Shattered Blades by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 39705459
Publisher: Serial Box
Published: 2018-06-20T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Michiko

The Mertikan embassy was like a kicked anthill, staff swarming everywhere and the guard out in force. Michiko wondered cynically how many of those people were doing anything useful, and how many Bellona had sent off on errands just so she could be seen giving orders and taking action. Or maybe they were all keeping busy to avoid Bellona’s eye.

None of them tried to stop her progress through the halls, though she got more than a few curious glances for her Kakutan robes. After all, wasn’t she Mertikan? A poor colonial copy, of course, striving toward an ideal she could never reach, but still just another cog in the imperial machine. Whatever task had her striding with purpose toward Lavinia’s office—Bellona’s office, now—surely it was dedicated to the greater glory of the empire.

The office was deserted. But past the disgusting waste of the floating aerstone screen, the door to the garden was open, letting the cool predawn air through.

Bellona was outside, standing in front of one of the meticulously groomed rose beds, fingering a half-open blossom. Her chin tucked low, she seemed to be deep in thought, and unaware of Michiko’s presence.

She was armed, as all of them were always armed, and so Michiko deliberately slammed the garden door behind herself as she went outside. Bellona shot upright with a jerk and reached for her sword, but Michiko was still far enough away that she didn’t register as an attacker, and so Bellona relaxed. “Oh, it’s you. Where in the sky have you been? Of all the times to vanish! Bad enough if you only missed my dinner party, but it’s gone far beyond that. I have a dozen things you ought to be doing, and I’ve had to do them myself!”

When Michiko first arrived on Twaa-Fei, those words would have hurt. Back then she had wanted nothing more than to prove her use. Now she only laughed. “Poor Bellona—having to actually do the work herself. Lavinia might as well still be here, giving you orders.”

It shouldn’t have been possible for Bellona to stiffen more. “What did you just say?”

“I mean that you’re her lackey,” Michiko said contemptuously. “You always have been. You’re a paragon of Mertikan excellence, Bellona—a most excellent dog, leaping at your mistress’s command.”

Bellona left the rose bed behind and stalked toward her, heels stabbing into the grass with each step. “Are you drunk? Or have you just lost your mind?”

“Found it, I should say. And a great many other things besides. Like a survivor from the trade fleet, someone who saw the Mertikan fleet descend and cut the cargo ships from the sky.”

That stopped Bellona mid-stride, staggering.

Michiko smiled coldly at her. “Did you carry those orders for Lavinia? Did you help send out the ships to sink Quloo, to push them to such a desperate point that they’d do anything to survive? Because Mertika is frightened of Rumika and their rise, frightened of Quloo’s strength, frightened of anything that might threaten their assumption of supremacy.

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