Saga of the Skolian Empire 08 - Moon's Shadow by Asaro Catherine

Author:Asaro, Catherine [Asaro, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780765343246
Amazon: B0074FFN1K
Goodreads: 424936
Publisher: Tor
Published: 2003-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Mist curled around a circular table made from stone. It stood alone, incongruously, on a shelf of rock high in the mountains. On one side of the shelf, a cliff sheered down in a vertical wall; on the other three sides, cliffs rose up into the fog. Admiral Xirad Kaliga waited by the cliff behind the table. His bodyguards had faded into the mist, but he knew they remained nearby.

An engine rumbled. A flier was coming down, veiled by fog, landing on a field Kaliga’s personal security people had carved out of the mountains nearby. Laser-based defense systems protected these pockets and shrouded them from monitors. Even ESComm had no record of this place.

Three figures coalesced out of the mist: two bodyguards and the hefty form of General Kryx Taratus, the other Joint Commander of ESComm.

Kaliga nodded to his counterpart. “Taratus.”

“Hell of a time to meet,” the general grumbled. “Damnable fog.”

“Veils have their uses,” Kaliga said.

Taratus waved his hand. “Everything has its use. If not, then I say dispose of it.”

Kaliga suppressed his frown. Taratus often balanced on the edge of insult by direct speech. But Kaliga was used to it. He sat at the table, facing the general across the stone disk. “Even if something has a use, one may want to dispense with it.” Like their tiresome emperor.

Taratus lowered himself onto the curved bench. “The plans for peace talks with Skolia continue to progress.”

“A shame.” This time Kaliga did frown. “One could imagine instead the great heights Eube could achieve if we chose to seize the initiative over the Skolians.”

Taratus snorted. “It takes a great leader to seize such initiative.”

“So it does.” Kaliga paused. “I understand that an assassination attempt was made against the emperor on his wedding day. I am aghast.” It truly had appalled him; he would have thought Taratus’s people could have done a better job. “May the emperor live a long and glorious life.”

“Glorious, indeed,” Taratus muttered. “It is fortunate the Line of Qox has support from the Line of Xir.” He drummed his fingers on the table, revealing his sarcasm. “Failures come in many forms, including uncooperative dawns.”

Thinking of Sunrise, Kaliga scowled. “The dawn seems to shed its light on the Line of Raziquon.” It disgusted him. The emperor had treated Raziquon worse than Kaliga would have expected even if the palace had found evidence against him—which they hadn’t. Convicting Raziquon on the testimony of a provider was an unspeakable outrage. Jaibriol’s decision to throw Raziquon in prison was made even worse by the contrast with how well ESComm had treated Corbal Xir while he was in custody.

“Appeals can chill the dawn.” Although Taratus sounded detached, the rhythm of his words indicated his anger.

Kaliga nodded. Of course Raziquon’s kin had appealed the prison sentence. The incarceration of their lord was the true crime. Questions of legality in Sunrise’s abduction were unimportant; if ESComm needed such an action, it became acceptable.

The girl’s resilience had surprised him, but her silence also revealed Corbal’s secrets. Too many defenses protected her mind.

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