The Emperor’s Daughter – Chapter 8, Karis

Court that night was as dull as it always was. The only gossip worth noting was the fact that the princes weren’t there, and the wild speculations about their absence. Karis was amused by some of the things that were postulated. Finally, a lord ventured up to the high table. It was one of the power brokers, a man named Yered. He was not the most powerful of the power brokers. In fact, he was barely hanging on to his title as one of them by the skin of his teeth. Still, he stood among them and was therefore a force to watch at court.

“Your Imperial Majesty, I notice your sons are not at the high table tonight,” he began.

“I gave them the night off.” Karis waved away his concern. “They are on show with us most of the time. I felt, since I have not named my heir yet, that they could take an extra night off if they wished. They did, so I allowed it.”

“So, there is nothing wrong, Your Imperial Majesty?” Yered asked.

“No, Lord Yered. They are perfectly fine. Just enjoying an evening of relaxation for a change.” Karis kept his face neutral, but he didn’t bother to hide the amusement in his tone.

“I see.” Yered bowed and left, to impart this information to whoever he felt deserved to hear it.

“Do they think the boys are dead and we’re hiding it or something?” Sayana hid her smile in her wineglass. Karis knew it was full of juice, not wine, as he’d given that instruction before dinner. She’d confirmed it for him as they ate.

“I have no idea, my heart.” Karis watched the court. “It is not as if we all do not take a night off occasionally. How are you feeling?”

“The nausea is under control.” Sayana snorted. “But I was not impressed by the food.”

“Nor was I.” Karis hid his smile behind his wineglass. “My head cook is a creative man, but sometimes his imagination gets away from him and he makes some interesting failures.”

“Tonight was one of those nights.” Sayana didn’t bother to hide her disgust though her face remained calm.

“It was indeed.” Karis knew the seneschal would be talking to the man later in the evening.

Another lord approached the table. “Your Imperial Majesties, have you given some thought to my proposal?”

“And what proposal was that, Lord Finbar?” Karis knew full well what the man was asking but wanted to make him ask again just to irritate him.

A look of annoyance flashed across the lord’s face. “The marriage of my daughter Mirabella to your son Prince Fallon, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“Ah yes, that one.” Karis waved his hand dismissively. “I believe I already gave you my answer on that one, Lord Finbar. I told you quite plainly I am not choosing my sons’ wives. They will choose them themselves when they are ready in their own time.”

“How are they to choose anything if they do not mingle with the court more, Your Imperial Majesty?” Finbar countered.

“I will allow the court more access to my sons after they turn eighteen, Lord Finbar.” Karis did his best to seem unconcerned by the man’s remarks. “I have also made that abundantly clear.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty. And what do you think of all this secrecy, Your Imperial Majesty?” He turned to Sayana.

Sayana turned a serene mask on him. “I think it is in the best interest of the princes not to be bothered by the constant pressures of the court until they are eighteen, Lord Finbar. I am in complete agreement with my husband on this.”

Finbar stalked off, clearly not getting the results he’d wanted. “Thank you, my heart.” Karis appreciated Sayana supporting him.

“I would prefer not to be bothered by the pressures of court at times and I’m nearly forty.” Sayana was again amused. “I don’t blame you for not wanting to subject them to this.”

“I am the emperor and there are days where I would rather not be bothered by it all either, my heart.” Karis was equally as amused as his wife. “It is just something that, as emperor and empress, we accept as our responsibility.”

“Yes, it is.” Sayana continued watching the courtiers.

A few more people drifted up to the table to speak with them, but mostly they sat and watched until Karis decided to retire for the night. He held out his hand to Sayana and she took it, rising gracefully to her feet. The two departed with their guards close at hand. Karis noticed they had double the usual number.

“Has something happened?” he asked one of the guards.

“No, Your Imperial Majesty.” The guard’s eyes never left the corridor. “But Imre spoke with the Imperial guard captain and insisted on doubling your guard for the foreseeable future. We weren’t informed why, but the guard captain agreed with his reasoning and so your guard has been doubled until we are told differently.”

“I see.” They got back to their rooms and changed out of their formal attire. Karis looked at Imre. “May I ask why you decided to request a doubling of our guard, Imre?”

Imre just looked at him. “It should be obvious, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“He’s right, Karis.” Sayana seemed to understand. “It’s extremely obvious, when you think about it.”

“Oh?” Karis couldn’t see why it was necessary.

“I am going to become even more of a target now that I’m pregnant.” Sayana turned an anxious face towards him. “I’ll be seen as easy prey. The assassination attempts will get worse, not better, and after a certain point I am going to find it hard to defend myself as easily. We need the extra guards to ensure the baby and I stay safe.”

“You are right.” Karis could see where Imre and Sayana were coming from. “I should have realized that myself.”

“I’ve also instructed that everything is to be scanned thoroughly before it enters the room.” Imre frowned. “The guards were a little lax in that and I want to be sure nothing enters here that has been poisoned.”

“We finished our paperwork earlier today.” Sayana paused. “At least I did. I am going to read for an hour before I go to bed.”

“Did you flash your paperwork back over to me?” Karis asked.

Sayana picked up her pad and tapped something. His pad chimed. “I did now.”

“I will look over it and then I think I will read for a little bit as well.” He skimmed through her notes. He found one he didn’t agree with, noted it, and flashed it back to her with his question. She saw the message pop up and looked through it. She thought for a moment, typed a reply, and flashed it back. He read her response and saw why she’d responded the way she did. He cleared their conversation, leaving only her initial response, and sent it back to the lord in question. He pulled up his book and started to read.

Sayana went to bed around eleven. He stayed up until Imre cleared his throat. “It’s midnight, Your Imperial Majesty.” He reminded Karis of the time when he looked up. Karis saved his place and went to bed.

The next morning Karis awoke to find Sayana gone as usual. He got up and went out into the main room. She was reading, sipping a glass of juice, and looking as if she were waiting for the anti-nausea pills to kick in. Imre saw him. “Good morning, Your Imperial Majesty. Shall I call Adem and Lucan?”

“Yes please, Imre. Good morning, my heart.” He walked over and kissed the top of her head.

“Good morning, Karis.” She looked up from her book and smiled. “The anti-nausea pills are starting to take effect, so I don’t feel as miserable as I did yesterday. I should be fine by the time you’re dressed.”

“That is good to hear.” Karis wandered back into the bedroom and waited for his servants to arrive.

Once he was dressed and ready for his day, he rejoined his wife. It was still a distinct thrill to think of Sayana as his wife. He’d waited so long to be able to utter those words and now it was real, and it was wonderful. Imre and Ardatha were leaving to get their breakfast as he came out.

She set aside her book and smiled at him. “I feel this pregnancy is already a little easier than Ethan’s was. The morning sickness isn’t as bad as I remember.”

“I am glad to hear it.” He looked at her curiously. “What are you reading today?”

“A history on the division of the upper and lower court, as written by the fifth emperor.” Sayana had a thoughtful look on her face. “It explains his reasoning behind dividing the court, his plans for the laws governing how a lower court noble could ascend to the upper court, and all the things he set in place for both courts. The man is very thorough in his descriptions, but in this case it’s a good thing because he explains his reasoning with such clarity that it’s easy to see why he did it.”

“Flash me the title, will you?” Karis asked. “I am almost done with my current book. The stars only know when I will have the time, but I want to read that one next.”

Sayana flashed him the title and he tagged the book as his next read. He had so little time to read these days, but he still got the occasional hour or two in the evenings, especially now that Sayana was taking over a portion of the paperwork. He might just get to it sometime soon.

Imre and Ardatha returned with their breakfast, and they ate, talking about the day ahead of them. They went to the council session and were met with a firestorm. Most of the ministers were already there, and the ones that had not arrived entered very shortly thereafter. “Your Imperial Majesties, we heard a rumor that the princes were all assassinated in their beds last night. Is this true?” Metis asked worriedly.

“We have heard nothing about this.” Karis gave Sayana a confused look. “I would think we would be the first people to know if my sons were dead, Metis.”

“I heard about it only a few minutes before the council session, Your Imperial Majesty.” Geraint was just as worried as Metis. “One of my clerks heard it from Lord Erlend’s servants. They said they heard it from the princes’ servants.”

“I heard it from one of my clerks as well,” Metis confirmed. “She heard it from Lady Elora’s servants, who heard it from the same place as Lord Erlend’s servants.”

Karis flashed Demetrios a message. “Demetrios will be able to lay this to rest for us.” He hoped nothing had happened to his sons. Under the table he squeezed Sayana’s hand. She looked at him with concern written in her eyes.

Demetrios arrived, looking more than a little harried that morning. “I can assure all of you the princes did not die in their beds last night. I assume of course that’s why I was called to the council meeting.”

“That is precisely why you were called. We have two courtiers’ servants saying that my sons’ servants told them they were dead.” Karis saw the relief spreading across his ministers’ faces. “Can you please explain what is going on?”

“It was not the princes’ servants they spoke to.” Demetrios consulted his pad. “We’ve had several lords’ and ladies’ servants told the same thing by a mysterious group of men claiming to be the princes’ servants. We’re trying to track them down now. There was an assassination attempt made on the princes last night, but due to the quick thinking of the Imperial guard, it was thwarted. We have the surviving assassins in our custody and are now working on psychic interrogation on the lot of them.”

“Were any of the princes injured?” Runa asked.

Demetrios consulted his pad again. “According to my report, all five of the princes were injured in some way, with Princes Ethian and Fallon the most severe. Prince Ethian took a gash to the chest and Prince Fallon a deep wound to the thigh. Both princes were treated in the med lab overnight and were released back to the enclave this morning. The other three princes’ injuries were minor, and they were treated in the enclave.” He opened his mouth but his personal comm unit buzzed. “What is it?” He listened. “Finally. How many did we catch? Excellent. Take them to the inquisitors. We’ll get answers out of them one way or another.”

“I take it the false servants have been found?” Karis asked.

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty. Three of the five were apprehended. Two were killed in the confrontation. The other three are injured but not seriously. We’re going to try psychic interrogation first, but these don’t appear to be ordinary men. With your permission, Your Imperial Majesty, may we use all means at our disposal to get answers?” Demetrios knew what he was asking. He also knew Karis understood the implications of that question.

“Yes, Demetrios. Whatever means necessary. This goes for the assassins as well, if they prove resistant to the psychic interrogation.” Karis wasn’t happy but if it was necessary to find out who attacked his sons, then he’d sanction the use of force.

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Demetrios bowed and left the room.

The ministers regarded him solemnly. They knew his stance on torture, and they’d just heard him give full permission for its use. “Do we have anything we need to discuss this morning?” he asked.

“A few things, Your Imperial Majesty.” Metis had children of her own. She could probably see the worry in his and Sayana’s eyes as clearly as if she were reading a book. “But they can wait if you want to go check on your sons.”

“Thank you, Metis.” Karis rose to his feet. “Send anything urgent to my pad. I will deal with it either later this morning or sometime later today. If it is so urgent that I need to sign off on it now, get with Imre and come see me in person after the audiences this afternoon.” They nodded. Karis took Sayana’s hand and the two left the council chamber.

He could feel her trembling. “Is he all right do you think?” Her voice broke and it was obvious her thoughts were on Ethian.

“Demetrios said he was treated and released, my heart.” Karis pointed out what his investigation minister had said. “He should be fine now.”

“All right.” She didn’t look convinced.

They reached the enclave and the guards, which had been nearly tripled since the previous night, let them in. The princes were in their common room, watched over by their warmaster trainers. Ethian and Fallon still looked a little pale, but they seemed all right. “Hello, Father.” Fallon was the first to notice them.

“What happened?” Karis asked.

“As near as we can tell, the assassins waited until the changing of the guard,” Azariah explained. “When there were only two on duty. They killed the guards and attacked the princes while they slept. Meinard and Hanzo woke before they could be hit and shouted, waking the other princes. All five young men grabbed their vibroblades and engaged the assassins.”

“I killed the one sent after me.” Hanzo looked sick. “I went to help Meinard. He took down the one sent after him. Then we went to check on Jair, who was struggling a bit with his. The three of us took him down.”

“I took mine down.” Ethian was shaking a little. “I heard Fallon shout. I went into his room and saw him on the floor. He was bleeding profusely, and his assassin was about to kill him. I got in between him and his assassin and struck back. I got hit pretty hard, but I still took out the assassin. Then I fell over.”

“We found the two of them bleeding really badly.” Jair was staring at the other two. “About that time the guards rushed in and took out the three other assassins in the room before they could attack us. They wanted to know if we were all right. We said we were not, and that Ethian and Fallon were dying. We were probably exaggerating, but they needed Imperial doctors, and it was a stupid question considering we were all bleeding.”

“You were not exaggerating according to the doctors.” Ethian looked over at Jair. “I got nicked in the lung and Fallon’s artery was cut. We really were going to die if we did not get help.”

“The doctors came. They took Ethian and Fallon off and stuck regenerators on the rest of us. Our servants were called, and the blood was cleaned up.” Meinard rubbed a new scar on the back of his hand. “Silvan and Timur were worried about Fallon and Ethian, especially when they found out they were taken to the med lab. They cleaned their rooms and went back to the servants’ hall with the rest of them, but it was obvious they were not happy.”

“We were told to try to go back to sleep.” Hanzo snorted. “As if we could after that.”

“We pretty much spent the night out here talking until the warmasters came and we explained what happened. They told us we could take the day off.” Jair glanced at the warmasters for confirmation.

Reynard nodded. “I think they’ve proven to us that they’ve done well with their training, if they can handle assassins the way they did. Even Hanzo proved he can hold his own.”

“Jair was the only one who struggled, but after the description of the one who targeted him, we’re not surprised,” Teodor said.

“What was different about his?” Karis asked.

“I am the shortest of the five of us.” Jair gestured to his brothers. Karis had to admit that Jair was the smallest of his sons. Ethian stood a good third of a meter taller than his older brother and though the others weren’t as tall as Ethian they were all still taller than Jair. “This man was a good third of a meter taller than me and nearly twice as broad. I know we are being taught how to handle that, but I was not prepared for it.”

“You’ve all been sparring with each other,” Azariah pointed out. “We will start sparring with you ourselves, so that you’re better prepared for someone who is larger than you.”

Reynard looked at the princes. “Ethian got used to sparring with me. He needed the experience of someone shorter than him. Now we’ll see how well you all do against us.” The princes nodded solemnly.

“Ethian, are you sure you’re all right? And you, Fallon?” Sayana looked anxiously between the two princes.

“We are fine, Mother.” Ethian managed a small smile. “Fallon and I were told to take it easy for today and we should be back to normal tomorrow.”

“All right.”

“Since you are all here, we do have something we need to tell you.” Karis figured now was going to be the easiest time to tell them since they were all at leisure. The princes all looked at him. “Sayana is pregnant.”

“We are going to have a new brother or sister?” Meinard asked.

“Yes, Meinard. We will know for sure what we are having in about two weeks. We ask that you keep this to yourselves. We are not telling the court until we absolutely have to. It is going to become very obvious in a short while. We cannot hide it forever.” The boys nodded. “But we want to keep it a secret until then because we know the assassination attempts are going to increase on Sayana rather than decrease once the court realizes she is pregnant.”

“Why?” Ethian asked.

“I have five potential heirs, Ethian. They do not want a sixth. Even if it turns out to be a girl she is pregnant with, they will not want another child.” Karis grimaced. “They do not really want five of you, which is partially why there have been assassination attempts on you.”

“Not to mention being pregnant makes them think your mother will be an even easier target because they think pregnancy will make it harder for her to defend herself.” Reynard shook his head. “It won’t. Everything I taught her will still be useful to her no matter her current state.”

Sayana nodded. “I will just react a little slower, which does put me at risk.”

“Your reflexes won’t be slowed.” Reynard looked at her. “Just don’t overreach. Practice a little in what free time you have. If you want, come down to the enclave in the evenings while the princes are studying with their scholar teachers. I’ll work with you again to make sure you’re prepared.”

“That is not a bad idea.” Karis gave the warmaster a grateful smile. Sayana nodded, looking relieved. “I’ll send her down in the evenings under heavy guard. We can just leave court earlier than we normally would.”

“Our guards will be here too.” Ethian glanced at the door. “Reynard had another little talk with them this morning. They are altering how they do the changeover. No one leaves their post until their relief arrives. They can do the changeover at the door instead of off in some side room. It is awkward for them, but it means they cannot be overpowered again.”

“We sent a request to the Imperial Guard Captain to increase the number of guards on the princes as well,” Azariah added.

“He tripled them,” Karis informed them.

“More than I was expecting.” Teodor nodded approvingly. “Which is good. We will keep your sons as safe as possible, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“I know you will.” Karis knew the warmasters were as protective of the princes as he was.

Ethian got up, walked over, and hugged Sayana. “Everyone else got to hug their mothers yesterday. I need this today.”

Sayana hugged him back. “Thank you, Ethian.”

Karis smiled. Ethian had seen his mother’s distress, though she’d tried to hide it. He was very good at recognizing when he needed to step up and take care of something. The two parted and Ethian returned to his seat. Karis led Sayana out of the room. She seemed to be feeling much better. He led her back to their rooms, ready to face the mountain of paperwork ahead of him that day.