By Sun and Candlelight (2 page)

"She is a cyborg," the Matri said.
"I do not understand how a bonding is even possible with such a -
person." She looked at Dr. Casmerek. "No offense meant."

"Offense taken," he answered, and
went on, "Perhaps what Matthias perceives as bonding is a feedback
loop, but I do doubt it. Still, the Porphrygia is known to be an
enhanced empath."

"She was born a natural empath,"
Matthias said. "I know what I feel for her, mind, body and soul. I
am a natural vampire," he reminded them. "There are no daylight
drugs weakening my perceptions."

"They have no effect on those who
take them, whatever this Clan chooses to believe," Dr. Casmerek
said. "It will do you no harm to take the drugs,
Matthias."

"Our Clan's tradition is against
taking the daylight drugs," the Matri said.

"But Matthias does not live or work
on a red star world. His bondmate must dwell on a yellow sun world.
Bondmates must be together," Doc's mother said. "We should
acknowledge the bonding, Matri."

"I will acknowledge it only if the
mortal woman is stripped of the computer enhancements which take
away her humanity. And if she comes to dwell with her bondmate on
our world."

"Whoa - that's harsh," Zoe said as
Doc pulled her out of sharing his memories of the Clan
meeting.

"Sorry you found out about that," he
said. "I meant to be more discreet."

"Lie and make excuses, you
mean?"

"I don't want their ancient attitude
hurting you. Most of the Clan never leaves home, and has very
little contact with mortals. Besides, the Corvus Clan is infamous
for being very, very conservative. Our Matri's a real
hard-ass."

"I can see why you ran away to join
the Marines." Zoe tried not to show she was hurt, though of course
Doc felt it. "So, I guess your family won't be joining us for
Sunflower Day." She hated how brittle she sounded when she was
trying for a certain insouciance.

Doc pulled her into a comforting
kiss, then said, "My sire said he would come. I trust his word. The
others, well, not this year. And what's Sunflower Day?"

Zoe let herself be distracted with
the question. "Sunflower Day is the very affectionate way those of
us who live on Terra refer to the Resurrection
Celebration."

"What's a sunflower?"

She clicked into her neural implants
and projected a holo of a large gold and black flower before him.
"The flower's blossom follows the movement of the sun across the
sky. I don't know how sunflowers became symbolic of the
celebration. Do you want me to look it up?"

And was that a cyborg sort of thing
to ask, she wondered?

YOUR MEETING IS IN HALF AN HOUR,
PORPHRYGIA her inner calendar spoke up.

"Yeah, yeah." Zoe kissed Doc, patted
his bare butt, and reluctantly got out of bed.

"I've gone through this morning's
security briefing," the Emperor said. He looked down the table
where his cabinet were gathered. His gaze paused on Zoe. "I'm very
pleased with the news that General Raven has neutralized the source
of a security problem."

"Did he eat him?" Duke Andreas asked
before Zoe had a chance to preen with pleasure.

She did not appreciate the laughter
from some people at the table. All of them more or less supporters
of Andreas. He was in the line of succession, and was using her
bonding to a vampire to his advantage. Mostly it was politics, but
she also knew that his attitude toward Doc was driven by jealousy.
She probably would have married Andreas if she hadn't met Matthias
Raven. It would have been a good political match for the Empire.
Andreas claimed to love her. She hadn't felt anything much one way
or another for this handsome cousin - or hadn't until he started
bad-mouthing her beloved.

She gave Andreas a
cold look that clearly said,
if any eating
gets done around here, it's going to be by me.
He pretended not to notice.

The Emperor made a sharp gesture and
silence immediately fell. Some people even had the decency to be
embarrassed. Zoe noted empathically who was feeling what. She
couldn't break into anyone's thoughts the way a vampire could, but
knowing the real feeling behind the usually blank courtier's
expressions was very helpful. In fact, it was forbidden to wear
mind shields in official gatherings with the Emperor, such as right
now.

Zoe only contributed to the meeting
when an upcoming diplomatic mission was discussed. Her mind drifted
more than it should, but she wanted to be with her bondmate. Being
in love was bad for business. This was a message that came from her
mother, the Empress and Supreme Judge of the Byzant Courts, who was
seated beside Zoe, implant to implant. Yes, mother, she
agreed.

We will have a nice long talk about
your Doc later.

I'd rather be with Doc
later.

Perhaps that would be best. Pay
attention.

I'm recording the meeting. I'll get
an analysis later.

Pay attention to your cousin,
then.

It'll only encourage him.

Encourage him to treason,
perhaps?

Zoe kept that thought to herself.
She didn't really believe he was anything but a sore loser trouble
maker, but she agreed with her mother that she needed to be careful
with her cousin.

Once the meeting was over, Zoe sent
a thought to the Emperor, asking for a few minutes of her father's
time. He was surprised at the way she worded the request, but
indicated for her to remain in the room after every one else was
gone.

When they were alone, even their
security details excused, Zoe said, "Daddy, am I a
cyborg?"

"You sound like an eight year old,"
he answered.

"I feel like it," she said. "I feel
picked on by a bunch of people who think I'm more of a robot than a
person."

"Do you want me to have them
arrested?"

"You can't. They're my
in-laws."

"Are you saying that vampires do not
think you are a human?"

She nodded. "You know, it never
occurred to me that I wouldn't be accepted by Doc's people. I knew
there would be some fallout from my marrying a vampire."

"It didn't occur to you that
prejudice could go both ways?"

"No sire, it did not. And it should
have," she reproached herself. "I've spent my diplomatic career
trying to get all sorts of species to see past their differences.
Doc's family won't be showing up for Sunflower Day."

"Have they officially refused an
Imperial invitation?"

"Not yet, sire. In fact, Doc's dad
will be coming. Someone named Dr. Casmerek has been added to the
guest list, but I think he's a mortal friend rather than a
suprahuman. But I was hoping Doc's mother, and the Clan Matri would
put in an official appearance."

"Perhaps they fear demonstrations
against supranatural kind. The Matri of Clan Corvus may only be
thinking about protecting her Clan."

"The old fears certainly have been
stirred up by Exclusionist extremists. It might be more politic for
off-world vampires to stay away from Terra until the citizens of
the Empire have gotten more used to the idea of what you've
done."

What you've done.

Zoe didn't like the disapproval
inherent in his choice of words. Her parents were personally
supportive of her marital choice, but personal support and
political expediency could be very different things.

"Everything was so much easier when
Matthias and I first met."

"Except for you being in prison and
fearing for your life. And my expending a great deal of the
Empire's resources in the effort to find you."

"For which I thank you by bringing
home--"

"Theodora Zoe Anastasia Maria Ora
Pappas!"

It
was usually her mother who pulled that. Zoe silently added
Raven
to the long list of names.

"You are the finest diplomat this
family has ever produced. You are a responsible, sensible adult.
Why are you whining?"

"Because I want a life!" Zoe shouted
back. She hadn't known how chained she felt until the words came
out.

"Well, you can't have
one."

She was glad the Emperor didn't
sugarcoat the truth.

"I know. I only needed to say
it."

"You and your bondmate will manage
somehow," he assured her. "I do understand what bonding means. Your
souls are one. They cannot be torn apart."

Torn, no, but certainly
stretched.

"But it would be nice if things were
easier." She considered options for a moment. "What
if...?"

"Yes?"

"What if I had some of the
enhancement implants removed? I wouldn't seem like so much of a
cyborg to Doc's--"

"Prejudice against any lifeform is
not permissible in this Empire," The Byzant Emperor replied
sternly. "Whether that lifeform is naturally or artificially
enhanced with superpowers. Am I understood, Theodora
Zoe?"

It used to be only her great aunt
who inflicted her official name on her. Zoe thoroughly disliked her
father's invoking this way of showing displeasure.

"Yes, daddy," she answered. "But it
would be easier if I could be a bit less--"

"Very few people have easy lives,"
he said. "Certainly not us. Despite opinions to the contrary, the
Imperial Family is not paid to have easy lives."

"The
price of ruling the Empire is
ruling,
" Zoe quoted
the family saying. She gave in to a moment of yearning for an
uncomplicated life with her bondmate. Moment over, she bowed. "We
both have duties. I won't keep you any longer,
sire."

Colonel Amberon looked up from her
seat behind the med station as Matthias entered the ward. She
grinned, a wide smile that showed several rows of very sharp teeth.
"Hey, don't they have Marine hospitals on Terra?"

"They have yellow light on Terra,"
Doc answered. "I like that space stations are shielded from that
sort of thing." Zoe was busy, he might as well get some work
in.

Most of his career had been spent as
a physician aboard active duty warships. He'd risen to the rank of
general which added fleet administration duties to his work as a
healer. Then the ship he'd been on had been captured by the enemy.
He'd ended up the senior officer of a POW camp. Zoe had also ended
up in the camp - and now his career was in a bit of
flux.

"Oh, I quite agree. Yellow light
gives me a rash."

"It sets me on fire," Doc
said.

Amberon was not of Terran ancestry,
although she'd been born in a Kayare enclave on a Byzant world and
held dual citizenship. Which was how she'd ended up a Marine. Her
species, the Kayare, and humans were very similar. Like him, she
was a specialist in human medicine even if she didn't need it
herself.

The Kayare were allied to the Byzant
Empire. There'd been talk and negotiations between the Byzants and
various allied species about forming a confederacy of some sort for
a long time. With an inter-species war going on - The Hajim were
trying to conquer as large a chunk of the galaxy as they could -
the alliance talks were finally getting serious. This was his
diplomat bondmate's specialty as the Empire's chief diplomat. He
was very proud of her work.

Doc went about his own work. He did
rounds of the wards and spent time seeing individual patients. It
was good to anonymously go about his work. Almost
anonymously.

One patient recognized him but
didn't make a fuss. All the Marine said was, "I was in Camp Three.
Thanks General Raven." Doc nodded in acknowledgement.

When his shift was over Doc stopped
by a food center to have coffee with Amberon. Real coffee, not caf
tablets. One of the best things about Terra, was that coffee from
the home world was plentiful and affordable. It was also touted as
the best in the Empire, and he couldn't disagree with that. Even
though the same genetic descendants of Terran coffee beans were
grown all over the Empire. Maybe it was something to do with the
sunlight.

"Better than blood," he said after
his first sip. "Not really. Especially -- " He gave a quick look
around. No one was seated near their table. Not that there weren't
listening devices trained on him - Zoe had taught him to be
paranoid - and not that he wasn't privacy shielded.

"You look more relaxed than when you
showed up on the station, Dr. General Raven," Amberon
said.

"It's good being me without being
stared at."

"I'm staring at you."

"Either because you think I'm
pretty, or delicious."

She touched the front row of her
teeth. "They are kind of fun to frighten patients with. Do you ever
show your fangs or let your eyes glow while you're
working?"

He shook his head. "We Primes only
vamp out to fight or make love. Besides, I have always tried to
keep a low profile. Even more so now."