The night was passing in a blur. The whole day seemed surreal. Even as it had approached, Sayana still had her doubts. It was only as she was exchanging her vows with Karis that she realized it was happening. She was marrying the emperor. She knew the rumors were flying thick and fast about her, but she couldn’t focus enough to pay attention to them. All she could think about was how happy she was.

Her joy wasn’t in the title of the man she was now bonded to. It was in the fact that Karis was the one man she’d loved and now she got to spend the rest of her life with him. However long or short that life might be. That thought brought some of the euphoria to an end and pulled her mind out of the fog. There was still the possibility of assassination, and she needed to be aware of her surroundings and what was going on.

“What is it, my heart?” Karis asked. “Your eyes were so sparkling a moment ago and the light seems to have dimmed.”

Sayana tried to relax again. “Nothing to worry about. Simply an errant thought.”

Karis’ hand sought hers and he took it. “Nothing about us, I hope.”

“No, more about my situation. I’ll explain later.” Karis squeezed her fingers, and they welcomed the next batch of well-wishers as they came up to the head table. These were all upper court nobles. None of the lower court nobles would dare the lofty heights of the high table to speak to the emperor and his new empress. Sayana was aware of that much at least.

She knew little else. She’d lived sheltered among the courtesans most of her life and even here in the Imperial palace they never troubled themselves about the workings of the court. Sayana thought privately that was a mistake because the court often spelled trouble for the unwary courtesans, but it was not in her power to change that. Or was it? Could she do something to improve the lot of her friends now living in isolation in the wing?

The hour grew late, and Karis rose, holding out his hand to Sayana. “I think it is time for us to withdraw.”

Sayana took his hand and allowed him to help her rise. She rested her hand on Karis’ arm as they left the great hall. Their guards formed up around them and they made their way down the twisting corridors to the Imperial suite.

Sayana wasn’t sure how close they were when she noticed a faint shimmer off to one side. She cried out and one of the guards shot at the shimmer. A man collapsed to the ground. He was armed with a plasma pistol. Several other shimmers rippled, and five other men appeared, all armed. They opened fire on the small party of guards and the Imperial couple.

A pitched battle began in the corridor between the assassins and the Imperial guard. The assassins closed the distance and drew vibroblades. Their target seemed to be Sayana, as they focused their attention on dismantling her protection and reaching her. One of the assassins lost his vibroblade. Sayana scooped it up and activated it. She was not defenseless, as these men were going to find out if they closed with her.

Karis shouted in pain and dropped to his knees, blood pouring from a wound. Two guards moved to protect him, weakening Sayana’s defense. An assassin reached Sayana and grabbed her arm. Sayana let him drag her close before she lashed out with the vibroblade, slashing his throat. He fell back, both hands covering the wound, trying to stop the blood spurting from beneath his fingers.

Another assassin tried to shoot Sayana, but Reynard hadn’t just been training Ethian. He’d taught Sayana as well. Sayana dodged the shot and closed quickly with the attacker. She stabbed him in the wrist, forcing him to drop his pistol. She reversed her knife and stabbed him in the stomach. He fell back.

The other three assassins were taken out by the guards. “Keep that one alive.” Karis pointed to the one that Sayana had stabbed in the stomach. “I want answers.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” One of the guards pointed his pistol at the moaning assassin. Another guard was speaking into his comm unit. A few minutes later, a young man with short pale blonde hair and two doctors as well as a few more guards arrived on the scene.

“We’ll take charge of him, Your Imperial Majesty. I’ll have my inquisitors work on him once he’s stabilized.” The young man immediately took charge of the situation.

“Excellent, Demetrios,” Karis growled through gritted teeth.

One of the doctors went off with Demetrios, the guards, and the prisoner. The other doctor followed the guards with Karis and Sayana back to the Imperial suite, which wasn’t that far away, to check the emperor out.

He slapped a regenerator on Karis’ wound and ran a scanner over him. “No strenuous activity tonight, I’m afraid, Your Imperial Majesty. You’ve enough blood for it to be a problem. We don’t need to replace it, but it’s not safe if you don’t want to risk passing out.” The doctor seemed almost apologetic as he looked between the emperor and his new wife.

“Damn it.” Karis glanced at Sayana.

“It can’t be helped, Karis.” Sayana felt her stomach begin to churn as the effects of killing the assassin set in.

“Your Imperial Majesty are you injured?” the doctor asked, looking over at Sayana.

It took Sayana a moment to realize he was talking to her. “I don’t think so. This is the assassin’s blood, not mine.”

The doctor ran a scanner over her. “Elevated pulse, adrenaline is high, a few other chemicals out of balance. You appear to be nauseous as well. Which is to be expected after what you just experienced. Sit down, relax, and when you crash, expect an emotional response.”

“Of course.” Sayana was already feeling the emotional response setting in.

The doctor waited for the regenerator to beep before taking it and leaving the Imperial couple alone in their suite. “My heart, where did you learn to fight?” Karis stared at her.

“Reynard taught me.” Sayana collapsed onto the couch next to him and commanded her stomach to behave itself. “He told me if the assassins were going to come, I needed to be able to defend myself and Ethian.”

Sayana leaned her head against his shoulder. Karis wrapped an arm around her. “This was not how I wanted to start our married life.”

“I hoped once we were married the assassination attempts would die down.” Sayana bit her trembling lower lip. “I know they’re a part of reality as the empress, but I didn’t expect there to be one on our wedding day.”

“Demetrios will get what he can from the surviving assassin, and we will hopefully have a name.” Karis kissed the top of her head. “We might not, but it is a definite possibility.”

Imre and Ardatha looked at them both with some concern. “Your Imperial Majesty, it’s late and you’ve been through a lot. Perhaps you should consider retiring?” Imre was the spokesperson of the two of them, but it was obvious that Ardatha felt the same as Imre.

“I think you are right, Imre.” Karis released Sayana and the two got to their feet.

“We’ll get you changed, Your Imperial Majesty.” Ardatha and her sisters took Sayana back into what was now their bedroom. She changed and climbed into bed with Karis. The last of the adrenaline wore off and she dissolved into tears. Karis pulled her close and held her until she fell into a troubled sleep.

The next day Sayana woke up at her usual time. Karis hadn’t let her go even he fell asleep. She freed herself from his grasp and got up. She went out into the main room to find Imre waiting. “Your Imperial Majesty, you’re up early.”

“I’m usually up at this time, Imre.” Sayana was nervous. She wasn’t used to addressing Karis’ valet. “Can you call my servants for me? I’m surprised they’re not here already this morning. They know when I get up.”

Imre frowned. “Let me see what’s going on, Your Imperial Majesty. If they know your habits, then they should be here.”

“I hope nothing’s happened to them.” Sayana’s anxiety spiked as she thought of all the horrible things that could have happened to her ladies.

“I’ll find out for you.” Imre left the room.

Sayana paced anxiously, hoping no one had tried to kill her servants to get to her. Half an hour later, Imre returned with Ardatha and her sisters. Ardatha looked very upset, and her sisters were equally agitated. “We apologize, Your Imperial Majesty. Someone decided to try to get the seneschal to reassign us and he did so without thinking about the consequences of his actions.” Ardatha looked at her apologetically. “Imre set him straight and we were reassigned immediately back to you.”

“Imre, who ordered Ardatha and her sisters reassigned?” Sayana was puzzled. “I was informed that they were going to follow me into my new role.”

“I don’t know, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre was more than a little disgruntled. “I intend to inform His Imperial Majesty. The seneschal refused to tell me anything, but he will answer the emperor.”

“It’s fixed for now, so let’s get you ready for the day, Your Imperial Majesty.” Vai managed to smile at her. “I’ll go prepare your shower.”

“Thank you, Vai.” Sayana watched the other woman leave the room.

The servants dressed her for the day, and Sayana sat and read while she waited for Karis to get up. A couple hours later, he joined her. “You do not know how to sleep in, do you?” He smiled.

Sayana shook her head. “I’ve never been able to sleep past five thirty, no matter how late I stayed up.”

“Well, we should eat breakfast and then I have my council meeting.” Karis looked longingly at his wife, but he sighed.

“Should I not also attend the council meeting?” Sayana put her book aside and fixed him with a sober look. “Unless you intend to leave me with no power as you did Lynet.”

Karis gave her a startled look. “I fully intend for you to be co-ruler, but I had thought to give you a few days to get used to your new position before plunging you into the world of politics.”

“I know nothing of politics and the running of anything other than a simple house on Covus, Karis.” Sayana did not turn her gaze away from him. “Even there I deferred to Reynard. If I am to get the experience I so desperately need, would it not be better to start right away?”

“I see your point.” Karis’ expression turned grim. “You do need a lot of experience, and you need it in as short a period of time as possible.”

Breakfast was brought in. Imre went out to speak to the guards while the servants laid out the food. As Karis and Sayana ate, Karis outlined what a typical day for him looked like. “I don’t know enough yet to help with the paperwork, but I hope – once I do – you’ll let me help you with that as well.” Sayana was aware that was the bulk of his day and she also knew she needed to take on that responsibility as soon as possible.

“If you wish to help me, I will not say no. The paperwork, as you are aware, is what takes up most of my time. The only other parts of my day are my meetings and the audiences. Will you be joining me for the audiences as well?”

“I should.” Sayana didn’t want to, but she knew it was important that she did. “It will get your courtiers used to seeing me at your side and give me a better idea of the kinds of things you deal with on a daily basis.”

“It will also give you an idea of what people consider important.” Karis frowned in thought. “Some of it is, and I am glad to offer my services as arbiter for those who do truly need it. The vast majority of what I hear though is petty complaints and requests, most of which I turn down or refer back to the correct government official. Some think to get around the normal process of things by petitioning me directly.”

Imre came back in. “Your Imperial Majesty, we have two issues to discuss this morning. First, someone instructed the seneschal to reassign Her Imperial Majesty’s servants, and they were not here waiting as they should have been this morning when she got up. The seneschal refused to answer me, as he usually does, so I hope by you talking to him you can get him to explain his actions.”

“Of course, Imre. I will also tell him that the women are part of the Imperial household now and can only be reassigned by a direct order from me or my wife.” Karis looked at him. “That should resolve any issues in the future. And the other?”

“Another assassination attempt was thwarted this morning and now all the servants in the kitchen including the head cook are being taken to the inquisitors to be questioned again.” Imre looked grim. “Over half your food and Her Imperial Majesty’s juice was poisoned this morning when the guards scanned it. They’ve been sent to the psychics.”

“My wine was not poisoned?” Karis looked down at his glass.

“No, Your Imperial Majesty, which makes me think this was another attempt on Her Imperial Majesty’s life rather than on yours.” Imre glanced at Sayana.

Sayana felt herself go cold. Karis could have been injured in an attempt on her life. Karis reached out and took her hand. “Demetrios and his inquisitors will find the responsible party, my heart. Do not worry about it.”

“How will two psychics get through so many minds without losing their own?” Sayana stared at him incredulously. She’d learned, through talking to Arken and some early conversations with Karis himself, what the investigation bureau was made up of.

“I am not my father. I have an entire bureau of psychics now, not just two. I grew their number once I hired Demetrios. He suggested we needed more, and I decided to invest heavily in psychics since I do not believe in using torture except as a last means of getting information.” Karis rested a hand on her arm and she gave him a tremulous smile. He pulled his hand away and she shivered at the thought of being caught if she used her own gifts. She checked her own shields to make sure nothing was able to leak through them.

“Do you want me to have the seneschal come before or after the council meeting, Your Imperial Majesty?” Imre waited for an answer.

“Have him come now. I do not want him randomly reassigning them during the day while we are busy with other things.” Karis reached out and took Sayana’s hand when it became obvious she wasn’t calming down.

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre sent the message. A short while later a tall, slim man with blonde hair shot through with silver strands entered the room.

“Seneschal, why were my wife’s servants reassigned? I thought I made it clear that they were to follow her here.” Karis looked at the seneschal angrily.

“Ah that.” The seneschal seemed unconcerned by the trouble he’d caused and the faint disdain on his face when he looked at Sayana spoke volumes about his feelings towards her. “I had a message from one of Lord Arken’s servants that he wanted them reassigned to the general pool and that you had approved it. They even sent a message with his seal on it to prove it.”

“Do you have that message?” Karis asked. The seneschal held out his pad and showed the seal on the message. “That is not Arken’s seal. It is a good copy of it, but there are enough differences you should have realized it was a fake.”

The seneschal took back the message and looked over the seal. A frown creased his face. “I do apologize, Your Imperial Majesty. I do not see what you are seeing.”

Karis took back the message. “This is the wrong shape. That should not be there. This figure should be reversed.” He pointed out each of the errors.

The seneschal looked again, his eyes going wide. “Now that you point them out, Your Imperial Majesty, they are obvious. I do not know why I did not see them before. I apologize profusely for my error in judgment.”

“It is all right, Seneschal. Unless you have spent as much time as I have with Arken’s seal, you might miss it. I want the three women moved to the Imperial household immediately. That way there can be no question as to who dictates where they go.”

“I will see to it at once, Your Imperial Majesty.” The seneschal bowed. “Again, my apologies for my mistake. And my apologies to you, Your Imperial Majesty, if my error caused you any inconvenience this morning.” The last was said grudgingly. The man did not like her at all.

Sayana smiled at the man, ignoring his attitude. “I was just surprised they weren’t here when I got up. They know my schedule as well as I do, and I was a little worried something had happened to them.”

“Once I get them officially transferred to the Imperial household, they will be well protected, Your Imperial Majesty.” He bowed and left the room.

“All right, council meetings do not require anything formal so we can go in what passes as casual for us.” Karis looked over at Sayana. “Are you ready for this?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean I won’t go with you.” Sayana took a deep breath.

“Here.” Karis pulled a vibroblade off from his wrist. “I will get you your own in the next day or two. But for now, take this one.”

“Don’t you need it?” Sayana was scared she was taking his only weapon.

“I have another one on my belt.” Karis turned so she could see the hilt at the base of his spine.

Sayana took the proffered vibroblade and fastened it to her wrist under her sleeve. She made sure she could draw it easily before joining Karis. He led her out into the corridor. The number of guards had been doubled, and they were escorted to the council chamber by a group of power suited men with their hands on their weapons the entire time.

“Your Imperial Majesties, are you all right?” one of the ministers asked.

“We heard about the attack on you last night,” another minister added.

“We are fine. Demetrios has yet to present me with his report from the survivor from last night’s attack, but I expect after today’s meeting I will hear something.” Karis sat down. Sayana took a seat beside him.

“We notice the empress is with you today,” a third councilor commented. “Is this going to be a normal occurrence, Your Imperial Majesty?”

“I intend for Sayana to be co-ruler, so she will attend council meetings and audiences with me.” Karis regarded them all coolly.

“What do you think of this, Your Imperial Majesty?” the first councilor asked.

“I am the one who suggested I start right away rather than waiting a few days.” Sayana looked at her husband. “Karis, perhaps we can start with telling me who these people are? Lord Arken never informed us of who the lords and ladies of the court are. The only one I could ever identify on sight, other than Lord Arken, was Lord Vasco.”

“Of course.” Karis introduced her to his council. Sayana locked names to faces and their roles.

“We have an issue on Aserth, Your Imperial Majesties.” Runa spoke up as they all settled down to work.

“What is going on, Runa?” Karis looked at her.

“There has been a population boom on the world following the uptick in financial security after Metis and Geraint solved the issues they were having. We have multiple children who need schooling, but my schools there are full to bursting.” Runa consulted her pad and then looked back at Karis. “We need to divert some funds to build new schools to fill the need.”

“How many schools are we talking, Runa?” Karis raised an eyebrow.

“Fifty-three new schools.” All the councilors murmured at that.

“Just how much of a population boom are we talking?” Karis was stunned.

“They reported nearly sixty thousand births in the past ten years. Most of those children survived, so we have several children old enough to go to school. As the system has several specialty academies, many of those children have been recruited to those. I was able to accommodate five thousand of the remaining school age children in the existing schools, but most of those not accepted into the specialty academies are being homeschooled with my approval until a better situation can be found.” Runa was obviously concerned about the well-being of these children.

“Harish, can we afford fifty-three new schools?” Karis looked at his finance minister.

“Easily, Your Imperial Majesty.” Harish consulted his pad. “School construction is very simple. Geraint has it down to a science.”

“I can get my teams onto Aserth within the month, and we can have the first ten schools up in the next month. Plenty of time to get teachers hired and register students to get them going.”

“That is the other problem I will be running into. I need permission to offer incentives to draw teachers from other planets. I do not have enough licensed teachers on Aserth.” Runa looked between Harish and Karis.

“We can offer half the moving cost.” Harish consulted the budget again.

“Inexpensive housing.” Geraint tossed out the idea. “I can have a second team putting up houses to accommodate the new teachers at the same time I am building schools.”

“That will help.” Runa looked gratefully at everyone.

“I will sign off on those.” Karis agreed to what was being suggested. “Offer competitive pay for the area as well, but do not go above what you are paying your other teachers. We do not want to cause friction between the new ones and the old ones.”

“Right.” Runa made some notes on her pad. “Would it be all right if I revisited the pay rates for teachers now that we have a more prosperous population?”

“Of course.” Karis nodded. “Anything to make things better for teachers and students. See if the existing schools need upgraded equipment and slowly start replacing it as well.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Runa made another note.

More business was brought up and Sayana watched silently as Karis handled it. She voiced an opinion when asked directly but mostly let Karis run things and learned the way he directed his government. She saw that his council didn’t dictate so much as asked permission before making any changes. Some he agreed to, some he refused and asked them to come up with different solutions. He orchestrated everything with the obvious ease of a man who was used to doing this.

The council session lasted perhaps an hour before Karis called an end to it. He escorted Sayana out but instead of taking her back to their rooms, he led her down a different corridor. “Where are we going?” She looked around, confused.

“I thought you would like to look in on the princes.” Karis smiled. “I usually check on them after the council meeting.”

“I’d love to check on them.” Sayana was delighted at the prospect of seeing the young men. They made their way to the princes’ enclave.