Abendau's Heir (The Inheritance Trilogy Book 1) (46 page)

“You said, if she can,” he said. “I’ll stop her if I can. At some point, it’ll come down to who’s stronger. I always knew it would. Why do you think I worked so hard to get my psyche as honed, as varied, as I can? She didn’t want to face me with it. Now she has to.”

“Can you face her?” said Sonly.

“I’ll have to, and the longer we leave it, the better for us.”

“Why?” asked Lichio.

“Psyching,” explained Kare, “is partly about confidence, and how much you believe you can do it.” The baby reached for a button on his jacket, attracted by its shininess. He put his hand on hers, holding it between his thumb and forefinger, and she tightened her grip on his thumb. This was who he was fighting for, a child as easy to hurt– to kill– as those on Corun, another pawn in his mother’s war. He smiled down at her and she seemed to smile back. She could sense him. He dropped her hand. He needed to be strong enough to finish this job– then he’d get to know her, when it was safe. “Anyone else, yes, my skills are enough to get me through. But, both of you know how I’ve been. How I still am. Do you want to bet on me at the moment?” He saw their faces, and nodded. “Me, neither. Which is why I think you’re right, Lichio– she’ll contact us, and she’ll do it soon.”

He stroked the baby’s soft hair, blonde, not dark. “First Varnon blonde. I like blondes.”

“I’m glad we dealt,” Sonly said as he gave the baby back to her.

“So am I. I wouldn’t have risked her, you know. It might have looked like it, but I was careful.”

“I know you wouldn’t, Kare; that’s why I let you go as far as you did.” She looked different, holding Kerra. Softer, somehow.

“We’ve done well, so far.”

He left Sonly and Lichio and walked up the great staircase and along to the office he’d taken. The palace was obscenely opulent on a planet full of beggars and desert tribes, little more than nomads. His feet sank into the thick carpet and, when he touched the wall, the wallpaper, a rich gold and red brocade, was thick enough to trace its design. He pushed through the gilded doors at the end of the corridor and found himself in an anteroom with three rooms off. His mother’s private chambers.

The sense of her remained in them, the touch of her mind, the lack of warmth, and he focused on her. He’d never understand her: how she could do what she’d done; how this palace, with all its riches, couldn’t be enough. He thought back to holding Kerra. He’d do anything to keep her safe. Yet his mother had destroyed him, despite being inside his head and touching him as he’d touched Kerra. Despite having carried him and Karia. He could never understand her. All he could do was rid himself of her.

He went into her office and sat at the desk, reading through the reports of the attack on the palace. It was at least an hour later when there was a quiet knock on the door, and Sonly came in.

“Could you have advertised your intentions a little clearer?” she asked him, her eyes wide. “I presume these are your mother’s chambers.”

He looked around the opulent room, with its huge desk and comfortable seats. “I suppose it is a little obvious.”

She pointed to his comms unit. “In about half a minute, you’ll be getting a call.”

“The Empress?”

“The Empress.” Sonly closed the door and came over to the desk. “Remember, you’re her equal.” She gave a soft smile. “More than her equal. She’ll never come close to you.”

And yet he could feel the steel will in this room, the cold determination that ran through everything his mother did. He pushed the doubts away and lifted the comms unit, his hands shaking. He perched at the end of the desk, swinging his leg. Sonly looked at him and gave a small, tight smile, and he knew he wasn’t fooling her. The unit flashed and he took a deep breath before he flicked it so Sonly could hear it too. He put a finger to his lips and she nodded.

“Kare,” his mother said, her voice grating through the room. He should have put a visual unit in, let her see where he was; it would do no harm for her to be shaken a little, too.

“This is Colonel Varnon.”

Sonly gave him the thumbs-up and he turned away with a smile so she couldn’t distract him.

“You’ll be a general next, no doubt,” she replied. “Or perhaps you wish to be Emperor.”

“You contacted me; I assume it wasn’t to discuss my rank. Not again.”

“I recognise your authority in the city, Colonel,” she told him. “But I hold the rest of the empire. I’d like to meet with you.”

His heart thumped at her words. “How many men are on your ship?”

“A platoon.”

“I’ll let you land,” he said. He reached for the glass on his desk– her glass– and took a sip of water. “But your troops remain on your ship.”

“And your assurance?”

He glanced at Sonly, who nodded, firmly. “You have my assurance; if you show no hostility, nor will we.” He switched the comms unit off. “Well, that’s it. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. We have nothing to lose.”

“We might have to let her go.”

“We might,” she said, “but if she leaves you in Abendau she’s ceded, and we’ll announce it as such.”

“You’re putting a lot of faith in me, Sonly.”
Too much.

“That’s because I think you can do it.” She put her arms around him, pulling him close, and he hoped she didn’t feel how much he tensed, how being touched made him want to run. She smiled up at him, and it was sad enough to know that she had. “In fact, I know you can. You can do anything.”

Gods, he hoped she was right; he needed her to be right.

***

It took an hour for the Empress’ ship to appear on the screen. It must have already been nearing orbit; she must have known he’d let her land. It flew down to the planet, taking its time, and he wished he’
d been able to delay this meeting. Forever, preferably.

“I’ll meet her at the port.” Kare pulled at his uncomfortable uniform, still surprised Sonly had brought it with her. If there was anything he’
d hoped would never reappear, it was the Banned formal uniforms.

“I’ll come too, sir,” Lichio said, equally smartly dressed.

Kare shook his head. “Silom can come.”

“There should be a le Payne there.”

“Today I’ll be taking Kare’s name, Lichio,” Sonly said. “The Empress has to see he holds an equally strong claim to the Banned as he does to her empire.”

Kare looked around them: Silom, Lichio, Sonly and Sam, his team.

“Do you remember the time we were taken, Lichio? When she came to the hall and spoke to me?”

“I remember,” Lichio said, and his face looked worried, scared even. “How you managed to face her, I still don’t know.”

That’s two of us.
“Silom?” he said.

“I didn’t feel her,” Silom said.

“What?” asked Lichio, and Sam echoed it.

“I looked around the hall, and there was a girl there, one of the staff and she had some figure…” Silom started to describe the figure with his hands.

“Quite,” interrupted Kare, trying not to smile. He should have known. “Silom learned, long ago, how to keep me out; he fills his head with that sort of crap instead. How long did it take you to learn it?”

“A couple of years,” Silom said.

“And Sonly has been able to do it for years now.” He pointed to Lichio. “You’re not as good at it. And, Sam, you’ve never learned how to. More than that, you’ve been taught to open your mind to it.”

“Are you saying you could have Influenced me?” asked Lichio.

Kare smiled. “You’re a pushover, Lich, if I wanted to. Which I don’t; I like you far too much the way you are. You put so much energy into outsmarting people, too much belief in the value of logic, a good brain, instead of instinct. You couldn’t withstand a mind sweep– you saw that when you met the Empress. Not unlike our friend Phelps, actually.”

Lichio went a little pale at that. “So, should I stay out of her way?”

“And lose that excellent brain from my team?” asked Kare. “No, focus on me. Don’t look at her, watch me. Actually, all of you, no matter how strong you are, do that. She’s very different from me– she does it more, she’s very adept.”

“What does her psyche feel like?” asked Sonly.

“Sam, you tell her. You’ve been around it most.”

“She comes into your mind,” Sam said. “It’s not like a thought, exactly, more like a presence.”

“Kare does the same, when he wants to,” Sonly said.

Sam shook his head, firmly. “It’s not the same. You always know when Kare’s there, yes, and if he wants to, he can turn it on. But, with the Empress, it’s fear you feel and it’s hard to resist. Very hard. When I turned against her, it had been months since I’d seen her in person, and I had to do it to save my life, but it was still incredibly hard.”

“You were lucky,” Kare said, and then he amended it. “
We
were lucky. What you watched went against the beliefs you were brought up with; that makes it harder to hold you. Your religion probably saved us, Sam.”

Kare looked, not at the screen this time, but out of the window and he could see the ship now, a white dot against the blue sky.

“We should go,” he said.

“I’m not going down to greet her,” Sonly said. She had changed, too, out of the military-style fatigues she’d been wearing earlier, into a crisp, white, one-piece suit, tightly tailored. Her hair was up, almost severely so, and what make-up she had on was muted. It sent as strong a message as his uniform did– that she didn’t need any trappings of power, or a mask, to hide behind. She was Sonly le Payne, leader of the Banned, daughter of Darwin. She needed nothing more.

“Why not?”

She smiled. “My dear colonel, I’m the one she’ll have to deal with. Your revolution was carried out on my behalf. I gave the Banned forces the authority to recognise your command; otherwise you would merely have been the leader of a gang of slaves.”

“It was my revolution,” Kare said, “and she’s asked to meet me, not you, Sonly. I don’t want you putting yourself in the firing line for me.”

“Unless you’re planning to usurp me as well, I have the authority, not you. This is constitutional now.”

A smile spread slowly over Kare’s face, at the thought of what Sonly might do to his mother, and then he sobered. He pulled away from the rest and beckoned her to him.

“What is it?” she asked.

“The night we talked about taking the palace?” She nodded. “I said some things I didn’t mean. The Emperorship, I can’t take it. Whatever we decide– and you’re a good enough politician to force something through– it can’t be that. I can’t be her heir, take her name, not after what she’s done to me.”

“It’ll be hard– we don’t hold planets like we did– we don’t have our own army,” she said. “We’re reliant on the great families, and they’ll want a clear handover. But, I think we can force it– if you’re prepared to be president.”

“Yes, I’ll take that. Anything but the empire.” He glanced at the others and back to her. “Promise me you’ll find another way.”

She nodded, but bit her lip. “Okay, we’ll force through the presidency. I promise.”

“Thank you.” He turned to Silom. “Ready?”

“I’ll be waiting,” said Sonly. “I have a few concerns about some of the things your mother authorised. Most of all, the way she treated my colonel when she had him in her power.”

Sonly reached out and straightened his uniform, and then looked him critically up and down.

“You look good,” she said. “The hair makes you seem older, adds gravitas. And you can’t see the scar; she’ll hate that, it’s her symbol of mastery over you. Remember, Kare, confidence all the way; you deserve to be here. You won the planet, you’re married to the opposition’s dynasty, the future is yours.”

“Right,” he said, and turned to go.

“Kare,” she said.

He looked back.

“Shoes. I insist.”

A short time later, Kare watched his mother’s ship swoop down to Abendau.

“Can we impound the ship?” he murmured. “It’s beautiful.”

“I don’t think so,” Silom said. “Not while she’s our guest.”

“Damn,” Kare said, and Silom smiled.

“It’s good, you know? You. Like this. You’ll be doing impersonations next.”

“I’m bluffing.” It was the understatement of the decade. He was terrified, utterly terrified. Already his shirt was drenched with sweat, and his hair was sticking to his scalp.

As the ship opened, his mouth went dry. The Empress stood, framed in the doorway, her red dress in stark contrast to his dark uniform, her psyche casting through the people waiting and binding her escort close. He enhanced his own psyche, very slightly, and when she felt it she turned her focus on him.

“Mother,” he greeted her, and heard a small intake of surprise from one of her advisors.

“I didn’t expect you to take the time to greet me in person, Kare,” she said, her voice dripping with scorn.

“I’m here on behalf of my commander-in-chief, Sonly Varnon. She invites you to come and meet with her.”

“My invitation was for you to meet with me.”

“You can see if our commander will change her requirements, but I normally find my wife isn’t inclined to do so,” he said, and felt her pique rise as he reminded her again of Sonly’s claim on him. “This way, if you will.”

Sonly looked at Lichio and then Sam. “Remind me what they did to him,” she said.

Sam looked at Lichio, questioningly, and Lichio shrugged.

“Which bit?” asked Sam.

She drew her shoulders back. It had to be faced. “The worst you can remember.”

Sam relived for her, again, the last day in Omendegon, and as he did Sonly spared herself nothing in her imagining, seeing how Kare’s arms must have been pulling out of their sockets, the flesh sloughed, the flow of water over him as he jerked from shock after shock. She imagined Lichio and Silom, both terribly wounded, huddling in their cells listening to it, and the Empress in her full regalia watching Kare, adding to his torture by doing the one thing a psycher can’t abide: taking his mind and invading it, touching all the hidden corners and tormenting it.
I will do whatever it takes to make her pay for what she did to him.

At the sound of the door opening Sonly looked at the Empress, straight in her eyes.
You will not take me
. The Empress’ focus turned to her and Sonly was, briefly, affected by it, before she pulled herself straighter. She’d lived with a psycher long enough to know how to stand against it.
Bring it on, you bitch.