Down Among the Dead by K. B. Wagers

Author:K. B. Wagers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2019-12-02T16:00:00+00:00

26

The ping of the incoming call on my smati the next morning startled me so much that I answered it without thinking and then blinked when Alice’s face appeared on the wall of my room.

“You hang up on me, Hail, and I will fly across the galaxy to kick your ass myself.”

I blinked again at the unexpected threat, but the tears that appeared in Alice’s eyes stilled any response I could have come up with.

“I was so afraid,” she whispered. “Not about all this here at home. Though I should have known something like this would happen with your Shiva-damned luck. I was so afraid for you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing? For trying to ignore me?” She smiled. “I’ll accept it, then, but you didn’t really think that was going to work, did you? You taught me how not to take no for an answer. Then you up and made me empress.” She shook her head. “Which, by the way, I’m signing documents today to put that crown right back on your head.”

“Alice—”

“You don’t get to argue with me, Hail. I’m empress, remember?” Her smile softened. “At least for another hour. I wish I could hug you. Caspel passed on Emmory’s report about what happened. I know I don’t fully understand, I’m not sure any of us could, but I’m here for you.”

I glanced away from the wall as Emmory came into the room. He spotted Alice, raised an eyebrow at me, and then did a half-assed job muffling a smile when I shrugged helplessly.

“Good morning, Emmory,” Alice said. “I hope you don’t mind I took matters into my own hands here.”

“You are allowed to do that as empress, I’m told,” he replied.

“I was just telling Hail that. Also, that I’m only empress for the next fifty-seven Indranan minutes, so you’ll want to be prepared.” She smiled. “What’s the plan after that, Hail?”

“You’re not going to like it,” I said, finally finding my voice.

“That’s entirely possible,” Alice replied, surprising me again. “But you’re in charge and I trust you to do what’s right for the empire.”

“Even if that means putting our alliance with Faria at risk?”

Alice didn’t even flinch. “Even then. The Farians were less than helpful after your disappearance, Hail.” She took a deep breath. “You know we can’t afford to go to war, but that doesn’t mean we should continue to roll over for the Farians, and I know all too well about the fracture between Fasé’s group and the Pedalion. Faria is no longer unified in word or deed.”

I remembered seeing a report from Caspel about a rise in support for Fasé since Earth. “The increase in support for Fasé has grown, hasn’t it?”

“Yes. They’ve been more vocal and their numbers are increasing both here and back on Faria from what I’ve been told. Caspel has, unofficially, reached out to them with Fasé’s permission. There have been some clashes between—I don’t even know what we should call them. Regular Farians? Pedalion supporters?”

“I would lean toward the second one myself,” I admitted, and she smiled.

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