8/18/2023 0 Comments Winters orbitThe air in the Emperor’s rooms always felt dry and slightly too hot. Kiem rubbed a hand across his forehead unconsciously. “You have not paid any attention to the political situation, then.” The Emperor regarded Kiem as if painfully reminded of the differences between him and Prince Taam. ![]() Or no one? Forgive me, but I don’t see why we have to find him another partner.” “Ma’am, surely you need someone more”- dignified-“suitable. That didn’t mean he could stand in for Taam, Jainan’s partner of five years. Kiem had nothing to disqualify him: he wasn’t a parent, overly religious, opposed to monogamy, gender-exclusive, or embarrassingly hung up on someone else. Iskat bound treaties with marriages-always had, right from when the first colonists settled on the planet-and one of the unspoken reasons that Iskat had so many minor royals was to have representatives on hand when they were needed. Prince Taam and Count Jainan, the Thean representative, had been one of the royal family’s more intimidatingly polished couples, like the Emperor had ordered them built in a synthesizer. “But, Your Majesty-marrying Taam’s partner-” He was vaguely aware of who it was. He made himself look away from it, but unfortunately that meant looking at the Emperor. Even its presence in the room made Kiem’s brain uncomfortable. It was a color Kiem’s eyes couldn’t process, like a shard of glass that had been spat out of another dimension. Among them, under a bell jar, a small Galactic remnant glowed softly. The low table was crowded with official gifts, mainly from vassal planets: crystal plates, a bowl of significant mosses, a horrible gold clock from Iskat’s Parliament. He scrabbled for an argument as his gaze followed the movement of her fingers. “We are under significant time pressure.” ![]() “The Thean treaty must be pinned down,” she said. Kiem was too disturbed to really appreciate it. “Do you think I am unaware?” She tapped her fingertips on the lacquered surface of the low table beside her, probably giving him a second chance to remember his manners. Kiem had naturally been shocked when he heard of the flybug accident, but at the last count he’d had just over forty relatives ahead of him in the succession, mostly cousins, and he hadn’t known Taam particularly well. Taam had been Kiem’s cousin, after all, and the Imperial family was technically still in mourning. ![]() It sounded awful the moment it left his mouth. “Your Majesty, Prince Taam has only been dead a month.” He opened his mouth to say, I don’t see why anyone has to marry him, then thought better of contradicting the Emperor and shut it again. Kiem had braced for a dressing-down, not to walk out of the room engaged to a vassal diplomat he’d never even met. This was the opposite of staying out of the way. Kiem wasn’t a natural when it came to politics maybe the Emperor wanted to warn him to stay out of the way. He’d half wondered if it was about the Galactic delegation that had arrived yesterday and stirred up the palace. He was rarely summoned to an Imperial audience unless he’d done something spectacularly lacking in common sense, so when the Emperor’s aide had called him, he’d racked his brain for a cause but had come up empty-handed. The arching windows of the tower were heavily optimized to amplify the weak autumn sunlight from Iskan V the warm rays that lit the wrinkled Imperial countenance should have softened it, but even the sunlight had given that up as a bad job.Īcross from her, in a formal uniform that was only slightly crumpled, Kiem-Prince Royal of Iskat and the Emperor’s least favorite grandchild-had been stunned into silence. She sat, severe and forbidding in a high-collared tunic, in her reception room at the heart of the warren-like sprawl of the Imperial Palace. “Well, someone has to marry the man,” the Emperor said.
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