey on them. I took the liberty of letting it be known that they would feel Imperial disfavor if they did anything.”

“They will, because I hate how the predators move in to prey on the widows and their families when a courtier dies.” Karis felt a surge of anger. There were always those who tried to victimize the families of the newly deceased and it made him furious to know someone was doing it again.

“I believe the lady plans on taking her family and returning to her homeworld with Lord Rahul’s body. That should get them away from the court for a while and have them surrounded by family.” Imre sounded quite confident of that fact.

“Rahul’s sisters are not going to appreciate being taken off the table as potential marriage candidates, even if they never stood a chance.” Karis sighed. “I really wish my courtiers would quit trying to argue with me on this.”

“They all remember Lynet, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre pointed out the logic in his courtiers’ way of thinking. “They fear a repeat of that unfortunate time.”

“There will be no repeat of that because I adore Sayana and will not be ignoring her.” Karis grew more heated as he thought of it. “That was one of the reasons behind Lynet’s issues.”

“I understand that, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre raised his hands as if to reassure him. “I’m just repeating what is being said.”

“Thank you, Imre. I know people are worried about that and I should not discount their concerns.” He sighed. “It would be so simple to just marry her now, but she is right. We need some time to prepare for it and marrying her so soon after retrieving her would be a problem.”

“A very large one, Your Imperial Majesty. You would be out an empress before the winter festival.” Imre fixed him with a serious look. “By waiting you give people time to come to accept your decision.”

“I have been patient this long. A year is not that much time in the grand scheme of things.” Karis rubbed his forehead. “It just feels an eternity at times.”

“A little patience will save her life, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre was just as concerned about her as Karis was.

“You are right, Imre. I had better get some work done before audiences today. Or I am going to be behind again.” He got to work.