Sayana was sufficiently recovered that the doctors felt it was safe for her to return to her regular duties. This meant going back on display for the entire court. She woke up feeling decidedly unhappy about the whole idea but dragged herself out of bed. She wrapped herself in a robe and went in search of her servants.
Ardatha was having a quiet conversation with Imre when she walked in. They fell silent when she entered the room. “Ready for your shower, Your Imperial Majesty?” Ardatha looked at her.
“No.” Sayana didn’t bother to hide her foul mood. “I want to go back to bed. However, Kaelea and my duties have other things in mind for me today.”
“Kaelea, Your Imperial Majesty?” Ardatha asked. “You and His Imperial Majesty came up with a name for the baby?”
“We’re naming her for his mother.” Sayana couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice no matter how hard she tried.
“Are you feeling all right, Your Imperial Majesty?” Imre asked.
Sayana sighed. “I’m feeling a bit moody this morning, Imre. It’ll pass. I expect a series of inane, rude, or downright hostile questions when we go to court tonight and I’m not looking forward to that.”
“We can understand that.” Ardatha gave her a sympathetic smile. “Let’s get you through your shower and see if we can’t do something to improve your mood a little.”
“All right.” Sayana didn’t think anything would help her mood, but she was willing to let them try. Ardatha called her sisters and Vai and Faviola appeared as usual.
“Her Imperial Majesty is in a bad mood this morning.” Ardatha looked at her sisters. “Let’s see if we can cheer her up a little. Vai, go do something with the shower that might make her feel better. Faviola, can you find her a lovely gown to wear to court today?”
“Of course, Ardatha.” Faviola smiled. Vai nodded. Both women disappeared.
“Imre, you’re in charge of breakfast when His Imperial Majesty gets up. Will you request something for me?” Ardatha asked.
“I can try, Ardatha.” Imre looked at her curiously. “What is it?” Ardatha went over and whispered in his ear. Imre grinned. “I think that can be arranged.”
“What are you up to, Ardatha?” Sayana asked, her amusement warring with her bad mood.
“Just some constructive plotting, Your Imperial Majesty.” Ardatha grinned at her impishly. “You’ll see when breakfast arrives.”
Sayana shook her head. Vai poked her head out. “Shower is ready, Your Imperial Majesty,” she said brightly.
Sayana went in and climbed into the shower. As she bathed, the scent of sunfire roses filled the room. It wasn’t her usual perfume, as that normally went wrong with her body chemistry while she was pregnant. This was a slightly muskier fragrance that Vai had found that did work. The familiar scent of her favorite flowers, only available to her during the warmer months, soothed her as Vai must have known it would.
After her shower, she stepped onto the dryers and then wrapped herself in a robe again. She came into the room. Faviola had set out a stunning gown in midnight blue trimmed with silver and studded with rainbow sapphires. “I think this one will be perfect.” Faviola grinned, seeing Sayana’s eyes light up with delight.
They got her dressed and styled her hair. Faviola put a touch of makeup on, and Vai finished her off with a set of rainbow sapphires Sayana hadn’t seen before. “Where did these come from?”
“I asked the emperor for some new jewelry to match some of your new gowns, and he picked them out once he saw what the stylist and the dressmakers designed for you.” Ardatha laughed. “Well, Imre asked him because I told him what I wanted. It would have looked suspicious if I asked. We wanted to surprise you. He has very good taste.”
She went out into the main room and sat down. She read until Karis came out. “You look particularly lovely this morning. Is that one of the new sets of jewelry Imre asked me to pick for you?” Karis smiled at her.
“Ardatha says it is.” Sayana stood so he could get the full effect of gown and jewelry.
“I think it all goes very well together.” Karis looked at her appraisingly. Sayana noticed the appreciative glint in his eye. “Let me get dressed and we can have breakfast.” As Imre followed him into the bedroom, she heard him ask, “Imre, do I have anything that will match her?”
Sayana giggled, her bad mood almost fully gone. It would be nice to wear complimenting outfits. She wondered if he had one.
Karis emerged a short while later, dressed in an absolutely astonishing outfit of silver silk and some other fabric Sayana didn’t quite recognize, with smokestones running along the base of his shirt. He looked at Sayana. “It seems someone redid my wardrobe when I wasn’t looking. Adem picked this one out and said it would complement your gown. I think he is right.”
“It does.” Ardatha eyed him with some appreciation. “The silver works beautifully with the blue.”
“I found you a new stylist who has a creative streak as broad and as vibrant as the Ixthian Nebula.” Imre came out of the bedroom. “He was appalled at the state of your wardrobe. I just got all the new outfits yesterday afternoon.”
“At least now I look the part of the emperor. I mean, I did before to a certain extent, but this…” Karis’ voice trailed off as he looked down. “This is incredible.”
“I know your tastes run to simple and elegant for your casual looks, which he was able to capture beautifully, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre nodded with pleasure.
“I think my stylist got a little carried away with the new gowns compared to my usual taste, but I suppose a little flamboyance is necessary as the empress.” Sayana looked down at her gown.
“It won’t hurt you to show a little sparkle now and then, Your Imperial Majesty.” Ardatha spoke with that same bland expression she’d seen on Imre’s face when he was trying not to laugh at Karis.
“Oh, you can laugh at me, Ardatha. I’ve never been a very demonstrative person when it came to my wardrobe. I like simple and elegant in all my clothes, not just casual. That doesn’t seem to work as the empress.” Sayana laughed.
“No, my heart, it does not.” Karis smiled. “As the empress you have to show off some wealth and – as Ardatha so eloquently put it – sparkle, or people will begin to wonder if something is wrong with the state of the treasury.”
“Perhaps I will rework the coronet I wear for formal functions.” Sayana looked thoughtfully at Karis. “I know I said I would. Nothing as heavy as the state crown, but something to demonstrate I am the empress.”
“While you are at it, design something for me too? We are getting complaints we wear the coronets all the time. They are saying it makes us look like we are the Imperial prince and princess, not the emperor and empress.” Karis shook his head.
“Do the Imperial jewelers work during the two weeks?” Sayana asked.
“They do.” Karis grimaced. “Only the nobility is lazy enough to take the entirety of the time off. The only days that are actual holidays for the working classes are the three high feasts. Every world throws some kind of party on at least one of those days.”
Sayana pulled up her pad and pulled up the information on the Imperial jewelers. She sent them her requirements as she waited for their breakfast to come in. She got an instant reply, telling her they could have both of the new crowns ready for her before the second high feast.
Sayana frowned. “Karis, how long is it until the second high feast?”
Karis looked at her. “It is in four days, my heart. Why?” She showed him the message from the Imperial jewelers. “They must be bored. Then again, I have not been asking them for much lately. It only took them two days to manufacture all your new jewelry. Are we not giving them enough work?”
“I don’t require a lot of jewelry.” Sayana continued frowning. “Neither do you. You have five sons and no daughters to provide for right now. Do you ever ask them for anything new for yourself?”
“It took them a day to produce the jewelry for His Imperial Majesty’s new wardrobe.” Imre gave Karis a significant look. “Yes, they are bored. Emperor Vespasian was constantly gifting jewelry to his courtesans, having the Imperial jewelers making them new things whenever they asked for it, and generally spoiling them. You ladies never asked for much when you were in the wing. Now that the courtesans are gone, they have even less work to do. You almost never require new jewelry because you prefer to wear the same pieces over and over again.”
“Perhaps I should ask my stylist to help me with jewelry design as well when fashion changes just so they have something to do.” Sayana looked thoughtful. “At least one or two new sets to go with the new outfits.”
“They would appreciate the work, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre smiled.
Sayana looked at the table and laughed in delight. “Ardatha, you remembered.” She spotted one of her favorite items from the courtesan wing. They were a cross between ordinary bread and a muffin and were best eaten warm with melted butter and berry jam. She spied a pot of berry jam sitting on the table next to them.
Sayana immediately grabbed one, split it open, and spread butter on it. As the butter melted, she spread the jam on it. Ignoring the rest of the food for the moment, she happily devoured the treat. “What are these?” Karis watched her eat with an amused expression on his face.
“I have no idea.” Sayana started preparing a second one. “I never asked. I just know I loved them when we had them for breakfast in the courtesan wing. This is one of the few foods Lord Arken had to restrict me on because I would happily devour the whole basket by myself if he let me.”
Karis followed her example and ate one. “They are very good.”
“I’ll make it a point to have them brought up periodically.” Imre had seen how happy they made her.
“Thank you, Imre.” Sayana turned her attention to the rest of the food and ate her proper breakfast, though she ate another two of the buns as well. “At least breakfast was pleasant even if the rest of the day won’t be.”
“Let us go, my heart.” Karis held out his hand and took hers. The two left the room and made their way to the great hall.
The day’s entertainments were not very exciting, and Sayana paid very little attention to them. Her focus was on the princes. None of them looked well. She commented on it to Karis at lunch, but he brushed it off, saying they were probably as tired of being on show as he was.
As they gathered in the antechamber for dinner, she turned to the five of them. “You do not look well.”
“We do not feel good,” Jair admitted. “We have not all day.”
“How do you not feel good?” Karis looked at his sons.
“We have been alternating between roasting and freezing.” Ethian looked at his father and Sayana felt her heart break. The princes were obviously sick. “We all threw up our lunch. Meinard swears we are all running fevers. But when we called the doctors in before going to the afternoon entertainment, they were as baffled as we were because their scans show we are perfectly healthy. We knew we could not get out of the entertainment with that, so we endured it, but we were miserable.”
“When we went back after the entertainment was over, we all decided to lay down for an hour.” Fallon took up the thread of the story. “Our servants had a hard time waking us. We called for the doctors again, and they scanned us again. There is still nothing wrong with us they say, but we know there is something going on. We just do not know what.”
“It is a little better when we are out of the enclave,” Hanzo continued. “But we still do not feel good.”
Karis looked at one of the guards. “Order the princes’ guards to scan the enclave for any sign of tampering with the environmentals. If anything is off, I want to know immediately. I do not want the princes in there if something is going on.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” The guard spoke into his comm unit.
“You think someone messed with our environmental systems?” Jair looked concerned.
“If your scans are coming up clean, but you are still feeling sick, it is probably environmental.” Karis looked concerned. “You say you feel better outside the enclave, even though you do not feel completely well. If it is the environmentals that are off, it might not show up in a typical medical scan, but it will to a scanner used by the Imperial guards.”
Sayana watched as the princes stood drooping in the antechamber. She didn’t think they needed to be at dinner, but she didn’t want to send them back to the enclave either where they might get worse. The great hall doors opened, and the Imperial family entered. They took their seats at the table. The guards with them scanned the dishes on the table and stepped back.
The rest of the court entered and the comments from the high lords started about how pale Sayana and the princes looked. The princes simply brushed off any comments made to them, but it was obvious they didn’t want to be there. Sayana was mercifully blocked on either side by the princes and her husband, so she didn’t have to field any inane questions as she ate.
Ethian and Fallon excused themselves halfway through the meal. “Go to our rooms,” Karis hissed as they hurried past. Ethian nodded. They left, followed closely by their guards. Meinard and the other two tried to eat but also excused themselves and were given the same instructions.
The meal ended and the court began to circulate. “Your Imperial Majesty, are your sons unwell?” Lord Tero asked, coming up to the table.
“They are feeling a little ill this evening.” Karis tried to play it off as nothing concerning. “We have sent them out to rest. They should be fine in a day or two. It is nothing too serious.”
“I certainly hope not,” Tero said. “They are fine young men, and we would be devastated to lose even one of them.”
“I imagine they will be back to their usual selves in the next day or two, Lord Tero.” Karis let his mask slip enough to give the man a reassuring smile.
“That is good to hear.” Tero walked away with a relieved expression on his face.
Lord Yunus began to make his way towards the table. “Not tonight.” Sayana rose to her feet. This startled Karis. “I will not deal with that man tonight. I am leaving. You can stay and socialize if you want, Karis. But I am going to check on the boys.”
Karis rose with her. “No, if you are leaving, so am I.” He took her hand and the two walked away from the table. They were instantly surrounded by their guards. Sayana heard several people say it was Lord Yunus who drove the empress to leave so abruptly, while others said it must be her concern over the princes. She let the court gossip about whatever they wanted. She was not in the mood to deal with anyone who reminded her so forcefully of Lord Vasco.
“The guards report it was poisoned gas, Your Imperial Majesties,” one of their guards told them. “It’ll take two days to clear the enclave.”
“What are we going to do with the boys for two days?” Sayana was worried about where they were going to put all five of them.
“I am going to arrange rooms for them in the Imperial wing.” Karis glanced at her. “I will have some things cleaned and brought to them for tomorrow.”
“You’d better let their servants know.” Sayana didn’t want the young men serving them to fall victim to the gas.
“I will have Imre pass the word.” Karis must have felt the same way she did.
They reached their rooms and walked inside. All five princes were curled up or reclining on every available chair or couch in the sitting room. “Do you want us to get up?” Ethian asked from where he was lying on the couch.
“Stay where you are.” Karis turned to his valet. “Imre, I need you to do two things for me. Get me the seneschal and tell the boys’ servants we are arranging rooms for them in the Imperial wing for the next two days. I do not want them anywhere near the enclave.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre hurried out of the room.
“I’ll get my sisters. We can move the two spare chairs out of the bedroom for you two to sit in.” Ardatha reached for the button to call her sisters.
“If they are too heavy for you, get Adem and Lucan to come help you.” Karis looked over at Ardatha.
“We will.” Ardatha called her sisters, and the three women attempted to move the chairs. Vai left the rooms only to come back with the two servants Karis had mentioned. They went in and between the five of them they got the spare chairs moved out into the main sitting room.
Sayana and Karis sat down and looked at the princes. “You two left awfully early.” Meinard didn’t bother to open his eyes.
“I decided, when a lord I particularly dislike was coming towards the table, I wasn’t putting up with his insults tonight and was going to leave.” Sayana didn’t care if it was insulting to him. She didn’t feel the need to deal with him when she was concerned about the boys. “I told Karis he could stay if he wanted to, but I was coming to check on you. He decided to leave with me.”
“I do not particularly like this lord either.” Karis sighed. “He is not trustworthy, and I know he has been in contact with a man who has been behind several assassination plots. I did not want to hear what he had to say so I decided to follow Sayana’s lead and leave.”
“A portion of the court was already whispering about how we were leaving because of him, but I suppose that’s to be expected.” Sayana sighed as well.
“We will hear about it tomorrow night I am certain.” Karis grumbled a little. “We will not be able to evade him two nights in a row.”
“No, we won’t.” Sayana wasn’t happy about it at all.
“Which lord?” Ethian asked.
“Lord Yunus Maestri.” Sayana almost growled the name, earning her an odd look from Karis.
Imre returned from his errands and a short while later, the seneschal appeared. “Your Imperial Majesty, is something wrong? You left so abruptly the whole court is talking about it, and about the princes’ illness tonight.”
“We were concerned about them.” Karis gestured to the five prone figures. “That is why we left so abruptly. Someone got in and sabotaged their environmental system. It is leaking poisoned gas into the enclave. The Imperial guards are in there now cleaning it up and purging it, but they are going to need rooms in the Imperial wing for the next two days to prevent any further harm coming to them.”
“I will have their servants set something up for them right now.” The seneschal looked at them with some concern. “Will they need new clothes as well?”
“That should already be taken care of.” Karis gave him a reassuring nod.
“I will have their rooms prepared for them immediately so they can get some rest, Your Imperial Majesty.” The seneschal pulled out his pad and sent out an order.
“Excellent.” Karis smiled at the man.
“I will come tell you myself when they are ready, and I will bring the princes’ servants to escort them to their rooms personally.” He hurried out of the room.
“Imre, would you have some of our guards go tell the princes’ guards they are being relocated to the wing for the next two days? We are going to need some of them to stand guard here until they go back to the enclave.” Karis looked over at Imre.
Imre stepped out into the hall. He returned almost immediately. “They already anticipated that, Your Imperial Majesty. Most of the princes’ guards are already waiting in the corridor.”
“I am glad they anticipated it.” Karis looked relieved.
The seneschal returned an hour later with five young men in tow. “The rooms are ready, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“Can we go to bed now?” Ethian asked.
“Yes, Ethian. Go to bed. I will release the five of you from court tomorrow as well.” Karis looked worriedly at his sons.
“Yes Father.” Fallon struggled to sit up.
“My room.” Ethian also took a couple tries to sit up. “Everyone gather there tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.” Meinard used the chair to pitch himself to his feet.
Jair and Hanzo agreed to meet in Ethian’s room the next day. The princes dragged themselves to their feet and they shuffled out of the room, following their servants and the seneschal to their temporary quarters. “I’m worried about them.” Sayana watched them go.
“So am I.” Karis pulled off the coronet and ran his fingers through his hair. “The guards consulted with the Imperial doctors. They are concerned because the effects of the gas are not showing up on the scan. The guards are taking the cannisters to the med lab to be tested to find out what it is.”
Imre called Adem and Lucan back. With the help of Vai and Faviola, they got the spare chairs back into the bedroom. Sayana and Karis changed clothes and spent the rest of the evening reading before heading to bed.
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