Michaela Read online

  Jessica trembled with anticipation. “There could be trouble. As princess, I’m supposed to be a part of these meetings, but Kalquorians are really crazy-protective of pregnant women. They act like the least little thing is going to cause me to fall over dead or something.”

  The men’s protectiveness was ridiculous, as Michaela had already pointed out to her own clan. She was in complete agreement with her friend on that point. “You’d think our vaginas were made of glass or something.”

  Despite being in accord on that point, Michaela was concerned about Jessica going to the Royal Council meeting. According to Korkla, the princes had been adamant that she not go. Korkla’s reservations on the matter were one thing. When it came to Jessica’s safety, it was Clan Clajak’s opinion that mattered.

  Pretending innocence, Michaela asked, “Clajak and the rest of the boys aren’t keen on you being there?”

  Jessica laughed outright. “Would you believe they actually forbade me from going? What am I, five years old? One of these days, they’ll learn that telling me ‘no’ only makes me want to do something all the more.”

  Michaela knew from their many conversations that Jessica’s clan was every bit the disciplinarians her own was. She also knew if they went and Korkla saw her there with Jessica, he’d be angry. He’d made it quite clear he didn’t think the princess needed to be anywhere near the Royal Council meeting today.

  Michaela bit her lip. “I don’t know, Jessica. I got in real trouble with my clan only a couple of days ago. I’d kind of like to keep things happy at home for a little while.”

  Jessica waved off her concerns. “We’ll watch from the gallery. Clajak says it’s always full of the general public. A lot of the Earther women who are on Kalquor are clanned to councilmen, and they attend these things all the time.” When Michaela still hesitated, Jessica’s tone turned wheedling. “No one will know who you and I are, and our men won’t know we’re there. Come on, Michaela, where is your sense of adventure?”

  Michaela scowled, folding her arms over her chest. “I think I’ve had more than my fair share of adventure. So have you.”

  Jessica rolled her eyes. “Fine, you big stick-in-the-mud. Stay here. I have every right to be there, so I’m going.”

  Michaela groaned. Jessica was in one her more obstinate moods. She was determined to know what happened when it happened, and all the threats of punishment would not sway her. Clajak, Bevau, and Egilka had been morons to think she’d accept their dictates on a matter as important as this was.

  Michaela knew she would pay heavily if she went along with her friend to the council meeting and Korkla caught her. She also couldn’t allow Jessica to go alone. The potential for ugliness from Councilman Pwaldur over his daughter’s broken betrothal to Clan Clajak was likely. Jessica’s fiery temper might be ignited when he confronted the Crown Princes. The situation was war waiting to happen.

  Giving in with bad grace, Michaela stormed past Jessica to the transport door and summoned it. She told her friend, “Fine, I’ll come with you. I swear though, you’d better not get me into trouble with my clan.”

  Jessica followed her to the door, her pique disappearing now that she was getting her way. “I thought you liked being spanked.”

  “Spanking is one thing. They’ve figured out other ways of punishing me, ways that aren’t all that fun.” Michaela thought of the pleasure room and some of its less pleasurable devices. She shivered.

  Jessica smiled and breezily said, “I’ll tell them to leave you alone. What the hell is good about being a princess if I can’t order people around for the benefit of my friends?”

  The door to the transport opened as Michaela relaxed enough to laugh. Jessica linked arms with her and they boarded the conveyance.

  Chapter 13

  Getting to the Government House was an easy matter: it resided in the cliff right next to the Royal House. Michaela and Jessica rode the transport down to the ground level, which opened out to the pink sanded beach. From there, they joined the dozens of other people flocking to the seat of the Empire’s power.

  Michaela had half-hoped Jessica would be recognized by the sentries that stood at the ground entrance to the Government House. However, just as Clan Korkla had not budged from their home in the two days since arriving at Kalquor, neither had the Crown Prince Clan. No doubt members of the Royal Guard had received notification of Jessica’s presence and possessed a still vid of her for identification purposes, but few had seen her in person. Besides that, it was not the Royal Guard keeping tabs on the spectators vying for space in the public viewing gallery of the council chamber. The Government House kept its own security force of black armor-formsuited men, whose main function appeared to be making sure no one brought weapons into the building. They also scanned for known persons who had made threats to various councilmen.

  Michaela’s hope that two Earther women would stick out like sore thumbs, garnering enough attention that Jessica would change her mind about attending today’s proceedings, were also for naught. Just as Jessica had said, there were plenty of other Earther women streaming into the building from nearby cliff homes. From the chatter Michaela picked up, most of those did seem to be clanned to councilmen.

  The vast majority of spectators were male Kalquorians. Many were talking about the rumor that the Crown Prince Clan had claimed an Earther female for their lifebringer, snubbing their fertile betrothed Matara Narpok.

  “It’s the doing of Prince Clajak,” Michaela overheard one man say to another. “He’s always laughed in the face of honor. I have no doubt his fathers will force him to de-clan the girl.”

  The other man, younger than his companion, responded, “Those Earther women are a lovely lot though. If Matara Narpok is as spoiled as my parents say, I can hardly fault any man for casting her aside.”

  The original speaker bristled. “Do you wish to bow and scrape to an Earther, Dramok? By the ancestors, you are promised a Kalquorian woman for your own Matara. Do you want your pureblood children led by the progeny of those backwards Earther fools? Do you want them to have to vie for status and positions against hybrids?”

  Whatever the other man’s response was, Michaela didn’t hear it. The crowds were getting bigger and more congested, and louder as well.

  She gave Jessica a worried look. Jessica’s face was flushed with excitement as they navigated the hallway that led to both in-house transportation and stairways cut into the rock of the cliff.

  Michaela knew full well that Emperors Zarl and Tidro had accepted Jessica as their son’s Matara. Nobek Yuder was harder to read, and she wasn’t so sure he was as fond of the idea of having Narpok ousted. It wasn’t that Yuder particularly cared for Narpok; he’d made it quite clear he was not the Kalquorian woman’s biggest fan. His main concern seemed to be the enormous pain in the ass Narpok’s father Pwaldur was – and how much bigger a pain he would be when he found out he would not be the father of the future empress.

  The conversation Michaela overheard had her wondering how many Kalquorians were against being ruled by an Earther and the children that would result from Jessica’s clanning with her princes. Michaela had assumed that the nearly extinct race would be thrilled to have guaranteed asses on the Empire’s throne. She’d apparently thought wrong.

  Seeing how all the men automatically took the stairs that led up five levels to the public gallery helped her feel a little better, however. The males left the in-house transports for the women, mostly Earther, to use. Maybe those who didn’t like the idea of Earthers mixing with Kalquorians were in the minority. After all, the men Michaela caught looking at her and Jessica seemed friendly enough.

  The two women joined the crush in a transport car among the other giggling women. Two were Kalquorian, and they stood head and shoulders above the Earthers. They had muscles just like their male counterparts, though neither woman carried the monumental bulk of Raxstad. They were friendly too, speaking with the few Earthers who knew some Kalquorian.

 
; “You gown beautiful,” a blue-eyed blonde gushed at the taller of the two Amazons. “Where to buy? They can make dress for me?”

  The Kalquorian smiled wide, her teeth blinding in her dark face. “This was designed by the Plasian Wallella and made on Joshada. You are clanned to an established councilman?”

  “Yes. Dramok Gorstu.”

  The other Kalquorian woman nodded her recognition. “He has been on the council for many years. He can afford to buy you gowns like this. You will love Wallella’s work. I have several pieces by her myself.”

  The first Kalquorian tapped her handheld computer and held it out towards the blonde. “Let me transfer the contact information.”

  Delighted, the Earther Matara touched her own handheld to the Kalquorian’s. As the transport opened to the gallery, most of the other women were asking for the information too, and a lively conversation about fashion ensued.

  Michaela would have loved to join in. She wished to get the contact information for the designer of the flowing turquoise gown the Kalquorian wore. It was a sumptuous piece. Unfortunately, Jessica immediately steered her towards the back of the glass-enclosed gallery, hiding behind everyone else. Jessica was not one given to worry about her appearance. She hadn’t taken notice of the other women’s interest in a hot clothing tip.

  “We won’t be able to see anything,” Michaela said, pouting a little over her missed opportunity.

  “Sure we will. Look up.” Jessica gestured at the top of the gallery’s pane of glass, well above the heads of the Kalquorian men in front of the two women.

  Vid screens lined up across the see-through wall, showing different shots of the council floor below. There were also huge screens beyond the gallery, suspended in the middle of the room and showing the whole of the chamber. Earther words in various languages scrolled along the bottom of the main vid. Michaela thought she recognized Spanish, German, and Japanese before her native English came up. The message welcomed the general population to the council meeting and asked that onlookers refrain from shouting during the session.

  “I wonder if it’s always this crowded,” Michaela said as the press of bodies grew denser around them.

  “Or excited,” Jessica replied, speaking louder than normal to be heard over the growing din of voices.

  The people around them in the vast room did seem quite animated. From snatches of conversation that Michaela caught, they all thought the coming declaration of Jessica being the crown princes’ Matara would light some fireworks. Michaela’s nervousness edged up a notch.

  There were no seats in the gallery or furnishings of any kind. It was simply a glassed-in room covering half the chamber’s upper wall. Michaela stood on tip-toe to see over the shoulders of the crowds of Kalquorian men. She caught a glimpse of red and black formsuited figures in the distance. A glance at the large vid displaying the whole of the council chamber verified what she suspected: across the council floor was a type of balcony. Armed sentries were interspersed with Royal Guards over there.

  Michaela examined the view the large vid gave the attendees. Most of the chamber was taken up by a half-circle of steps, carved from the rock of the cliff itself. Blue-robed councilmen sat or stood upon the steps, most huddled in small groups. From the looks of things, intense conversations were going on.

  Across from the steps was a two-tiered dais. These two platforms had also been carved from the stone. The lower tier jutted out farther than the one over it, on eye-level with the tallest step it faced. Each level held four high-backed chairs, carved and ornamented with the biggest jewels Michaela had ever seen. At least they were well upholstered as well, she thought. For all their ornate design, they looked comfortable.

  Those would be the thrones for the Imperial and Crown Prince Clans, she thought. At least, they look fancy enough to be thrones. One day, Jessica will sit up there ... if everything goes the way it should.

  Between the throne tiers and council steps was a large circular floor. The stone had been polished to a high gloss, much like marble. Michaela wondered how many of the men below had slipped on its surface and busted their asses. If she hadn’t been so worried about her and Jessica getting caught or about how the meeting would go, she would have laughed at the vision of big, bad Kalquorians slipping all over the place.

  Six purple-robed figures were on the floor right now, five of them standing and one in a hover chair. Jessica’s clan and the emperors looked impressive in their formal robes, much like members of a Roman senate. An even more familiar man in a blue-trimmed black formsuit rushed here and there, now speaking briefly to Prince Clajak, now setting up computers on the podiums of the lower royal tier, now ordering other men Michaela supposed to be assistants. Michaela’s heart beat faster to see Korkla performing his duties only yards away.

  He will be so pissed off if he finds out I came here with Jessica.

  Her friend was just as busy looking over the situation. Her attention was claimed by the smaller vids projected from the gallery’s glass. Those vids showed close ups of the floor, throne tiers, and the steps where Michaela reasoned the councilmen would eventually sit when the meeting started.

  Jessica whispered, “I wonder which one of those guys is Pwaldur.”

  Michaela grumbled, “I wonder what the hell we’re doing here.” She couldn’t help but worry as she watched Korkla work.

  “Maybe that’s Pwaldur talking to my clan. But they wouldn’t be so friendly if he was, would they?”

  Michaela looked to see the man who Jessica was so curious about. The blue-robed councilman now speaking to Clan Clajak was dashingly handsome. The flowing robes didn’t quite disguise his well-muscled but lithe frame. His sleek black hair framed a face made for the movies, Michaela thought, if the movie called for a stunning villain. It wasn’t that the Kalquorian looked evil, but he did have a hint of danger in his elegant face. Maybe it was the trim mustache and goatee he wore. The only thing marring the man’s haughty good looks were the deep shadows under his eyes. Dashing Councilman didn’t look like he’d gotten much sleep lately.

  A tolling bell vibrated through the chamber. The gallery went quiet all at once, allowing Michaela to hear the rustling of the robes worn by the men down below as they went to their seats. The Imperial Clan was seated on the upper tier thrones. A throb of sadness went through Michaela to see the empty chair between Emperors Zarl and Yuder. Empress Irdis had died years ago in a terrible shuttle crash, the same accident that had made Zarl a cripple. He had told the story of his loss to Michaela and Jessica. It had been plain to see the Dramok emperor still loved and mourned his lost Matara.

  It must be awful to sit next to the empty chair where she once sat.

  The crown princes settled into their seats on the lower tier. There was another empty seat, this one located between Clajak and Bevau. If today’s meeting went without any major hitches, Jessica would be taking up that throne in future council meetings.

  Michaela looked at her friend, wondering if Jessica looked forward to or dreaded that day. Jessica had been full tilt into learning the history and politics of the Empire on their six-week journey from Plasius under the guidance of both the emperors and her clan. More than once she’d despairingly told Michaela, “I’m no leader. Maybe I can dazzle them with bullshit?”

  Looking at the sharp-eyed councilmen eyeing the royals, Michaela didn’t think there was much hope for that.

  For her part, Jessica still scanned the vids showing the councilmen. Her expression seemed somewhat grim as she did so. These were the potential enemies, the men who would challenge her right to stay with Clan Clajak.

  For all his body’s many infirmities, Emperor Zarl’s voice was clear and strong as he addressed those assembled. “This regular session of the Royal Council will come to order. Time and date will be noted. We have already offered our personal congratulations to Councilman Rajhir on the birth of a boy and a girl—”

  The whole chamber exploded with ear-ringing cheers. Michaela had to cover her ears
as the gallery went thunderous with shouted congratulations from the Kalquorians around her. Apparently, loud outbursts were okay when it came to such news. All three emperors and Clajak’s clan were grinning ear to ear as applause and yelling went on for several seconds. Michaela noted Korkla was among those cheering.

  Next to Michaela, Jessica had fingers plugging her ears as well. Their eyes met as they laughed over the joy the Kalquorians took in the councilman’s fatherhood.

  Little by little, the gallery and councilmen calmed down. Once he could be heard again, Zarl said, “Let us now extend our public congratulations to your clan, Rajhir.”

  The handsome dangerous-looking man who had been speaking to Clan Clajak earlier rose and bowed to the two tiers. “Many thanks, my emperors and my princes. I hope we can continue to serve Kalquor so well. My clan will certainly try.”

  The naughty grin on Rajhir’s face made Michaela laugh, along with most of those assembled in the gallery. More applause broke out.

  Jessica did not seem quite as amused. She whispered in Michaela’s ear, “The emperors are looking tense again already. I think they’re about to make the announcement about me.”

  She was right. Michaela noted how Yuder gave the Royal Guards closest to the dais a subtle nod. None of those red-formsuited men were joining in offering Rajhir spirited accolades. They were readying for trouble.

  Zarl didn’t make them wait long. As the gallery and councilmen again settled down, he said, “Now on to other business. Many, if not all of you, have heard Prince Clajak’s clan has taken an Earther Matara themselves. The rumor is true.”

  A new swell of sound rolled through the room: excited muttering. Michaela noticed how councilmen were peering all about themselves, as if to search someone out.

  They’re looking for Pwaldur, Michaela thought. From the confused scowls appearing on everyone’s faces, she realized the father of Clan Clajak’s would-be Matara was not present.