Behind the Throne Read online

  Home. There was no fucking way I was going home and I was wasting precious time weeping over the past instead of planning for the future. I had to be off this ship before we floated into warp or I was done for.

  Pushing to my feet, I stalked to the far wall and slapped my hand against the faintly glowing panel. A door slid open in the wall, and I groaned.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

  The wardrobe was filled to bursting with the worst clothes imaginable. Never mind my intense hatred for the traditional royal colors of white and gold, but everything in the meter square opening looked like the toppings on a fairy cake. It was all pretty and otherwise useless.

  If I was sneaking around on a starship, I didn’t want to look like something worth eating. Which meant I was stuck with the military-issue pajamas they’d put me in.

  Digging through the yards of fabric with muttered curses falling from my lips, I found little to nothing I could use as a weapon. There was a box of hair ornaments that might work in a pinch to put someone’s eye out, but otherwise all I could hope was that someone would die of fright—or laughter.

  I tossed a pair of white silken pants to the floor. They were embroidered around the cuffs with gold thread and little gold beads along the edge.

  Useless.

  I snorted in disgust, flicking my heavy green braid off my shoulder, and headed to the door, trying to make it look like I was pacing.

  The panel by the door was palm activated, and as I suspected, my new friends had locked me out of the system.

  It wasn’t a problem.

  I leaned against the wall and queued up my smati. I sighed in relief when it linked up easily with the shipboard computer. Whatever trouble I’d been having with Sophie had been with her computer, not my head.

  It appeared I only had limited access. My Tracker friends didn’t trust me at all, and really I couldn’t blame them.

  I was aboard the Para Sahi. The Royal Wing. What else would they send to retrieve a wayward princess? Rolling my eyes at the smooth white ceiling, I let loose another snort of disgust. I hated royal starships. They were so fucking sterile. I wanted back on Sophie with her brightly colored walls and random doodles that Pip had scribbled in unexpected places.

  The thought of the little space orphan we’d rescued on Xi 5 jarred loose another flash of memory. He’d taken a shot at me and I’d returned fire, nailing him between the eyes. I felt a flush of shame and covered my face with my hands. He’d been sixteen.

  I shook the feeling loose and focused again on my problem. Hacking the system wasn’t an option. Emmory was probably watching for it. Giving me access to the Para Sahi’s computer made it easier to track me, but I knew enough to be able to mask my signal from him when I needed it. I spun on my heel and headed back to the wardrobe, queuing up the room’s layout and the location of the digital cameras.

  Initially I’d been pissed about the body mod screwup that had left me with this permanently green curly hair. The color had grown on me and the rest of it—from my darker skin and my tall, rangy build to my narrow face with a pointed chin—was more than suitable. Now the thought of the hysterics my hair would cause at home made it worthwhile. Maybe I’d go home, hang around just long enough to see the look on Mother’s face.

  You are crazy, Hail. I tightened a fist around the chain of my wild thoughts and jerked them short. I wasn’t going home. I didn’t want to go home.

  I had to get out of here.

  I dove into the wardrobe, flinging clothes out in the best imitation of a temper tantrum I could muster. Emmory believed I was a spoiled princess; I’d give him a performance worthy enough to distract him.

  In the midst of it I grabbed a bottle of makeup out of the drawer and hurled it at the far corner. Blue powder splattered across the lens of the hidden camera, hopefully obscuring the surface. Two more bottles and matching spots of black and red covered my escape.

  I grabbed the box of hair doodads and pulled out a long golden spike with a cascade of pink pearls attached to the end. Stripping the pearls free, I flung them away and they scattered across the floor looking like bunshinberries.

  Sliding the thin piece of metal between the panel and the wall, I levered it off.

  Several twisted wires later the door slid silently open. The two ITS troops turned in surprise. My well-placed strike put the first woman on her knees, choking and gasping for breath. It wouldn’t kill her, but she wasn’t getting up anytime soon.

  The other woman had time for a startled squeak that ended when I slammed her head against the wall and she slid bonelessly to the floor.

  I sprinted on bare feet down the deserted hallway, moving as quickly and quietly as possible, waiting for the sirens. They never came, and I felt a frisson of disappointment. “I figured you for better than that, Tresk,” I muttered and continued toward the shuttle bay.

  The rounded tunnel was as sterile and white as my quarters, with a strange humming silence only found on battleships. I was familiar enough with the layout to know I was probably deep within the ship—safe from any battle damage, and a long damn way from the shuttle bays.

  Lucky for me, royal starships were all designed the same way. If I could get to a shuttle before the FTL bubble formed, I’d be long gone by the time they noticed.

  If. I barely suppressed the sigh as Portis’s dry voice filled my ears. You know what that stands for, don’t you?

  I’m fucked.

  I hissed a curse when voices echoed down the rounded tunnel of the hallway, and I jumped over a railing onto the walkway below. I bent my knees as I landed, tucking into a roll. I scurried across the walkway and ducked into an arched doorway, with only the whisper of air. A pair of blue-uniformed Imperial Navy officers passed above me as I held my breath and pressed as close to the wall as possible.

  “Why do you suppose they sent us all the way out here? We’re not normally a shuttle service for Trackers.”

  “Who knows? Everything about the empire is in chaos right now. All the empress’s children and grandchildren of note either dead or vanished. They needed a lift, so we gave them one,” the stouter of the pair said.

  “You’d think they have better things to do right now than hunting up some random gunrunner. Even one as dangerous as her. I caught a peek at her file on the captain’s computer; she’s one of Po-Sin’s.”

  “Maybe they think she had something to do with the princesses’ deaths?”

  “May their road to temple be filled with light,” the first officer replied automatically. “If she did, I almost feel sorry for her. Sick or not, the empress will take her apart.”

  The pair moved out of earshot as I stood frozen. How sick was Mother and with what? My amusement over the gossip trickled away, and for an insane moment I contemplated following them to find out just what the news about my mother was.

  The grating was cold under my bare feet; the rough edges that were meant to give running boots traction bit into my unprotected soles and shook me back to reality. I needed to get out of here, then I could worry about the rest of it.

  I made it down three more levels with only one close call and slid through the doors of the shuttle bay. Staying low, I skirted around the shuttles near the door and made for the one closest to the force shield. The space beyond was a severe block of black against the white walls of the bay. Only the slight shimmering of the shield betrayed its presence.

  The door of the shuttle was open, and I crept into the dark interior, feeling my way along the wall toward the pilot’s seat. I was two steps into the shuttle when I froze.

  Someone was already inside.

  “It’s good to know my instincts are right on track with you. Zin overestimated your sense of honor. You gave your word.”

  “I said I’d go home to see Mother. I didn’t say I’d go with you.”

  “I’ll remember that next time. He thought you’d come home like a good little princess and the show in your room was just you having a tantrum.”

  The l
ights came up. Emmory sat in the pilot’s seat, one foot braced on the middle console and a smug smile playing at the corners of his generous mouth.

  “Highness,” he said and tilted his head to the side.

  “Tracker,” I replied. “So you thought different, huh? Even though you’re the one who called me a spoiled princess?”

  “I was angry.”

  “You still are angry.” Because I may have killed your brother.

  He shrugged. “You’re not the type to pitch a fit like that. You didn’t kill your guards.”

  I blinked at him. “What reason would I have to do that?”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “Just an observation.”

  My options were racing through my head at the speed of light. Did I run? I could possibly get to another shuttle and get the door closed before he tagged me.

  Unless he had people outside. In which case I was screwed because I still didn’t have a damn weapon.

  Which left me with fight, or bribery.

  If he had people in the bay, they wouldn’t come storming in here. Not only would it hamper Emmory’s attempts to subdue me, but any shot fired in this cramped space had as much chance of hitting him as it did me. I tapped the door control as a precaution. It slid shut behind me and locked with a cheerful little chime.

  I gave Emmory a smile and spread my arms as I crossed the space between us. “So where does this leave us, Tracker?” Without waiting for an answer, I kicked him in the face, seeing the flicker of surprise just before my bare foot connected and snapped his head back.

  I moved in, intent on knocking him out while he was still reeling from my kick. But the Tracker was better than I’d given him credit for, and his booted foot landed in my solar plexus like a sledgehammer. I staggered back, gasping for air.

  “Highness, this is unwise.” Emmory wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and stood. He moved like a panther, all muscular grace and deadly intensity.

  “I love how you kick me and then call me Highness like it matters. You don’t follow the rules very well, do you?”

  “I follow them when they’re needed. Right now bringing you home is more important than treating you like a princess.”

  “I’m not going home. I left for a reason.” I hated myself for saying it, hated that it sounded like I was betraying my sisters by running. There was nothing I could do for them locked up in the palace. “I’ll have better luck finding answers here than at home. I don’t want that life.”

  “You don’t have a choice.” Emmory’s voice was quiet, but it lashed through the air like a whip. “This is your life, Highness. This is what you were born to do.”

  “Don’t give me that destiny bullshit.”

  “Fine.” He snarled the word at me, advancing with his hands spread. “My brother gave his life to bring you home. I’m not letting his sacrifice be for nothing.”

  My laughter was brittle, shattering on the metal at my feet. “News flash, Tracker. That’s what the empire does: uses you up and spits you out. My father gave his life for the empire, too. Do you know what he got out of it after some crazy woman shot him down? Ridiculed and forgotten. Blamed as the reason my mother gave in to the Saxons. You’re a fool if you think the empire gives a fuck about your brother. He was just a man, useful as cannon fodder or for making daughters, that’s it.”

  Emmory stared at me—through me—for so long I wasn’t quite sure what to do next. “You don’t believe that, Highness,” he said finally.

  “It doesn’t matter what I believe. That’s what Indrana does, Emmory. Chews us up and spits us out. I left for a reason. I’m not going back to give my life for an empire that couldn’t care less about me.” I decided to try my luck at bribery. “Look, the empire doesn’t want me back any more than I want to go back. Trust me. I’ve got money stashed. Just let me go. I’ll drop you and the shuttle off. You can tell them I overpowered you.”

  “You know I can’t do that, Highness,” he said, and flicked his left hand at me. But this time, when the sapne powder unfurled from the tips of his fingers, I was ready for it.

  Swinging my leg up, I kicked his arm to the side and the lavender powder was sucked away into the air filter. I let the momentum spin me, planted my left foot, and brought my other foot out in a vicious side thrust that caught him in the ribs. For once my luck held and my Tracker had made the unfortunate mistake of turning his shields off while on the ship.

  He staggered back with a whoosh of expelled air.

  Neither of us was suited to fighting in close quarters; our height and reach actually worked against us in the confines of the shuttle. It didn’t take me more than a few seconds to figure out that I’d misjudged Emmory. He was at least as skilled at hand-to-hand as I was and more than willing to fight dirty. Plus I was tired, and that first kick of his had really hurt.

  It was going to cost me the fight.

  I missed a block, my head slamming back into the bulkhead when he drove his palm into my cheekbone. Stars of pain exploded behind my right eye.

  He caught my next punch, thrown half-blind, and locked up my right arm as he stepped into me. It was luck more than skill that allowed me to get a grip on his throat, but I stilled when I felt the edge of a blade under my chin.

  “I think Sergeant Terass is just outside the shuttle, Highness, but I’d rather not test the theory. If you move, I can’t guarantee your safety.”

  “The gods-damned irony of this is overwhelming,” I muttered, staring into his dark eyes. “It’s obvious you don’t like me. Someone out there wants me dead, and Mother sure as the fires of Naraka didn’t send you to bring me home. Not after all this time. Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with?”

  He blinked at me, clearly shocked by the suggestion, and I had to choke back the urge to laugh.

  “Highness, we are here to retrieve you. You are not safe. Surely what happened on your ship proved that to you.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “The empire needs you.”

  “The empire got along fine for twenty years without me,” I replied, flicking my eyes downward. “Mother’s probably got Ganda all ready to go. Trust me, no one will be happy about me coming home.”

  “Highness, the situation is delicate. There are things you need to know. I can’t explain them to you here.”

  I frowned, confused by the earnest pleading in his eyes that crowded out his anger, and the urgency in his lowered voice. This was at odds with the cold man I’d seen earlier. “What things?”

  “Watch this.” He pressed a miniature file into my palm, and raised his voice for his next words. “Will you swear to me you will not try to escape again, Highness?”

  I closed my eyes with a second curse. It didn’t help me pretend I wasn’t pinned to the chill wall of a shuttle bulkhead with Emmory’s knee digging into my inner thigh and his thumb poised just above my racing pulse. It didn’t do a thing to erase Portis’s blood-filled plea for forgiveness, or my terror at returning home.

  “Fine.”

  “Highness?”

  I opened my eyes and gritted my teeth, choosing my words carefully. “I swear, Tracker. I swear I will not try to escape this ship.”

  The muscle in his jaw twitched at my words. “You swear no further harm to me or the crew? Do you swear to return home with me without further incident and do your duty?”

  He was damn good. I had to give him that even though I wanted to spit on him for trapping me. I couldn’t go back on my word; it was all I had left and he knew it.

  “What if I don’t swear?”

  “I knock you out and drag you home like the criminal you are.”

  Returning home trussed up was an unappealing option. I’d only known Emmory for an hour, but I was pretty sure he’d drag my ass across the floor of the throne room. If I had to go home, it’d be on my own two feet. My duty, though, was to my sisters and my sisters only, and I didn’t see a need to clarify that to him as I nodded my head. “All right, Tracker, I swear.”

  “Done,” h
e said and released me. As he stepped away, the tiny blade disappeared back into the thumb of his glove. He turned to the wall and tapped the controls, gesturing at the now-open door with a bow. “Highness, if you would?”

  I jerked my chin into the air, and didn’t look at Zin or the seven remaining ITS troops clustered around the shuttle. They were busy not looking at me, either, dropping into formal bows when I passed.

  Zin fell into step in front of me without a word. Emmory was a silent shadow hovering just out of the corner of my right eye as I stalked back to my room. I dropped onto the bed, my hands in my lap, and my eyes locked on the floor. I didn’t want to give Emmory any reason to suspect he hadn’t just won that round.

  “There will be new guards outside, Highness. I wouldn’t try that again,” Emmory said, and the door slid shut, leaving me alone with the stinging taunt that I couldn’t be trusted to keep my word.

  The warning tone for warp echoed through the room and I braced myself. The Para Sahi’s Alcubierre/White Drive revved, and the familiar queasiness rolled through my stomach as the wall of the bubble expanded to encompass the whole ship. It dragged us out of normal space-time into a place where FTL was possible.

  The Alcubierre/White Drive was as old as man’s flight into the stars. In all the years that had passed, no human had found a better solution, and if the nonhuman races had a better one, they’d chosen not to share it with us.

  An AWD created a bubble in space-time that belled out behind a ship and contracted in front, carrying the ship along outside of conventional space at a speed much faster than light traveled. Once inside the bubble, the ship was carried along in the wave, so the only power expenditures were getting into and out of the wave itself.

  We passed through the wall and the warp engines cut out, leaving me in an abrupt silence. As soon as the nausea passed, I uncurled my fingers, staring down at the flat black square in my palm. I flopped backward onto the bed, pillowing my head in my hands, and slipped the card into the slot hidden under my green curls.

  My smati recognized Cire’s royal code stamped onto the files and responded in kind. It was a message from her and with that code I knew it hadn’t been tampered with or delivered under duress. No one else even knew those codes existed; our father had given them to us when we’d been kids so we could pass messages in secret.