Veil of Shadows (Book 2 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (8 page)

“Allow me to second that,” the King said. “Whoever they were, they must’ve been waiting for just the right moment to make their presence known. Now that we know that there’s a violent, clandestine resistance, we can take steps to figure out who they are and how to stop them.” His voice hardened. “And we will take those steps.”

He grimaced. “Someone inside of our organization had to have leaked our travel plans to them. They were in place before we arrived.”

The grav van and its escorts landed at the Palace. The grounds were swarming with people. Not just Royal Guards, but Pentagaran military in body armor with heavy weapons. The Guards hustled everyone inside as soon as the van landed.

A pair of physicians rushed to His Majesty’s side. They tried to take Elise, but she waved them away. “I’m fine. See to our guests. Particularly, see to Princess Kelsey. A bullet grazed her arm and she may be under the influence of an unknown combat drug that’s starting to wear off. I want her under close observation in case there are any complications.”

Jared pulled his communications unit off his belt. “Speaking of physicians, I’d better let Doctor Stone know what happened. She can pass it on to the rest of our people before some kind of rumor starts circulating.” He looked at Kelsey. “And I’m certain that she’s going to want to examine you in person.”

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Wonderful. I finally get out from under her thumb for one day and now she’s going to lock me into a room and throw away the key. Somehow, she’s going to find a way to blame me for this.”

He chuckled without humor. “Not everything is about you, Kelsey. She’s a military officer. She’s going to see this for what it is.”

Kelsey went with King Raymond and the doctors, grumbling under her breath.

Jared called Doctor Stone and explained what had happened. As expected, she cut the conversation short, shouting for her people to get moving as she disconnected.

He put his communicator back on his belt. “You’ll probably want to tell someone that Doctor Stone is on her way.”

Elise put her hand on his shoulder. “Kelsey isn’t the only hero today. You got into a fistfight with a man that was going to shoot me. That was very brave and I’m grateful.”

Her hand felt hot through the fabric of his shirt and he became quite aware of how close she was standing to him. The recent life and death struggle had made him hyper-aware of her as a woman. A very beautiful woman.

His voice was astonishingly calm. “You’re welcome, but he would’ve shot me too, so I had a horse in this race.”

She gestured for him to accompany her into one of the rooms nearby. A number of the Royal Guards closed around them as they went, no doubt still worried about assassins. He couldn’t blame them.

Her destination turned out to be a sitting room. The two of them took seats facing one another as the guards arrayed themselves around the room.

“I’m so very sorry that your first real visit to our planet turned out this way. I promise you, Pentagar is a peaceful, wonderful place.”

He felt the corner of his mouth quirk up. “I will admit that stumbling into a space battle on my first transition into your system, and then an assassination attempt on my first landing certainly seems to show a contrary trend. I’m sure Pentagar is a wonderful place and that this isn’t characteristic of your beautiful world. I promise I won’t hold it against you.”

“I hope you don’t. Once we have everything settled, I insist that you allow me to show you what our world is really like.” She raised a finger when he opened his mouth. “I insist.”

“Of course, I accept. However, I’m afraid that this attack is going to move up our departure timetable. I think it might be best for us to head to
Athena
as soon as Kelsey is ready to travel. No offense, but the last thing you need is to have us caught up in your internal affairs.”

Elise nodded. “I understand completely, Lord Captain. We need time to figure out exactly what happened here. It would be best for everyone if any additional violence passes you by. Now that we know about this movement, we’ll be on our guard. The perpetrators of this atrocity will pay.” Her voice was as unyielding as steel.

Chapter Eight

Lord Admiral Shrike answered his communications unit with more than a hint of trepidation. If things had gone well, good and fine. But if they hadn’t, his life and his plans were about to become much more complicated.

None of his concern reached his voice. He was pleased to note how steady he sounded. One always needed to sound like they were in complete command no matter what was happening. Any naval officer worth his salt knew that.

“Shrike.”

“Oh, I’m very sorry,” a woman’s voice said. “I must’ve entered the wrong number.”

“That’s quite all right. Have a good day.”

He disconnected and cursed under his breath. If the attack had gone as planned, his contact would’ve asked for someone named Blake. This meant they’d failed. Perhaps not completely, but at least one of the Royals had escaped the trap.

Hopefully, his men had managed to kill the King. Princess Elise would have much less experience to fall back on as she tried to defend against his next move. He also hoped that the woman he’d placed in charge of the operation had made certain no one fell into the hands of Royal Intelligence. That would be truly unfortunate.

The men chosen for this operation didn’t know anything about him personally, of course. The less the Royalists knew, the better his chances of ultimate success. They wouldn’t be suspecting him, but it never paid to take chances when the punishment for treason was execution by beheading.

He knew it would only be a matter of minutes before word began circulating about the attack, so if he wanted to get an update of the true events he needed to get it now. He locked down his console, set his communications unit on the center of the blotter, and walked into the outer office. His secretary looked up inquiringly.

“I’m stepping out for lunch. If there are any calls, take a message. I should be back in half an hour.”

When word came in, he’d have the excuse that he left his communications unit on his desk. It was understandable enough. Everyone did it on occasion. In this case, it would give him the time he needed to get that update.

He walked out of Royal Fleet Command and flagged down a taxi. He told the driver to take him to a place that he often frequented. He knew he could order in, but he made a habit of going to various locations to eat so that he didn’t spend all his time in the office. It would also serve as cover for this trip.

It was somewhat earlier than the normal lunch rush when he arrived, so he quickly found a seat. The man behind the counter nodded in recognition of his arrival. He always ordered the same thing, so the man knew what Shrike wanted. The fact that he was also a member of the movement meant that he knew exactly what Shrike wanted by holding up two fingers.

The man quickly made Shrike’s sandwich and brought it to his table with some unsweetened tea. As he set it down, he also laid a communications unit on the table under the napkin he carried.

Shrike dialed a number from memory as soon as the man was gone. The woman he’d spoken to earlier answered on the second chime. “Go ahead,” he said.

“Resistance was stiffer than anticipated. In the end, none of the primary goals were accomplished.”

“What about our assets?”

“I’m afraid it became necessary to liquidate them. I’m not certain of what went wrong, but the investment is a total loss. That is confirmed.”

That, at least, was good news. “Keep me informed of any further developments.” He terminated the call without another word.

He placed the communications unit under the napkin and slowly ate his sandwich, thinking about what steps he could take to minimize his exposure while simultaneously advancing his agenda.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of anything in the short term. No doubt, security around the Royals would increase greatly in the wake of the attack. He’d have to take it slower and play a longer game.

The Royal Family would be on their guard and both the intelligence services and police would be investigating all leads for weeks or even months. That didn’t mean that he had to wait that long to achieve the deaths of his enemies, but it did mean that he’d need to exercise greater care.

The days where he had to bow and scrape to his father were almost done. Jared Mertz might be willing to live in the shadow of his legitimate siblings, but he wasn’t. He deserved the Crown and he would take it for himself.

Perhaps Rawlins would seize the old Empire warship, if it proved possible to restore it to some functionality. Shrike thought that unlikely. Of course, the best time to act would be after the ship was functional, but before it returned to Pentagar. With the small number of men that he would be taking with them, that would be quite the trick.

However, the intelligence officer had proven himself quite capable in the past. Rawlins had removed several…hindrances…to the plan without anyone being the wiser. The accidents were never the same and the police never grew suspicious.

Of course, Shrike still didn’t have the majority of Royal Fleet ships under his control, but the key officers he’d put into place would turn the tables with the right momentum. Unveiling the movement’s possession of an old Empire battlecruiser would be perfect.

Shrike left the payment for his lunch on the table. He might have to wait for success, he thought, but he’d learned patience. Once he had control of the Royal Fleet, the Crown would be his and his
family
could rot.

Chapter Nine

Despite Kelsey’s objections, Lily insisted that she rest. The Princess was secretly glad the doctor put her foot down. After the attack, her body felt more alive than she’d ever been, though the crash when the drugs had worn off had been epic.

Sleep was challenging, too. Nightmares had plagued her sleep over the last three days as
Athena
made its slow way out to the flip point. Last night, the fight on Pentagar played itself out again, only this time, no matter how many people she killed, there were always more. Just when she defeated the human attackers, the Pale Ones took over. She woke screaming several times before she gave up on sleep entirely.

So, she was tired and more than a bit cranky. Talbot made her even more self-conscious when he made a point of looking at her dinner that evening and then at his own. His was the smaller of the two by a substantial margin.

“I can’t help it,” she said. “I’m starving. Something is wrong with my stomach.”

“I doubt that very seriously, Princess.” The marine slid a piece of pie over to her side of the table.

He’d insisted that she come out of her cabin and eat in the crew’s mess. She had to admit the noisy compartment felt good. The crew seemed pleased to see her.

The compartment held an equal mixture of Pentagaran Royal Fleet personnel, scientists, and Terran Fleet crew. She wasn’t quite sure how to interpret the Pentagarans’ stares. Most seemed to be watching her with interest, but a few had a hint of fear or distrust in their gazes.

Probably because of what she’d become. Rumors had swirled wildly after the assassination attempt. What she’d overheard—and with her enhanced hearing, she’d heard a lot—varied from the fantastical to versions that were almost correct. The nature of her “injuries” was out in the open now, the cover story destroyed by a recording from the Parliament building security systems that someone had leaked.

She had to admit she’d watched it several times, shocked at the sheer speed and lethality of her counterattack. Her face hadn’t looked like one of the Pale Ones as she fought. Her expression was serene, as though she were dancing. Frankly, that terrified her. She hadn’t been in control. Her implants had made her a backseat driver.

Kelsey now understood exactly how the rebels had perverted the implants during the Fall. They’d overwritten the code that dictated when the implants could make the body act. They’d removed the human host from the control loop.

That was what woke her screaming in the dark.

It took a nudge from Talbot to bring her back to the moment. She should’ve refused the second piece of pie, but to her shame, she was still hungry. Her fork started efficiently moving it to her mouth. “What makes you think this pie isn’t going straight to my thighs? I can’t ever remember gorging like this. I’m a pig.”

“Your metabolism is jacked up into overdrive. You have artificial muscles, and other things, that your body is powering. Your real muscles probably have to work hard to keep up. Think about how much energy you must’ve used during that fight. You were terrific, by the way.”

She felt her face coloring as a chill ran down her spine. “It was kind of freaky. Once the fighting started, my body began moving on autopilot. I decided to fight and my implants took control. I was like a horrified spectator while my hands were crushing flesh and snapping bones.”

“I’m not going to tell you that it’s okay,” he said flatly. “You weren’t trained for anything like that. I’m sure it was horrible for you, but you did what needed doing. You saved the day. In the end, that’s what matters. You were very brave.”

Embarrassed even further, she decided to change the subject. “I wish I could find out more about my condition, but no one alive can give me the briefing that an Imperial marine would’ve gotten in basic training.” She finished the pie and set the fork down resolutely. “I might have a listing of some of the enhancements, but I don’t have an owner’s manual.”

Talbot took a sip of his beer. “I bet you do. You just have to figure out how to access the help files. Maybe junior can help figure it out.”

He meant Carl Owlet. She wished she had a beer. All Lily allowed her now was water.

“He’s still trying to figure out how to say “hello world” in the old Empire programming language. Whatever that means.” She hunched down in her chair and sulked. “I’m never going to figure this out.”

“Doctor Stone is a fine physician, but she has one notable flaw. She’s too cautious. You need to explore your boundaries. You need to start pushing yourself. Learning your new limits.”