Karis called Arken in while the ladies were out in their hothouse. It was winter and the first snowstorm had already dumped two meters of snow on the city. Servants had cleared the paths in the night, so he knew the ladies would be enjoying the flowers in the hothouse. “Arken, I will not keep you long.” Karis looked at the courtesan master. “Get me their ring sizes.”

“Their ring sizes, Your Imperial Majesty?” Arken was surprised.

“Yes, I plan on giving them all rings for the winter festival, but I have no idea what their ring sizes are.” Karis had known he wanted to do rings for a while, but he needed an excuse to get their sizes. “I am certain the fashion is going to change before the festival starts. Use that as an excuse. Offer them new jewelry and convince them to look at the rings. If they want to get one for themselves, that is fine.”

“I will do my best, Your Imperial Majesty.” Arken bowed. Karis dismissed him and he left.

“Do you have rings in mind for them, Your Imperial Majesty?” Imre stared at him inquisitively.

“I have one in mind for Sayana.” Karis thought of what he wanted for her and smiled. “The others, I will just look through the catalogue and find what I think suits them best.”

“A very good idea, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre realized what he was doing. “To give all the women rings so as not to draw attention to Sayana’s gift.”

“That was the plan, Imre.” Karis nodded. “Now, do I have any other meetings this morning?”

Imre checked his schedule. “No, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“Then I had better get this paperwork done.” Karis scowled. “I am really growing to despise paperwork.”

Imre’s lips twitched. “It seems to come with your position, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“It does.” Karis stared sourly at his inbox. “There are some downsides to being the emperor of the known universe. All the stars’ cursed paperwork is one of those things. At least I can delegate some of it to my ministers now.”

“That is useful, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre’s lips twitched again.

“Imre, take yourself out of here before you hurt yourself from trying not to laugh at me.” Karis was amused despite his current mood. “I do not need you until it is time for the audiences. Go see what Adem and the others are getting up to.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre allowed himself to smile. He left the room. Karis poured himself a glass of wine and set to work.

After lunch, Karis went to his audiences. More of his courtiers were pouring in for the two weeks of the winter festival, so there were more people pressed into his throne room. He took fewer petitions because of how hot and stuffy the room became. He also wanted to get out and check on his sons.

He was delayed by running into Lidia, who wanted to discuss a few minor matters of protocol with him about the events. When those were settled, he was accosted by one of his other nobles who hadn’t made it to the audiences who wanted to introduce Karis to his daughter who he was sure would make the perfect empress. Karis shut him down fairly quickly and commended the poor girl to some of the young men in his court as potential husbands.

Karis finally made it down to the princes’ wing. He was accosted by Rhys as soon as he entered. “Father, Fallon, Ethian, and Meinard ganged up on me and beat me up for no reason.” Rhys certainly did look worse for wear. He had a black eye, a split lip, and bruising on one of his cheeks. He was holding his hand to his ribs and was limping a little.

“I see.” Karis continued to make his way into the enclave. “I will have a word with them and find out what happened.”

“I told you what happened.” Rhys looked desperate for his father to believe him.

“Your word, Rhys, is suspect.” Karis ignored his son’s efforts to get him to believe his side of the tale. “As theirs would be if they came to me with the same story. I will speak to all your brothers and find out what happened.”

“But they ganged up on me and beat me up.” Rhys was whining again, which told Karis something else was going on. “You can see what happened by just looking at me.”

“I will speak with your brothers and get the full story from them.” Karis spoke firmly and brushed Rhys’ grasping hands aside.

The rest of his sons were gathered in the common room. Their scholar teachers were with them. The warmasters were gathered to the side, watching. Ethian had a black eye. Fallon had a split lip. A doctor was putting a regenerator on Meinard’s left ankle. It was obvious there had been an altercation.

He went to Ethian first. “Ethian, what happened?”

“Rhys jumped on me after we had our lunch.” Ethian glared at Rhys. “He tried to beat me down, but I threw him off. When he kept coming, I beat him into the ground. He tried to do it to Fallon first, and then after me he went after Meinard.”

“Fallon?” Karis turned to his other son. “What happened?”

“I do not know, Father.” Fallon looked genuinely confused. “We were on our way back to the training room after lunch when Rhys attacked me. I put him on the ground. He got back up and attacked Ethian. Ethian pounded him. Then he went after Meinard. Meinard put him down. The warmasters saw that Meinard was injured so we all came back here to get patched up before resuming our lessons.”

“Meinard? Is that what happened?” Karis turned to the third player in this little drama.

“Yes Father.” Meinard looked just as confused as Fallon. “Rhys got a fire lit in his afterburners about something and decided to take it out on us today. He tried Fallon first but got trounced for his troubles. Then he went after Ethian, who repeated the trouncing. Then he came after me. I did not come out as well as the other two. I have a sprained ankle from it. But I still put Rhys down.”

“Jair? Hanzo?” He turned to his uninjured sons. “Did you see what happened?”

“Yes Father.” Jair nodded. “It happened exactly like they said. Rhys was walking a little behind Fallon and Ethian when we finished lunch. I could not hear what they were saying, but apparently Rhys could, and he took offense to it. He jumped on Fallon, who beat him down. Then he got up and took on Ethian, who put him down again. Meinard told him he was an idiot for taking on the two best fighters in the group. Then Rhys took on Meinard and got beaten down for his troubles.”

“He is right, Father.” Hanzo looked over at Rhys, who was scowling at all of them. “I heard Fallon and Ethian because I was only half a step behind Rhys. They were talking about the upcoming winter festival and Fallon was telling Ethian what to expect. Fallon told Ethian what happened to Rhys last year and told him to avoid fights, so he did not get banished like Rhys had been.”

“I see.” Karis turned to face Rhys. “Your brothers did nothing wrong, Rhys. You started the fights with no provocation. You are banished from the two weeks of the festival. You will be here, taking extra lessons from your warmaster and your scholar, while your brothers attend the festivities.”

Rhys glared at his father. “That is not fair. You are playing favorites. You are always favoring Ethian and Fallon over the rest of us.”

“There are no favorites, Rhys.” Karis regarded his oldest son coldly. “There is a disappointment, but no favorites.”

Rhys turned red and stalked out of the room. Nuri pushed himself off the wall and went after him. “He is not getting out of lessons that easily.”

“Ethian, Fallon, how badly are you hurt?” Karis turned back to his other sons.

“Not bad, Father.” Fallon gestured to his face. “I just have the split lip.”

“I bruised my knuckles on his thick skull, and I have this black eye.” Ethian pointed to his eye. “Otherwise I am fine.”

“Prince Meinard is the one who has the worst injury, Your Imperial Majesty,” the doctor confirmed. “He only has a moderate sprain. A few more minutes with the regenerator and he’ll be good to go, though he should take it a little easier on the ankle for the rest of the day.”

“Looks like it’s extra scholar lessons for you today, Meinard,” Benedikt ordered.

“Suits me.” Meinard winced. “I hurt.”

“We’ll put salve on Prince Ethian. A quick five minute regenerator session for Prince Fallon and he should be fine. Prince Ethian will be fine in just a few minutes as well.” The doctor glanced over at the other two princes, who stood waiting their turn for treatment. There was a squawk and soon Rhys was back with them, dragged out by his collar by Nuri. “I don’t see why this should impact their ability to continue with their lessons for the day.”

“Good to know.” Reynard watched Ethian. “Ethian, we’ll work on your vibroblade techniques once the doctor is through with you.”

“Yes Reynard.” Ethian didn’t seem to be in any distress, so Karis wasn’t too worried about him.

“Fallon, I think we’ll take you to the climbing wall today once the doctor’s through with you.” Azariah was keeping an eye on his charge as well.

“Yes Azariah.” Fallon nodded his agreement.

“You’re going to run laps until I tell you to stop,” Nuri told Rhys. “After that, we’ll see what else I can find for you to do before dinner.”

“Let me go.” Rhys struggled to break free of his grasp. “You cannot treat me like this.”

“He can do as he sees fit, Rhys.” Karis regarded his son coldly. “I gave them my permission to do that when I first employed them.”

“You mean you approve of this abuse?” Rhys stared at his father incredulously.

Nuri twisted the collar of his shirt until Rhys was strangling. “You will not speak to your father in that manner, Rhys. Your father is the emperor, and you will treat him with the utmost respect, or I will beat you within a centimeter of your life and then make you run laps while carrying weights. And that’s just the start of what I’ll do to you.” He held Rhys until the young man started turning blue. He released him and Rhys sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Ye-yes,” Rhys gasped.

“Good.” Nuri hauled him to his feet. “Now, let’s head back to the training room. You have laps to run.” He led Rhys out of the room. The doctor finished with Meinard and moved on to Fallon. While the regenerator worked on his mouth, he slathered Ethian’s eye and knuckles with bruise salve. After the regenerator came off, the other warmasters took their students back into the training room.

“No slacking, Meinard,” Benedikt cautioned. “Or I’ll be harder on you tomorrow.”

“I will be good,” Meinard promised.

“Good.” Benedikt joined the other warmasters. Karis turned and left.

Rhys was becoming more of a problem daily. His arrogance and his violent tendencies were putting the other princes at risk. He needed to decide what to do with Rhys, but he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with him. He’d hoped the past few months with the warmasters would correct his sons’ failings.

Karis had to send Rhys away before he became an even bigger threat to his brothers. But where could he send him? What could he do with him? Wherever Rhys went, he would resent his father and try to spark rebellion against him. He could send him to one of the colony worlds and imprison him there, where there weren’t a lot of people and even fewer that would listen to the young prince about how horrible Karis was.

Karis sighed. He couldn’t just lock Rhys away. He knew that. He had to do something about him, but he wasn’t sure what he could do. Angharad had ruined the young man completely and there was no saving him.

Karis returned to his chambers. “Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre seemed concerned. “I heard there was some unpleasantness in the princes’ enclave.”

“Just Rhys acting out again and learning that he is not as special as he thinks he is.” Karis sat down and stared broodingly at one of the holo stills of a waterfall along the wall. “I do not know what I am going to do with him, Imre. I need to do something before he seriously injures one of his brothers. However, everything I think of just leads to more trouble.”

“You’ll think of something, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre was supremely confident Karis would figure it out. Karis wasn’t so sure.

He settled in and got to work. He wasn’t looking forward to the two weeks of the winter festivities. All work, including his, stopped for those two weeks. This meant he had no paperwork, but that always led to a backlog that took a month or more to clear after the winter festival was over.

It was one of those rare evenings where he had nothing to do. He hadn’t called for one of his courtesans. He decided to read. It was so hard to find time to read these days that any chance he got he took it. He settled in with a glass of wine and a book and tried to relax. Dinner was over and he was alone, an all too brief respite from the chaos of his court.

It was getting late, and he knew he should go to bed. Imre would be coming in a couple hours to drive him to bed if he didn’t go now, but he was really enjoying his book, and he didn’t want to quit reading. Imre appeared at his elbow. “Your Imperial Majesty, Lord Arken wishes a word with you.”

“Arken? All right.” Karis set aside his pad. “Send him in.”

Arken entered the room. “You are extremely fortunate that I got word the fashion changed today, Your Imperial Majesty. I have their ring sizes for you.”

“That took less time than I thought it would.” Karis was pleased.

“I was not expecting the fashion to change for another week or two, closer to the start of the winter festival. It seems the fashion mavens took pity on the ladies and decided to give them time to prepare for the event.” Arken paused. “I must admit my ladies were a bit dismayed at the thought of wearing fur.”

“Fur? They are wearing fur?” Karis grabbed his pad and pulled up the women’s fashion. “That looks like it is going to be very hot. And extremely expensive. I do not know if I can afford real fur for all the gowns, Arken.”

“The dressmakers have assured me they can make it so it is not too heavy or hot for them, Your Imperial Majesty.” Arken spoke with the assurance of someone who’d had a long conversation with those who knew what they were doing. “The last thing we need is the ladies passing out from heat exhaustion in the great hall. And we agreed to use faux fur so as not to bankrupt you.”

“Thank you for not bankrupting me. I am pleased we will not have them passing out in the great hall. Let me see their ring sizes.” Arken handed him a data cube. Karis pulled it up and looked over the sizes. He pulled up the ring catalogue and immediately ordered Sayana’s ring. “This one would be perfect for Sayana.” He skimmed through the catalogue, picking out various rings. “This one is Marin’s ring. This one would be perfect for Ji-Hye. Angharad will love this one. I think this is perfect for Zarina. This one is perfect for Renate.” He knew the Imperial jewelers would be swift in fulfilling his orders.

“Those are all lovely rings, Your Imperial Majesty.” Arken approved of his choices. “Will you be giving them to the ladies the day before the final high feast as usual?”

“Yes.” Karis smiled. “I think I will keep with that tradition. Do not spoil my surprise, Arken.”

“I would not dream of it, Your Imperial Majesty.” Arken smiled. “The ladies will love their rings.”

“I hope so.” Karis gestured to the catalogue. “I know it looked like I did not take much time to think about it, but I really think I picked out rings the ladies will appreciate.”

“I had better get back to make sure Sayana is not up late reading in her room.” Arken shook his head. “I have caught her in the past. It seems she has learned her lesson, but she was having trouble sleeping and I want to be sure I do not need to go back to the doctors for her.”

“My goodness, has everyone been infected with my insomnia?” Karis was concerned. With how early she usually got up, a lack of sleep was a problem.

“Usually, she has no difficulty. I think she is feeling the strain with all the assassination attempts on the ladies.” Arken was obviously concerned. “She feels very strongly about how at risk all of the ladies are, and it causes her some sleepless nights.”

“Next summer, Arken.” Karis knew it was a strain on them all, but he also knew Sayana was right. They had to wait. “I will make the announcement and have the wedding next summer.”

“I am certain she will be glad for the waiting to be over.” Arken paused. “There may be some trouble between her and Angharad, Your Imperial Majesty. I saw what ring you picked for Sayana. Angharad is not stupid. She could read more into that than just the fact that you know Sayana favors blue.”

Karis frowned. “Angharad and Rhys are both problems I am still trying to figure out how to deal with. I have banished Rhys from the festivities because he ended up getting in a fight with three of his brothers today. He gets to spend the next two weeks in extra lessons while the rest of the court gets a break. I do not think that is going to endear his brothers to him. I will have to keep a close watch on him.”

“Angharad is going to take that badly as well.” Arken was now very concerned. “She has been talking about how nice it will be to see Rhys again, though the other ladies have been reminding her of what happened last year.”

“I banished Rhys last year too.” Karis remembered the previous year’s fights. “I almost forgot that.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Arken wasn’t happy. “And Angharad took it badly. She lashed out towards the women in the wing and was generally a very miserable woman to be around for most of the winter.”

“Do what you can to mitigate that, Arken.” Karis sighed. “Though I know there is not much you can do.”

“I will do what I can, Your Imperial Majesty.” Arken grimaced. “Though if she gets too nasty, Zarina may unleash that rather formidable tongue of hers on her and drive her back into her room. Zarina has gotten a lot feistier recently and Angharad is her favorite target.”

“That sounds like Meinard and Rhys.” Karis was startled by Zarina’s attitude change.

“Meinard comes by his quirks honestly, Your Imperial Majesty.” Arken shook his head. “From what little I know of the boys, Meinard is very similar to his mother in personality.”

“Keep the others from realizing Sayana is my favorite if you can, Arken.” Karis again gestured to the catalogue. “You watched me pick out their rings. Use that.”

“I will, Your Imperial Majesty.” Arken smiled. “I am becoming very good at covering for you with the ladies. They still think I do not know who you plan on marrying, or who your heir is.”

“Good. Let us keep it that way.” Arken bowed and headed out. “I think I will go to bed a little earlier than usual, Imre.”

“A good idea, Your Imperial Majesty.” Karis went into his bedroom. Imre helped him change and Karis went to bed. His thoughts were full of his problems with Rhys and Angharad, and it was only when he took one of his sleeping pills an hour later that he was able to finally get to sleep.