“She was a Phrexz on a mission of conquest,” Mareliux points out. “She wanted to plan for that not working out. That’s what I would have done. Several paths to victory is better than just one. She needed me out of the way, but that wasn’t urgent. Getting rid of Umbra was. She must have been scared out of her mind when she heard about the Syntrix show Umbra made at the wedding.”
We spend a long time talking about Juriniel’s plans and the Vyrpy and what her end goal was. We can’t quite make sense of her ramblings, and I wasn’t really listening that closely anyway. It was something about cleansing the Syntrix, and making it less harmonious, but that’s all we can agree on.
The conversation gets louder and more lively as the empty glasses pile up on the tables. Sigise has food delivered by two armored shock troopers, and I leave them all to their loud discussion and sit down next to the Imperial Messenger.
“Dester, wasn’t it?” I ask as I clink my glass to hers.
“Yes, Your Highness,” she replies with a hint of nervosity.
“I’m Umbra,” I tell her. “I know it’s hard to pronounce, but it’s what I go by.”
She relaxes a fraction. “Umbra. All right.”
I give her a little smile. “I wanted to thank you for following your instincts and doing what Prince Nerox asked you to. It can’t have been easy. But I was in the same situation not long ago, and I know how persuasive he can be.”
“He made a good case for it,” Dester says. “But it took him a long time to convince me. Taking a fake message to Prince Mareliux would mean breaking my oath of service. The way he talked about it, it sounded like the fate of the whole Empire depended on that message. But if I hadn’t been at the Imperial Palace for so long, and seen how badly things were going, I wouldn’t have done it. I reasoned that if it turned out to be some kind of trap or joke or prank that would get me court-martialled, the Empire wouldn’t last long anyway.”
“If you hadn’t brought that message,” I state, “it wouldn’t. Thank you for being brave.” I think back. If Mareliux hadn’t had that message, he wouldn’t have come to Earth. I would still be on that space station, flying a shuttle that’s more like a paper airplane than an actual spacecraft. I would never have heard of the Syntrix. And I would never have met Mareliux. I would never have had a Soulbound. “Excuse me.”
I get up and walk over to him. Leaning back in his chair, he’s just low enough that I can throw my arms around his neck from behind. “The Emperor won’t give Dester a medal. But canyoureward her in some way?”
One of his tendrils curls around and strokes the back of my shoulder. “She’ll get a promotion and a transfer to a different branch. And I’ll keep her in mind for any missions that require her talents. Is that enough?”
“Let me think about it,” I tell him. “I may have a suggestion. Now I’m getting sleepy, my love. Can we go?”
My fiance quickly gets to his feet. “That will have to do for now, my friends. We will stay in touch until the wedding. General Grast, you and your shock troopers are in command of the Palace until Nerox can find suitable new members of the Calanian Guard in our other forces. We can’t trust the former ones that had their minds twisted by the Phrexz. Relief forces are on the way for a victory parade and a show of strength tomorrow. Our people must know that Khav is again ruled by Khavgrens. Until then, the palace is under a curfew. I think most people will enjoy a day off.”
He takes my hand and we leave the building, closely followed by Caret’ax. Outside, the shadows are growing longer as the sun sets.
“What do we do until the wedding?” I ask, not sure which way to go. “Should we stay in the palace or go somewhere safe?”
“I recommend theGladiux, sir,” Caret’ax growls, scanning our surroundings. “We don’t know if all the Phrexz’s allies were taken care of yet.”
Mareliux pulls me closer. “I don’t think there’s a safer place on Khav than this palace. The Phrexz is dead, and our shock troopers are in control. Everything works like before, by the way. The Phrexz only concentrated on the Calanians and the Throne. Other parts of the palace should be fine. And I know just where to go.”
He leads me along narrow alleys and through underground tunnels. Caret’ax follows, keeping his hand on the hilt of his sword.
We walk for probably twenty minutes, passing over short footbridges and across wide streets that are almost deserted. We do the usual maze-like run through all kinds of buildings until we’re inside an elevator that shoots up so fast I have to grab onto Mareliux to stay upright.
“What is this place?”
“You’ll see.”
The elevator continues up for a surprisingly long time before the doors slide open and we step out. We’re in a perfectly circular room. The walls are windows that go from the stone floor to the mirror-like ceiling, giving a wonderful view of the city and the palace below.
Farbelow, I realize as I walk over to the wall and look down. Despite having been in space for months, I feel vertigo tugging at me from the sheer height. “What kind of tower is this?”
“This is Aderianux’s Folly,” Mareliux says as he embraces me from behind with both his arms and several of his tentacles. “Two centuries ago, he was emperor. Only briefly, but he had this built. It is a tower where he felt that he could watch everyone in the city from above. He would come here and walk restlessly in a circle along the glass wall until the sun set, watching. He felt that it was the only way to stay in control. And that this was the only place he wouldn’t get stabbed in the back.”
Indeed the stone floor is worn in a shallow hollow along the whole circle.
“What did his doctors say to that?” I ask carefully while Caret’ax prowls around the bare room, kicking suspiciously at the floor as he looks for dangers to our safety.
Mareliux laughs. “He probably wasn’t quite well. In the head, I mean. I don’t blame him. He had lived at the Imperial Court his whole life and all the murders, and the court politics must have been too much for him. I don’t think he enjoyed his reign.”
I lean back on his massive chest. “Was he a bad emperor?”
“He didn’t do much to damage the Empire. Most of his other decisions were solid. Especially one of them, and it concerns us.” He turns his head. “Caret’ax, I don’t think we will need you more tonight. This tower is hardened against every type of explosive or weapon. Aderianux made sure it was safe for him to be here.”
