In Command, page 7
The worst part was the green sauce. It tasted sour and slimy, and I hadn’t been expecting either. At least that’s what I thought until I bit down on the hunk of whatever was swimming in the sauce. The chewy thing somehow slipped from between my teeth, and I could’ve sworn it was wiggling.
I held it on my tongue and it wiggled again.
I stifled a gag.
Nope. No. No. The sauce was not the worst part. Not even a little bit.
“No.” Roan started laughing. “I know that face. Your eyes are watering. You can’t cover that up. It’s fucking gross and I’m not trying it. Gross. Final vote.”
I would’ve tried to convince him it was actually good, but I couldn’t.
I reached for my napkin and spit it out while grabbing my water glass with the other hand. As soon as it was out, I downed the water to keep from throwing up.
It wasn’t helping.
“Bread. Bread. Bread.” I reached for the bowl. “Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up,” I muttered as I frantically shoved more and more bread into my mouth.
My father laughed loud and full.
I froze mid-chew and looked up at him. Was he crying?
Was my father laughing so hard at me that he was crying?
My mother slapped his shoulder. “Stop it, Ry.”
“My apologies,” he said through his fit of laughter. “I wish I could help it, but it was just too funny.” And the jerk just kept right on laughing. “I can’t believe you ate that.”
“Great. Next time I nearly throw up, I’ll aim your way.” I swallowed the bread and immediately shoved another bite in my mouth. “I was leaning toward you being annoyed with me and Roan,” I said around the food.
“What?” That had him sobering. “Why?”
I swallowed and tried to figure out why it wasn’t obvious. “Because we were making a game of trying out food that I think I’m supposed to like.”
“Oh, no one likes nic’natarani.” He grinned. “I think the kitchen staff must be talking about your game in the back and they’re having a bit of fun with you now.”
My mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding.” They would do that?
“No.” His cheek twitched and I got the feeling that he was trying not to laugh again and about to fail. “I’m not.”
“I... I thought this was all part of my Aunare education.” I waved to the thirty or so platters that had been shoved onto the table, covering almost every inch of it.
He cleared his throat, but it sounded like it was smothering a laugh. “You could say that.” His voice was a little higher than normal. “Nic’natarani is an adopted Aunare dish, from one of our colony planets, Shet’malan. It’s a traditional dish from the native people there, and a bit of an acquired taste.”
Shet’malan? He had to be joking. “It’s not even an Aunare dish?”
“No. No. That worm—”
I threw my hand over my mouth as I gagged. “Worm?” The word was more whimper than anything, but I had to ask.
“Yes. I’m afraid so—” He lost it then, laughing hard.
“You ate worms.” Roan was cracking up so hard I could barely make out the words.
I would’ve given him shit but I was too busy trying not to throw up. I downed another piece of bread and then gulped water, trying not to think about it too hard.
“Technically I didn’t eat it.” I said when I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to vomit. “And I spit it out, you jerk.” I balled up the napkin—the one still warm and wet with the wriggling worm inside of it—and threw it at Roan.
Who batted it away.
The napkin hit the table and flew open, revealing the half-chewed worm, which then wiggled again.
Roan screamed like a little girl. “Some of that green shit is on my hand!”
Everyone in the room—my parents, the guards, the staff waiting to take away plates—started laughing.
I couldn’t help but join in. “All of you are a bunch of assholes. I’m going to remember that no one—not one of you in this whole room—said a word while I almost ate a living worm.” I reached for the platter of ra’altan. Lorne’s sister, Nori, had been keeping me supplied with her famous pastry. We’d been saving it for dessert, but now it was mine. “And for that, I’m not sharing this.”
“Oh, come now, my daughter. Don’t be mean.” My father said the words, but he was wiping tears from his eyes.
I hugged the plate. “Mean? You want to talk about mean. Just look at that worm.” I pointed a finger at the nasty thing on the crumpled napkin.
That set off another wave of laughter.
I bit into my delicious pastry. They could laugh all they wanted, but I still wasn’t sharing. Especially when there was still a slight aftertaste of worm in my mouth.
One of the kitchen staff slipped into the room holding a mug.
I narrowed my gaze at her. “You guys are all mean.”
She tried not to smile, but I’d spent too much time in the kitchens before they kicked me out for her to take me seriously.
“Wyso.”
“If you think this will make up for worms—” I had another idea. “Maybe I should be let into the kitchens to see—”
“No, Amihanna,” my mother said. “It’s not right.”
I glanced at her. “I’m going to rule. I should get to decide where I can go and—”
My mother cleared her throat, and I knew what she meant. She wanted me to stop talking.
“Okaaay.” I drew out the word so that she’d know I got it. She didn’t need to make a thing of it. “I wouldn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable by grabbing whatever I want from the kitchen.” I took the wyso from the kitchen maid. “What’s your name?”
“Sayalin.”
“Thank you, Sayalin.”
She pressed her fist to her heart before leaving.
“You sure you don’t want to try that last dish?” My father pointed to a bowl that had a number of unidentifiable objects floating in a watery brown sauce.
I narrowed my gaze at him. “No. Especially not after you mentioned it.”
He gave the tiniest of tiny pouts, so small I almost thought I’d imagined it. “You don’t trust me?”
I gave him a look, and then I carefully pushed the bowl closer to him. “You first.”
He started laughing again, and I knew he’d joined our game of Gross or Good.
This was the first nice meal I’d had with my father. Actually, it was the first meal. We’d been in the dining room at the same time before, but never for long and not like this—from start to finish of a meal, with chitchat and laughing. If someone had told me I’d be sitting here having a good time with my father today, I’d have thought they were crazy.
But I was sitting here, having a meal—a family meal—with him and it wasn’t awful.
This was a side of my father that I hadn’t seen before. Who knew he could even laugh, let alone laugh like that? With his whole body and tears and bending over as he slapped a hand on the table.
My mother had even cracked a grin. Her gaze darted back and forth between us, and then she settled back in her chair.
I could almost see her thoughts, that this was how our family was supposed to be. How it would’ve always been if we hadn’t been separated. Her satisfaction with me and my father having fun together was something so thick and tangible that I could almost hold it in my hands.
The door whooshed open, and my father’s laughter cut off. All the fun was gone, and instead, I was instantly looking at the version of my father that I was used to.
It was almost like Lorne and his king face, and I wondered if my father was the one to teach him that trick. It was one that I should learn—because that would come in handy—but I hated that they could both do it.
I twisted in my chair to see who had caused such an extreme shift in my father and saw Captain ni Eneko entering the room.
He gave my father a quick bow before pulling out the chair beside me and sitting. He placed his tablet face down on the table and turned to me.
If the sitting next to me didn’t clue me in, the way he was looking at me did.
I gave a quick glance to Roan—asking him if he knew what was going on without actually saying anything. That was the joy of having my best friend around. I didn’t need words for him to understand me.
He gave me a slight shake of the head and then a shrug. That was his way of saying I have no idea, but we should hear him out.
I gave him a nod back, and then turned to Captain ni Eneko. “Are you just hungry or ...”
“Or.”
I took a breath, preparing for whatever came next. “What’s happened now?”
“Nothing yet, but I think I might have found a SpaceTech cell.”
“And you haven’t contacted me?” my father cut in.
“No, sir. I wanted Amihanna to confirm it for me, and I’d love her advice on how to handle them. The last group we captured—”
“All self-terminated,” my father finished for him.
“What?” The word had more of a slap to it than I wanted, but I couldn’t help it. “You’re joking.”
“No. I’m not sure how. We did get to question a few for a bit before, but—” Captain ni Eneko looked at my father. “She has more knowledge of SpaceTech than either of us, and there’s something I’m missing. I’d like these spies—if they truly are SpaceTech—to be captured and questioned.”
He had my full attention.
Captain ni Eneko placed his hand on the tablet and pressed his lips tightly together, as if he was thinking through what he wanted to say. “I’m not certain. I want you to look at the footage, and then ideally, I need to train a team to find them. I can’t tell like you can, and I know I won’t always be able to come to you.”
“Let’s not worry about that. I’m here. I can help. And I can help while training a team, if that’s what you want. But what makes you think this group you found is a cell?”
“It’s a feeling I get. Nothing more. Nothing that gives me the authority to enter someone’s residence. The people in the city are too on edge for me to not be certain without a doubt that I have the right person, and I just don’t have that level of certainty.”
I held out my hand for his tablet. “Footage, please.”
He placed it in my hand. I watched for what felt like too long, but I didn’t see anyone with the trademark SpaceTech walk. No sign of the way SpaceTech trained its people to move and scan their surroundings.
I wasn’t sure what had set off the captain’s gut, but I was pretty sure there was nothing here.
I started to shake my head, but then something caught my eye. “This one.” I paused the video and pointed out a woman. “She’s SpaceTech.”
Captain ni Eneko sighed. “That wasn’t even one of the people I’d thought. How—” He stood and faced my father. “I’m failing you. I’m failing our people. I don’t have the ability to keep our city safe. I’m formally stepping down as—”
“Absolutely not.” My father cut off Captain ni Eneko’s resignation before he could finish. “You’re doing more than what you were trained for, and you’ll learn with my daughter’s help. I’ll not hear of a resignation until you’ve completed whatever training my daughter decides you need to her satisfaction.” My father’s command left no room for negotiation. “Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” The captain sat down again. “How did I miss this woman? What am I doing wrong?” He replayed the footage. “I don’t understand. I’ve been trying to learn, but I failed.”
“You didn’t fail. You did have a SpaceTech operative on the footage you showed me. That gut feeling you had was right. Something was wrong, just not what you thought. Your gut just needs a little tweak.” I replayed the footage again.
He shook his head. “How do you even see it?”
“First off, who did you think was SpaceTech?” That started off a discussion.
My father circled around the table and took the tablet. He put the footage on one of the walls, and then we went over who he thought might be SpaceTech. Roan, my mom, and I pointed out why he was wrong. I’d forgotten how good my mom was at this, until she piped up to add in what she looked for—which was mostly about the shoulders and hands. That wasn’t what I usually paid attention to, but she was right.
We studied the woman frame by frame. When we were done, both the Captain and my father looked more confused and frustrated then when we started.
“Will you help me?” Captain ni Eneko asked with more than a touch of desperation. “I cannot abide SpaceTech spies in my city. I cannot sleep until they’re gone.”
I looked up at my father. I wasn’t sure what I was allowed to do or what I was supposed to do. All I knew was that I failed at the High Council meeting. He gave a tiny nod. At least this was something I could do.
“You in?” I asked Roan.
“Patrolling with you? Hell yeah. You know it, babe.” He grinned. “It’ll be like old times.”
“Shouldn’t you discuss it with Lorne?” my mother asked. “It sounds like it could be dangerous. I’m not sure it’s wise.”
I guessed maybe I should’ve discussed it, but I wasn’t going to. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do patrol forever. This was going to be something that I could do in my off time while I learned what I was actually supposed to be doing.
But training the Aunare police to hunt down SpaceTech’s spies was a good use of my time. This was helpful. This I could actually do and do it well.
I might be new to this queen job, but this seemed to fill at least some part of it—protecting my people. Lorne couldn’t be mad about that, could he?
No.
Or, at least I didn’t think he would be.
Chapter Eight
AMIHANNA
After I arranged to meet Captain ni Eneko in the morning, I interviewed three possible guards with Eshrin. Two I liked. One was a hard pass. But that was progress. I was going to have to build the team slowly, even if that was frustrating for everyone else. I hated that I passed on the last one—we needed every guard we could get—but something about him… I couldn’t put it into words, but even just the mention of hesitation to hire him had Eshrin hauling the poor guy out of the room.
Hauling might’ve been too strong of a word. It was more of a hustle out and then a guarded escort to the gates. I was pretty sure Eshrin was overreacting, but after Komae, I couldn’t really blame him.
The other two guards were going to have to go through a second interview with my father and Lorne for final approval, and then—if all went well—they’d start the day after.
I wanted to believe that I didn’t even need any guards, but if last week taught me anything, it was that I did need them. This was my life now. Everything was changing.
Everything. The quicker I came to terms with it, the better off I’d be.
After the interviews, I went back to the suite I shared with Lorne, and thought about wandering into the kitchens—I was hungry, and I wanted payback for the worm—but Lorne was there waiting for me. He wanted us to go out. On a date. A real, legit date.
I’d never gone on a date, and I was sure if he’d given me time to think about it, I might’ve been nervous. But I wasn’t. I wasn’t anything except excited to spend time with him and not worry about him running off to another meeting.
I hadn’t left the estate since the attack on Ta’shena, so I didn’t even question where we were going or why or what. I was just happy to sit and chat with Lorne. We weren’t even talking about anything important like the news or the war, but instead, he was telling me about a bracelet that could store power, kind of how the faksano did, and then it could be used later. He thought it could be useful to me, and honestly, it sounded too good to be true. And a cheat. But maybe it was okay to cheat a little bit, especially when it meant the people around me would be safe while I figured out how to control my power.
It wasn’t until we were approaching our destination that I realized where we were going, and then I got excited. Really, truly excited.
The ship started to slow, and I rose from my seat next to Lorne, eyes wide, taking in the view. I stepped closer to the massive vid screen on Lorne’s Sel’Ani transport ship.
The first time I’d seen Ra’mi—Ta’shena’s largest market—had been on a vid screen. I’d been in awe and that had just been footage from street cameras. In person, I wasn’t sure what I thought. I couldn’t think. I didn’t even know how to process what I was seeing.
The market was in the center of five buildings, spanning multiple levels, but that wasn’t what stood out. It was that each level was made of glowing light. I could see Aunare actually walking on beams of light. I knew there was floor there—I knew it had to be there—but I couldn’t see it.
Magic. It had to be some kind of Aunare magic.
“It’s pretty, right?” Lorne said from beside me.
I couldn’t look away from the market. “Beautiful. Please tell me we’re getting out here.” I had to walk around on those floors. I wanted to feel what it was like to walk on light.
“We’re getting out here.” His voice was soft and happy and I always wanted it to be like that.
I glanced at him and saw the joy in his eyes, and then to our guards. Tonight, I had all of my guards here with me, plus nearly two dozen of Lorne’s guards—which was only a quarter of his total guards. He had a lot more than me, and not just for now. For always. When I’d asked why, it was because he left the estate more often. He needed a bigger pool to pull from, and now I understood why.
It would be a long day for my guards, and a tired guard wasn’t a good guard.
If we could’ve left my guards at the estate and taken more of Lorne’s guards with us, that would’ve been fine with me. But my guards protected me above anyone. Lorne’s would protect him. Their jobs didn’t always align. I was okay with the risk, but Lorne wasn’t.
By tonight, my guards were going to be exhausted, but we had enough to cover us from any angle. The market and its levels of light didn’t leave a lot of places for us to hide. If someone wanted to come after us, this would definitely be the place to do it.
