The Gods of Vice by Devin Madson

Author:Devin Madson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2020-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

We travelled the next day and I kept my distance, unsure what to do. For the first time, he had transformed so completely into his imperial self in our sacred space, but I could no more promise to keep from discussing his plans and his movements than I could stop myself from wanting him. Instead, I watched his various advisors come and go from his side as he led his army ever south, and wondered what plans they were allowed knowledge of that I was not. And worse, why.

It was an uneventful day, and the scouts brought back no news of enemy movement. The camp went up with the same ease it always did, but when the usual time for our meeting arrived, Tili brought a message that there would be no meeting that night. I was about to send her back with one civilly asking for an explanation, when Katashi arrived. As usual, he had changed his armour for his imperial robes and stood in the tent aperture as though unsure of his welcome. Equally unsure whether I wanted to welcome him, I lifted my chin. “Good evening, Your Majesty.”

“Good evening, Your Grace,” he said, but there was a hint of his dimple peeping despite his gravity.

“Have you come to tell me about the alliance with the pirate enclave?”

The dawning smile faded. “No.” He strode in, restlessness in the way he moved about the small space from one silken wall to the other. “Hana, I know you want to be part of this. I know you want to fight and you want to have your opinions heard, but I can’t let you talk me out of things that have to be done. I have lived the broken life of an exile long enough to know how to make hard choices. I have already made more hard choices than you know. I want you here, I want you at my side, but either you have to let go of the idea that you can always do the right thing, that duty and honour are more important than success, or you have to let me keep plans from you.”

“Are they really so terrible?” I said.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because they have to be.”

The hard note in his voice scared me. As Captain Monarch, he had done plenty of things a truly good man would never have done, and he had executed more members of Kin’s court at Koi than I could count. Those were the harsh actions of a man who knew what needed to be done, but he hadn’t shied away from me knowing of them.

“I can have a few dozen of my soldiers escort you back to Koi in the morning,” he said, finally stopping his restless pacing to look down at me.

“No,” I said. “I want to stay, but I want to know. Whatever your plans are, I want to know them.”

“No.”

I had thought I could cajole him, could argue my point until at last he let me in. But no matter

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