The Emperor’s Daughter – Chapter 5, Sayana

Sayana was very grateful when Karis led her out of the great hall and back to their suite. Hearing that lord call Karis a coward had made her angry. She’d heard Tremere’s answer and realized this man was probably at least partially responsible for his children’s rebellion. Certainly, he’d encouraged it, if not outright funded it somehow.

They got back to their rooms and Demetrios was waiting for them. He looked grim. “Did you get anything from the assassin who attacked Fallon?” Karis didn’t look like he expected a positive answer.

“I did. Look at this sketch one of my psychics did and tell me if he looks familiar. I’m thinking he should, based on some records left by my predecessor.” Demetrios handed him a well drawn image of a man.

Karis took the image and looked at it. He began to swear. “That is Vasco’s secretary. I would recognize him anywhere. Andrada let us pull his image from her mind with one of our other psychics after he escaped during that whole mess.”

Demetrios nodded. “That’s what I thought. It seems he was on the Throne World but was seen boarding a ship. It was not a passenger liner, but a private vessel that had no family colors marked on it that anyone could see, so we have no idea who he’s working with. He was whisked away from the Throne World right after the attack on Fallon failed.”

“I have been hunting the man since Vasco died and still have yet to catch him. We have come close a few times, but he always manages to evade my capture squads.” Karis was almost growling. “Someone always warns him in time.”

Demetrios nodded again. “I’ve seen the reports. He’s very slippery. I’m going to put my people in the field on high alert to watch for him, and I’m going to have the port watched at all times. If he tries to sneak back onto the Throne World, we’ll know.”

Imre and Ardatha came in at that point, both looking rather pleased with themselves. “What have you two been up to?” Karis gave them a suspicious look

“You’ll likely hear about this soon anyway.” Imre gave Karis a bland look.

“It seems Lord Dorsey died while trying to find some way of slipping poison into Her Imperial Majesty’s food this evening.” Ardatha looked innocently at Sayana, who immediately did not believe for one moment that their servants were anything but complicit in this act.

“We don’t know how there could have been such a mix up.” Imre kept his face completely straight.

Demetrios looked at the two servants. “Do I even want to know how you two managed it? Or should I just chalk it up to something I don’t need to know about because it’s all been taken care of already?” His tone was weary, as if this were not the first time he’d learned of something the two of them had done.

“It’s all been taken care of already.” Imre seemed sure of that.

“Right. I’ll leave it at that.” Demetrios noted something on his pad. “I have too much going on right now to worry about some idiot poisoning himself. Your Imperial Majesty, I’ll do what I can to track down Vasco’s secretary. The assassin died from his injuries while we were questioning him, so we’ve already dealt with his remains. I have instructed the Imperial guard that even during the changing of the guard there must always be at least two guards on duty to prevent something like this from happening again. They said that’s usually what happens, but there was a miscommunication somewhere along the line and the new guards they’d added all left their posts along with the old guards. It was addressed and won’t happen again.”

“That is good to know.” Karis was eyeing Imre suspiciously.

“I’ll let you know if we learn anything else.” Demetrios tucked the sketch away and left.

Sayana didn’t miss the dark glint in Ardatha’s eyes. Karis and Sayana faced their servants. “All right, you two. How did Dorsey poison himself?” Karis sounded almost as weary as Demetrios had.

“The servant he’d asked to swap plates with the empress misunderstood his orders and swapped Dorsey’s plate for the poisoned plate.” Imre maintained his completely bland expression.

“A terrible tragedy.” Ardatha sniffed disdainfully. “But that’s what you get when you hire substandard help.”

“And you two had absolutely nothing to do with it.” Karis eyed them suspiciously.

“We had everything to do with it.” The bland expression was gone as Imre spoke. “Your Imperial Majesties, you may not realize this, but you are fiercely loved by all of us who serve you. We are not great fighters like the Imperial guard, but we will protect you to the best of our abilities. When we found out from Lord Dorsey’s servants what he was planning, we acted. We went to the stupidest of his servants and convinced him to volunteer for the task. Then we convinced him that it was Lord Dorsey’s plate that was to be replaced with the ‘special’ food and not the empress’. We then had a chat with him after Lord Dorsey died and told him that it wasn’t the food, it must have been something Lord Dorsey drank because why in the name of all the stars would Lord Dorsey want to eat poisoned food? He bought it completely.”

“He doesn’t know who we are because he’s very new.” Ardatha added her own information to the story. “Came straight from Lord Dorsey’s homeworld and has been on the Throne World all of three days. None of the other servants are going to tell him who we are.”

“We appreciate the help, but you need to be careful. We can’t protect you if you’re caught.” Sayana was torn between gratitude and worry.

“Your Imperial Majesty, do you believe that every lord’s servants are as loyal as we are to their masters?” Imre asked.

“They’re not.” Ardatha looked at them with a solemn expression on her face. “Most servants don’t like their masters. They’re paid to do a job, and not all that well. They complain incessantly about their employers and have no problem telling us what goes on in their households. Why do you think Demetrios talks to the servants of the lords first? He knows as well as we do that for the most part, they are a good source of information.”

“Ardatha and her sisters felt that the empress respected them as people and treated them well.” Imre looked at Sayana. “She never made unreasonable demands. She never mistreated them. She did her best to make their service comfortable for as long as they served her. Lord Arken made sure they were paid very well for their work, so they didn’t resent their position. I am paid comparably well for my position, but even more, you do not mistreat me, Your Imperial Majesty. You respect me. You have proven that you have a great deal of concern for me as a person rather than only as a useful tool. That is part of the reason we are so loyal to the two of you.”

“And there was no other way to deal with this.” Karis looked at the two servants.

“Our network is as vast as Demetrios’, and we often hear about things before he does. He can’t react fast enough. We can.” Imre was implacable on this.

“So we will,” Ardatha added.

“As long as you two do not get caught by anyone.” Karis sighed.

“I don’t want any of you getting into trouble for this,” Sayana added.

“We won’t, Your Imperial Majesty,” Ardatha assured her. “We know what we’re doing.”

“All right.” Sayana wasn’t happy but she couldn’t exactly stop them if they didn’t tell her what they were doing in the first place.

“We should get changed and finish our paperwork, my heart.” Karis glanced at his pad. “Focus on what we can do something about.”

“You’re right.” Sayana waited for Ardatha to call her sisters, and they got her changed into something more casual. She joined Karis and the two settled in and finished what was left in their queues. They completed their tasks just before midnight and went to bed. They went straight to sleep instead of doing anything physical, holding each other close.

The next morning, Sayana woke before Karis as usual. She got up and went out into the sitting room. Ardatha and her sisters were already waiting for her. “Good morning, Your Imperial Majesty.” Vai was watching her worriedly.

“Good morning, Vai.” Sayana noticed the worry.

“Are you feeling all right?” Faviola asked with some concern.

“I’m not sure, Faviola.” Sayana put her hand to her forehead. “I’m a little light-headed this morning. I had some strange dreams. I think I just need a shower and some breakfast.”

“Would you like the sunfire scent in your shower today, Your Imperial Majesty?” Vai asked.

“Yes please, Vai.” Vai disappeared into the bedroom.

“Any particular color today, Your Imperial Majesty?” Faviola asked.

“Blue, Faviola.” Sayana laughed. “I don’t care which dress. Just pick me a blue one.”

“You prefer blue, don’t you, Your Imperial Majesty?” Imre asked.

“I do, Imre.” Sayana nodded to Karis’ valet. “It’s my favorite color.”

“Good to know.” Imre smiled.

“Shower’s ready, Your Imperial Majesty.” Vai came out of the bedroom.

Sayana took her shower and dried off. Faviola and Ardatha helped her dress in a teal blue gown trimmed with silver. They braided and coiled her hair, and she sat down and read until Karis got up. “Good morning, my heart.”

“Good morning, Karis.” She smiled at him.

Karis looked over at his valet. “Imre, will you come help me get ready for the day?”

“Let me call Adem and Lucan and we’ll get started,” Imre said. He hit the button on his way past and followed Karis into the bedroom.

Karis’ other servants arrived and went into the bedroom. Forty minutes later, Karis rejoined Sayana. The servants left and Imre and Ardatha presented them with their breakfast. Sayana ate and then followed Karis to the council chamber.

The meeting went well, and as it drew to a close, Karis looked at all of his ministers. “I am going to do something that will probably annoy the court, but I do not care. I have been annoying the court a great deal over the past several weeks so why not do it again.”

“What is it this time, Your Imperial Majesty?” Geraint sighed.

“I am sending my other courtesans back to their academies and letting them retire peacefully rather than keeping them trapped in the courtesan wing for the duration of their lives.” Karis watched his ministers closely and Sayana all but held her breath as she waited to see what their responses would be.

“An excellent idea.” Metis was very pleased by this. “Those poor women do not need to be bored and lonely for the rest of their lives, only to die when you do – or from old age if that is a possibility – and be buried in the Imperial crypt. Let them have a peaceful retirement back where they can be comfortable.”

“I concur.” Runa was quieter than Metis but was no less in agreement. “Let those women have a quiet life back in their academies. There is no need to keep them here now that you have married.”

“It breaks with tradition.” Trenor smiled. “But as you pointed out, you have been breaking with tradition quite a lot lately. I see nothing wrong with this.”

“Is this the empress’ idea?” Geraint stared hard at Sayana.

“It does not matter whose idea this is.” Karis drew the attention away from her. “This is what I am going to do.”

“I am in agreement with it. Do you need me to move funds around to transport them home, Your Imperial Majesty?” Harish was obviously quite prepared to do it too, from the expression on his face.

“No, Harish. I will fund their departure from my household accounts.” Karis nodded his thanks. “I will send Tremere to take them home. It will take time because we will be relocating them one at a time. But I will make certain they all get safely back.”

“I think that is a good plan.” Lidia smiled. “There is no need to keep them here. And eventually it will take some of the burden off the Imperial guard because they will not have to watch them at the high feasts any longer.”

“How are you going to break this to the princes?” Mikhah asked.

“I intend to give them a day to say farewell to their sons.” Karis looked thoughtful. “I will also be telling my sons that their mothers are being sent home. I think I will refrain from telling the court about it until after the women are back at their academies, so I suggest that this discussion be kept strictly between us.”

Sayana saw Geraint’s expression. He was not happy with this at all. But he agreed along with the rest of the ministers. Karis ended the council session and escorted Sayana towards the princes’ enclave. “Thank you, Karis.”

“Thank you for suggesting it, my heart.” Karis smiled approvingly at her.

Sayana watched her surroundings nervously. She remembered the attack on their wedding night and didn’t entirely trust the safety of the corridors. They reached the princes’ enclave without incident and the guards let them pass inside. To her surprise, all the princes were sitting inside with regenerators on them. Even Fallon was back with a regenerator on him.

“What happened?” Karis was obviously concerned.

“We were attacked while we were practicing.” Ethian looked over at his father.

“We have no idea how they got in.” Reynard was agitated. “Even the guards don’t know. They didn’t come through the main entrance, so we’re assuming they came through the servants’ entrance. Several of the guards are questioning the servants now to see if any of them are missing, or if any of them gave out their code to anyone.”

“We held them off.” Hanzo was as quiet as he always was, but he seemed proud of himself. “The warmasters helped us, but we were all injured.”

Sayana noticed that even the warmasters had regenerators on them. “How many assassins were there?”

“There were twelve of them.” Reynard was not happy. “They started shooting and when they realized they couldn’t hit any of us because we were too good at dodging, they closed with the princes and tried to kill them. We moved in on the assassins and helped where we could, but the princes held their own until the guards got in. Then it was a slaughter.”

“Two assassins survived, taking wounds to the leg.” Fallon shifted his position slightly without dislodging his regenerator. “Demetrios took them to his psychics. He said he’d have a report to you by this afternoon.”

Ethian and Jair both looked a little pale. “Ethian, Jair, are you all right?” Karis was concerned.

“I killed a man, Father.” Jair’s voice was quiet and strained. “I – I do not know how I feel about that. I know it was necessary. But I took a life, and I want to vomit.”

“I killed one of the assassins as well.” Ethian was just as strained as Jair. “I feel sick. I do not like killing, even though I know I had to do it.”

Sayana knew how hard it was to kill a man. She’d ended the lives of two people – the assassin sent to kill her and Ethian when he was a child, and the one who attacked on her wedding day. Both times she’d become physically ill and it had taken a few days for her to get over the physical effects of those deaths.

Karis nodded. “It is never easy. I was violently sick when I took out the assassin sent to kill me when I was sixteen. I still get physically ill when I order someone’s execution. I have learned to hide it well, but it is never an easy thing to take a life.”

“So you understand.” Jair’s relief was evident.

“Yes, Jair, I do.” Karis walked over and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder.

“I know it will stop making me feel so sick in a few days, though it still will not feel good.” Ethian grimaced. “It does not make it any easier.”

“You do stop feeling sick after a while?” Jair asked.

“I did.” Sayana was quiet but they heard her. The princes all looked at her. “I was physically sick for a few days after killing the assassin sent to murder me and Ethian when he was a child. I did not show it to Reynard and Ethian, but I could barely keep food down. I was constantly shaking. I could barely do what I needed to do.” Karis came back and took one of her hands. “It was horrible. I knew it was the assassin or my family, and he was threatening Ethian directly, so I did what I had to do to protect my son. It didn’t make it any easier. I took a life, and it weighed heavily on me.” She paused. “I was physically ill again for a few days after I dispatched one of the assassins sent to kill me on my wedding night. I hid it well, but I was very unhappy.”

“Even Sayana felt the way you two do.” Fallon looked at his brother. “She is one of the strongest people I know. It is perfectly normal, Jair. You and Ethian are not weak.”

“No, you are not weak.” Sayana looked at Jair. “You are human.”

“That is good to know.” Jair smiled weakly.

“We came to tell you all something.” The princes looked at Karis. “Your mothers are going to be sent back to their academies. I am not going to leave them to linger in the courtesan wing, with the poison looming over their heads.”

“That is good news.” Meinard smiled in relief. “I never wanted that fate for my mother.”

“I did not either.” Hanzo didn’t smile but he did look happier.

“I will be allowing them to come spend the day with you before I send them back to their academies, so you can say goodbye.” Karis smiled. “I want to give you all the chance to get a holo still of them, and them one of you, so you at least have something to carry with you to remember them with even though you will never see them again as well as spending the day with them.”

“That would be wonderful, Father.” Fallon looked more cheerful.

“I would love to see my mother again.” Jair seemed thrilled with the idea.

“Give me some time to set it up with Arken and Tremere.” Karis met their gazes. “I will let you know when they are coming.”

“Ethian, I’ll keep you busy with training so your brothers can have their time with their mothers.” Reynard looked at Ethian, who nodded.

“That is fine with me. I do not mind giving them their privacy.” Ethian smiled weakly at his brothers. “I know how important it is to spend time with your mothers.”

“I think Ethian should at least meet our mothers.” Fallon looked at Reynard. “They have only ever seen him at the high feasts, and we all know Sayana. It is only fair they at least get to see him up close for a minute.”

“I agree.” Meinard grinned. “Mother used to wonder what Ethian and Fallon were like, before Fallon was found. I say we let Ethian at least meet them. Then he can go get pounded by Reynard while we get our day with our mothers.”

“I also agree.” Hanzo turned his head towards the warmaster. “A few minutes to meet our mothers will not hurt.”

“I agree as well.” Jair was in agreement with his brothers.

Reynard chuckled. “All right. He can meet your mothers. Then I’ll take him and run him through a full day’s workout.”

“Sayana, was this your idea? Or was it father’s?” Meinard looked at the Imperial couple.

“It was mine. I knew he wanted to do something, but I’m the one who suggested sending them home to their academies.” Sayana had known all along she couldn’t leave them in the wing to linger and die. It just wasn’t right.

“Thank you.” Fallon smiled at her.

“They’re my friends, Fallon. I can’t stand the idea of them being trapped until they die.” Sayana gave him a thoughtful look. “I remember what that was like when he married Lynet, and he started calling for us after a year. Knowing that they don’t even have that to look forward to, I couldn’t bear to leave them like that.”

They chatted with the princes until the regenerators came off and then returned to their rooms. They sat down and got to work on their paperwork, Karis flashing her some. Sayana settled into work, pleased to be able to do something for Marin and the others.