The Emperor’s Daughter – Chapter 18, Karis

“Good morning, my heart.” Karis kissed Sayana on the top of the head.

“Good morning, Karis.” She smiled at him. “We have council this morning, don’t we?”

Karis nodded. “We do.”

“It will be nice to get back to work.” She looked a little apprehensive. “Even if, from what you’ve said, our workload is going to be drastically increased for the next month.”

“With you helping me, it should go much faster.” Karis smiled at her.

They ate breakfast and made their way to the council chamber. Karis noticed Sayana was ill at ease and watching her surroundings furtively. -I don’t like this, Karis.- He heard her voice in his head. -I’m not picking anything up, but we should see more courtiers than we do.-

“Be on guard.” Karis’ voice was low, but it carried to the men guarding them. The guards put their hands on their weapons. A patrol of Imperial guards passed by. Seeing their compatriots’ unease, they joined them and watched closely.

-We’re going to be attacked,- Sayana managed to get out before two lords and several armed men appeared from down a side corridor. They opened fire on the Imperial guards. One of the guards called for reinforcements as Karis and Sayana were pushed into an alcove and protected by a wall of armored men.

“I didn’t see who it was.” Sayana looked fearfully at Karis.

“Neither did I.” It happened too quickly. Karis hadn’t had time to get a good look at them.

A tense battle ensued as more Imperial guards rushed into the hallway. A few guards fell as plasma pistols found weaknesses in armor, but eventually the guards prevailed. The two lords and their remaining men were rounded up and held at gunpoint.

“I don’t recognize them.” Sayana frowned as she looked at the men.

“You should. They sat at the high table with us over the winter festival.” Karis gave the men his coldest look. “Lords Cornelis Milic and Branimir Kilduff, two of my wealthier and more influential high lords.”

The two lords glared at him. “I do not know how you managed to detect our presence, but it will do you no good. Your psychics will not get anything from us,” Cornelis spat.

“Call Demetrios.” Karis looked towards the guards.

“Already done, Your Imperial Majesty,” one of the guards said.

Demetrios arrived with several of his inquisitors in tow. “High lords. This is going to be a challenge for the psychics, Your Imperial Majesty.”

Karis felt a cold knot form in the pit of his stomach as he uttered his next words. “Bypass the psychics. We do not have time to waste.”

The two lords gaped at him in astonishment. Demetrios nodded grimly. “As you wish, Your Imperial Majesty. And the soldiers?”

“I do not care what you do with them.” Karis’ tone was cold and unyielding. Demetrios had some of the Imperial guard help him shepherd his prisoners down the hall as Karis and Sayana made their way to the council chamber.

“Your Imperial Majesties, are you all right? You are later than we expected,” Metis noted as they came in.

“Two of my high lords led armed men into the palace and attacked us on our way here. We are unharmed, thanks to our guards, but I will not say the same for them.” Karis didn’t want to talk about the situation. “I have left them in Demetrios’ hands.”

The ministers all exchanged looks. “I see.” Geraint cleared his throat. “Well, if you are uninjured, we should probably get down to business.”

“Yes, we should.” Karis sat in his usual place. “We have a lot to cover, and I would like to get as much done today as possible.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Trenor picked up his pad. They all got to work and soon the council chamber was full of conversation and debate.

After the council meeting, Karis led Sayana back to their quarters. She seemed more at ease, though she looked sad. He thought he knew why. She knew how much he hated torture. He was turning into his father, and he knew it. It was the one fear he’d always had, that Vespasian would win out in the end, and he would become the same monster he’d hated. Karis brooded on this as he sat down and stared at his pad.

“Karis, you’ve been staring at the same petition for the last ten minutes, you haven’t flashed me any work, and you’re thinking loudly enough you’re giving me a headache. I’m truly trying not to pry so please, tell me what’s wrong.” Sayana’s tone of gentle entreaty broke through his cycling thoughts.

Karis looked up. “I am becoming my father. Using torture instead of the psychics to get my answers. I have always feared I would become like him in the end. He told me no emperor could afford to rule as I wanted to. He was right.” His tone was bitter, and he knew he must be radiating pain and anxiety which was probably why she was getting a headache from being so close to him.

Sayana got up from where she’d been sitting. Awkwardly because of her pregnancy, she knelt in front of him. She took his pad from him and took both of his hands in hers. “No, Karis, you are not Emperor Vespasian. You do not use torture for everything as he did. You’ve told me about your father. You are nothing like him.”

“After what I ordered today,” Karis began.

“Was there any other choice?” Sayana asked.

“The psychics.” Karis stopped. “They would probably have worn themselves out trying to break through the psychic shielding.”

“We’d have wasted time, effort, and possibly injured our psychics trying to break into their minds.” Sayana nodded encouragingly. “What you ordered was the only way to get information from them. Do you do that to everyone?”

“I have lately,” Karis muttered.

“You didn’t to Lady Vilemina,” Sayana pointed out. “You didn’t to Lord Heimirich. You knew you didn’t have to. Karis, my love, you only order torture when there is no other alternative. You do not rely on it as you’ve said your father did. You are not a monster, as I know you were just thinking you are. You are a man who needs answers and must use whatever means he can to get them. If that means a more surgical tactic, you use the psychics. If it needs something more aggressive, then you will use that and agonize over the decision because you don’t like it. This is who you are.”

Karis stared at Sayana for several long moments. He took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out. “Thank you, my heart. I believed I was turning into my father. You have shown me that I am not.”

“Now, perhaps you will flash me some of the paperwork so we can go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight without Imre and Ardatha threatening to hit us with large, blunt objects?” Sayana smiled.

Karis chuckled. “Yes, I should do that.” He skimmed through the paperwork and transferred a third of the load to Sayana’s pad. It was more than he usually sent her, but they had so much to get through that he needed her to take on more than she would normally. He helped her stand, and she picked up her pad and settled in the recliner she’d been perched in before. They got to work.

They didn’t stop when lunch arrived. “Your Imperial Majesties, do you want me to cancel the audiences?” Imre looked at them curiously. “If the workload is too heavy, it may be a good idea to do so for a few days.”

“It is no heavier than it was last year, Imre.” Karis sighed. “No, we will go to the audiences.”

“Then perhaps we should get you dressed for them?” Ardatha asked.

“Yes, it’s that time.” Sayana echoed Karis’ sigh. “All those inane complaints though.”

“I know, my heart.” Karis shook his head. They got up and went into the bedroom. Their servants got them changed. He paused to let Sayana take care of her needs and then they left to make their way to the throne room.

The audiences weren’t as boring as Karis had expected. Only a few lords with petty requests made it through the usual round of selections this time. Many of those presenting to him were asking for aid for their worlds or petitioning for expansions for their academies. There was one lord who’d come from his lord governor requesting permission to set up a colony on their system’s moon as the planetary population had seen such a major boom after an unparalleled four decades of prosperity that the cities were becoming overcrowded and he didn’t want to expand into the natural lands more than they already had, because that was one of the major draws of his world.

“Do you have plans you can show for the proposed expansion? And the cost mitigation?” Karis asked.

“We have, Your Imperial Majesty,” the lord said. “We have sent them to Lord Geraint four times in the past eight months, but they keep getting stuck with his clerks and this is getting urgent.”

“Send them to me directly.” Karis understood better than anyone how the clerks sometimes got bogged down in being too fixated on minute details. “I will pass them along to him and see what he says. If he approves, I will allow it.”

“Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty,” the lord said, bowing. He stepped back. Karis saw Geraint approach the man directly and smiled to himself. It looked like he might not have to do anything after all. Geraint was taking care of it personally.

A few other petitions came, and Karis answered them all. Then he saw Sayana was becoming uncomfortable. She didn’t openly show it to the court, but he saw her begin to fidget slightly. He motioned to the seneschal and the audiences ended. Karis escorted her back to their rooms, where she made a straight line for the bathroom.

“Pregnancy bladder.” Ardatha shook her head. “It’s only going to get worse, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“I will keep that in mind, Ardatha.” Karis turned. “Imre –.”

“I’ve already called Adem and Lucan, Your Imperial Majesty. We’ll have you changed very shortly.” Imre smiled.

“Thank you.” Karis smiled back at him.

Sayana emerged. “Thank you for noticing, Karis.” She looked very relieved. “I was going to have to get up and leave momentarily if you had dragged it out any longer.”

“If ever you need to, my heart, just go. You can always come back after you have taken care of your needs.” Karis shook his head. “If people get offended, they have bigger issues than what I can deal with.”

Sayana laughed. “Ardatha, are your sisters on their way?”

“They are. We’ll have you out of that gown soon, Your Imperial Majesty.” Ardatha smiled at her reassuringly.

The servants all arrived at the same time and soon Karis and Sayana were sorted. “Ardatha, will you please bring me something to eat?” Sayana looked over at her servants. “Something small. I’m a little hungry.”

“Is there something you would prefer, Your Imperial Majesty?” Ardatha asked. Faviola and Vai paused and waited. Karis looked up from his pad and watched as Sayana thought for a moment.

“Fruit, Ardatha. Nothing mushy, nothing sour.” Sayana looked at the women hopefully.

“Fruit we can do, Your Imperial Majesty.” Ardatha nodded.

“I’ll go bully one of the cooks.” Faviola grinned. “I know who to talk to.” She left the room.

“Faviola knows just about everyone in the kitchens by now.” Vai laughed. “She’s been in there so often over the past three months.”

Sayana laughed as well. “I have been snacking more often.” Vai left and Sayana settled in with her glass of juice and her pad.

Faviola returned half an hour later with a small bowl of chopped fruit of several different varieties. Karis looked up from his work in time to see Sayana thank her servant and start to delicately eat the fruit as she worked. He smiled and resumed working himself.

“Your Imperial Majesty, just a thought, perhaps you and Her Imperial Majesty – and not so incidentally Their Imperial Highnesses – should forgo dinner with the court tonight?” Imre suggested as it got a little later.

“Not a bad idea, Imre.” Karis barely looked up from his work. “Pass that along to the princes and the seneschal, will you? It will probably be about a week before we eat with the court again, to be fair. There is so much stars-cursed work that has to be done.”

“I’m sure Their Imperial Highnesses will be delighted at the thought of a week of escaping being on show after the last two weeks, Your Imperial Majesty.” Imre sent the messages.

“Can we afford to take so much time away from the court?” Sayana looked at him anxiously.

“They will see us at the audiences, my heart.” Karis sent a scathing reply to a lord who was trying something underhanded. “They will know we aren’t dead or dying. I need a break as much as the boys do.”

“I really shouldn’t argue.” Sayana’s tone caught his attention. “I can’t stand the thought of sitting at the high table right now.”

Karis looked up and saw the disgruntled expression on her face. “We will take a week off. Give the boys that time to recover. Then we can face them again.”

“That sounds lovely.” Sayana bent her head over her pad and went back to reading.

Imre and Ardatha forced them to put their pads down and eat a civilized meal, as they put it. Karis was amused by their sense of propriety and let them have their way. They worked until just before midnight when Sayana set her pad aside. Karis put his down as well. “Are you finished, my heart?”

“Yes.” Sayana made a face. “I’d be faster if I didn’t want to check to see if I’m missing any tricks inserted into the writing.”

“I have gotten used to seeing those, so it takes me less time to get through them.” Karis frowned. “Though there were a couple I had to read twice because the wording was off. I am still not sure about them. I sent them back to Geraint and Trenor and told them that I was not comfortable signing off on them. Something about them seemed off.”

“We should go to bed before Imre and Ardatha get angry at us.” Sayana yawned.

“I agree.” Karis got up and took her hand. The two of them made their way into the bedroom as Imre and Ardatha followed along with the rest of the servants. They changed and fell into bed. Karis held Sayana close, and they fell asleep within moments of each other.

The next morning Karis woke to find himself alone in the bed as usual. He rolled out of bed and walked into the main room. Ivanka was there giving Sayana a lesson. “I knew how busy you’d be last night, so I waited until this morning to come and give her a quick lesson.” Ivanka saw Karis looking at the two women. “She’s progressed far enough with the basics it’s all a matter of practice now. I’m not going to teach her the advanced techniques of breaking into a person’s mind or putting a shield around someone else’s mind. That’s what you have Imperial psychics for. Now that we know she’s one of us, we’ve added some strength to her personal shields. No one’s breaking into her mind without a lot of help. We’ve already increased the shielding on the princes as well, and yours are as high level as we can get.”

Karis nodded. “But what if I need to lower my shields to listen for assassins?” Sayana asked. “Won’t what you’ve done interfere with that?”

“We’ve tied our shields to yours, Your Imperial Majesty.” Ivanka was good at explaining things. “Your shields are up, so are ours. If yours go down, so do ours.”

“I see.” Sayana seemed very serious this morning. “Then I will endeavor to keep my shields up at all times unless I need them down.”

“A very good idea.” Ivanka stood and bowed before walking out.

“Imre.” Karis looked at his valet.

“I’ve called Adem and Lucan, Your Imperial Majesty. We’ll get you dressed, and you can have your breakfast before your council meeting.” Imre watched the door with one eye and Karis with the other.

“Thank you.” Karis sat with Sayana until his servants arrived and then got ready for his day.

Demetrios was waiting for him when he came out. “Your Imperial Majesties, I have news.”

“What is it, Demetrios?” Karis asked.

“Menander is on the Throne World.” Demetrios looked grim.

Karis felt his blood run cold. “How did he get past the watchers on the port?”

“He probably used his psychic powers to blend in.” Demetrios looked thoughtful. “Ivanka says it’s a trick they teach at the academies. If you’re being watched, you use your psychic powers to make everyone around you think you’re just one of the crowd. Our watchers’ eyes most likely just slid right over him. I’ve checked the security footage. He came in the second day of the winter festival.”

“Do we know where he is?” Karis was concerned he was on the loose in Sashura.

“No, but I have a good idea.” Demetrios regarded him with a dark look. “Shortly after Menander arrived, Lord Yunus quietly sent his wife back to their homeworld with their two remaining sons who were still living at home. Their families went with them. I put in a call to his wife last night and she said Lord Yunus told her that he was going to be quite busy after the winter festival and didn’t want any distractions.”

“You think Menander might be staying with him.” Karis thought it made sense. The two were working together.

Demetrios nodded. “I do. I need to get a psychic to look at his house because the normal watchers all swear there’s no one but Yunus and his usual servants there. If Menander is pulling the same trick where he blends in, they wouldn’t see him.”

“Have them check his suite as well.” Karis didn’t trust the man not to sneak into the palace. Demetrios nodded. “Did you get anything from the two lords who attacked us?”

“They’re tough but not as tough as my torturers.” Demetrios grimaced. “They said they were put up to this by a man concealing his identity. He told them that the empress and her unborn child must die, and if you died in the process as well, that was forgivable as you’d gone astray.”

“They’d really destabilize the empire over me and my child?” Sayana was listening to the conversation. Karis noticed she was no longer weeping when she asked the question, as she had been during the first days of their marriage. The months of assassination attempts, court intrigue, and learning the politics of being empress had hardened his sensitive wife into someone stronger and more capable of handling such news.

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Demetrios looked over at her. “Because if your enemies are Lord Yunus and Menander, they don’t care about the empire. They are after one thing – revenge for Lord Vasco’s death.”

“Vasco took his own life.” Karis gestured. “To be fair, I was going to execute the man for treason. But he took the coward’s way out and refused to face the consequences of his actions.”

“Lord Yunus doesn’t see it that way, probably because of Menander’s influence.” Demetrios showed Karis a transcript of a conversation Yunus had with several other lords. “Lord Yunus believes his brother was in the right all along and that you should have left the ruling of the empire to your council since you are obviously unfit as an emperor.”

“I take it someone’s overheard him say this?” Karis read through the transcript.

“Multiple times, to as many people as possible.” Demetrios took his pad back. “The problem is no one agrees with him anymore. In the early days, after Vasco and your old council were put to death, they might have. There were a few who listened briefly when you updated the tax code. But for the most part, the court all believes – except for choosing Her Imperial Majesty – that you have done an excellent job as emperor without Lord Vasco and his council. Even the hostility towards Her Imperial Majesty is slowly dying out as she is proving to be an intelligent, compassionate, and skillful ruler at your side.”

“Find him, Demetrios.” Karis fixed him with a hard stare. “And bring me proof of treason for both of them.”

“I will do my best, Your Imperial Majesty.” Demetrios turned and left the room.