

J.R. McGinnity

The Emperor's Daughter

Copyright © 2013 by J.R. McGinnity and Green Dale Publishing

jrmcginnity.com

Published by Green Dale Publishing

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be

reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express

written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief

quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and events are a

product of the author's imagination and any resemblance to any person,

living or dead, is coincidental.
Table of contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

##  Chapter SeventeenChapter One

Lakshmi brushed her long black hair until it shone under the light of the lamp hanging in her room. She studied her reflection in the mirror she had been given the year before. It was one of the finest in the palace, with no bubbles to mar the surface. The mirror was exquisite for its size, and reflected her even complexion back at her.  
As a palace concubine, the gifts she was given were as much a mark of her value to the emperor as the time she spent with him. And she spent more time with him than most.

Satisfied with her hair, she went to her wardrobe and selected the day's clothes. Lakshmi selected dusky red pantaloons and a billowy, nearly see-through blouse of the same color over startling black. A black net with gold settings went over her hair, and a thin veil hid lips painted the same color as her clothes. Set as it was just above her nose, it revealed rich brown eyes accented with bold black lines from the kohl she had smudged there.

She was going to leave the palace, and it wouldn't do to go unprepared. Lakshmi had learned at a young age that it was important to always present herself as she wanted to be perceived. Growing up in court had taught her how to do that, and it was second nature now, nearly instinctual.

Lakshmi gave herself one last look-over in the treasured mirror before leaving her room. There were guards stationed just a door down from hers—they waited outside of the emperor's door—and she gave them a nod and a coy smile that they just might see under her diaphanous veil, but surely could see reflected in her liquid brown eyes.

The guards stood straighter, puffing out their chests, and Lakshmi almost laughed. They were young and new to guarding the emperor's private quarters. Dealing with the concubines so closely was still a novel concept.

She dismissed the guards as unimportant as she made her way down the corridor, hardly noticing the ornate runner that covered the marble floor. The emperor made sure that his palace lacked for nothing, as his father and grandfather had before him. Its splendor was without contest in all the kingdoms.

Lakshmi had vague memories of living in a small house in a rural part of the empire with her mother and several others. It had had none of the grandeur of the palace, yet she remembered being happy there. But her mother had not been happy. Her mother had missed court life, had missed being waited on, and had opted to come out of hiding and return to her life here in hopes that she could regain her position and once again enjoy the riches she had known as a young woman.

Lakshmi wondered if her mother would have made a different choice had she known how it would ultimately turn out. Somehow, she didn't think so.

It had been some time since Lakshmi had thought of her mother, but now was not the time for such reflection. She was going to the market to select new fabric for a special gown the emperor wanted her to have. Needlework was one of Lakshmi's skills, and she insisted on selecting fabric herself rather than have maids select it for her.

Those at the palace supposed she preferred to choose her own cloth because she refused to work with anything she considered inferior, but in reality she was looking for an excuse to escape the palace, even if it meant entering the hot, dusty world of the surrounding city.

"Are you ready, Lakshmi?" a large guard at the side door asked. He was a good foot taller than Lakshmi, and almost as wide as the door he guarded. Lakshmi knew the scimitars he wore at his waist had gotten good use in the years before he began working in the palace, and had not been idly sheathed since.

"Yes." Lakshmi liked Creb, but she gave him no more than a quick glance. It wouldn't do for the emperor's favored concubine to pay attention to mere guards.

"The market?" Creb was often assigned to accompany the concubines, especially Lakshmi, when they chose to leave the palace, and she knew it was something he found slightly amusing after years as a soldier in the Army of the Sun.

"Silk Street," Lakshmi confirmed. She wished she could wander the market alone and unnoticed. There were areas that were not meant for the pampered and wealthy, and Lakshmi wanted to visit them. But they were not places for a palace concubine, and Creb would never allow her to stray.

On this day, Silk Street was filled with the typical crowds of people. Lakshmi saw one of the palace seamstresses who often worked on clothing for the other concubines looking over various bolts of cloth. Lakshmi came up beside her and began examining the array of silks. Some she lingered over; others she dismissed quickly. The proprietor of the shop saw her, and as he knew her and was eager to keep her custom, he bowed and offered to bring her more selections, touting the value of his goods in a melodious voice and assuring her someone would help her shortly.

Lakshmi waited off to the side, knowing she would be taken care of soon enough. Though she loved her time away from the palace, it always made her anxious. But she hid her anxiety, never breaking her calm demeanor or demonstrating any desire to rush. Since it would seem strange to ask for such opportunities to leave the palace and then cut them short, Lakshmi made every pretense of being slightly bored. Her face behind the diaphanous veil was smooth; her bottom lip slightly protruding as she looked around the room.

Soon enough the proprietor's wife came out of the back room and spotted Lakshmi. "Goodness, Lady Lakshmi, I didn't know you were here!" the woman exclaimed, hurrying up to Lakshmi and curtsying so that her bottom nearly touched the ground. "How can I be of assistance? I hope you didn't have to wait long. Is there anything I can get for you?"

"I'm fine," Lakshmi said with a smile for the good woman. "Perhaps we can go into the back room and look at some silk?"

The woman nodded and escorted Lakshmi to the back. There was a large selection of silk, the bolts as fine as any out on the floor, and many of them better. "Here you are, Lady. Are you sure I can't bring you anything?"

The woman looked hurt by the thought that she could not be of more assistance, and Lakshmi consented to ask for some chilled melo juice if the woman had any.

While the woman went to fetch the juice, Lakshmi toured the room. Silks of all colors were displayed here, in private, for the most discerning customers. She ran her fingers over various bolts, feeling the weight and texture of each. Finally she came to a bolt resplendent in purples and reds and oranges all mixed together to create a sunset of colors. The silk was light, almost translucent, and Lakshmi immediately thought of a design for a gown.

By the time the woman had come back with Lakshmi's drink, Lakshmi had made her decision.

She sipped quietly as the woman measured, cut, and wrapped the silk, chatting all the while about the quality and how fetching it would look with Lakshmi's glossy hair and golden skin. "You'll be striking," the woman promised. "Such a spectacular choice."

"Thank you." Lakshmi carried the fabric to the front room and handed it to Creb. The woman told her husband the details of the purchase, and Creb and the proprietor handled the monetary transaction.

Business done, Creb escorted Lakshmi back to the palace in silence, sensing her pensive mood. Lakshmi usually had a few words for the guards despite the distance she must maintain as one of the emperor's concubines, but today she could not summon the energy to talk to Creb.

Instead she enjoyed the heat, the smell of humanity that so many of those in the palace turned their noses up at and tried to block with their perfumes and smelling salts. The sun was glaringly bright, so different from the filtered light that came in through the gauzy drapes in the palace.

Lakshmi remembered living outside the palace, in the heat and the smell and the bright sunlight. She wouldn't say that she would trade her life now for that one. She had been a child then, and her memories were a child's memories, but she wished there were more opportunities for her to slip away from the palace and experience the streets of the city as a normal woman would.

Just once she would like to go out unguarded, unfettered by convention and responsibility. But that was not to be. Her path had been decided years ago.

## Chapter Two

Lakshmi awoke suddenly, instantly aware that it was still the middle of the night. She lay silently on the soft, down-filled mattress, trying to ascertain what had woken her. The door between her chamber and the emperor's was still closed, and the bolt on the door that led to the corridor was in place.

Yet something was amiss.

She waited another moment; then heard a sound that had her sitting up straight in her bed. The sound had come from the roof, and she knew it was not one of the cats that worked to keep the palace free of mice. Whatever had made such a noise was much larger in size, and much less stealthy.

Lakshmi reached over and pulled her white dressing robe off of a nearby hook. She slipped it on, making sure to tie the belt tightly so that the silk robe wouldn't slip open. If there was trouble on the roof, she didn't have the time to get fully dressed.

After grabbing the knife off her bedside table, Lakshmi headed out to the balcony. She kept to the shadows, glad that the waxing moon was still only a thin crescent in the sky. Her white robe was too revealing as it was.

She heard the noise again, louder now that she was outside. A glance up showed the silhouettes of three men creeping along the roofline. They were passing over her bedroom now and were heading in the direction of the emperor's balcony.

No one would be foolish enough to try to rob the palace, and Lakshmi knew with grim certainty that the men she was looking at were assassins, not thieves. Assassination attempts were too common of late, something that made Lakshmi's position all the more important. She tucked the knife into the belt of her robe and stood on tiptoe to reach the edge of the roof. With supreme effort she pulled herself up, struggling to be quiet as she clambered onto the roof.

Her feet, bare of even her satin slippers, were silent against the tiles as she crept towards the men. They sensed her before she was upon them, and the one in the rear lunged at her. Lakshmi dodged, kicking out instinctively, and the man fell over the edge of the roof. He missed the balconies and landed on the street four stories below.

Lakshmi would report him to the guards so that he could be removed before any of the peasants saw him. At the least he would have to be stripped of any identifying markers. It was important that people not know just how contentious the emperor's grip could be, or how many people of influence and means wished to see him dead.

But reporting the intruders could wait. The other two men had all of Lakshmi's attention for the moment, and they were more wary after their friend's demise.

She pulled her knife out of her belt and headed toward them.

Her steps were calm and steady, her movements precise. The knife was only for insurance: her hands and feet were all she needed.

When the men were subdued, one unconscious and the other temporarily incapable of moving after a well-placed chop to the neck, she cut apart one of their shirts to tie them up. Perched on a roof as they were, they would be stupid to try and wriggle free of the bonds.

Lakshmi inspected them one last time before slipping down onto her balcony and into her room. She hurriedly changed into a simple dress and donned a veil before heading into the corridor. There were guards outside of the emperor's door, but none she knew and trusted with the information she had, so she ignored them and continued walking.

She made her way down to the guards' quarters by way of back staircases, and when she came to the door of the captain's room she knocked.

"What?" a sleep-roughened male voice demanded from within.

"It's Lakshmi," she said just loud enough that the man could hear. She couldn't risk anyone else finding her down in the guard's quarters. As bad as any of the men learning the truth would be, seeing one of the emperor's concubines sneaking into a soldier's room would be worse.

The door opened and the man ushered her inside. He had donned a pair of britches and a course shirt that he had failed to button all the way. Course black stubble studded his face, and a sleep line creased one cheek.

Despite his disheveled appearance, his dark brown eyes were alert.

"What's wrong?"

"Three men tried to sneak into the emperor's rooms," Lakshmi reported. "One of them fell off of the roof. The other two are trussed up on the roof in the space between my balcony and the emperor's."

The captain nodded. "I will see to them," he said.

"Very well."

Lakshmi stood aside as the captain checked that the hallway was clear; then she slipped out of the room and back upstairs to her chambers. Once again she evaded the notice of the emperor's guards.

Securely back in her room, Lakshmi bolted the door that led to the corridor, then crossed to the door that connected her room to the emperor's. She eased it open slowly, carefully, so as to make not to make a sound. It led into his inner sitting chamber, and she crossed the marble floor that was covered in lush carpets even more ornate than the ones in her own room.

Lakshmi opened the door to his bedchamber with great care. The drapes were drawn in this room, but Lakshmi could just make out two figures in the emperor's bed.

His wife or one of his other concubines, Lakshmi thought, and was reassured that the emperor was, for tonight, safe. She crept back out, shutting each door quietly behind her, and returned to her own bed.

It had been awhile since anyone had gotten as close to the emperor as those three men had tonight. Lakshmi was grateful she was a light sleeper, and the emperor saw fit to grant her the room adjacent to his own, despite the talk keeping a concubine so close sometimes garnered.

But Lakshmi was more than a pampered concubine. The emperor had decided some years earlier that he would rather be conspicuous than dead, and as his bodyguard, Lakshmi worked to keep it that way.

Attending the emperor in court was something Lakshmi had come to view as a form of entertainment, if not a form she would readily choose. Although she was not called to do it every day, it was a frequent enough occurrence that she had learned quite a bit about courtly functions and the law. Over the years it had revealed some interesting information about the emperor as well.

Today, two supplicants had been granted an audience with the emperor. From her position on the pillow beside and behind the emperor's throne, she watched them approach, noting any movements that might be suspicious or threatening.

But there was nothing threatening about these two; they looked more broken than anything.

The man walked in front, his clothes fraying and shabby, the colors fading. His wife was behind him, her veil in place, her own clothes nearly as poor as her husband's. Lakshmi felt pity stir in her breast for the woman. Clothes, the luxury of them that being a palace concubine afforded her, were something she cherished as she cherished fine wine. The woman's clothing was thicker, courser, and—Lakshmi was sure—hotter than the silks Lakshmi herself wore.

"Glorious Emperor, I have a request," the man said after making a deep bow. His voice wavered, and he avoided looking at the emperor. His eyes landed briefly on Lakshmi before skittering away, as though even those outside the palace knew better than to gaze too long upon the emperor's women.

The emperor gestured with one bejeweled hand. "Go ahead."

"Your Imperial Majesty, times are hard," the man said. "I work as a laborer to support my family, but food and clothing is costly."

Lakshmi couldn't see the emperor's face, but the curt nod of his head was not a good sign. The peasant was not fawning, and though his plight was sorry, it was not uncommon.

"I came here today in the hopes that I could receive some aid from the palace," the man said, staring down at the hands gripped together at his waist. Lakshmi imagined that it was hard for a man to admit that he could not take care of his family. It would be a severe blow to the pride.

"You believe that you are deserving of such aid? More deserving than others that face the same difficulties?"

The man shook his head. "No, Your Imperial Majesty. I do not believe that I am more deserving than others. I come before you humbly, asking only for what is necessary to support my family. We have five children."

Lakshmi sensed that the emperor was about to deny the request, and she made a soft sound, little more than the sigh, that could not be heard beyond the emperor's throne.

The emperor heard it, though, and motioned her forward.

She brought with her his goblet of heady wine and offered it to him. Her fingers slid against his when he accepted the goblet, and she offered him a smile, small and secretive, reserved just for him. "Emperor, I believe that you should consider this man's request," she said softly. It probably appeared to those watching that they were sharing the soft words that often passed between the emperor and his favored concubines.

No one would guess that a mere woman would take interest in court matters, especially not a woman such as Lakshmi, a woman kept for the value she had in bed.

"Why?" he asked. "Times are hard for everyone. These peasants are no different than all of the others."

Lakshmi bowed her head. "Yes, but these people came to you requesting help. They are a way for you to show your beneficent nature. Tales of your generosity will doubtless spread beyond the palace walls."

The emperor's brows furrowed in a frown that he would not let touch his lips. "And then everyone will try to get handouts from the palace."

"Not all supplicants are allowed to see you," Lakshmi pointed out. "The guards and clerks keep most of them away without the people ever knowing the reason why."

"Very well." The emperor nodded. "I will give them some money."

A sound of objection escaped Lakshmi's throat, drawing a hard look from the emperor. Since it was too late to simply agree, Lakshmi risked his anger and explained. "I believe it would be better were we to provide them with some food from the kitchens, and perhaps some of the cloth bought for the servants' livery. It will save their pride, and ensure they do not spend their money on the wrong things."

Although they looked the trustworthy sort, Lakshmi knew well the capacity for lying that most people had. For all she knew this couple had no children. Peasants rarely had the gumption to lie to the emperor in such a way, but it was not unheard of. This way, it should be apparent whether they were getting food and cloth to feed and clothe five children rather than hoping for money to be spent on gaming and drinking

"Fine," the emperor said crossly, motioning her back to her cushion with an impatient flick of his wrist.

Lakshmi retreated and sat down with the graceful motions of long practice. The emperor came across as kind and giving as he granted the request for aid. He could be avuncular in manner when he so wished, something that never ceased to amaze Lakshmi, who had seen him in his black rages and knew he would not have given charity to these people without her prompting.

A servant came in to show the couple to the kitchen stores, and the emperor rounded on Lakshmi.

"How dare you interfere with my decisions!" he growled, loud enough that even if the guards could not pick up the exact words, they would understand the tone.

Lakshmi ducked her head meekly. "I apologize, Your Imperial Majesty. I should not have interfered. It was not my place."

"You may be a bodyguard, and not the concubine everyone supposes you to be," the emperor said more quietly, "but don't you forget that you are only a woman. Court matters are not for the likes of you."

"I will remember," Lakshmi said, looking up at him from beneath her thick fringe of black lashes. "Pity welled up in me when I saw them. I could not help myself."

The emperor snorted and settled back into his throne. "More wine," he said, his temper apparently abated. Lakshmi brought it to him, following it with a piece of bread and two slices of the rich goat cheese the emperor favored.

Sated, the emperor ordered the guards to show in the next party wanting his attention, and Lakshmi forced herself to sit quietly and watch what happened. The emperor sometimes allowed her to play a role in his rulings, but other times he would grow angry. Lakshmi had been struck more than once for stepping outside the bounds the emperor perceived as being hers.

The excuse of being overcome with pity had worked for today and allowed her to escape the back of his hand. The emperor easily believed that women were weak and ruled by emotions rather than logic and brains, but Lakshmi doubted she could get by with no more than angry words twice in one day. She may not be a concubine in truth, but that did not mean she was granted more leeway than the women who shared the emperor's bed.

Often, it seemed that she was given less.

Her mind drifted over the rest of the court proceedings. Many of them were boring, bringing news from bankers or some of the distant kingdoms that made up the empire. She studied everyone who came in, but no one made any moves that could be construed as threatening, and she let them go about their way.

Sometimes, the emperor would say or decide something she disagreed with, but she made no attempt to dissuade him. She was there only to provide him with food and drink, and perhaps a brief distraction between petitioners. Nothing else.

The afternoon stretched on, and when Lakshmi was finally released it was with relief that she returned to her rooms. She changed out of the green gown she had donned that morning and into a simple yellow outfit of comfortably worn pantaloons and a loose wrap.

She didn't bother with her veil, as she would be staying in the women's quarters for the rest of the evening. Having dinner in her room was not something she often did, but tonight it was something she desired. She rang for a servant, and a smiling girl of about sixteen appeared, ready to serve. Lakshmi knew she must be new to the palace, and judged her not pretty enough for the emperor to lure to bed.

It was for the best. The emperor had more than enough concubines to entertain him as it was.

"I would like some supper brought to me in my rooms," Lakshmi told the girl.

"What would you like?" the girl asked.

Lakshmi couldn't place the accent, but the slightly more prominent bridge of the nose suggested somewhere to the north. Lakshmi knew that the courts in the northern kingdoms were not the same as the ones in the south, and wondered if the girl really understood Lakshmi's position—or assumed position—as the emperor's concubine.

"Tell the cook the meal is for Lakshmi," she said. "She knows what I prefer."

"Right away," the girl said, exiting Lakshmi's room with that same bright smile on her face.

Lakshmi could only shake her head. Such enthusiasm in another could be grating after a long day filled with tedious affairs.

The night ahead would be a welcome change. The emperor had no plans tonight, and Lakshmi intended to stay in her chambers reading. It was one of her loves, and something she too rarely allowed herself to indulge in.

~~~

A commotion outside her room broke into Lakshmi's reading. It sounded like two women arguing, and likely presented no threat to the emperor, but pretending not to hear the fight was not an option that sat comfortably with her.

With some irritation Lakshmi marked her place in the book with a blue ribbon and set it aside, climbed out of her comfortable chair and, after donning a veil in case there was a man out there she hadn't heard, headed into the corridor to see what the problem was.

When she drew back the heavy bolt and swung open the wooden door, she found that the argument between the two women in the wide corridor had progressed from verbal abuse to physical fighting. Since neither was trained in the martial arts, their fighting was consisting at the moment of hair-pulling and ineffectual punches and slaps. It would have been funny, but Lakshmi knew that eventually one of them would get mad enough to cause some real damage. A woman did not need to be trained to leave deep scratches on another's face or claw at her eyes.

"That's enough!" Lakshmi shouted. The women didn't so much as glance up.

The younger of the two had a hank of the older woman's graying black hair, and she gave it a vicious twist, causing the other woman to screech and swipe out with her long fingernails. Red blood blossomed on the other's neck.

Lakshmi looked around and saw one of those damn guards leaning back on the emperor's door, making no move to help with the situation. "Is he in there?" she asked.

The guard shook his head.

"Then come help me." Lakshmi wasn't about to wade into the fight alone. Short of revealing her fighting skills, there was nothing she could do to end the fight herself. She was slighter in stature than either of the women, and could not stop the fight using the same tactics they were using.

The guard seemed a bit affronted to be ordered about by a concubine, but he conceded. He grabbed the younger of the women and Lakshmi grabbed the older one around the waist to keep her from following the other and continuing the fight.

She felt the bunch and flex of the woman's muscles as she tried to escape. The clothing she wore was made of roughly spun fabric that probably itched horribly, and it made Lakshmi conscious of the silk caressing her own skin.

Separated from her opponent, the older woman turned on Lakshmi. "Let go of me, you whore!" she spat.

Lakshmi released her, taking a step back. She didn't recognize the woman, though she wore the livery of a servant. The woman was in her middle years, with wrinkles lining her face and deep grooves that formed brackets around her mouth. The marks of bitterness told Lakshmi that life had not been kind to her, and had made her unkind in turn.

"This is not the place to have an argument," Lakshmi said. "Had the emperor been in his rooms, he would have been displeased at the disturbance."

The woman made a rude sound. Lakshmi thought the woman might have spat again were it not her job to clean the marble floors and the plush rugs that covered them. "Don't tell me about proper behavior," the servant said. "You're a whore for the emperor, getting fine clothes for the time you spend on your back."

Lakshmi slapped her across the face hard enough to cause the woman's head to whip around.

It had been instinctual, not carefully planned as she sometimes felt her every move was, and she tensed. But all she saw in the woman's eyes was venom, and there was no suspicion in the faces of the guard or the younger woman.

"I am going to tell you to leave," Lakshmi said, struggling for calm. It was not the first time she had heard such comments, but rarely had they been delivered with such hate. "If you go quietly, I will not report this incident."

"Bitch," the woman rasped. "Just wait until your beauty fades and the emperor finds a younger woman to replace you in his bed. See how long you remain his favorite then. You will be no better than me, cleaning up after women who think they are better than you because a man dresses them in silks." Her grin was mean, revealing a gap where a tooth was missing. "Worse than me, because you earn your living on your back and have no skill beyond spreading your legs."

Lakshmi was shaken, but she hid it well. "I want you out of my sight," she said coolly. "Get out of this corridor, or I will see that you are out of this palace by morning."

It was clear the servant was unsure just how much power Lakshmi might possess, and with one last venomous look she left. The other woman had left some time before, but the guard was still there, watching.

"I will return to my room, if you do not need me," she said, looking away from the guard in an attempt at modesty. Although there was a hierarchy amongst the concubines, and as the "favorite" it would be unsurprising that she would have a temper, she had always tried to seem mild around others.

The more people knew about her true nature, the more they might speculate about her actual role in the palace.

"Would you like me to report the incident to the emperor?" the guard asked. Lakshmi did not know what to make of the compassion she saw in his eyes. It was not the look she had learned to expect from men.

"No. Do not concern him with so small a matter. We are mere women." She turned and went back into her room, but her book no longer held any appeal.

She elected to go to bed, and tried her best to forget the incident in the corridor and the servant's stinging words. After slipping under the thin cotton covers, Lakshmi stared up at the black ceiling. It was a long time before her mind quieted enough to allow her sleep.

## Chapter Three

Lakshmi sat cross-legged on the floor, working on the hem of her new gown. The sunset silk was gorgeous, and the way it fell over the mannequin, draping softly over the curves, was part of the reason Lakshmi was working so hard to complete it. Lakshmi was sure that once the gown was finished it would be an outfit to outshine all others.

Lakshmi minutely adjusted one of the pins, and was just standing up to get a different view of the gown when there was a knock on the door. "What is it?" she asked irritably. This was the first time she had been free in the last two days, and she planned to spend it sewing.

"I've a letter from the cook," a woman's voice called out.

Lakshmi opened the door and thought she recognized the older woman. She was a scullery maid who had been employed at the palace after the death of her husband and eldest son. Now she was apparently a messenger as well.

"The cook?" Lakshmi asked with all appearance of being bored, though her pulse had sped up at the news.

The cook was one of the few in the palace that knew Lakshmi was not a true concubine. If something was wrong with the emperor, the cook would be in a position to inform Lakshmi of it covertly. Gossip moved quickly in the kitchens, and no one watched the cook's correspondence, especially not in a crisis.

"Yes. I don't know what it is."

Lakshmi held out her hand and the rolled and sealed message was handed over. Lakshmi wanted to send the woman away, but she broke the seal and read it in front of her, as though she might wish to send a reply.

The messenger might have been sent by the cook, but it was the captain of the guard who had written the letter. His handwriting was as firm and no-nonsense as the man himself.

Lakshmi.

News has just come to light that a prince, Prince Roland, is due to arrive at the palace in the next few days.

This is the first I or the other guards have heard of it. What say you?

I know nothing of this prince, but the emperor must be under closer guard than ever.

Captain Garth.

"One moment while I prepare a message of my own," Lakshmi said, keeping her tone light and easy as she crossed to her writing desk. She pulled out a fine quill and a bottle of ink. Her answer, written at the bottom of the original message, was succinct. It stated that she knew nothing about the impending arrival of any royalty but would investigate the matter immediately. Then she rolled the message back up, sealed it with wax, and gave it back to the maid.

"Deliver this to the cook straight away," Lakshmi said.

"Of course." If the woman thought anything strange was going on, she knew better than to ask. Perhaps, Lakshmi thought, a hard life and the death of loved ones burned the curiosity out of you.

Something else was burning inside Lakshmi, however. Anger that the emperor had not informed her of this Prince Roland's arrival ate at her gut. She was his personal bodyguard, charged with defending him to the last. If he failed to inform her of a possible threat, how could she protect him?

There had been an increasing number of assassination attempts on the emperor's life in recent years, and although Lakshmi and the guards had been unable to gather any proof, everyone was sure that the assassins had been sent by rulers of the empire's various kingdoms in hopes that with the emperor's death, one of them would become the successor.

For all she and the captain knew, Prince Roland could have been staging these assassination attempts. He could be coming to the palace to see his plan through personally!

Lakshmi walked into her bedroom and grabbed a veil, not bothering to check how it matched with her clothes. She affixed it to her head scarf and left her rooms in search of the emperor. It was an effort not to run, and she could not quite manage the lazy, swaying walk she usually employed, but she had more important things to worry about than looking the part of an alluring concubine.

When she finally found the emperor in one of his gaming rooms, her temper could no longer be contained.

"Why didn't you tell me a prince was coming here?" she demanded angrily, remembering at the last moment to keep her voice low enough that it would not be heard by the guards standing in the hall.

The emperor lifted his head and pierced her with his hawk-like glare. His black eyes grew even darker with anger, and his hooked nose made him resemble a bird of prey. "Who do you think you are, to come in and speak to me that way?"

"Your Impe—"

"Silence! You come in here and speak to me, your emperor, as if it is you in control. That is unacceptable."

"I apologize," Lakshmi said, lowering her eyes. She wished she could go back and start again. It had been a long time since she had let her temper get in the way of her duty.

"You think that because you are not a true concubine you have power. You are nothing more than I allow you to be, Lakshmi. If you are not careful, even the power you have now will be eliminated. You will be forced out of the palace and onto the street." He smiled, the expression somehow making his face look crueler. "Or you could become a true concubine," he said. "I would allow you in my bed."

Lakshmi barely suppressed a shudder. It was not just the look in his eyes, but the thought. She had knowledge he knew nothing of, and it made the thought of lying with the emperor repulsive.

"I apologize most sincerely," Lakshmi said again. "I will not speak out of turn. I am only concerned about your safety, and my concern overruled my common sense. Please, allow me to make amends."

The emperor seemed to consider her words for a moment, and though he didn't look wholly appeased, he must have decided to let it rest for the time being. "I realize that you take you position as a bodyguard seriously," he told Lakshmi. "Had I known of the prince's imminent arrival before this morning, I would have informed you sooner."

Lakshmi thought about pointing out the fact that the emperor had not informed her at all, and that it was Captain Garth who had done so, but she knew now. The manner in which she had come to know was no longer relevant. "I didn't realize that the news was so recent," Lakshmi said.

Temper sparked once more in the emperor's eyes, but this time it was not directed at Lakshmi. "Prince Roland did not see fit to inform me that he was coming," the emperor spat. "He did not send a messenger ahead of his party until two days ago, and the messenger has only just arrived."

Lakshmi kept quiet while her mind raced. Protocol demanded that all nobles who planned to visit the palace send a rider weeks in advance. Due to the size of the empire, it was not reasonable that the nobles wait for a response before beginning their journeys, but it was considered courteous to inform the palace of the expected guest in time for arrangements to be made.

For a prince not to have done so was troubling. Lakshmi wondered what he was planning.

"I am unfamiliar with this Prince Roland," Lakshmi said. "Is he not from one of the southern kingdoms?"

In Lakshmi's time at the palace serving as the emperor's bodyguard, she had seen many of the nobles of the neighboring kingdoms in court. Those she hadn't seen, she had at least heard about. Prince Roland, however, was unknown to her.

"No. He is from Ugarth, far to the north." The emperor rested his hands over his protruding stomach. "Roland is the youngest son of King Henry Gray."

Lakshmi shook her head. "I do not recall hearing of the Grays," she said. She walked around behind the emperor and put her hands on his back, kneading his shoulders gently.

"They rule a small kingdom," the emperor said, waving his hand in a dismissive fashion. "Henry Gray is a good king, or was in my father's time. He was king already when I was a boy, with a son of his own."

Lakshmi nodded, though the emperor could not see her, and moved her hands to work on the knots just beneath his shoulder blades.

"Henry had six sons, I believe, though two are dead." She thought she detected some envy in his voice and concentrated more fully on the massage. The emperor sighed softly as her gentle ministrations relieved the tension in his neck. The training that had taught her the pressure points that could paralyze a person had also taught her how to cause relaxation. Lakshmi used that knowledge now, in hopes that the emperor would reveal more of what he knew if he was relaxed and not brooding about his own lack of sons.

"Why would the youngest son be coming here?" Lakshmi asked.

The emperor shrugged. "I do not know. Perhaps he wishes to season himself at my court. Or perhaps he hopes I will arrange a marriage for him. One of his older brothers recently married a princess from Ogden. Do you know where that is?"

"Yes," Lakshmi lied. She knew Ogden to be another northern kingdom, although she did not know if it bordered Ugarth or not. "Was the match advantageous?" she asked.

"Of course. I arranged it." Lakshmi could hear the satisfaction in the emperor's voice. "Ugarth and Ogden have sometimes been at odds with each other. This marriage will help to prevent the infighting."

"Will this prince now become king of Ogden?" Lakshmi asked.

"No. The princess has an older brother, and her father is still alive. I married her to the second son, and he stands to gain a land and a title in Ogden once his father-in-law dies and the brother takes the throne. He would not have risen so high had he stayed in Ugarth."

"You are a wise ruler," Lakshmi told him, giving him the praise he craved. "You've made your subjects happy, and solved a problem between two kingdoms without bloodshed."

"Yes, I have. Now we must see what Roland Gray wants. Perhaps I will marry him to someone from the southern kingdoms," he mused. "No one too powerful, mind, but I wouldn't mind keeping a closer watch on some of those northerners."

"Of course," Lakshmi agreed. She continued her massage for a few more minutes, then broke contact.

"I regret I must see to some arrangements before the prince's arrival," she told the emperor.

"Yes. I will want you in court with me until the prince arrives. Meet me there tomorrow morning."

"Of course." Lakshmi bowed and left, making a mental list of all the precautions that needed to be taken before the prince's arrival.

## Chapter Four

After a late breakfast, Lakshmi decided to spend some time in the gardens. Outside the palace, such necessities as water were at a premium, but for the emperor's pleasure a verdant garden was kept inside the palace walls. Walking in the garden was one of Lakshmi's favorite activities.

Unlike the hot, dusty streets of the city, the garden was filled with luscious vegetation. The smells here were not those of the sweating, desperate people that could be found in the streets, but the sweet scent of nectar and the smell of real soil, not the sand that so often covered the ground in this part of the empire.

Lakshmi strolled down the winding stone paths, stopping to smell a flower with a pink, trumpet-like blossom that came up to her waist.

"Ah," she sighed, enjoying the fragrance. She wished that this smell could be bottled into a perfume. It smelled sweeter than even the finest perfume available to the emperor and his women.

"Lakshmi."

Lakshmi started and turned around to find one of the guards standing there.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. The man did not look happy, and her immediate thought was that there had been an attempt on the emperor's life. An attempt that she had not been there to stop.

If he had been killed while she spent time walking among the flowers...

"The emperor has requested that you go attend to his wife."

Lakshmi blinked. "What?"

"Emperor Samarth has requested that you attend to his wife," the guard repeated stiffly.

Lakshmi could understand his manner now. It was insulting to send a guard to deliver messages to a mere concubine, even if she was a favorite of the emperor's. "Is she in her quarters?" Lakshmi asked.

"Yes."

"Very well. You can assure the emperor that I am seeing to his wife, if he asks."

The guard said nothing, just turned and walked off.

~~~

Lakshmi arrived at the door to Esma's quarters and knocked. A soft voice called for her to enter, and Lakshmi let herself in. The emperor's wife sat on a settee near the balcony. Close enough to enjoy the fresh air but out of the harsh southern sun.

"The emperor sent me," Lakshmi said.

"Yes." Esma motioned toward a table with a large paper fan on it. "The heat is stifling today."

Lakshmi was surprised, but she didn't show it as she picked up the fan and began wafting air over Esma. The fan riffled the woman's hair slightly, and she turned her face toward it and sighed.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Lakshmi asked after several moments of silence in which she fanned Esma. It was not the first time she had been asked to serve Esma, but that was usually in the presence of the emperor.

"No," Esma said, "this is all I require of you."

Lakshmi nodded and continued fanning. She studied Esma surreptitiously. The woman was not that much older than Lakshmi herself. Her black hair had an almost blue sheen to it, and her face was marred only by the thinnest of lines fanning out from her eyes.

It was a face made for smiles and laughter, despite the cool looks she sent Lakshmi's way.

"You were in court with my husband the other day," Esma said suddenly, surprising Lakshmi so that she forgot to fan for a moment.

"Yes." Lakshmi remembered herself and resumed the calm motions, though her heart was beating somewhat erratically. She did not fear what Esma might do, but she had been caught off guard by the question.

Esma rarely questioned any of the concubines about their activities. Though the concubines might fight amongst themselves, the emperor's wife was above that. Even if Esma should fall out of favor, she would never be cast aside as a concubine might.

"Do you find it strange, that he should request your presence and not mine?" Esma asked.

Lakshmi knew that one of the reasons she had been there was because she was a bodyguard, but other concubines were known to attend the emperor in court as well. "You are His Imperial Majesty's wife," Lakshmi said. "You need not spend hours a day providing the emperor with food and drink, and listening to the boring details of court."

Esma shook her pretty head. "Do you think it bothers me, that he requests your presence and not mine?"

Lakshmi bit the inside of her plush lower lip. "I do not know, Lady Esma."

"Do you know what I was doing while you were plying my husband with wine and listening to the problems of those outside the palace?"

"No."

"I was in the gardens with my daughter."

Lakshmi closed her eyes quickly. Ajuni was a beautiful girl, and she felt a tug of envy that Esma had been able to spend uninterrupted hours with Ajuni while Lakshmi herself was with the emperor. She knew it was irrational—Esma was Ajuni's mother—but Lakshmi could not help being jealous of the time they spent together.

Lakshmi only wished that she could spend that much time with Ajuni.

The secret that Lakshmi kept burned in her gut, and she wanted suddenly to purge it, to beg that she be allowed time with the girl.

But it was not to be.

"Mama!" a bright voice called out as the door swung open.

"Ajuni." The smile was apparent in Esma's voice, and her eyes crinkled in the smile that had caused those premature lines. "Come here."

Ajuni hurried over and sat close to her mother on the settee, leaning into the woman's side. "Hello, Lakshmi," the girl said.

Lakshmi could see Esma's faint disapproval at her daughter's familiarity with one of the concubines, but Lakshmi couldn't help but smile back. "Hello, Ajuni. How are you today?"

"Good!" she said brightly. "Guess what?" This question was directed at her mother.

"What, my darling?" Esma asked, any disapproval melting away as she faced her bright, energetic child.

"Papa said I can start wearing a veil."

Esma's smile—what little Lakshmi could see of it under the veil—froze. Lakshmi might not have noticed had she not tensed herself at the news.

Wearing a veil was not bad. Lakshmi knew that some women did not like them, but the filmy material the palace could afford made them no more than a mild annoyance at worst, and Lakshmi herself had grown to like the frivolity. But Ajuni was too young to wear a veil. Veils were for women of marriageable age, not for young girls who were innocent and did not need to protect their modesty.

"Did he?" Esma asked with forced levity.

"Yes. Aren't you happy, Mama? It means I'm grown up."

"Of course I'm happy," Esma said, giving her daughter a squeeze. Her eyes flicked up to Lakshmi's, and there was worry in them.

"When can I get a veil?"

"Oh, I don't know," Esma said. Her voice was over bright, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.

Ajuni pouted. "But I want one."

"You'll get one," Lakshmi assured her, her heart speaking before her head. Esma shot her an angry look, and Lakshmi hurried to correct herself. "I'm sure your mother just wants to make sure that the first veil you wear is special."

"Really?" Ajuni asked, looking pleased by the thought. She turned to her mother. "Can I go out shopping with you?"

Esma rarely left the palace herself anymore, but she could not deny her child anything. Lakshmi sensed the dread growing inside Esma, for it was growing in her as well, but the emperor's wife nodded and pulled her daughter into her arms. "Of course you can," Esma said, kissing her daughter's hair. "I'll arrange it soon."

"Okay." Ajuni wriggled free. "I have to get back to my lessons. I just had to tell you the news."

"Thank you," Esma said, holding her smile in place until her daughter had left and shut the door behind her.

"Leave me," Esma told Lakshmi, turning her head away.

"I'm sorry for speaking out of turn," Lakshmi said, reaching an arm out to Esma.. She wanted to offer the woman some comfort, but there was more than their stations between them now. Lakshmi could not express her own fears without confiding her secret, and that she had sworn never to do.

Esma glanced at Lakshmi briefly. "It doesn't matter. Go."

Lakshmi nodded, gave a quick curtsy, and left. Her heart was heavy, but she knew not to press.

~~~

Lakshmi sat on her usual cushion behind the emperor's chair. She was dressed in her blue silk pantaloons with a green blouse. Her veil was blue, as was the netting covering her hair. It had been two days since word had come that Prince Roland would be arriving, and the emperor wanted her to look her best.

It was well known that the finery accorded to wives and concubines was a mark of a man's wealth, and the emperor would allow none to give a better show than he.

Esma was in attendance as well. The chair she sat in was smaller than the emperor's, but still on the dais beside him. It was rarely brought out, for the emperor's wife rarely chose to sit beside her husband.

The stage was carefully set, and when the horns were blown announcing Prince Roland's arrival, Lakshmi could imagine the emperor's smile. "Show him in," the emperor announced.

Minutes later the large doors to the court were opened and a tall figure appeared, silhouetted by the brighter light from the entrance hall.

When the doors closed behind him, Lakshmi took her first good look at Prince Roland.

She didn't know if she was more surprised by his coloring or his age. She had heard that people from the north were lighter, but she had never actually seen someone with blond hair before. She wondered if, closer up, she would see that he had light eyes as well.

And he was much younger than she had expected. With his father being even older than the emperor, she had expected a man in his middle years. Prince Roland probably was no more than a handful of years older than Lakshmi herself. Certainly no older than Esma, who had been very young when she wed the emperor.

"Your Imperial Majesty," Prince Roland said, bowing low before the emperor. "I am honored to be welcomed into your palace."

The emperor bowed his head. "Prince Roland, I welcome you. It is good to have someone visit from the northern kingdoms after so much time."

Lakshmi could all but taste the displeasure coming from the emperor, but if Prince Roland was aware of it he gave no sign. His eyes traveled briefly to Esma, then to Lakshmi.

Lakshmi felt as if the tail end of a whip had just lashed her. His eyes did not stay on her any longer than was decent, but it felt as if he had been staring at her for hours. She could not remember ever feeling so exposed.

She realized conversation was going on around her, but she was no longer aware of what was being discussed. Finally Prince Roland was being led away by one of the servants, and Lakshmi felt herself relax.

"He's insolent," the emperor said, staring at the spot where Prince Roland had been standing not long ago. The frown lines between his eyebrows were fierce.

"He seemed polite," Esma said gently, placing a cautious hand on her husband's arm.

He allowed it, though his face did not relax.

"It was pretense. He should have sent notice that he was coming weeks ago. Months. And he has something planned."

Lakshmi tensed. What had she missed in her distraction? Had there been some subtext she had not picked up on?

"He is young," Esma said. "Perhaps he is merely impetuous, and desires to stand out from his brothers by coming so suddenly to meet you."

Lakshmi was surprised to hear Esma talk like this. The emperor's wife so rarely showed interest in court that Lakshmi had not realized how knowledgeable she was about the subject.

"I do not like him," the emperor growled.

Esma's lips thinned just slightly before she schooled her face. "You know best," she said lightly.

"I don't want you alone with him," the emperor ordered his wife. There was a sudden edge of anger in his tone.

Esma looked offended. "Of course not," she said. "It would be inappropriate for me to be alone with him."

The emperor gave a grunt of agreement, then stood. "Esma, you may go now," he said. "Lakshmi, I would like to speak with you."

What Esma thought of that she did not say. The woman meekly left her husband and his concubine, heading toward the exit that would take her to the women's quarters. Lakshmi stayed where she was.

"You will keep a close eye on Roland," the emperor told Lakshmi once his wife was out of hearing.

"As you wish," Lakshmi said, though she had already planned to do just that.

"You will report to me tonight, after dinner."

Lakshmi nodded, wondering what she would have to report in such a short time. It wouldn't do to go out of her way to see Prince Roland again. Even if he did not realize it after today's display, he would soon know that she was the emperor's favored concubine. The only reason she would have for hanging around the prince would be if she was foolhardy enough to be disloyal, or if she was spying.

Regardless, Lakshmi decided she would keep an eye out. It was always best to be prepared.

~~~

The stress of Prince Roland's visit was wearing on Lakshmi. She had heard gossip from the women on staff about his looks and his easy smile, but nothing she or anyone else had seen seemed suspicious. Still, she was on edge.

A brief visit to the garden was more than she could afford, but without it Lakshmi felt she would go insane. She just wanted a couple of minutes by the fountain, listening to the water tinkle down in the stream that had so fascinated her when she had first come to the palace. Running water had been such a rarity in the desert where she had spent her early years with her mother that a decorative fountain that had no purpose but to be looked at had been a source of wonder.

Now, though she was no longer struck with childlike wonder at the sight, Lakshmi found it to be one of the only relaxing areas in the palace.

Lakshmi didn't hear the crying until she was almost to the fountain. For just a moment she thought about turning back. She did not have time to deal with a hysterical woman, and her own stress was too high to handle anyone else's. But there was a chance that whatever was wrong was more far-reaching than one woman's troubles, and Lakshmi couldn't leave without finding out.

She turned the final corner, and there she found Esma sitting beside the fountain, her head in her hands, weeping.

"Esma?" Lakshmi asked hesitantly.

"Oh." Esma looked up, trying to wipe away the tears that were still falling. "Lakshmi." Her face twisted angrily. "Leave me."

"I—"

"You may warm my husband's bed more than the others, but you have no authority here. Leave."

Lakshmi knew she should, knew that disobeying Esma could make her life very difficult, but she couldn't leave without knowing what was wrong. She waited.

"He's going to marry Ajuni to King Guy Talan." Esma's voice was little more than a whisper, but it registered in Lakshmi like a shout.

"What?"

Esma looked up, and her eyes were bleak. "I knew, when she told me he wanted her to start wearing a veil, that this was coming. I didn't want to believe it."

Lakshmi didn't know what to say. Her thoughts were racing, and she couldn't make sense of any of them. "Surely not for a few years," Lakshmi finally said. "She's only ten. Only a little girl."

Esma shook her head, looking back down at her clenched hands. "He sent a messenger to Guy the day after Roland arrived."

"To tell him about the marriage?" Lakshmi asked, confused.

"To request his presence in court." A tear escaped one of Esma's grief-stricken eyes. "When Guy leaves, Samarth plans to send Ajuni with him."

"I'm sorry," Lakshmi said. There was nothing else she could say. Worse, there was nothing she could do.

Esma nodded. "Please, I would like to be alone now."

"Of course."

Lakshmi's mind was so filled with thoughts of her sister's impending marriage that she did not see Prince Roland until she all but ran into him.

"Whoa," he said, grabbing her by the shoulders to keep them from colliding. He let go as soon as she was steady on her feet, but they were standing much too close to each other.

"Excuse me," Lakshmi said, turning her face aside as she checked to make sure her veil was in place.

"There is no need for excuses," he said, his voice filled with amusement. "Where were you rushing off to?"

"No-nowhere," Lakshmi stuttered, taking a quick step back. "Just back to my rooms," she lied, her words coming much too quickly. She didn't understand why her heart beat so fast, or why her words seemed to escape her.

"I see," he smiled. "Perhaps I could walk you there."

"That won't be possible," Lakshmi said, trying to step around him. "Please, I really must go." Her voice wavered, and she cursed.

His brows wrinkled in concern, and in that moment of hesitation she ran, not caring that it wasn't at all dignified or a mark of the position she worked so hard to maintain the pretense of.

When she got to her suite of rooms and bolted the door behind her, she burst into tears. She sank down against the door, too tired and sick to do more.

Lakshmi had heard stories of King Guy. He was the emperor's age, and by all reports a man given to violence when displeased.

She hadn't confided what she knew to Esma. Maybe Esma already knew.

All Lakshmi could think about was Ajuni, sweet, innocent Ajuni, going to live with someone like Guy. Even though they would not marry for a couple more years, even Emperor Samarth would not allow that, Ajuni would be under the king's rule.

Lakshmi couldn't bear to think of how the king's cruelty would destroy her sister's brightness. She crossed the room and cleared the top of her armoire with the vicious swipe of a hand. Bottles and jars of cream and perfume crashed to the ground, many of them breaking and spilling their precious contents onto the rug. Her cry was a scream of rage and pain, and she sunk to the floor next to the spilled perfume, immediately enveloped in the sickly sweet cloud.

Her sister was being married off to a tyrant. The sister she loved and watched over from afar would soon be sent away, perhaps never to visit the palace again.

Lakshmi wept. 

## Chapter Five

Lakshmi bent down and slipped the small, ragged brown dog a bite of succulent lamb. The dog gobbled it up, as it had gobbled up the chicken, the potatoes, and even some of the corn. It looked up at Lakshmi expectantly.

The cook was looking at Lakshmi, too, her wooden spoon held in an angry grip. "I hardly think this is necessary," the woman said. "It's insulting, thinking the food was poisoned." Her voice dropped a bit on the last, but her anger got through.

Lakshmi couldn't worry about the cook's feelings. Despite the fact that she liked and respected the woman, her main concern was for the emperor's life. "As long as Prince Roland is here, it is necessary."

"You're giving these mutts good food," the cook objected. "Picking apart the emperor's meals like this, before he even gets them, is a crime. A crime!"

Lakshmi smiled without humor and sent the cook a grim look. "Poisoning the emperor is a crime. This is a mere inconvenience."

Since it had been several minutes and the small dog looked to be suffering no ill effects, Lakshmi judged the food safe to eat. "Arrange the food on the plate as you will," Lakshmi said. "Then I will bring it out."

"You?"

"A concubine can serve her master," Lakshmi said. The woman grumbled under her breath as she did her job, then handed the platter over.

"Here. Take it."

"Thank you." Lakshmi regretted hurting the woman's feelings, but she had no other choice. "You must know it isn't you I distrust."

"You don't trust me to keep my kitchens in line," the cook said. "It amounts to the same thing."

Since Lakshmi had no idea what it was like to run something like the palace kitchens, she couldn't be sure of that. Insult or no, she would see that the king's food was safe to eat before every meal. She would not forgive herself if something so easily preventable led to the emperor's demise.

"Ah, Lakshmi, you've brought my food."

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty." Lakshmi set the food before him as other servants brought out plates for the rest of the people at the dinner table. Prince Roland sat to the emperor's right, looking splendid in a deep purple shirt and black pants. Esma sat on the emperor's left, demure behind her yellow veil.

Other important people were seated at the table, visiting the palace at this time not only for the emperor but to meet with the visiting royalty. It wasn't only Prince Roland Lakshmi didn't trust, though he was the most obvious threat.

"Please, eat," Emperor Samarth said, digging into his own food with gusto. He didn't mention that a select portion of lamb was missing. Lakshmi wasn't sure if he hadn't noticed, or if it was because he did not want to let on that his food was being checked for poisons, though he was aware of the precautions being taken.

It didn't matter, so long as he was safe.

Lakshmi was not allowed to eat at the table with so many important people and their wives, so she retreated to a darkened alcove. The cook must have forgiven her, for food was waiting there, and Lakshmi ate it while she watched the table. It was doubtful anyone would make a move during dinner, but she watched the men with weapons, and anyone who moved toward the emperor's wine glass.

It was easy enough to slip someone poison without them noticing.

The meal passed without incident, and Lakshmi slipped out the back way as the guests were leaving out the front.

Only Roland noticed her presence throughout the meal.

~~~

"Ah, Lakshmi my dear, there you are. Help me with my robes."

Lakshmi crossed to the emperor. She grabbed his shirt from the wardrobe and held it out to him, pulling it around his rotund stomach and working at the small buttons down the front. When she turned back to the wardrobe for his overcoat, she felt his hand slide down the small of her back and rest on her bottom, giving it an intimate squeeze.

She closed her eyes briefly, then turned around with a forced smile on her face. "Here you are, Your Imperial Majesty." She held the coat out to him.

The emperor grinned and pulled Lakshmi up against him. "Perhaps tonight you can help me undress," he suggested, rubbing his hands over her.

It took everything Lakshmi had not to pull away in disgust. "I'm afraid that is unwise," she told him, sickness pooling in her stomach.

"How can it be unwise for a concubine to sleep with her master?" the emperor asked. She could smell wine on his breath, and wondered how much he and his important guests had had to drink.

Lakshmi looked down at the ground, away from her father and his greedy eyes. He doesn't know, Lakshmi reminded herself. That knowledge did little to alleviate the sick feeling. "I've said before that I cannot protect you if we are otherwise...occupied."

Emperor Samarth laughed. "I have other guards," he said, moving so that he was whispering in her ear, his breath hot and moist.

Lakshmi pulled away as much as his grip would allow. "I'm sorry. I am your bodyguard, not..."

The emperor let her loose, disgusted. "Go. I will find another girl to entertain me tonight."

Lakshmi nodded, letting out a quiet breath of relief. "Of course, Your Imperial Majesty."

She turned to leave, but he stopped her when she got to the door. "One thing," he said. "I was not able to tell you about Prince Roland in advance." His voice had a sour note when he said the young prince's name. "However, I will tell you now that I expect King Guy Talan's arrival in a couple of weeks."

"King Guy?" Lakshmi asked, hoping she sounded more casual than she felt. Everything in her had gone on alert.

"Yes. He is coming to fetch Ajuni. Their marriage contract will be most beneficial to the empire." Try to avoid dialogue tags unless they are really necessary. Much of the time they are, but not often in a one-on-one dialogue.

"He is—Ajuni is quite young, isn't she?"

The emperor shrugged. "They will not marry for a few years, but I don't like her in the palace when other young men come in and out. She will marry Guy. As Esma seems unlikely to give me any male heirs, I will make Guy my heir when he and Ajuni marry."

"I see."

And she did. The emperor was not thinking at all about the happiness of his daughter's marriage. It was only a way for the empire to continue beyond his reign. Ajuni was only a means to an end.

"I don't want anything to happen to Guy while he is here, Lakshmi."

"My duty is to protect you. If King Guy offers no threat, he will remain safe."

She left before the little she had had for lunch came back up.

~~~

Lakshmi was due in the kitchens to see that the food preparation was safe, but she couldn't go down now. She was sweating from more than the heat, and her hands were trembling. She made her way to the gardens, and sank down onto the nearest bench.   
Then she bent over so that her head was between her knees, trying to breathe and not be sick.

"Mama," Lakshmi said. "What should I do?"

It had been a long time since she had spoken to her mother. She always felt faintly silly, speaking to a woman who had been dead nearly ten years, but she had no one else to talk to. There was no one—inside the palace or out—that Lakshmi could confide in about personal matters. No one alive, to Lakshmi's knowledge, knew about her parentage, or that Ajuni was her sister.

"Ajuni is just a little girl," Lakshmi said. "She's too young to leave, to marry. And King Guy...she can't marry him."

Lakshmi had been young when her mother died, little older than Ajuni was now, but she had been old enough to see some of the complex emotions her mother had felt toward Esma and the emperor's daughter. Sometimes, Lakshmi's mother had seemed jealous of Esma; sometimes, she had even seemed jealous of Ajuni.

Lakshmi knew that she was the reason her mother had been forced to leave the palace for so long; the reason she had lost favor with the emperor. She wasn't sure what her mother's thoughts would be on wanting to protect her half-sister, but she liked to think her mother would want to protect an innocent girl, whoever's daughter she was.

"You left because of me," Lakshmi said. "Because the emperor would not let you have me."

Some men allowed their concubines to carry their illegitimate children, but Emperor Samarth had been careful to make sure there could never be a contest to his throne from within. Perhaps things would have been different had he known Esma would bear only one child, but he had only just married his young bride when Lakshmi had been conceived.

Lakshmi's mother had been the sole concubine to disobey the emperor's wishes. Rather than trying to end the pregnancy, she had kept it hidden, and finally run away. Eight years later, she had returned to the palace with her "niece" in tow, but she had never again been the emperor's favorite.

Lakshmi's mother had spent the rest of her days pining for a life and status she could never regain.

"You wanted the life you had before. The pleasure, the comfort." Lakshmi closed her eyes. "Emperor Samarth can be mean. He is harsh in his rulings, and selfish, but never cruel. I fear that King Guy would be a cruel husband for an innocent girl."

There were no answers for Lakshmi's questions, no comforting touch for a daughter's worries, and no time left to spend.

Lakshmi had a dinner to see prepared.

~~~

Lakshmi closed the door to the seamstress' room behind her. She had run out of yellow thread for embroidery, and with Prince Roland in the palace and King Guy on the way, she wasn't comfortable leaving the premises altogether. Though the seamstress was not overly fond of Lakshmi's habit of sewing her own clothes, she was a nice enough woman, and willing to share with the concubines.

Her heart bumped against her chest when she turned and saw Prince Roland standing there, watching her.

He was tall, and fair as the sun. Lakshmi forgot herself for a moment, then gave a quick curtsy. "Prince Roland. I did not see you there. May I help you?"

Her words tumbled out, and she wondered what had happened to her composure. The sultry looks and calm façade she had worn for years all seemed stripped away whenever she ran into the prince.

"Yes, actually, you can."

Lakshmi had expected a quick no, and didn't know quite what to do with his answer. "How can I serve?" she asked, finally managing a bit of calm.

"I have heard that the palace has well-kept gardens, and I would like to see one of them," he said.

"Oh." She hadn't expected Prince Roland to be the type to stroll in the gardens, but even the emperor was known to do so from time to time. "I can have one of the servants show you to them," she offered.

"I would like you to show me," Prince Roland said with a half-smile. "You should be free, as the emperor is in court and you are not."

Lakshmi wanted to frown, but forced a smile of her own. "Yes. Of course. Follow me."

"Are your rooms in this area of the palace?" He could have moved up to walk beside her, but when Lakshmi looked back to check on him she saw that his eyes were fixed on the sway of her hips. He seemed to have no interest in looking away any time soon.

"No. My rooms connect to the emperor's." She wanted to let him know, if he did not already, that she was especially favored by the emperor. The status of a concubine could be uncertain, but fear of the emperor usually worked to keep men in line.

"I see. What brings you to this area of the palace?" Although it was not quite the servants' quarters, they were walking through areas where the rugs were thinner, the tapestries less ornate, and the rooms considerably smaller.

Lakshmi had wondered the same about Roland, and decided a closer watch needed to be kept on him. "I needed a bit of thread," she told him, wishing she could tell him to mind his own business. "The garden is right through these doors." She opened them and stepped into the fragrant green of the garden.

Usually, the gardens made her calm. Today, here with Roland, they only made her more edgy.

"It is a lovely spot," Roland said, strolling amongst the flowers, stopping occasionally to feel a leaf or smell a blossom. "Especially given that this exists in the middle of the desert. It must take a lot to maintain."

Lakshmi shrugged. "I suppose." She knew little about the work that went into keeping the gardens so fine. "During the rainy season, we collect water in basins." That much she knew. Bath water was also recycled into the gardens, but she did not wish to mention bathing in Roland's company.

Roland smiled. "That makes sense. Where I come from, there is no need to collect rainwater. It rains year round."

"Really?"

Roland laughed at the surprise on her face. "When it doesn't snow."

"Snow? That is when the water freezes?"

"Yes."

"I have read of it. Prince Roland, is Ugarth very different from Aratal?" The palace was located in the kingdom of Aratal, and Lakshmi had never been outside its desert regions.

"Ugarth is far to the north, near the mountains," Roland said. "The water falls in the mountains and runs off in streams through Ugarth. There are forests and valleys and animals such as the desert has never seen."

"Prince Roland—"

"Call me Roland, when we are private." He stepped closer to her, close enough to touch.

She could smell him over the scent of the flowers. He smelled clean and masculine. Calling him Roland would be inappropriate, an intimacy not to be allowed. But the lure was there, all the stronger for being unexpected, and she succumbed. "Roland, have you seen much of the empire?"

"I have traveled extensively in the north. I have the wanderlust, you see. I love the mountains and the woods. My brothers and father would rather stay in court, but I love the outdoors and traveling new places."

Lakshmi nodded, her mind trying to wrap around the reality of "mountains" and "woods." She had heard about them, read about them, but she could imagine them no more than she could imagine frozen water falling from the sky.

"I have traveled in other parts of the empire as well. I do not like dry places like Aratal. I miss the green when I am here. I like good soil beneath my feet, not sand and rocks."

Lakshmi looked around the garden, trying to see it through his eyes. It was the only place around where the ground had something more than sand and rocks to offer. Plants such as these could not grow in sand. "Where else have you been?"

"I have been south of Aratal, to the ocean."

"Really?" Lakshmi had heard of the ocean. It was like the springs or small lakes in the oases that dotted the desert, but so big that it was said people could not see land on the other side, and full of salt so that people could not drink it. Boats called ships were said to sail across the water to foreign ports. Lakshmi had seen boats on the river running through Madarede, but she could not image them going any long distance.

"You haven't been there?" Roland asked. "It is less than a week south of here."

"I don't leave the city." Not since her mother had brought her to Madarede when she was eight.

"You should sometime, at least to see the ocean. I think you would like it, and there is more green there. A bit more like this garden than the desert."

Lakshmi would like to see a place that was like this garden, but she knew it was unlikely to happen. Not as long as the emperor was alive, at least. And then...when the emperor was gone, Lakshmi did not know what she would do. "Maybe someday."

"I wish to look around the garden some more," Roland said. "Why don't you walk with me?"

Lakshmi wanted to. She was drawn to his voice, the accent that made it at times difficult to understand him. His size, taller and broader than most of the men she knew, was alluring as well. And those eyes—she'd never seen such blue eyes before—were captivating.

The draw she felt was why she had to leave. "I can't. I'm sorry."

"Lakshmi," he reached out and grabbed her arm, and she felt as if she had been scalded.

"I'm sorry, Roland, I can't." She wrenched her arm free and turned and ran. She needed to put space between herself and the too-appealing northerner.

Back in her rooms, she sank into one of the comfortable chairs, letting it surround her as she tried to make sense of her emotions and all the reasons they were not possible.

For one, she was the emperor's concubine, in name if not in truth. Even being alone with Roland, she could no longer think of him as Prince, was risky. The punishments for a disloyal concubine were severe.

And if the risk to herself was not enough, the fact remained that she did not trust Roland. Why was he wandering the palace unescorted? She would have to speak to Captain Garth, and see if perhaps he could arrange for Roland to be surreptitiously watched. If he had some secret plot, it needed to be found out before he could act against the emperor.

If that was the plan.

Maybe he was just a stupid young noble who had grown restless in the palace.

But Lakshmi didn't think so.

## Chapter Six

"Hello, beautiful. How 'bout you come over here and show me what's under that veil?"

Lakshmi's head whipped around at the obscene suggestion. There was a group of guards standing there. Three of the guards were looking at the other like he had just gone crazy, but the one who had spoken stood proud, a leering smile on his face.

"Come, give me a kiss, and perhaps tonight I can show you what a real man is like."

"Shut up!" one of the guards hissed loud enough for Lakshmi to hear him from across the corridor.

"Don't you know who she is?" another asked, looking horrified.

Lakshmi didn't know whether to growl or laugh. What the guard was suggesting was despicable, but it was clear he was not aware of who she was. The guard that had remained silent looked like he might have done so because he had swallowed his tongue. His face was turning an interesting shade of red.

"She's a serving girl," the new guard said with a lazy shrug. "But she's a pretty one. I figure I should make this job work for me as much as possible." He lifted his chin in Lakshmi's direction. "What do you say? Want to have a little fun tonight? We can—"

His silent friend clamped a hand over his mouth, and another of the guards pushed him back against the wall.

"So sorry," the third guard said to her, his eyes wide with panic. "Please, he didn't... that is..."

"See that it does not happen again," Lakshmi said imperiously before proceeding to walk down the hall. She stopped around the nearest corner and strained to hear what they were saying now that she was gone.

"Why did you do that? The wench probably would have come to my bed tonight!"

"You're an idiot. That's one of the emperor's concubines."

Lakshmi heard a choking sound and allowed herself a small laugh.

"Not just a concubine; that's Lakshmi. Everyone knows she's his favorite."

"What?" the guard squawked.

"You better hope she doesn't tell the emperor. He's likely to have your manhood cut off by one of his guards, if he doesn't decide to do the deed himself."

"I didn't know!" the guard protested. He cursed, the crude words strung together in a way that showed more imagination than the lame suggestions he had made earlier had suggested him capable of. "Shit. If I'm not more careful, I'm going to end up castrated before this king ever makes it here."

"He'll be here in a couple hours," one of his friends assured him. "And for as long as you're in the palace, I suggest you not try for any of the women here. It's a dangerous business, going after women the emperor might have his eye on."

Lakshmi didn't hear the rest, as what they had already said fully registered. King Guy would be here in a matter of hours.

~~~

Lakshmi ran down the back corridors to her room, past servants who were no doubt shocked to see the normally composed and sultry concubine in such a hurried state. She flew into her room, changed into a flowing blue gown with a matching veil, and affixed a gold hairnet before slipping half a dozen bangles on each arm.

A cursory glance in the gilt mirror showed Lakshmi that she looked the part of the favored palace concubine, even if she did not feel it at the moment. With a great deal more decorum than she'd started with, she made her way to the court.

"Is the emperor free?" she asked the guard, looking up at him through demurely lowered eyelashes.

"He is between petitioners, yes," the guard answered. He had worked long enough as a guard to the emperor's court to know that it was not usual for Lakshmi to bother the emperor without first being requested. He had also worked at the palace long enough to know that if the concubine wanted to see the emperor, it was likely the emperor wanted to see her as well.

It was occasionally whispered among the guards and palace servants that Lakshmi had more power than any woman should, but those whispers were always kept very quiet. Even the mere suggestion that the emperor might place weight on a woman's opinion would be insulting. Implying that the emperor would be swayed by a woman's ideas could get a man imprisoned, or worse.

Those at the palace had learned that lesson the hard way from the emperor's father, and were careful not to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.

"Your Imperial Majesty," Lakshmi said, bowing low before the emperor when she entered the court.

"Lakshmi." He looked unimpressed but not angry by her unexpected entrance.

"I have learned that King Guy Talan is on his way to the palace." She waited a beat. "Would you like me present when he arrives?"

Emperor Samarth scanned her up and down. Her gown was well cut of the best silk, the gold adornments presenting wealth and a level of sophistication not found in most concubines. She was young and beautiful, a fact which her almost translucent veil did nothing to hide.

Lakshmi was a gem suited for the emperor's court.

"Yes. Sit here behind the throne. It should not be long now before he is here."

He turned to the woman currently sitting behind him, another of his concubines, and dismissed her. The woman shot Lakshmi an angry look but did not offer any protest to the emperor.

Lakshmi took her place behind the emperor and felt that she was where she needed to be when King Guy arrived.

As the trumpets heralded the king's entrance to the palace courtyard, a side door to the emperor's court opened to allow Roland entrance.

"Emperor Samarth," the prince addressed almost casually, the slightest of bows accompanying his words, "I trust it is okay, as I am a member of royalty, that I greet King Guy here as well."

The emperor stiffened in his chair, something Lakshmi did not think Roland could notice from the other side of the room. She could not see the emperor's face, but she knew him well enough that she could imagine his forced smile.

"Yes. I would have sent a servant to fetch you, but I am sure Guy will only want to pay his respects before refreshing himself after the long journey."

"Perhaps," Roland said with an easy smile that Lakshmi noted did not match the intensity of his blue eyes. "Nevertheless, I believe it is good form for me to greet King Guy. He is my father's contemporary, after all."

Lakshmi was intrigued by what she heard in Roland's voice. It seemed to her as if there was disgust there, as if he did not like King Guy. She had already decided that Roland could be dangerous and would bear watching, but the idea that he disliked Guy...

She forced the idea out of her head. She could not afford to think of Ajuni, or personal problems, when the emperor's well-being was at hand. She must clear her mind of former preconceptions before King Guy made his appearance. It was imperative that she not view his actions through her own biases, or the bias she was picking up from Roland.

"Your Imperial Majesty," a page said to the emperor, "Your Royal Highness," he added to Roland, "I am pleased to announce the arrival of His Majesty, King Guy Talan of Samalt."

King Guy strolled in, and Lakshmi put aside all of her emotions and watched him with the focus and clarity of mind of a trained bodyguard. He was taller than the emperor, though not as tall as Roland, and thin. He had a black mustache rolled into points, and though he smiled and bent his straight back to the emperor there was a certain arrogance about his movements and the cool gleam in his eyes.

"Your Imperial Majesty," he said in a smooth, cultured voice, "thank you for allowing me into your glorious home."

The emperor smiled. "King Guy, thank you for your quick arrival."

The two men locked gazes for several moments before King Guy deigned to glance over at Roland. "Prince Roland," he said with a slight bob of his head.

"King Guy." Roland's bow was shallow, and from the expression on King Guy's face, Lakshmi thought the king was probably entitled to more than that by the youngest son of a northern king.

"How is your father's health?" King Guy asked, his black eyes razor sharp.

"My father is hale and hearty," Roland assured the king. "And pleased with Martin's marriage to the princess of Ogden. When I return there, I will tell him of your interest in his well-being."

"You do that," King Guy said in his silky voice, his dangerous eyes not wavering.

"And what should I tell him of your health?" Roland asked. "If he asks, should I report you to be in good stead?" Lakshmi's lips twitched at how Roland had so subtly implied that he himself cared not at all about the king's wellbeing.

"I am healthy," King Guy said, "and pleased that I am to marry the emperor's daughter."

Lakshmi thought she saw just a moment of surprise before Roland smoothed it over with an easy smile. "I was unaware the emperor had a daughter of marriageable age," Roland said. "He must have her secreted away."

King Guy smiled. "He has promised her to me. When I leave, I will take the girl with me and keep her in my care until she is old enough to wed."

"After a pleasant visit," the emperor said. "It is a long trip to make just for the fetching of a girl-child. You will stay, and we will talk."

"I have planned on staying a month or more," King Guy told the emperor. He turned his gaze back to Roland. "I suppose you are needed back in Ugarth soon, and are not permitted a longer stay."

Roland flashed straight white teeth in what might have been a smile. "There are advantages to being the youngest son," Roland told the king. "I have little responsibility calling me back, and can linger in the emperor's court and enjoy the heat. Ugarth is cold this time of year."

Lakshmi knew Roland was lying. Maybe not about the cold—she thought that the mountains must get very cold—but about not wanting to go back there. She had seen him in the garden, seen the yearning for home in him. Whatever reason he had for staying longer, it was not to escape the cold.

"I see." King Guy looked to the emperor, and his eyes showed his displeasure.

Lakshmi had never seen anyone look at the emperor like that. If anyone ever had before, she doubted the emperor had let them off so easily, but he said not a word to reprimand King Guy. In fact, he smiled, and rested a genial hand on King Guy's arm as if they were old friends.

"Guy, why don't you go get some rest? I am sure the journey from Samalt was a long and arduous one. I can have food brought to you if you wish refreshments, but a feast is being planned for tonight. Do not overindulge." The emperor laughed, and the sound sent shivers down Lakshmi's back.

The emperor was not a man given to humor and laughter, and that particular laugh...it did not forebode good things.

"A spot of food and a servant to attend my bath would not be amiss," King Guy said. "You remember the type of servants I like?"

The emperor smiled. "Indeed I do."

This time, King Guy's smile reached his eyes.

~~~

"Lakshmi, the emperor has requested your presence in his room."

Lakshmi turned away from watching the dog's reaction to the potatoes she had just fed him to give the servant a harried look. "Now?" she asked.

The servant lifted her nose a bit. "I don't question the emperor about his requests," she said coolly.

Lakshmi wondered who this servant was, for she seemed terribly arrogant and did not seem familiar, but she nevertheless had a valid point. When the emperor asked for something, it was to be given. Lakshmi's presence included.

"Are you supposed to wait for me?" Lakshmi asked.

The servant frowned. "No. I just needed to deliver the message."

"Then go now," Lakshmi said, looking around the kitchen for the cook.

The portly woman was standing on the other side of the room, blatantly avoiding watching Lakshmi feed portions of the various delicacies arranged for the welcome feast to mongrel dogs. Lakshmi caught her eye and motioned her over.

"The emperor has requested my presence," Lakshmi said. "You have to take over here."

"I will not," the cook said. "There is nothing wrong with my food! I won't be a party to this."

"Did you recognize that girl?" Lakshmi asked, looking toward the now-empty doorway.

"No," the cook said slowly. "But then, there are hundreds of servants in the palace. My domain is limited to the kitchens. I cannot be expected to recognize everyone!" Her voice grew louder as she went on, and Lakshmi placed a cautioning hand on the woman's arm.

"I know that your food is safe," Lakshmi said. "You would never conspire against the emperor. You are one of the few in the palace that I trust." Lakshmi just wished that the cook was smart enough that the trust could be extended to help. "However, anyone can wander in here on pretense of being a servant. That girl could have been sent here to distract me, and then slip something into one of the dishes."

The cook blustered, but without her usual heat. "That's—that's absurd!"

"Maybe," Lakshmi allowed, "but we can't risk the emperor, or the other honored guests, because something seems absurd, or an insult to your talents and loyalty."

She knew the emperor would be waiting, and checking the food for poison was no excuse for keeping him. "I need you to finish this, and to make sure no one gets near the food that has already been checked."

It was all she could do. Placing more of her trust than she was comfortable with in the hands of a woman whose only job was to run the kitchens, Lakshmi made her way to the emperor's rooms.

When he bade her enter, she found him fully dressed, holding a pair of gold earrings that dropped into exquisite green emeralds.

"Oh," Lakshmi said, unable to keep the exclamation from forming. Although she often saw the trappings of a concubine as a costume rather than a pleasure, the earrings were gorgeous. "Your Imperial Majesty..."

"They are for you," he confirmed. "You will outfit yourself in your finest, now that both Roland and Guy are here. You and all the concubines will showcase my wealth and power."

Lakshmi nodded. "Of course."

"You will be at dinner, as will Esma. Show deference to her as you do to me."

Lakshmi bowed her head. "I will," she promised, wondering why he was giving her these instructions. It was hardly the first time they had entertained such important guests. It was not even the first time she and Esma had been at the same table with such guests.

Then she caught the emperor's smile.

"Not even Guy has women to match mine," the emperor said, "though he has a vast collection of his own. Your show tonight will not disappoint me, will it?"

Lakshmi had to swallow down the sour taste in her mouth caused by the knowledge that her sexuality would be on display, but she shook her head. "Of course not, Your Imperial Majesty. After tonight, King Guy will know that you are the most virile and desirable of men. He will writhe with envy. I swear it."

"Good. Now put on these earrings and get back to whatever you were doing. I expect you at the table shortly. You will sit beside Esma."

Lakshmi nodded and left the room, wondering how she could dote on the emperor, defer to his wife, and still keep an eye on Roland and King Guy all at once without seeming too obvious about any of it.

Years of practice would be put to the test tonight.

~~~

Lakshmi delivered Emperor Samarth's dinner with a private smile, then went and took her place beside Esma. She bowed her head to King Guy and Roland, and gave Esma her own nod of respect.

Esma wore even more jewels than Lakshmi, though hers were more subdued. Where Lakshmi's were the bright, shiny pretties appointed a whore, Esma's finery was refined, a show of respect for a cherished wife. Together, they were a fine example of exactly what the emperor had at his disposal.

Emperor Samarth, King Guy, and Prince Roland. Lakshmi knew there must have been meals with more distinguished individuals present. She had probably even sat in on some of those meals, but she was riveted by the three at the table now.

Emperor Samarth ruled the table, as he ruled the empire, but it was clear that between him and King Guy there was a special bond. The looks they exchanged—the smiles—excluded all others. Lakshmi was used to seeing that gleam in the emperor's eyes, but seeing it in the eyes of King Guy made her nervous.

He looked predatory.

Roland made her nervous as well. He watched the emperor and King Guy as closely as she did, and though he spoke and laughed and shared stories with the other two men, it was clear he was an outsider, and that his position was not unknown to him.

Lakshmi may have felt fear and disgust when she looked at the king, but she knew that the prince was just as dangerous, if not more so.

"They vie for power."

Esma's whispered words were so unexpected Lakshmi nearly jumped. As it was, she looked over at the older woman quickly. Was she watching them as Lakshmi was? And to what purpose?

"The emperor and King Guy have known each other since childhood," Esma elaborated, directing an appraising look her husband's way, as if the two women were sharing private bedroom secrets rather than discussing politics. "The emperor has more power, but King Guy serves to gain much, once..." Esma faltered, but Lakshmi knew what she meant.

King Guy served to gain power once he married Ajuni. He might even be named heir, since Ajuni was the emperor's only child. At least, the only child anyone but Lakshmi knew of.

"As the youngest son, Prince Roland has little actual power," Esma added, "but the emperor could change that if he so chose."

And what of Roland's interest in King Guy? Lakshmi wanted to ask. Was King Guy also able to offer Roland power he might otherwise never gain? Lakshmi didn't think so. The prince did not look to be currying favor with the king.

For all that Roland was polite to both men, he seemed to sometimes snub the king. It was small things, questions left half-answered, his focus remaining on the emperor even when it was King Guy speaking. Lakshmi thought it was artful, and wondered if it was a skill learned in court.

Concubines had such a talent, and it now appeared that nobles did as well. She wondered if the peasants knew how to dismiss each other without saying a word. Judging from the loud fights and name-calling she regularly heard from the servants and lower-born, she thought not.

Positions of power and rank must be necessary factors in learning to cut down others with a smile.

"That is interesting, Roland, but I don't believe trade agreements between Ugarth and Ogden are the most interesting topics for dinner," King Guy said blandly. "Surely the empire has more interesting news to offer." He smiled his cold smile. "But perhaps the north has no more intriguing happenings than the trade in wool and iron."

Roland smiled back. "It is true that the north lacks the...intrigue that the southern kingdoms so often seem to have. The northern countries deal with each other in the way of trade agreements that are profitable both to the individual kingdoms and to the empire in way of taxes." He flashed his grin at the emperor. "I understand that Samalt has been having difficulties with Cretion, however. They raised the tax on their exports, didn't they, after one of your visits with King Labo?"

King Guy bared his teeth in what never could have been interpreted as a smile, but Emperor Samarth silenced whatever he was about to say with a hard look. "Guy, I had heard about this, but I assumed you were going to take care of it."

King Guy sat back in his chair, squaring his shoulders. "It was a misunderstanding," he said stiffly. "Labo will soon realize he is being a fool and relent on the taxes."

Roland shrugged and scooped up another bite of the curry soup, savoring it for a moment before swallowing and speaking. "From what I hear, Labo was not pleased that you were chasing after his wife."

The sound that came from the king's throat was very nearly a growl. "If you are accusing me of—I was never inappropriate with his wife," he grated out.

"I believe you," Roland said easily. "I've heard stories about Labo's wife." He laughed. "Quite aside from seducing another man's wife being against the emperor's law, I don't believe even Labo is overly fond of said wife, and would probably not be upset if you had set to chasing her."

King Guy relaxed slightly. "You see, the entire thing was foolish. Labo was obviously upset about something else, and decided to accuse me of the ridiculous. I would never dishonor a man—a king!—by attempting to seduce his wife."

"Of course not," the emperor said, pinning King Guy with his dark eyes. "It would be breaking my law to do so."

"Besides, what I heard from Martin, who corresponds with King Labo quite regularly, was that the king was more upset about you and his daughters than anything."

King Guy choked on the wine he had just consumed. "I never touched his daughters. Anything those bitches said was a lie."

"Certainly," Roland agreed placidly. "I am merely commenting on what I have heard from the southern courts. As you pointed out, the north has little to talk about but trade agreements."

Lakshmi could hardly believe it. Yes, Roland would need to be watched. Anyone who would so blithely make an enemy of a man like King Guy was far more dangerous than she had suspected.

The emperor was watching both of his guests, and looking displeased with each. Roland was trouble, and someone the emperor had never wanted here in the first place. However, King Guy was not holding up so well under scrutiny. Lakshmi wondered what Roland's game was, and what the emperor would do if Roland's insinuations about King Guy and King Labo's wife were to prove true.

The emperor did not care what happened to Ajuni after she was wed, or to the serving girls he sent to "attend" to King Guy, but he was very particular about the laws governing a man and his wife. To seduce another man's wife was similar to committing an act of thievery. Worse, even.

"I believe dinner is done," the emperor said, throwing his napkin down on his plate. He had barely finished half of his food, and as the guest of honor King Guy should have at least had the opportunity to clean his plate, but the emperor had barely said this before pushing himself away from the table and standing.

"Follow me," he said to the two women, and with the grace of years of service to a demanding man, Lakshmi and Esma rose and followed in silence, sparing not a glance for the two nobles who were still scrambling to their feet.

The emperor's pace through the palace corridors was unusually brisk. He normally walked slowly, in consideration of his size and age, and because he liked to look at the finery around him. He wasn't interested in either of those things now. When they got to the door to Lakshmi's room, he ordered Esma into his own, then followed Lakshmi into hers.

"Your Imperial Majesty," she began, frightened by what he might do in his current temper. He could not send for one of the other concubines, not without raising his wife's suspicions, and yet if he didn't want the company of his wife...

"You will keep an eye on Roland," he ordered her. "Talk to the guards if you must, but he is not to go anywhere unwatched."

Lakshmi nodded. She had seen to that as soon as the prince had come to court; the emperor did not need to tell her what to do in regards to his safety.

"And I want Guy protected. I do not trust what Roland may have planned."

Lakshmi's eyes widened a bit. She had not counted on the emperor's foresight being so thorough, or for him to have picked up that the animosity displayed during dinner might go deeper on Roland's part. "You have asked me to see to King Guy's safety, and I assure you that I will," she said.

In truth, she little cared what befell King Guy so long as no harm came to the emperor, but if the emperor ordered, she obeyed.

"I will go to Esma now," the emperor ground out. "See to having Roland watched."

Lakshmi wondered briefly how she could increase the watch on Roland without him knowing, then decided that perhaps it was not necessary to keep it a secret. Especially not if she posted guards on King Guy as well. Guards for spying, guards for protecting, and she would be able to keep tabs on both. It was as good an arrangement as possible in such a difficult situation.

## Chapter Seven

Keeping track of Roland and Guy was much more difficult than Lakshmi had anticipated.

King Guy did not move around the palace as much as Roland. When he was not in his appointed rooms, he was usually with the emperor, often in court. There were times when he would tread near the women's quarters, and Lakshmi now knew that several serving girls had entertained him in the past week. Lakshmi had conspired with the captain of the guard, and it had been easy enough for him to find people to follow King Guy without attracting notice.

King Guy was not the sort to notice servants, or those who appeared to be servants, unless he had a mind to get them into bed. Nearly all of the people Lakshmi and the captain had set to spy on Guy were men, and the rest were older women. None of them had been questioned by Guy or any of his private guards.

Watching Roland was another matter. He moved about entirely too much for Lakshmi's peace of mind. Though he spent some time in court, he was not there as often as King Guy. He stayed away from the women's quarters, and no one had seen any girls slipping into his chambers. He met with the guards that had accompanied him to the palace sometimes, but more disconcerting were the long periods of time that Lakshmi could not account for.

There were not enough servants to set on him. In the early days she had recruited spies, but unlike Guy, Roland was much too aware of the people around him for the spies to be useful.

Roland would often choose to walk in the gardens, or bathe, and thus escape the eyes Lakshmi had placed on him. Although it was possible to stand outside the bathing rooms without notice and wait for a man to finish, there were too many exits to the gardens to be covered all at once.

Lakshmi decided it was time to get involved personally.

Dressed in her sunset gown, she took the shortest route to the gardens. The note had just arrived saying that Prince Roland had gone to the gardens, and she could only hope to find him there still.

Luck was with her, as the young prince was sitting by the fountain, watching the water stream into the pool below, apparently lost in thought.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Lakshmi asked. It would be more suspicious were she to try to keep her presence secret than to address him directly.

"It's beautiful," Roland said, smiling up at her.

"You're used to more water. It probably doesn't seem as marvelous to you."

The yearning Lakshmi suddenly felt to see other places was alarming and unexpected. She had to forcibly push it aside so as not to become distracted. She was here to keep an eye on Roland, and possibly learn what he was up to, not to think about impossible dreams.

"If I imagine it through your eyes, it is beautiful." His rough northern accent rippled through her, and she had to look away or be caught in those vivid blue eyes.

"Have I embarrassed you?" he asked, his voice amused.

Embarrassing a concubine would be impossible, but Lakshmi was not a true concubine. Even if she was, she doubted the emperor would ever have said anything so sweet, nor seemed so sincere. "No," Lakshmi lied smoothly, glancing up at him coyly. "You have not embarrassed me."

"Good." He patted the seat beside him. "Sit with me. I could use some company."

Lakshmi stared. "That would be inappropriate," she finally said, wondering how Roland could be so bold.

"More inappropriate than the two of us alone out here in the garden?" he asked, eyes crinkling at the corners, gleaming with mischief.

"Yes," Lakshmi said. "This part of the garden is for the enjoyment of all. The emperor would not deny you access to it. However, it would be unwise for the two of us to share a bench."

"Ah, yes. The emperor would not like us to be alone. Is he a jealous man?" Roland asked. He stood, and suddenly he was so close Lakshmi had trouble drawing breath.

"The emperor has no reason to be jealous," she said faintly. There was more she wanted to say, but she couldn't quite form the words in her head.

Roland raised one hand and ran the tip of his index finger down her neck, along her collarbone. "No, I suppose he doesn't," the prince said before turning and leaving Lakshmi, shaken, in the garden.

It was quite awhile before she remembered herself enough to realize that Roland was once again roaming the palace unescorted.

It took Lakshmi too long to locate him again. He was leaving court with the emperor and King Guy, and Lakshmi dropped a low curtsy to the three of them before casting a sultry smile the emperor's way. She ignored King Guy, and especially Roland.

"Lakshmi, my pet," the emperor said warmly, beckoning her over and pulling her up tight against him, his arm wrapped around her waist and gripping like a vice. "Why don't you get me some wine and await me in your chambers?"

He smiled lasciviously, and Lakshmi forced herself to smile back, and lean into him more fully.

"Of course, Your Imperial Majesty." Her eyes said that such formalities as titles would soon be forgotten. "I have missed you these long days," she said with a pout, just loud enough to be overheard.

The emperor chuckled, looking at the two bemused noblemen as if to say that such female troubles and whims were more than worth the talents Lakshmi had to offer. "You may attend me in court tomorrow, my pet," the emperor said, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "What do you want?"

Lakshmi turned and whispered, "My room," before disengaging herself with another enchanting smile and heading upstairs. She hoped that the guards followed Roland. She hoped that she could come up with something good to tell the emperor. She had planned to tell him about Roland's behavior in the garden. It was likely he would make Roland leave if he discovered that, and at the time that seemed the best way to deal with the problem Roland presented.

But then she had seen Roland standing there next to the emperor, and all thoughts of describing what had happened in the garden evaporated like water on hot stones. Now Lakshmi had only a handful of minutes in which to come up with a plausible reason for interrupting the emperor, and she had nothing. She stared at herself in the gilt mirror hanging in her room, at a loss for what to say.

"What do you want?" the emperor asked, causing Lakshmi to jump in surprise.

She hadn't heard him come in.

"We're having problems keeping track of Roland and King Guy," Lakshmi said, glad that the first thing that had come to mind was also the truth.

The emperor's doughy hands balled into fists by his sides. "Why are you keeping track of Guy?"

Lakshmi remembered too late the emperor had wanted King Guy protected, not spied upon. "To protect him," Lakshmi said. "If someone watches him, they will also be present if anything should happen."

It was a loose excuse at best, but the emperor was trained in court matters, not espionage or the business of being a guard. He nodded curtly. "And Roland?"

"I haven't caught him anywhere he isn't supposed to be," Lakshmi said. "He meets with the guards who brought him here, but that could be nothing." King Guy had met with others as well, and his behavior, though not threatening to the emperor, was much more repugnant.

The emperor frowned. "I don't like that Roland is meeting with people," he said. "I wish he would leave."

Lakshmi pretended she had not heard the last. The emperor liked those around him to believe that he was omnipotent. Admitting that something was out of his control, and having it repeated by another, would not be welcome.

She briefly considered telling him about the garden encounter. She thought that she should. Telling him would eliminate both of their problems, and leave only King Guy to deal with.

Lakshmi couldn't do it.

"I will try to keep a closer eye on Roland," she promised the emperor. She hesitated. "Is there anything in particular I should be watching for?" It was always tricky, asking the emperor about topics that could involve court life. Sometimes he viewed her as a capable bodyguard with a brain in her head. Too often he viewed her as a mere woman, perhaps an inferior one at that, for she did not behave as a woman was expected to.

"No," the emperor said. "Just report what you see to the guards and to me. We will decide if something is amiss."

Lakshmi balled her hands into fists, using the painful stinging from her nails to remind her not to retaliate. How satisfying it would be to tell the emperor that it was she who put together clues about dangers that could otherwise lead to his assassination. She had single-handedly taken on groups of men come to kill him, and she had dealt with them and their weapons quickly and quietly so that none but she and a few trusted guards were ever aware that a problem existed. And despite all of that, the emperor still viewed her as disposable.

Like all women, she was to be used until her usefulness ran out. And even when still useful, Lakshmi knew she was viewed as being easily replaced.

"Of course, Your Imperial Majesty," Lakshmi said stiffly. "I will report anything I see."

"Good." He reached out and cupped her chin. "You're a good girl, Lakshmi." He left the room with a quick admonishment over his shoulder that she not be late for court tomorrow. They had a long day planned.

~~~

Lakshmi glided down the corridors on her way to court, wondering if there was a specific reason the emperor wanted her presence today. With King Guy and Roland in court with him so often, she had rarely been requested. It was fine with her, because it was easy to station a guard in court, and it left Lakshmi time to pursue other avenues of inquiry and meet with the trusted guards and the ranks of spies.

She wished she could question the emperor about what was supposed to transpire that day. He had not told her if she had a specific purpose today, or if he only wanted her there to wait on him and look appealing. If she was a man, she might be able to ask Emperor Samarth what he was planning, but as a woman and a supposed concubine she had no such power.

Her mind was so filled with thoughts that she didn't see King Guy until she was almost upon him.

"King Guy!" she said in surprise, then corrected herself with a low curtsy.

"Ah, Lakshmi." His smooth voice slid along her name in a way that made Lakshmi shudder. "On your way to court?" he asked.

"Yes." Lakshmi offered him a smile, but she thought it probably showed her nerves. She had not planned to be alone with King Guy, and had in fact been avoiding it since his arrival. "I should get going. The emperor will not be pleased with me if I am late."

"I am sure the emperor is always pleased with you," he said, stepping closer.

Though Roland had stood just as close and stolen Lakshmi's breath, King Guy offered a different threat. His words were not playful and alluring, they were calculating, and the look in his black eyes ordered her to obey. Lakshmi could barely keep herself from backing away, and a smile was beyond her.

"I hope so," she said softly, "but he detests tardiness. I really must be going." She turned to leave, and King Guy grabbed her arm, pulling her up against him so that her body was flush against his.

"Don't be in such a rush. The emperor has only just finished breakfast, and has gone up to his room to change into proper clothes for court." The hand not holding her arm stroked down her back to the dip of her waist and lower.

"King Guy," Lakshmi said with a voice growing strong with anger. "If the emperor were to find out, he would be furious."

"But how would he find out?" King Guy asked, the threat implicit in his tone. "It would be our secret."

Lakshmi yanked herself away from him, putting several feet between them. "I do not keep secrets from the emperor," she said coolly. "If you continue with this inappropriate behavior, I will so inform him."

The king's black eyes went hot with anger. "You bitch. If you told him such a thing, I would deny it. He will choose to believe me over a mere whore. Tell him, and you will be cast from the palace in disgrace." He smiled wickedly. "The emperor would not be able to protect you then."

Lakshmi had been afraid at first, but the fear had been caused as much by surprise as anything. Now her fear had been replaced by anger, and she had to remind herself that she could not take action against him. The memory of subduing the men on the rooftop came to her, but that was not a suitable way to deal with someone of Guy's standing.

And she knew it was possible that, even were she to tell the emperor about today, he would choose not to listen. He wanted to align himself with King Guy, and he wasn't above using her as a stepping stone. "I will not tell the emperor," Lakshmi agreed. "I will pretend for now that this has never happened. I will enter the court first," she said primly, then turned and did just that.

She took a deep breath before entering the court, smoothing her face so that none of her upset or anger showed, then glided in. As King Guy had said, the emperor was not yet present. Roland was, however, and from the look he sent her way, Lakshmi thought he sensed that something was wrong.

His look sharpened when King Guy followed just seconds behind her.

It had been Roland, Lakshmi remembered, who had recounted the stories about King Guy going after King Labo's wife and daughters. Roland might become suspicious and think that something had happened between her and King Guy. She did not want to tell the emperor, and she hoped that Roland would keep quiet about his suspicions.

Lakshmi bowed her head to Roland, and to King Guy as well, as though she had just seen him for the first time today. She stood behind the emperor's chair, awaiting him, and he came down a quarter of an hour later, looking displeased.

"Some fool woman is coming here crying for the Emperor's Justice," he said, taking a heavy seat in his chair.

The Emperor's Justice was not a popular choice for criminals. Only the truly desperate would, after receiving their original sentence, try for a new one by having the emperor listen to their case. It was doubly unusual for a woman to ask for such a thing.

Knowing the emperor as she did, Lakshmi went to the back wall and poured a goblet of spiced wine. She carried it to him on a gold filigree tray, and presented it with a bow.

Emperor Samarth accepted it absently, as if it had appeared of its own accord. He did not acknowledge Lakshmi at all.

Lakshmi could feel King Guy's penetrating gaze, and Roland's speculative one. She kept her eyes focused on the tray and the goblet the emperor placed back on it. It would be best if she could avoid the notice of both the royal visitors.

The intention Lakshmi had of fading into the background melted away when the woman who had demanded the Emperor's Justice came in. She was wearing chains, and heavily guarded, and Lakshmi could not imagine what a slight woman could have done to warrant such a thing. The woman looked haggard, but Lakshmi suspected she had been attractive once, before whatever misfortune had befallen her to bring her here.

"Arura has been convicted of adultery and being a party to murdering her oldest son, the heir of her husband."

Lakshmi's brows winged up, and she studied the woman more closely. The woman was slight, but that did not mean she was weak. She was a woman, but that did not mean she wasn't dangerous. But her eyes...There had been no flash in them—no life at all—when her sentence had been revealed. It was hard to believe that this woman had murdered her own son.

From her position on the cushion behind the throne, she could not read the emperor's expression. If it was anything like King Guy's, all that the supposed adulterer and murderess's request for the Emperor's Justice would accomplish would be to move up the woman's execution date.

Lakshmi studied Roland's face, but she was unable to read it. He was watching the woman with that careful, intent look that seemed to look past the surface into the soul. She wished she knew what he was thinking.

"Arura," the emperor said in his round voice. "You have come here seeking the Emperor's Justice, yet you have already been convicting of heinous acts. What do you hope to accomplish?"

Lakshmi's heart sank. She was sure that the emperor had already decided the woman's fate. Adultery was unforgivable in the emperor's eyes. And murdering a man's heir...that was punishable by death under any circumstance.

"Your Imperial Majesty," the woman said in a voice weak with fear. "When I was first tried, my husband spoke against me at my trials. The man who...the man who I was accused of committing adultery with was convicted along with me. He is the one who killed my son, but I was never allowed to tell my story." She seemed tired, and Lakshmi's heart bled for her. There was no malice in this woman, and Lakshmi was sure she'd had no part in her child's demise, whatever else might have taken place.

"You say this man killed your son, but you were convicted of being a party to that."

"Never!" the woman cried. "If I had even suspected..." her voice faltered. "Your Imperial Majesty, I did not commit adultery. The man forced himself upon me."

King Guy sneered, but Roland leaned forward in his seat just slightly, his eyes trained on the woman.

"There is no evidence of that," the emperor said mildly. "If it was not brought up at your past trial, I can only assume that you have contrived this so as to make yourself more sympathetic."

"I was not allowed to speak at my trial," the woman said, "and the man who murdered my son would not admit to what he had done, even when he was being put to death. No one would listen to me. My husband..." Her voice broke and she looked down at her chained hands, not bothering to continue.

The emperor drummed his doughy fingers on the arm of his chair and made a quiet "hmm" sound as if considering. He asked the woman a few details, then sent her and her guards back outside so he could make his decision.

"It seems plain enough," King Guy said. "She was unfaithful to her husband, and allowed her lover to kill her son."

"Yes," the emperor agreed. "That seems to be the whole of it."

Lakshmi closed her eyes, wishing she had not been called to court today. She did not want to bear witness to such a miscarriage of justice.

"Wait," Roland interjected in an urgent voice. Lakshmi opened her eyes again to see him looking hard at the emperor and King Guy. "You just accept that she was willingly unfaithful. Is there any evidence to prove this?"

King Guy shrugged. "Women have weak wills. It is natural to assume that she was unfaithful. If she was forced, wouldn't she have told her husband?"

"If her husband had not believed her, she would have been punished," Roland pointed out. "She might have thought the safer bet was to keep it a secret."

The emperor waved his hand. "That does not explain away the murder of her son."

Roland leaned forward even further, closing the gap between him and the emperor. "You cannot believe the woman willfully allowed this man to kill her son. What possible reason could she have for allowing such an atrocity?"

King Guy bared his teeth in a mocking smile. "Women lack intelligence and logic," he said. "It is clear to me that she had some unrealistic expectation of what would happen after the man killed her son, and therefore allowed it."

"Let's have her in here again, and question her on why her son was killed, and why she didn't endeavor to stop it."

"She will lie," the king said simply.

Roland's lips twitched. "Do you believe that this illogical, unintelligent woman is smart enough—clever enough—to deceive us?" he asked. "Is she more clever than you, King Guy? So clever that she could fool the emperor?"

"Of course not," King Guy said, his face growing red with anger.

Roland sat back in his chair. "Then no harm will be done by asking her a few more questions. If she is unable to provide a satisfactory answer, it will be clear she is lying and deserving of execution. If she tells a truth, then she is innocent. Yes?"

King Guy looked about to argue, but the emperor held up a hand to silence him. "That seems agreeable. We are more clever than a mere woman, and will see through any lies."

"But Your Imperial Majesty—" King Guy said.

"This is the Emperor's Justice," Emperor Samarth snapped. "I will deliver it when all the facts have been analyzed.

They called the woman back in, and Lakshmi waited to hear the woman's explanation for her son's death.

"The man who had forced me previously came to our farm again," the woman explained. "He was most persistent, but I did not want him to disrupt my children. I have—had—three children. My oldest boy, and two young girls. I agreed to speak with the man outside, in the stable.

"I shouldn't have, but I didn't want my children to overhear us. The things he was saying..." She shook her head and continued. "He grabbed me, and forced me again. I didn't know my son had followed me out. Not until he shouted for the man to stop."

"Your son followed you to where you were meeting this man?" the emperor asked.

"I did not wish to meet with the man," Arura said. "I had hoped to never see him again. But yes, my son followed us outside, and saw what was happening. He said he would run to town and fetch his father.

"That is when the man killed my precious son. He did not want to be found out, you see, and he used the knife he carried at his belt to..."

"And your part in this?"

Arura looked down at her chained hands. "I was not able to prevent it in time. I ran over to my boy, but it was too late. My husband arrived only moments later, and saw the man and I, and the blood on our hands."

Her eyes looked haunted, and Lakshmi knew the woman spoke the truth. Such pain and horror could not be faked. Lakshmi prayed to whatever gods were listening that the emperor believed it as well.

"No one would listen to me. No one would believe what I had to say. That's why I came to you, for the Emperor's Justice."

Emperor Samarth looked to King Guy, who shook his head. He did not believe the woman's tale. The emperor looked to Roland as well, and Roland shook his head, then leaned in and whispered something Lakshmi could not hear. King Guy's face grew angry, but the emperor nodded.

"Arura," he said. "I have reached a decision. Based on what facts I was given, and what information you have provided me, I find you innocent both of adultery and on being a party to the murder of your son and the heir of your husband. You are to be released from your bonds and escorted home. A letter will be sent with you to inform your husband of my rulings."

The woman sagged with relief, and only the guard standing nearest her prevented her from collapsing onto the floor.

Lakshmi couldn't believe it.

"Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty," the woman said when she finally came to her senses. "Thank you!"

When Lakshmi and the others finally left the court, she dropped to the back of the procession to stand next to Roland.

"How did you convince the emperor she was innocent?" Lakshmi asked quietly, keeping her eyes forward so that no one would notice her talking to the prince.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he answered.

"You whispered to him, just before he made the verdict."

"I told him a true murderess would never seek the Emperor's Justice, for the emperor is far too wise to see anything but the truth."

Lakshmi raised a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter, and from the corner of her eye she caught sight of Roland's smug grin.

Yes, he was dangerous. He knew just how to play the emperor.

## Chapter Eight

Lakshmi had been in the gardens when she got the summons to go to the emperor's chambers. As she made her way, she passed two of the palace concubines. They pointedly turned their heads away from her and whispered to each other just loud enough for Lakshmi to hear.

"There goes that one."

"She thinks she's better than us because the emperor keeps her closer."

"Maybe he just doesn't want to go through the bother of summoning someone in the middle of the night, and figures she'll do well enough." They giggled to each other, and Lakshmi was sure they had purposely spoken loud enough for her to overhear.

She tried not to let the jealous whispering of the concubines bother her. They did not know the truth, and if Lakshmi removed herself from the equation, she thought their jealousy was justified. She had the biggest rooms, and received the most and best gifts. They did not know everything given to her was pretense.

Even if they knew, she did receive those things, and she enjoyed the benefits. If that caused jealousy between her and the other women in the palace, there was little she could do about it.

~~~

Lakshmi turned into the emperor's room and found him sitting stiffly in one of the plush chairs. He looked pained, and Lakshmi guessed he must have one of the headaches that plagued him from time to time.

"You allow too much tension to build up," Lakshmi chided gently, crossing the room to perch beside him on the arm of his chair. "Would you like a massage?"

For the most part Lakshmi wished that the emperor would call on another woman for dressing and undressing, and all of the other menial tasks he assigned her. This, however, she could do, and do better than the others.

"Yes, Thank you, dear."

"On the bed." Lakshmi gestured him over.

The emperor stripped off his clothes and lay on the bed. Lakshmi pulled the sheet up to cover him to the waist, then began massaging him with the sandalwood massage oils by the bed. He groaned as she dug her fingers into the knots at the base of his skull, using pressure to loosen the tensed muscles.

"You must have too much stress," Lakshmi said lightly, her tone inviting him to talk. The emperor was a shrewd man, but he was always inclined to talk when she gave him a massage. Words tended to slip out of him along with the tension.

"It's that Roland," he growled. "I want him gone."

"Can't you ask him to leave?" Her clever fingers moved from his neck down to his shoulders. "You are the emperor."

"Sending Roland away would be a negative message to his father," the emperor said. "From a political standpoint, there is no option but to let him remain."

Lakshmi filed that information away for later. "But the situation with King Guy seem to be going well," she said after several minutes of working the knots out of his back in silence.

"Yes. His union with Ajuni will strengthen his bond with me and the empire. Samalt is a powerful kingdom, and when it is tied to the centrality of the empire, both will prosper."

Lakshmi made a sound of assent. "Then you seem to have arranged an advantageous match for Ajuni." She was quiet a moment. "She's much younger than King Guy."

The emperor shrugged under her skillful hands. "She'll be able to give him heirs. That is what is important."

Lakshmi finished the emperor's massage without another word. She didn't want to know any more about Roland or King Guy or Ajuni's impending marriage.

~~~

After leaving the emperor's room, she didn't want to return to her own quarters. The gardens held no interest for her, the day seemed particularly hot and breathless, and she decided instead to walk the palace corridors, away from the scalding sun.

The servants' walkways were narrow, but they were the internal halls of the palace and as such were often cooler than the rest of the building. Lakshmi didn't mind the less adorned corridors or bare floors. It was almost a relief to see the plain and simple when her life was so often filled with the opulent.

Lakshmi did not recognize all of the servants, and she ignored the men and women hurrying past her carrying food or laundry or cleaning supplies. They were a blur of unimportant faces, rushing to do whatever job was set before them in order to keep the palace running seamlessly.

The quiet and efficient bustle of the servants seemed typical, and Lakshmi had to look twice at a man and a woman who were walking together. The woman carried a bundle of cloth, the man an empty bucket. They looked no different than any of the other servants, but they did not move with the same confidence and focused intensity of the others in this hall. The two of them kept looking around, as though they weren't sure if they were in the right place.

"Hey!" Lakshmi said. She wasn't sure if she had planned to offer them help or ask what they were doing—she didn't have time to think it through.

The man threw away his bucket and lunged at her as the woman pulled out a long, wicked blade that had been concealed by the cloth she was carrying.

Lakshmi cursed as she dodged the man. He was quick, but she was quicker, and he ran past her and fell on the slippery stone floor. His slippers were better suited for carpeted halls.

Lakshmi put her back against the wall and tried to find a way to separate the woman from her knife before the man regained his feet and made another grab for her.

Luckily, the woman was not skilled with her chosen weapon, and she came at Lakshmi straight-on. Lakshmi hit the woman's arm with a quick, hard chop, and the woman let out a cry of surprise, dropping the knife and clutching her wrist as pain lanced up her arm.

Lakshmi scooped up the knife even as she delivered a roundhouse kick to the man's face, ruining his nose and sending him flying. Movement out of the corner of her eye revealed another servant, this one familiar, standing down the hall with wide, frightened eyes.

"Go get the guards," Lakshmi ordered the girl. The man was getting back up, and the woman—apparently recovered from the pain in her arm— was out for blood. The narrow corridor was not the best place for this, and Lakshmi had been taken by surprise.

But one of the real palace servants had seen her. It would be better to hold the assailants off until the guards got there so that it would seem that the guards had taken care of the situation, not Lakshmi. She had nearly decided to do that when the man, blood still gushing from his nose, grabbed the woman and started tugging her away. He was hard to understand with his nose clogged with blood, but Lakshmi could make out enough to know that he was telling the woman that they had failed and needed to escape.

Letting them get away wasn't an option. Lakshmi needed to find out who their target had been, and who had sent them. They had livery from the palace, which was not easy to come by. It was possible someone from inside the palace had ordered an assassination, and Lakshmi had to know who.

With some regret for the plan that would make these two the guards' responsibilities, Lakshmi took off after them. She didn't like hurting people, and she couldn't be sure they both had the necessary details, so she threw the knife with an accuracy that burrowed it into the man's hamstring. He fell and screamed in pain.

The woman's step faltered as she looked back at her companion in surprise. That was all it took for Lakshmi to catch up with her and knock her to the floor.

The guards arrived moments later, with the servant trailing behind. Lakshmi wondered if the servant would be sworn to secrecy or sent to live out the rest of her days in some small desert town. Perhaps she was trustworthy, and would become one of the few who knew about Lakshmi's real role in the palace. Those decisions were left to the captain of the guards and the emperor, not to Lakshmi. It was her job to protect the emperor, but she had very little say about her own life.

"I think they were pretending to be servants," Lakshmi said, forcing her voice to waver as though from fear. "I was just walking along and they...attacked me."

She closed her eyes, as if the memory was too much to bear. When she opened them the guards were looking at her in concern, as though they were afraid she would faint or give in to a fit of tears at any moment. She wished Captain Garth was present so she did not have to put on such a show, but these guards did not—and could not— know she was more than a concubine.

"Were you hurt?" one of the guards asked.

Lakshmi shook her head, biting her plush lower lip. "I don't think so. It all happened so fast. I don't remember...Do you think they came after me on purpose?" she asked with all the self-concern and egotism attributed to a favored concubine. "Do you think they wanted to kidnap me?" She swayed as if feeling faint, and one of the guards instinctively moved to grab her arm before a sharp word from the other had him backing up fast, holding his hands in the air as though to prove he had not touched the emperor's property.

"No, I'm sure you were not their target," the guard answered. "Run along, and we will deal with them now."

"Thank you," She carried on the pretense of being unsteady until she rounded the corner, then she ran to her room and penned a hasty explanatory note to Captain Garth. She rolled it up and sealed it, then tapped it against her lip as she contemplated how to see it delivered in a timely fashion.

She did not want to be seen with any of the guards so soon after the incident. She could deliver it through the cook, but having an intermediary always made her uneasy, even if that intermediary was someone she could trust. In this instance there seemed no other recourse but to wait and give Garth the information herself. Lakshmi thought on it another moment before deciding that the note could not wait.

So Lakshmi straightened her hair and veil, the latter having almost fallen off in the fight, and made her way to the kitchens to deliver a note to the cook for Captain Garth.

Life would be so much easier if such subterfuge could be done away with, Lakshmi thought. So much easier if everyone knew who I truly was. Or if my mother had never decided to return here.

~~~

When Roland approached Lakshmi in the corridor, Lakshmi gripped her hastily scrawled note tighter. "Roland," she greeted, pausing only briefly before continuing on her way to the kitchen. She needed to give the cook this message. Captain Garth needed to learn the news as soon as possible.

"Lakshmi," he said with concern evident in his voice. "Are you okay? I heard that you were attacked."

Lakshmi looked at him in surprise. News had traveled fast, and she wondered if Roland actually thought the attack had been on Lakshmi personally. She didn't think so. A noble would know that the target would have to be someone more important than a concubine for anyone to risk sneaking into a building as heavily guarded as the palace. Did he expect her to let some detail slip?

"I'm fine," Lakshmi said, forcing a waver into her voice as she had with the guards. "It was a fright, though."

Roland looked a bit amused. "I'm sure," he said sardonically, as though he did not believe the waver in her voice to be real.

"I really just want to get back to work," Lakshmi said, trying to go around him.

Roland pressed his hand against the wall, blocking her path. "Work?"

Since Lakshmi was heading away from her room—and the emperor's—she realized that "work" may not have been the best excuse. "I want some food first," she said, feeling stupid. She should have come up with a better lie. More than that, she shouldn't need to justify herself to Roland.

Aside from the fine clothes, being a concubine had little in the way of perks. Typically, being avoided by men like Roland was one of them.

"Ah. Would you like some company? If you are still frightened, you might not want to walk the halls alone."

Lakshmi bit the inside of her lip, hard, to keep from saying something scathing. "That may not be a good idea. The emperor does not like me spending time with other men." Her dark brown eyes held his steadily for a moment before they dropped under the pretense of modesty.

Roland smiled. "I'm sure that the emperor would want you kept safe."

"I will be fine. The guards have taken care of those...people."

"Perhaps I am hungry. We can walk to the kitchens together."

Lakshmi shook her head. "You can send a servant to bring you food," she reminded him.

"So can you."

Lakshmi was acutely conscious of the note hidden in the palm of her hand. She had to deliver it, but she realized now that Roland had no intention of leaving her alone. "We can walk together," she finally relented.

She tucked the missive between folds in her gown and hoped that she would be able to slip it to the cook without Roland noticing and asking questions.

## Chapter Nine

The knock on her door late that night did not surprise Lakshmi. She knew without asking that it was Captain Garth, and she slipped into the hall to meet him. If a man other than the emperor were seen sneaking into her room, it could cost them both their lives.

"Captain," she said with a small dip of her head.

"I wanted to tell you that I have taken care of the guards who dealt with the intruders. They don't suspect you of doing anything unusual." The corner of his lips twitched up in a smile. "I reminded them that women could be vicious when provoked."

Lakshmi smiled back, but her smile faded quickly. "The servant?"

The captain's face grew more serious. "She has decided that time spent on a farm in southern Aratal would suit her better than palace life."

Lakshmi was sorry for that, but she knew the captain must have found it necessary. He would not have chosen such extreme measures had there been another choice.

"Okay." She would accept it. "What do you know of the man and woman who came here?" she asked.

"Too little. We will continue questioning them. If we learn anything, I will let you know."

Lakshmi had hoped the prisoner's would yield more information, but she was glad that the captain was willing to keep her informed. That had not always been the case, but lately, perhaps because Lakshmi had been the one to apprehend the villains in the last two attacks, Captain Garth was willing to trust her more. Threats were getting by the guards, and she needed to know why and how. And so did he.

She wanted to ask if Captain Garth trusted his men, but she didn't. Even with the captain, her position was precarious. And he was a smart man. He would come to the possibility that some of the guards may be suspect without her help.

"You should go," Lakshmi told him when she realized no more would be forthcoming.

Captain Garth wished her good night and left. Lakshmi turned to go back into her room and noticed Roland standing down the corridor, hands crossed over his chest, watching her.

~~~

Lakshmi froze. She didn't know what Roland was doing here so late, but he had seen her talking with Garth. When he strode to her, she thought briefly about fleeing into her room, but knew that would cast even more suspicion on her behavior.

"Do you often meet with the captain of the guard so late at night?" Roland asked her.

He was crowding her again, standing much to close, and Lakshmi found it suddenly hard to breathe.

"No," she said faintly.

Roland smiled.

"No," she repeated more firmly. "He came here because..." her mind raced as she tried to come up with a plausible reason for the captain to meet with her. "He wanted to know if those people who attacked me said anything."

"Did they?" his eyes told her that he did not believe her lie.

"No. They didn't say anything." That, at least, was true.

"And the captain decided to ask you this tonight, not tomorrow? It's rather late for him to be visiting with a concubine."

Lakshmi stiffened. "Perhaps he was questioning them now."

"Perhaps. But you should get to bed now. It's late."

Lakshmi did as he said, but she couldn't help but wonder why he always seemed to be there, and what he knew.

~~~

Lakshmi was too unsettled from the last couple of days to read or work on any of her gowns. Even the garden could not calm her. Only one option remained, the one she resisted whenever she could.

She had to visit Ajuni.

Lakshmi so rarely visited her sister that it took her several moments to work up the courage to knock on the young girl's door. When Ajuni pulled the door open, it was with a bounce, and though she seemed surprised, her smile didn't dim. "Lakshmi. Do you need something?"

"I was bored," Lakshmi lied. "May I come in?"

"Sure." Ajuni backed up and skipped across her room. "Did you hear Mama and I are going to pick out veils for me?"

"That's great," Lakshmi lied. She wanted to ask Ajuni if she had met Guy yet, but she didn't. If the girl didn't know, it wasn't her place. "I remember when I was first able to wear a veil."

Lakshmi had not been as young and carefree as Ajuni. She had known what the veil had meant. Her mother had been a concubine, after all. Veils meant more than adulthood to Lakshmi; they had presented the possibility of a life like her mother's.

Veils could be cages, and Lakshmi sometimes wondered if it wouldn't be better for little girls not to grow up. Men gained freedom as they grew, but there was no freedom in growing up for girls, not when growing up meant putting on a veil. But Ajuni would not know that, would not discover that for months or even years after first donning the veil. Lakshmi wouldn't take that time of happiness away from her for anything.

"You must be excited to shop for your first veil."

"I am." Ajuni frowned briefly. "Do you think Papa wants me to get married?"

Lakshmi didn't let her surprise show. The girl was more perceptive than Lakshmi had realized. Obviously, despite Esma's attempts to shelter her, Ajuni had developed some aptitude for court life.

"Eventually, I'm sure," Lakshmi said, her throat gone dry. "You're too young yet."

"Yes." Ajuni sighed dramatically. "So why aren't you doing something else?" Ajuni was studying Lakshmi as if she was a curiosity, like the tiger brought in from the jungles last year to celebrate the emperor's name day.

Lakshmi was suddenly conscious of the fact that, although she saw Ajuni as her baby sister whom she had loved since the moment she had first seen her—first realized their connection—Ajuni saw her as her father's concubine. The girl was too young, too innocent, and too accustomed to the way things worked in the palace to be uncomfortable with the role Lakshmi played, but there was still an awkwardness between them that would prevent friendship in any form.

"I like talking to you," Lakshmi said. "I'm tired of reading, or walking in the gardens."

"You like talking to me?"

"Sure," Lakshmi said, seeing a vulnerability in the young girl she hadn't seen before. "You're smart, what with growing up in the palace, and you're funny. I like you."

Ajuni laughed. "Okay. Are you sure it's not because I'm the emperor's daughter?"

Lakshmi rolled her eyes. "Yes. Because your mother and the emperor would love knowing I spend time with you."

"I don't want you getting in trouble," Ajuni said.

"I can take care of myself," Lakshmi assured her. It was Ajuni she was worried about.

~~~

"I want you to stay away from my daughter."

The venom in Esma's voice was completely unexpected. Lakshmi had never seen the small woman so furious, but she was practically quivering with rage. "What?"

"Ajuni told me you went to see her today. I don't want you doing that again."

Lakshmi and Esma had occasionally had a complicated relationship. There had been times in the past that Lakshmi had felt Esma was jealous of her and the favor the emperor had for her. Other times, she thought that Esma disdained her. Never before had she come down so hard on Lakshmi for meeting with Ajuni.

"I did not realize that would be a problem," Lakshmi said. Though Esma had never encouraged it, she had never tried to forbid it, either.

"My daughter does not need to spend her afternoons entertaining a whore." Esma's voice trembled, and Lakshmi had a moment of insight into why Esma had such a problem.

"The emperor did not ask me to speak with your daughter," Lakshmi said slowly, hoping Esma believed her. "I did not talk to her about anything...questionable. She doesn't know about her engagement to King Guy, and I did not mention it."

Esma shook her head. "She was talking about her veil, and marriage, and you were there. I assumed..."

"Esma," Lakshmi said, daring to put a hand on the woman's arm. "Your daughter is incredibly sweet and innocent. She is excited about getting to wear the veil. I would never take that joy from her."

The emperor's wife closed her eyes as if in pain. "I should apologize," she said softly.

"No," Lakshmi said. "You were trying to protect your daughter. All mother's should react so."

"But you didn't do anything."

Lakshmi found it amusing that Esma was now arguing Lakshmi's side. If Ajuni had not been so important to Lakshmi, she would have been offended by Esma's reaction. However, Lakshmi could imagine too well how she would feel if the emperor sent one of the other concubines, one of the realconcubines, to talk Ajuni about what her future duties would be.

It made Lakshmi's stomach turn.

"And I would never do anything to hurt Ajuni, but you couldn't know that."

"This thing...I've been trying to watch King Guy, but Samarth does not require my presence often when the king and Prince Roland are around." She frowned, and her dark eyes, which had cooled as she worked to apologize, heated again. "King Guy is not the right man for my daughter. He needs someone more experienced. And my Ajuni...No girl of noble blood, least of all the emperor's daughter, gets to marry for love. I know that. But neither should she have to marry a pig of a man like King Guy."

Lakshmi had been in King Guy's presence more often than Esma, and had realized that although King Guy's black nature was more obvious, it was not so very different from the emperor's own. But perhaps Esma knew that. She was of noble blood. She knew what it was like to be married to a man she had not chosen. "No, she shouldn't," Lakshmi agreed.

"I wish there was something I could do. Samarth has forbidden me to discuss it with him. And I need to tell Ajuni." She looked at Lakshmi pleadingly. "How do I tell my baby that she is going to marry that awful man?"

Lakshmi shook her head. The only happy resolution she could see would be if King Guy were to die before Ajuni was old enough to wed. She would still have had to live with him for a time, though, and Lakshmi thought that was probably bad enough. "I don't know. She is more astute than I gave her credit for, though. I don't think she will be that surprised."

~~~

Lakshmi's earlier conversation with Esma kept intruding on her thoughts. She was attending the emperor's bath that night, a duty which she had come to enjoy less and less over the years, as he too-often made suggestions of late that she join him. The thought never failed to turn her stomach.

Tonight she hardly noticed his suggestions. It wasn't until he said something particularly inventive that she came up with a new subject to turn him to. "I thought of something regarding your daughter today," she said as she massaged scented soaps into his thinning hair.

The emperor grunted, but Lakshmi continued on.

"I know that you have promised her to the king—a good match to be sure—but I wondered if you had ever thought of someone like Prince Roland as her future husband." The thought made Lakshmi uncomfortable, but she pushed her personal feelings aside. Roland, despite the suspicion she felt for him, would be a much better mate for her sister.

"Roland?" the emperor asked. The quiet tone of his voice was a warning in itself, but she ignored it.

"The king is a great man," Lakshmi said, though her stomach twisted sickly over the lie. "I am sure that he would make a fine union."

"He will," the emperor said.

"My only concern is Ajuni's ability to have children by him," she said. "She is the one who will have to carry on your line, but the king is not a young man."

"I'm sure he'll have no problem getting the job done," the emperor ground out. Lakshmi remembered then that he was of an age with the king. She closed her eyes and cursed herself for indirectly questioning the emperor's manhood.

"No," Lakshmi said quietly. She lifted a ladle of warm water and tipped it over his head to wash away the fragrant soaps. "It is only an idea. And your bond with the king of Samalt is strong. I thought perhaps strengthening the bond with a different kingdom might be useful."

"You needn't think of it at all," the emperor growled. "It is not women's business."

"Of course not," Lakshmi said, her voice subdued, her heart racing.

## Chapter Ten

Lakshmi strode briskly down the corridors. She needed out of the palace, and decided to go shopping. She really didn't require more fabric for gowns, but there was little else the palace--and the emperor--did not supply for her.

Hopefully a guard would be free to accompany her. She usually arranged for an escort ahead of time, but the urge to leave had sprung on her suddenly.

Lakshmi turned the corner and narrowly avoided running into King Guy. "Your Highness," she said, bowing to him before she attempted to edge around.

"Lakshmi," he said, his voice sliding like oil across her skin. He reached out and grabbed her arm with one of his spidery hands. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

Lakshmi forced a smile. "I have some shopping to do," Lakshmi said, casually moving her arm to see if she could break his hold without a struggle. She couldn't.

"Surely you can wait to shop later," the king said, his voice low, his black eyes intense.

"I must arrange for a guard," Lakshmi said. "They may not be able to go later."

King Guy smiled, but it was not a kind smile. He looked predatory. "Come with me, Lakshmi, and all thoughts of shopping will go out of your mind."

Lakshmi could feel her eyes grow wider. She had thought the king had given up on trying to seduce her. "Your Highness, I am flattered, but—"

The man's fingers tightened like a vise, and he didn't bother to listen any more, but began dragging her down the hall. At first, Lakshmi was too stunned to fight. Then, as he veered toward what Lakshmi knew to be an empty storage room, self-preservation kicked in. She struggled against his bruising hold.

King Guy was stronger than he seemed, and the look he sent her told her he was aware of his superior strength. He yanked her, hard, into the room with him, then closed the door.

It was dark as pitch, and Lakshmi shuddered. The absolute absence of light made her skin crawl, and all the monsters she had imagined in her childhood seemed once again to exist. When King Guy grabbed her breasts roughly, squeezing them painfully, all that escaped from her was a mewling sound.

"Ah, not so insistent on belonging only to the emperor now," the king said, leaning forward and licking lewdly up the side of her neck. "You're nothing more than a whore."

Lakshmi's heart felt like it would beat out of her chest. She could see nothing, feel nothing but his hands cruelly digging into her breasts and his fetid breath moistening her neck. "Please," she said, her voice wavering, unable to plead for him to let her escape the darkness.

"I will show you what a man has to offer," the king said. "And you will come to me in the night."

His hand moved from her breast to cup the juncture at her thighs, and she summoned enough strength to shift away. "Stop," she said.

Moving in the dark, where the monsters could be hiding, terrified her. She knew it was only a girl's fears, but they were clogging her throat, threatening to choke her no matter how she tried to tell herself they were irrational. Even the pawing hands on her were hardly enough to overcome the fears from her childhood.

"You cannot stop me," he hissed. "You are a woman, a whore, and when we are done—"

Light spilled into the small room, and Lakshmi's breath shuddered out in relief even as strength seeped back into muscles gone lax with fear. She moved away from the king and out into the corridor—right into Roland.

"What's going on here?" Roland asked, looking between Guy and Lakshmi with dark, suspicious eyes.

Guy looked angry, but Lakshmi felt only relief. Her hands shook slightly, and she felt sweat beading on her upper lip. Though her mind spun, she was aware enough to see the concern in Roland's eyes.

"Nothing that concerns you," King Guy said, his eyes a dark warning.

Roland straightened to his full height. He was taller than the king, broader and more powerfully built. His eyes were cold. "It seems that you lured one of the emperor's concubines into a room to take advantage of her," he said, his face impassive.

King Guy smiled thinly. "You cannot take advantage of a concubine," he said. "They are whores. Go to the emperor, and he will know that his Lakshmi lured me into the room, and used her sex in an attempt to sate her wicked lusts."

Lakshmi couldn't look into his evil eyes. His voiced grated along her spine like dust in a desert storm. "That isn't true," she objected.

"Then tell the emperor," King Guy said casually. "See if he takes the word of a whore over a king."

He walked off, and when Roland would have followed him, Lakshmi put a restraining hand on his arm. "Don't," she said.

"I'll bloody him. I saw you. The emperor—"

"Roland," Lakshmi said wearily. "The emperor will believe what he wants to believe. King Guy is right."

Roland swore with a fluency that impressed Lakshmi despite her emotional unrest. "You're just going to let him get away with that?"

Lakshmi shrugged as though the incident had been minor. "I'm fine."

"Why didn't you fight him?"

His cool blue eyes demanded an answer, and Lakshmi admitted to him what she had told no one but her mother. "It was dark. I froze."

Roland let out a soft chuckle, but he must have seen that she was serious, as the laughter soon died in his throat. "You're afraid of the dark?"

Lakshmi crossed her arms in front of her defensively. "Only when there's no light at all," she said. "As long as there's a moon, or stars, or a lamp somewhere, I'm fine. The room had no light; I could see nothing." She shuddered again.

Roland's surprise was obvious, but he did not question her. Perhaps he did not find it unusual for a woman to be so afraid of the dark, though that thought did little to comfort her.

"All right," he said. "But I think if you tell the emperor..." She shook her head and he sighed. "Fine."

Lakshmi was quiet for a long time, warring with herself. Then, hesitantly, she placed a soft hand on his lower arm and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you, Roland." Her eyes were serious, and when she turned away he made no move to follow.

~~~

By the time Lakshmi made it to dinner that night, she thought she had put behind her the close call with King Guy and the disturbing feelings she had around Roland. She was dressed in her sensuous sunset silks, her hair falling in soft curls under the golden hair net. Sultry perfumes wafted up from her, a result of the scent she had rubbed into her skin after her bath.

The emperor smiled at her in appreciation. Esma's eyes passed over her as if bored, but the woman might have sensed something, as her mouth tensed momentarily before relaxing. King Guy pointedly ignored her, while Roland watched her too intently to be appropriate for the emperor's table.

If Emperor Samarth noticed Roland's attention, he was not displeased. As long as other men kept their hands—and other parts of their anatomy—to themselves, he was proud that they would be jealous of his concubines. When she had settled herself beside Esma, she was surprised that the woman's hand came out and squeezed hers once, tightly. Obviously she had not fooled the woman into thinking she was unconcerned.

Lakshmi turned her hand over and squeezed back.

The dinner conversation did not hold Lakshmi's attention. She could not follow the bland politics, the discussion of taxes between the kingdoms that made up the empire. Even what news the emperor shared with the other men, news he had received just that day from couriers, hardly interested her. She was distracted, disturbed by the day's events, and whenever her eyes happened to slide over King Guy, she tensed just slightly. After the initial scare—and the helplessness she had felt in the dark room—had passed, she had thought about her sweet, innocent sister.

Lakshmi could defend herself. The dark had paralyzed her, but she was sure that, given time, she would have been able to summon her wits and fight off the king. Ajuni had no such skills. The stronger, more experienced king would easily be able to overpower the small girl, no matter the surroundings.

That knowledge froze her to the bones.

"Don't glare at him so," Esma said, her voice little more than a whisper in Lakshmi's ear.

Lakshmi hadn't realized she had been staring, and immediately trained her eyes on her plate. She had done little more than push the food around tonight. Hunger was the last thing she was feeling.

"You will tell me what happened later."

Lakshmi nodded almost imperceptibly. She rarely confided in anyone, and never in the emperor's wife, but she realized something now. Although her job had always been to protect the emperor, she knew that if she did not do everything she could to protect her sister, she would become bitter and filled with the darkness that had twisted her mother so that eventually she had shriveled and died rather than spending another day as the emperor's once favored, now discarded, concubine.

Roland was watching her. He was discreet, but his eyes kept coming back to hers. Lakshmi could feel them, and though she kept her own focused on the emperor and her food, and occasionally on Esma, she could see him in her mind's eye. His intelligent blue eyes would be focused on her, his mind working over whatever mysteries he had.

After dinner, Lakshmi and Esma headed to the part gardens reserved for women. Lakshmi removed her veil, a sign that she would hide nothing from the emperor's wife, and the other woman did the same. Esma looked older than Lakshmi remembered, though it had not been so long since she had seen the woman without her veil. The lines that fanned out from her eyes were more noticeable, and brackets were beginning to form around her mouth.

Lakshmi had no doubt the changes were due to worry about Ajuni.

She held back nothing as she relayed what had happened with King Guy that afternoon. She even divulged the fear she had so long kept hidden, though she felt heat rise to her face as she did so. Esma did not laugh or make light of Lakshmi's fear of darkness, however. The woman merely listened as Lakshmi told her everything, up to the moment when Roland had come to her rescue.

After the story was finished, Esma swore softly. It was not a particularly vile curse—Lakshmi had delivered much worse with much less reason—but she was impressed that Esma would know such language at all. She was not a concubine, born to a disgraced woman in the desert. She was the daughter of a king, married to the emperor.

And she was a mother.

"I wish that man's evil would consume him," Esma said.

Lakshmi doubted if even evil had the stomach for a man like King Guy. She thought it must like sweeter stuff, the stuff evil men fed to it. "I don't believe we can count on that happening," Lakshmi said. "Time is too short for evil to grow that hungry."

"Then we'll have to do something ourselves." Esma's eyes portrayed her seriousness.

~~~

A young girl arrived at Lakshmi's door with a tray piled with fruits and a bowl of rice and lamb in curry sauce. Lakshmi almost sent the girl away, but thought better of it. If the girl wasn't attending Lakshmi's meal, she would probably be put to use scrubbing floors or doing dishes. Serving a pampered concubine was not a difficult assignment.

Lakshmi daintily ate her meal, stopping every couple bites to wipe her lips with the napkin the young servant proffered. The girl watched Lakshmi eagerly, as though fascinated by the concubine's every move, and Lakshmi wondered how new to the palace the servant was. She knew her moves well, but the attention being paid was more than someone familiar with the many concubines would have.

Lakshmi was about to ask the girl about it when she heard a knock on the door.

The girl jumped to her feet and scurried to the door, pulling it open. When the girl said nothing to welcome the visitor in, Lakshmi looked up.

It was Roland.

The serving girl looked as surprised as Lakshmi felt, and the concubine knew word of the prince's visit to her private chambers would spread all over the palace if she did not act quickly. "Did the emperor send you to fetch me?" Lakshmi asked, rising smoothly from her chair as though she had expected Roland.

A corner of his mouth lifted, but Roland gave no other sign that he was not acting on the emperor's orders. "Yes. Are you ready?"

Lakshmi looked at her half eaten meal and nodded. "Yes. I don't want to keep the emperor waiting." Her eyes slid to the serving girl. "Clean up in here."

Her voice was dismissive, and nothing in her manner suggested that anything out of the norm was happening. Hopefully the girl would pick up on that, and Roland coming to visit her would remain a secret. If not... it didn't bear thinking on.

Lakshmi followed Roland around twisting corridors as if he truly was leading her to the emperor. She didn't speak until they had twisted around enough that they were at a side entrance to his rooms. He pulled her inside before she could protest.

Then protest she did.

"What do you think you're doing, coming to my room like that? If that girl tells someone—"

"How was I supposed to know a slip of a girl would be feeding you lunch?" Roland asked, his blue eyes hot with temper.

"You didn't need to know!" Lakshmi said. "You shouldn't have come to my rooms at all. What do you want?"

Roland's head swooped forward and his mouth claimed Lakshmi's in a steamy kiss.

At first, Lakshmi was too stunned to respond. When her shock wore off, she opened her mouth to protest, but his tongue darted out and filled her mouth. She couldn't talk, and soon pleasure overwhelmed her.

She'd never kissed a man, but she had seen too many kisses not to know how to respond. She moved her tongue against his, reveling in the different textures. The rhythm of Roland's tongue was clearly that of mating, and Lakshmi felt her knees weaken.

The moan that escaped her had nothing to do with her years of pretending to be a concubine. She had experienced the first taste of desire, and wanted more.

"I've wanted to do that since I first saw you," Roland said. He was so close that his lips moved against hers as he spoke, sending delicious tingles up and down her spine.

Lakshmi didn't know what to say. She played the part of the emperor's concubine, but she had no experience with something like this.

The memory of the emperor snapped her back to reality, and she wrenched herself away from Roland, staring up at him in shock. "What are you doing?"

"What we are doing," Roland corrected, "is kissing."

Lakshmi shook her head, holding him away with an outstretched arm when he tried to move closer. "No, we're not. We can't."

"We can," Roland said, wrapping his arms around her.

"If the emperor finds out—"

"Shh," Roland said, placing a soft peck on her lips. "We're kissing. There's nothing for him to find out." His next kiss was slower, more languid, and when he moved back he wore a smug smile on his charming face. His blue eyes were filled with pleasure.

Lakshmi wanted to protest, but his lips were right there, so temptingly close. She raised up on her toes and kissed him gently, somewhat hesitantly. Roland took over, and she made a soft sound of pleasure as her arms moved to wrap around his neck.

He put his hands at the small of her back and pulled her closer, until she was fitted against him. He was tall and strong, all muscle. Lakshmi could hardly believe the difference between him and the other men she had been so close to. He had none of the emperor's overabundance of flesh, and despite his strength, she felt no uneasiness being in his arms.

The sensations she felt were entirely difference.

"I want to stay here," Roland said after an interminable time of kissing.

Lakshmi made a noise of assent and returned to his mouth. She couldn't believe the sensations rushing through her—even for her mother, who had missed the life of a concubine so much she had returned to the palace and faced the emperor's wrath in an attempt to regain her past life—sex and the associated physical activities had merely been a job.

Lakshmi had never known that a kiss could be so wonderful, and fill her with so many beautiful feelings.

"I want more," Roland said, moving from her lips to her neck, sending a hot shaft of passion straight to Lakshmi's core.

She gasped.

Roland pulled away and smiled. "I think you want that, too," Roland said. "It's more than a concubine's tricks with you, isn't it?"

Lakshmi was too overwhelmed to speak, or even to understand his question.

"You have to go," Roland said. "There will be other times and places, but not now."

"Bu—"

"Go to the emperor," Roland said. "If the serving girl mentions we left together..."

"Oh. Yes." Lakshmi swallowed and tried to gather her scattered thoughts. Finally she gave Roland a wan smile. "Check the hall before I leave your room."

Roland smiled back, and after he had checked that the corridor was clear, he ushered her out. The hand he placed on her back trailed down to just above the curve of her bottom before he let her loose and closed the door behind her.

Lakshmi took her time finding the emperor. He would be able to sense passion in a concubine, and though he was not aware of her parentage, he knew by now that nothing he did would call up such passion in Lakshmi.

## Chapter Eleven

The next morning, Lakshmi got dressed with more care than usual. Pulling on the billowy silks of her blouse and pantaloons was usually like pulling on a costume. Lakshmi had been dressing to look the part of a concubine for years, but today was the first day that she was really conscious of what the saffron outfit would look like to a man.

Dressing took longer, and with each corner Lakshmi turned on the way to court she wondered if she would run into Roland. When she finally did see him, seated beside the emperor, her heart skipped a beat and her skin felt hot. It was ridiculous, and she was for once glad for the veil. Even if being with someone other than the emperor had been allowed, an experienced concubine would never react so obviously to a man.

Lakshmi had never been with a man, but that could not be known or even suspected. Were word to get out, the facade she had spent a lifetime building would crumble. And any protection she had received from being the emperor's concubine would be gone. A female bodyguard would not be allowed, and she could not become a concubine in reality.

Not to a man who was her father.

~~~

Lakshmi had been so flighty all day that the emperor had told her to leave and calm down before she tried to attend him again. She had too much energy to sit in her room, and decided to spend some time walking in the gardens. Even if they did not calm her the way they normally did, there was more room to pace outside than there was in her rooms.

She was doing just that, pacing, when she stumbled upon Roland.

"Roland," she said, her voice coming out as little more than a gasp. She hadn't realized that she had been hoping to find him here until her heart gave a happy leap in her chest at the sight of him.

He looked up from the elaborate water feature where small, colorful fish swam in lazy circles and smiled at her. The smile started in his eyes, and spread slowly until his beautiful mouth curved in welcome. "Lakshmi. I was hoping I would see you again today."

Lakshmi felt herself grow warm, and prayed it did not show. She had to find her composure, or he would surely suspect that there was something strange going on. A lifetime of subtle—and not so subtle—hinting at her sexuality should have made Lakshmi immune to Roland's gentle words, but it didn't. It seemed that she grew more sensitive to him every time their eyes met.

"I didn't expect to see you in the gardens," Lakshmi said, not commenting on her hopes.

"I wanted to look at some water that wasn't for bathing," Roland said, looking back at the fish swimming in the pool.

Lakshmi looked, too, and thought that the bright fish, all shades of yellow and orange and gold, had a good life. The water was clean, and safe from predators. She had never seen the pretty, almost delicate-looking fish in the wild, but she knew the real world was more dangerous than any fountain could be. "The fish are pretty," she said.

Roland smiled. "There are streams where I am from where fish as long as your arm spawn. They aren't all as pretty as this, but they are flashy in their own way. And good for eating."

His voice sounded wistful.

"You sound like you miss it. You've been here longer than I thought you would be. Are you homesick?"

Roland looked at her with unreadable blue eyes. "Some things I miss," Roland said. "Cool air, clear streams. Green grass. But there are compensations for staying." His eyes were trained on her veil, as though he could see her mouth through it, and she licked her lips reflexively.

"I miss...wet," he said, his eyes heating.

"Roland, I..." she didn't know what to say.

"Come, sit with me," Roland said, holding out his hand. "Let me hold you, taste you, by the water in this green island."

Lakshmi couldn't help herself: she went to him.

His hand was warm and strong, the calluses rough against her smooth palms. His mouth was hot and smooth when it met hers under the veil, as it had been the other day, and excitement raced through her, causing her heart to race and trip.

"I can feel your pulse jump," he mumbled against her lips. She was conscious then of the hand that had been stroking along her neck and clavicle, caressing her until goosebumps raised along her arms. "Are you so eager for my kiss? My touch?"

"Yes," Lakshmi said, too aroused to be embarrassed or cautious with her words. "Roland, kiss me."

She gave herself over to him, until nothing seemed real but his lips, his hands, the warmth radiating from his body. It wasn't until he quickly set her aside, jumped from the bench, and told her to fix her veil that she remembered that they were not alone. There were other people, and they were exposed in the garden.

Lakshmi got everything straightened out just in time for one of the gardeners to come around the corner. The man was old, and didn't seem to find anything strange about the two of them standing around the garden. He waved at them casually and went by with his wheelbarrow, intent on doing whatever it was the gardeners did to maintain the lush gardens in such an inhospitable clime.

When the gardener was out of hearing, Roland swore softly. There was no mistaking the serious feeling behind the words, though. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you like that. Not here."

Lakshmi was shaken, both by the kiss and almost being caught. It had been foolish to lose herself like that in such an exposed area. "You heard him coming," Lakshmi said, not sure if she was pleased or disappointed that he'd been aware enough to do so. To Lakshmi, nothing had existed except the kiss.

Roland smiled ruefully. "I was trying my best to think of something other than peeling off your clothes and sinking into you until there was nothing between us, not even air."

Lakshmi's face flushed, and the sensations in the pit of her stomach grew to an almost painful height.

"You look like you want it as badly as I do," Roland said, his voice taut with lust.

Lakshmi didn't know what to say. She wanted him so badly that her fingernails ached, but it could not be, and saying yes would be like issuing an invitation. She stayed silent.

"Go back to your rooms, Lakshmi, or my good intentions will dry up like spilled water on this hot stone."

Lakshmi wanted to stay. She wanted to kiss Roland again, to feel his strength and his heat against her body, but she knew that if she stayed, she would receive more than a kiss. With a last long, aching look at Roland, she turned away and headed back to her quarters.

She would sew, and pour these new, unfamiliar feelings into something useful. Lakshmi had gone without things she wanted long enough to know that this time could be no different. As much as she might want Roland, he was something she could never have. Should never have.

~~~

Lakshmi turned in surprise when the door between her room and the emperor's opened. The emperor rarely used that door, and even more rarely without knocking. Only when he was in a temper did he so imperiously demonstrate his superiority.

And he looked to be in a temper now.

Lakshmi nervously wet her lips, worried about what he might say. After the close call in the gardens, Lakshmi and Roland had been more discreet, but she was having a hard time staying away from him.

And he was making no effort to stay away from her.

"Can I get you something?" Lakshmi asked, ready to go into the other room for the assorted drinks the emperor liked, or to ring for a servant to bring him something else.

"I need you to accompany Prince Roland into the city," the emperor asked.

Lakshmi was stunned. Of all the possible scenarios that had raced through her head, she had never imagined the emperor telling her to spend moretime with the prince. "What?"

"Roland is planning a trip to the city. To the market, of all places."

"And you want me to go with him?" Lakshmi asked.

"He's too cunning to risk having him followed," the emperor said regretfully. "I told him that you wanted to go to the market yourself. You get restless in the palace," he told her. "Since I am busy, I asked him if you could accompany him."

She nodded mutely, wondering that her head did not explode. "What did he say?" she finally asked.

"He said he would be happy to escort you to the market."

"And why am I going with him?"

"Because I don't trust him! He's been here far too long already."

"King Guy is still here," Lakshmi said, then wished she had held her tongue. Guy was here because of Ajuni. When the king left, Ajuni would go with him. As far as Lakshmi was concerned, King Guy could take up permanent residence in the palace. She would put up with his lewd comments and his creeping eyes, as long as it meant Ajuni was safe where she belonged.

"King Guy was invited," the emperor said. "We have business together. Roland is an interloper who has overstayed his welcome. If he is staying longer, it is because he is planning something."

Lakshmi had been under the same impression until the other day in the garden. She still was, but before then she thought whatever he was planning was sinister, probably an act against the emperor himself. Now, Lakshmi thought what he was planning was her seduction. It could not be allowed, but as often as she reminded herself of that simple fact, she could not think his plan sinister. It was wonderful.

"I will watch him and see if he meets with anyone," Lakshmi said, "but I don't think he is planning anything."

"Why not?" the emperor asked, eyeing his bodyguard shrewdly.

Lakshmi did not know how to answer. She could not tell the emperor of what was happening between her and the prince, for to do so would endanger both of them. She could also not tell him that Roland seemed to be a peaceful man who missed his home, because that would bring them back to the question of why he was staying. Instead, Lakshmi shrugged. "It's just a feeling," she said.

The emperor scoffed. "I do not want my bodyguard to have 'feelings.' Limit yourself to facts, because those can be of some use."

"Of course." Lakshmi struggled not to show her resentment. She had not always felt this way about the emperor, the man who was her father and did not know it. Only since Roland had she realized how valued a woman could feel, and how under-valued she was by the man she was sworn to protect.

"Roland will be waiting for you by the guard house. You can take a guard with, if you'd like."

Lakshmi shook her head. "No. He might meet with someone in front of a woman that he wouldn't in front of a guard."

Her reasoning was half-logical. The other half said that if they were alone, without the presence of a guard, there might be more chances to kiss. Or even to talk. They did not get nearly enough time to talk and share their feelings and experiences. There was too much of Lakshmi's life that she could not share, but she was fascinated by everything Roland told her, from stories of his home to his family to his travels.

It was all marvelous and exciting to a woman who had spent her younger years in the desert, and the rest of her life in the palace.

The emperor grunted. "You're right. Just the two of you. But be careful, I need my bodyguard if he really is planning something."

"Of course, Your Imperial Majesty," Lakshmi said. "I will be very careful."

"Then get going. You don't want to keep the prince waiting."

When Lakshmi met with Roland by the guard station, he asked if she wanted another guard to accompany them. She shook her head, and knew he could see her smile beneath the gauzy veil. He had seen more of her face than any man but the emperor had since she had turned twelve, but somehow wearing her thinnest veil felt delightfully enticing to her. He didn't seem to mind.

"The emperor told me you wanted to go to the market," Roland said.

"Uh, yes," Lakshmi replied, wondering if she was supposed to buy something while she was out. There were always things for her to purchase, but she was not in the shopping frame of mind.

"I was going to go out and see if they have any imported food from Ugarth. The emperor doesn't favor northern food, so the larders in the palace are sorely lacking."

Lakshmi laughed softly, and decided on a bit of honesty. "I don't really want to buy anything. It's just nice to get out of the palace once in awhile. See people who aren't nobles or servants." She blushed. "Not that your being a noble is a problem," she said.

Roland laughed too, at what could have been an insult.

"No problem," he said easily. "We'll go to the market, see what I can find, and then walk around the city for awhile. For Samalt, it doesn't feel that hot today."

"You're just getting used to the heat," Lakshmi said. It was as hot today as it was any day in the capital. She eyed Roland speculatively, and noticed something different. "You had someone make you a new shirt," she said.

"Yes. One of the serving women suggested I might be cooler if I wore this fabric. She was right."

Lakshmi was suddenly, viciously jealous of whatever woman it was that had sewn Roland a new shirt. She had probably gotten to take his measurements, too. She'd been able to touch his body, feel his strength, adjust smooth, loose fabric over the muscles in his shoulders...

"That is a fierce face you are wearing," Roland said, pulling her out of her thoughts. "What were you thinking?"

"That I would have liked to be the woman to sew you that shirt," she answered before she could think better of it.

Roland looked at her, his blue eyes growing dark. "I would have liked that, too," he said. "Now come, let's go to the market before I do something that isn't appropriate for the street."

Lakshmi discovered that unlike shopping with the guards, shopping with Roland was fun. He joked with the shopkeepers, haggled with the woman selling some strange northern fruit that had been dried until it looked like a brown piece of leather, and generally seemed to enjoy himself and the experience.

She'd never met a man like him.

When he offered her a bit of the fruit he called "apple," she took it and hesitantly bit off a tiny piece. Although it was chewy, the flavor was appealing, and she took a bigger bite. "This is good."

Roland had seen the doubt in her eyes, but he didn't make fun of her. Instead he sighed and ate another piece of dried apple himself. "They are better fresh. They have a thin skin, and are crisp when you bite into them. These aren't bad, though."

Lakshmi chewed on hers meditatively, wondering what else she did not know about Ugarth and the northern places. The emperor did not care overly much about the northern reaches of his empire, and for the most part Lakshmi was ignorant of northern customs, including the different food. "What other foods do you eat there?"

"Potatoes. Carrots. Peppers, but not the spicy ones that you favor here. Berries."

"Strawberries?"

"Do you have those here, then?"

Lakshmi shook her head. "They were imported, once. The emperor let me have one." It had been red and sweet, she remembered. And she'd badly wanted another.

"Tell me more about where you come from," Lakshmi said. "I feel that you know much more about my life than I know about yours."

"Oh, I feel that there are secrets in your life as well as mine," Roland said, his eyes unreadable, "but you are too beautiful to be argued with, so I will tell you tales of my homeland that will convince you that it is far superior to the arid Samalt."

## Chapter Twelve

The sound of the sitting room door swinging open had Lakshmi sitting up in bed. Her senses strained, but she didn't leave the bed. Her own movement could prevent her from hearing anything or anyone else. The door clicked closed, and Lakshmi heard someone crossing her sitting room to her bedroom. No one should be in her rooms in the middle of the night, but the increased beat of her heart did not come from fear.   
It came from pleasure. Lakshmi recognized Roland's familiar footfalls, and a wave of heat swept through her.

The door of Lakshmi's bedroom swung open silently, but Lakshmi sensed the disturbance of the air. And she sensed Roland's presence.

"Lakshmi," Roland said. His voice flowed over her like the rare honey the emperor had once imported. A shiver rippled through her.

"You shouldn't be here," she said even as she held out her arms to him.

Roland came to her easily, sitting on the bed and pulling her into his arms. He kissed her neck, and she arched to give him better access. The kisses they had been stealing for the last weeks had been delicious, but not nearly enough. She wanted more; wanted everything.

"I had to," Roland said against her neck. "Oh, you taste good."

Lakshmi moaned as Roland began nibbling on her collarbone, and gasped when his hand went to cup her breast. "Roland," she moaned.

"I have to have you," Roland said.

"Yes." Lakshmi didn't care about possible consequences. The only thing that existed for her was Roland. "Yes, please."

They quickly removed each other's clothing, fevered hands running over feverish skin. Roland's body was hard and muscular. It rippled with every move, and she luxuriated in the feel of him. His skin was satin over those rippling muscles, and the hands that ran over her own skin were calloused from swordplay and the sort of physical labor the emperor disdained.

Lakshmi let out another moan, matched by Roland's as she undid his buckle and slipped the pants off his hips. Never had she been more grateful for the times she had undressed the emperor, for she didn't think she would have been able to undo the fastenings had she not had years of practice to fall back on.

"My hands are shaking," Lakshmi said, nearly laughing with delight. Her heart was racing, and she loved the feeling of life rushing through her.

"You make me wild," Roland said, slipping off the last of her silk and pushing her back onto the bed. "I've never wanted someone the way I want you."

He captured her mouth in another consuming kiss while his hand moved down, down between her legs to stroke the silky entrance to her body. He found her hot and slick, more ready for him than any woman he had ever experienced.

Lakshmi was a concubine, but he knew her heat was genuine. Whatever she might have done in the past, she was here now, with him, and she was ready. She moaned her need and moved against him like a cat. Her hips moved rhythmically, her mouth moving against his neck in a series of kisses and bites.

Roland slid a finger into her heat, marveling at how tight she was, and her fingernails sank into his back, delicious pricks of pain that served to heighten his pleasure.

"Roland," she gasped as new, wonderful sensations rushed through her. She felt like she was on the verge of something wonderful that only Roland could provide. "Oh, please." Her voice trailed off into mindless pleas for more, for release from the tension that was growing and writhing in her body. "Roland."

Roland gritted his teeth. He had planned to pleasure her more, but the heat he felt in the palm of his hand was proof that Lakshmi did not need more tender love play. She needed him. And he couldn't wait.

Roland moved up her body just slightly, maneuvering until the blunt head of his manhood was at her tight, hot entrance. He moved slowly, marveling in the silky heat. She was so slick that entrance was easy, and he wondered how she could be so tight even as his body sang.

He was halfway in when he felt a barrier, and he could hardly believe it. "Lakshmi?" he asked, lust battling with common sense into a confusing moray.

"Roland," she said, lifting her head to claim his mouth in a hot kiss. Her hips rocked against his gently, mindlessly, straining for a release that she had never known.

Roland wanted to sink into her, sheath himself in her until they became one. He wanted to move, to find the completion they both sought. But there was that barrier, and he had to know. "Lakshmi, are you a virgin?" The question was ridiculous. She was a concubine, the emperor's favorite. Her chambers connected to the emperor's, and he requested her presence more than any other woman's.

She couldn't be a virgin.

But he could feel that she was.

Lakshmi's eyes opened, and she focused through the haze of lust. She had hoped Roland would not realize the truth, but she knew now that had been a foolish hope. "Yes."

Roland wanted to ask how. He wanted to know why this beautiful, sensual woman, a woman everyone knew entertained the emperor, could be a virgin. But his body had other ideas, and conversation was impossible. He had only the strength for one question. "Do you still want this?" he asked, moving just slightly in her body to emphasize his point.

Lakshmi smiled. "Oh, yes."

It was all Roland needed to hear, and he pulled back just slightly before thrusting, breaking through the barrier that shielded her virginity.

She cried out, a cry muffled by Roland's mouth on hers, and he froze.

Pain was unavoidable the first time, but Roland did not want to hurt her more than necessary. He thought it would be possible, just barely, to hold still long enough for her to adjust to his presence in her body.

Lakshmi had other ideas. She moved against him in demand, and when he did not respond she bit his shoulder. "I'm fine," she said, her hips moving again in a way that clearly demonstrated what she wanted from him. There was no shame in her eyes, only hunger.

For a moment Roland was surprised by her boldness, but then he realized that even a virgin concubine would have more knowledge about sex than most women. And then thought fled as his body took over and he moved in her, luxuriating in her heat, the slick vise of her body, the soft moans and rocking of her hips that was much more sensual than any inexperienced woman should be.

One of Roland's hands returned to her heat, and he stroked the bud that was the center of her pleasure. She tightened like a bow, and he captured her cry with his lips as she went over the edge, her body clenching and trembling under his.

He followed on her heels, just barely stifling his own cry.

Roland buried his head in her shoulder as after-tremors went through them. It could have been minutes or hours later when Lakshmi raised a hand to stroke his sweat-slicked back from shoulder to hip.

Roland didn't want to move, but he knew he was likely crushing her. He levered himself up onto his elbows and stared down at the concubine who was no longer a virgin.

She had always looked sensual and passionate, but in the dim light, with her hair mussed and her eyes heavy from pleasure, her lips swollen from his kisses, Lakshmi had never looked more beautiful. Roland felt a stirring in his groin that was evidence that he wanted her again. But first they had to talk.

Lakshmi saw the passion in Roland's eyes, but there was also an edge of seriousness that had not been there before. She would have been worried, were he not still deep inside her. Whatever his thoughts were in the aftermath of their passion, he was not disgusted.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Roland finally asked, bridging the subject that was so obviously between them.

Lakshmi's smile was somewhat rueful. "Would you have believed me?" she asked.

Roland thought about it, and his smile was answer enough. "Probably not."

Lakshmi knew that if Roland was going to be honest, she should be as well. It was strange, being honest about something that had so long been kept a secret, but the warmth running through her was no longer just from passion. There was a pleasure that came from sharing that she had never experienced before. "Part of me hoped you would not notice. I wanted you so much, but I was afraid if you knew I was a virgin, you wouldn't want me." She looked away, for the first time shy.

Roland grabbed her chin gently and turned her face toward him. "How could I not want you?" he asked. Her eyes were deep and luminous, and he felt like he could fall into her.

"If I wasn't experienced...You thought you were getting into bed with a concubine."

In the months Roland had been in the palace, he had realized just how different the south was from his northern homeland. The emperor's concubines had been a shock to him, but Lakshmi's assumption that Roland would prefer a woman trained in the arts of seduction to someone naturally passionate but otherwise untouched was a revelation on just how different their societies were. "I love that I was your first," Roland admitted, kissing her plush lips softly, gently.

"Really?" Lakshmi asked.

"Yes. You were amazing, and knowing that you were that hot for me, that it was not a concubine's ploy..." His eyes heated, and just as Roland had known from the heat of her body that her passion was not feigned, Lakshmi knew that his words were not empty lies.

"I've never wanted anyone but you." Her heart constricted in fear and excitement at the sharing of feelings, and she stroked his face with her hand, feeling the stubble along the strong planes of his face.

"I have questions," Roland said. His face was serious again. "How can you be a concubine and still—"

She silenced him with a kiss. "Not now." Her words were a whisper against his lips.

"Later," he said and kissed her again, then he rocked his hips and Lakshmi's eyes grew wide. She knew what happened between men and women, but she had not realized Roland would recover quite that fast, or that they would start again without him ever pulling out of her.

"Are you sore?" Roland asked with concern, remembering that she had been a virgin and would likely still be tender, despite the care he had taken not to hurt her.

Though Lakshmi felt a little discomfort at his movements, she shook her head. The pleasure she felt far outweighed any discomfort, and she wanted him far more than she wanted to avoid discomfort.

"Good, because I don't want to stop." Roland thrust harder, moving in rhythms as old as the beginning of the world.

Lakshmi moved against him, and lost herself in pleasure.

~~~

A familiar hand on Lakshmi's waist sent ripples of heat coursing through her veins. She shivered pleasantly before turning to Roland. "Hi." Her voice oozed sweet sensuality.

"Hello to you," Roland said, dipping his head forward and kissing her ear playfully.

Lakshmi looked around the corridor. It was empty for now, but she knew how quickly someone could turn the corner and see them. "We shouldn't do this here," she said softly, knowing that there was no way anyone that saw the two of them standing in the corridor with Roland's hands resting familiarly on her waist could miss that they were lovers.

"But I want you." His voice was rough with passion.

Heat pooled in Lakshmi's stomach and dipped lower as memories of the nights they had spent together rushed her. She closed her eyes.

"Come to my room with me," Roland urged, pulling her closer until she could feel the blunt flesh of his arousal against her stomach.

Lakshmi nearly moaned. "I want to." It had been only two days since they had last been together, but it seemed much longer. "I miss feeling you inside me."

Roland groaned and grabbed her hand, tugging her behind him.

She worked her hand loose with a laugh. "I can't."

"You can," Roland said. His blue eyes were hypnotizing in their intensity, and Lakshmi forced herself to look away before she lost her common sense and followed him.

"The emperor has requested me in the Gathering Room. I have to go."

Roland frowned, the expression drawing a line between his blond eyebrows. "What does he want?"

Normally, Lakshmi would have found the idea of anyone questioning what the emperor wanted ridiculous, but she saw the hint of jealousy in his eyes and risked the intimate gesture of running a hand through his hair. "I don't know. Not what you want from me.

Roland closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the top of Lakshmi's head. "How can you be sure?"

Lakshmi did not know what to say. They hadn't talked about the circumstances of her being a virgin concubine. Roland had wanted to, but Lakshmi had always distracted him or evaded the questions. As much as she wanted to be honest with Roland, it was not possible. He knew more about her than was safe, but he couldn't know everything.

"You'll have to trust me," she said, moving until she could see his dazzling blue eyes.

Roland looked about to ask her another question, but Lakshmi shook her head and put two fingers to his mouth in a silencing gesture. "Not now." Lakshmi looked around the corridor again.

"Come to my room tonight," Roland urged.

Lakshmi knew she shouldn't. She never should have slept with Roland, and she should not continue to do so, but the feelings that came alive when she was with him were too potent to give up. "Okay. I'll be there."

## Chapter Thirteen

Lakshmi checked the knife in her pocket. She wasn't sure why King Guy had taken the risk of contacting her through a servant and asking her to come to his room, but she doubted it would be good. Lakshmi was half afraid it might be a trap, and that King Guy would tell the emperor she had come to his room for immoral reasons.

The emperor wouldn't believe King Guy. At least, Lakshmi hoped he wouldn't, but she was more worried that King Guy would try to take advantage of her once she was alone. He was a dangerous man, and the closer the date came for Guy to leave with Ajuni, the more dangerous he seemed.

With more confidence than she felt, Lakshmi knocked briskly on King Guy's door.

"Come."

Lakshmi took a deep breath as she entered the room. She hadn't been in these quarters since King Guy had taken up residence, and she wished she had not had to enter now. She could feel his presence in the rooms, the creeping evil and lecherous feelings that filled the old man. It made her skin crawl.

"You wanted to see me?" Lakshmi asked coolly. She did not cross the room to him, but stayed near the door, balanced on the balls of her feet, ready to flee.

"Yes. Come here, Lakshmi. I want to show you something."

King Guy was holding an intricate wooden box on his lap. Lakshmi doubted there was anything in there that made crossing the room and standing near the king worth it, but she could not disobey a direct order, especially not when the order seemed so reasonable. She crossed the room and bent down to look at the box.

Guy's hands moved faster than Lakshmi would have thought possible. One hand grabbed Lakshmi's right wrist while the other shot into her pocket and grabbed her knife. "Strange, for a concubine to walk around armed."

Lakshmi wrenched herself free. It was not dark in the opulent room, and Lakshmi had no trouble controlling herself. She wanted to strike King Guy, to reach out and grab her knife back and teach the man some manners, but she knew that would be foolish. Instead, she ran for the door.

"Not so fast," King Guy said. His voice was deceptively calm, but Lakshmi did not have to wonder why for long. Two armed men stepped out of the shadows and blocked the doorway. They were two of the guards that had accompanied King Guy to the palace, and from their expressions they did not seem at all concerned about the fact that they were preventing the emperor's concubine from leaving.

"What are you doing?" Lakshmi asked, rounding on King Guy furiously.

"Whatever I please," King Guy said amiably. "I watch you in court, or at dinner. Your slumberous eyes, your mouth...I knew I must have you before I leave."

Lakshmi shuddered. "When the emperor finds out—"

"Who do you think the emperor will believe?" Guy asked. "A whore, or the king who is going to marry his daughter and strengthen the empire in a way that has not been done since Samarth's grandfather's time?"

"He will believe me," Lakshmi said. The emperor had to know she would never sleep with King Guy. With the exception of Roland, Lakshmi had never so much as kissed a man, and the emperor did not know about Roland. He would believe her innocence.

"Are you sure of that?" Guy asked. "What does he have to gain in believing you? Nothing a dozen other concubines can't give him. If he chooses to believe me, he gets my allegiance. I will marry his daughter, and the empire will rejoice."

Lakshmi's soul shuddered. King Guy thought that the emperor would merely be replacing a concubine, but Lakshmi knew that it would be just as easy to replace her as a bodyguard. "I will tell the emperor if you so much as touch me," she said, trying to sound as though the emperor would choose to believe her.

The king smiled. "Oh, I plan to do more than touch you," King Guy said, stepping forward. "And I think, if you tell the emperor, he will not care."  
Lakshmi had had enough of letting King Guy have the upper hand. She would not let herself be fondled and subjected to even worse when she could defend herself. She shifted her weight...and felt strong hands gripping her arms.

"Uh, uh, uh," the king said disapprovingly. "You see, I thought you might fight. That is why I brought my men. If you choose to cooperate, you won't get hurt. If you don't...well, these men will see that you do cooperate."

Lakshmi tried to free herself, but their hands were like vises, and when the king came forward and stroked Lakshmi from neck to shoulder, she could not get away.

"Your veil teases me," King Guy said, ripping off Lakshmi's veil. "Ah, your lips are even more lovely now." He leaned forward for a kiss, and Lakshmi jerked wildly before kneeing him in the groin.

Her aim was off, and though King Guy's hands went to the injured area, he was not incapacitated.

His black eyes lit with rage, and his hand shot out in a vicious slap that made Lakshmi's ears ring.

"You bitch," he said. "You'll pay for that." He straightened up and gestured for the guards to take better control of her. When her legs were restrained as well as her arms, King Guy returned.

"Don't do this," Lakshmi said, working to keep her eyes level instead of showing her fear.

"You know, I think I'll like it better this way," Guy said, ignoring Lakshmi's plea. He smiled, and his smile was as vicious as the hand that tore her blouse.

He grabbed roughly at her breasts, and Lakshmi could not hold back the screams that welled up in her throat as feminine terror overrode years of training. She could not fight, could only scream and beg. The feel of his hands were even worse, because she could remember the feel of Roland's hands, Roland's mouth, and knew just how wrong this was.

Screams ripped from her throat, making it raw and painful as the king removed her clothes, laughing and pawing at her while the guards held her captive.

Fear and humiliation overwhelmed Lakshmi so that she couldn't breathe.

Then other cries joined hers, and her arms and legs were loosed. Lakshmi collapsed on the ground and wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to shield her nakedness. She watched in disbelief as Roland knocked down the two guards and turned on King Guy.

His blue eyes were filled with rage, and the hand not holding his sword was clenched in a fist. His voice shook as he spoke. "Stand against the wall," he ordered the king.

"You can't order me around," King Guy said. "I am a king."

"That, Your Highness, is not the question at the moment." One of the guards on the ground stirred, and Roland kicked him. "Stay down before I see to it that you never stand again."

The guard stopped moving, and Roland returned his attention to Guy. "Up against the wall," Roland repeated. "Slowly. Let me see your hands."

Lakshmi suddenly remembered the knife, and thought to shout out the warning to Roland, but he had already noticed it.

"I'm quicker with my sword," he told the king. "Slide the knife toward Lakshmi."

With a look of disgust that did not quite mask his fear, Guy did as he was told. Lakshmi's arm darted out and grabbed the knife before she pulled in on herself again. She could not bear the thought of being completely bare before the king and his guards again.

"Lakshmi, there's a blanket on the settee behind you," Roland said as though he could read her thoughts. "Can you get it?"

Lakshmi shook her head.

Roland kept an eye on the three other men in the room. One of the guards was still unconscious from a punch in the jaw, and the other was remembering the kick in the ribs and staying down. King Guy's eyes were filled with hate, but he was standing against the wall as Roland had instructed. With care not to leave anyone unaccounted for, Roland fetched the blanket and draped it around Lakshmi, careful not to touch her.

"Can you get up now?" he asked softly.

Lakshmi nodded and pulled herself to her feet. She was shaking, but with her nakedness covered and a knife in her hand, she felt more confident. "I'm okay," she said.

Anger welled up in Roland as he took inventory of her trembling hands and the bruise forming on her cheek, but he said nothing about her injuries. "Good. Go into the hall and find a servant. Have them send some guards up here, and get you a new blouse. I think yours is ruined.

Lakshmi shuddered but did as Roland had bid. She slipped back into her pantaloons in a room adjoining the king's, and was just changing into her new blouse when the guards arrived to escort King Guy and his two rogue guards to the emperor's court.

"Come on, Lakshmi. We have to go report what happened here."

## Chapter Fourteen

Lakshmi's stomach clenched painfully as she stood waiting for the emperor. She wore her green silk pantaloons and the mismatched yellow blouse one of the palace servants had fetched for her. Nerves butted up against shame until there was room for little else. She never should have gone to King Guy's room. Never should have let herself be alone with him. Never—

She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. The memory of King Guy's hands on her body, tearing her shirt, groping her, made her sick. Her head pounded, and she wondered how much longer she could bear to wait for the emperor to arrive. Reliving the events that had just unfolded would be hard enough, but telling all of it to the emperor and hoping he believed her, with Guy right there listening.

Lakshmi wanted to run.

"It's okay," Roland said in a whisper hardly loud enough for Lakshmi to hear.

"What if he doesn't believe me?" Lakshmi asked, her words no louder than his. The emperor had not yet arrived, but King Guy was there. He stood between two of the emperor's guards, and Lakshmi wondered how Roland had managed that.

It hadn't taken long for a serving woman to bring Lakshmi a new blouse, or for Lakshmi to make her way down to the throne room, but long enough. Somehow, Roland had managed to convince two of the emperor's men to stand guard on a king, and a guest at that, without the emperor's orders. But King Guy stood there as calmly as if the guards did not exist. There was no sign that he was worried about the outcome of this meeting.

She wondered where the king's guards were. If the king was to be punished, Lakshmi wanted to see them dealt with in kind.

Lakshmi looked over at Roland, wanting to ask, and found him watching her in return. She was used to reading people, but she couldn't read the expression in Roland's shockingly blue eyes. They were intent on her face, as though he could see the bruise she knew was forming beneath her veil, and she shifted uncomfortably, looking away. She did not want him seeing her looking like this, wounded and scared. And he had seen her before, when...

She firmed her lips to keep from crying.

"He'll believe you," Roland assured her. "Even if he did not believe the bruise on your face, he won't call me a liar."

Lakshmi nodded and hoped he was right. When everything had happened, there had been only fear and disbelief. But she saw more now. She had thought King Guy was a monster, but she was sure now. The man Ajuni was to marry was a man who had carefully arranged an attempted rape. He would have succeeded, had Roland not gotten there in time.

Lakshmi would die before allowing Ajuni to leave with such a man.

"What is the meaning of this?" Emperor Samarth demanded before he was fully in the room, his mouth already twisted with ire. "I was pulled out of my bath and told to come to the court. Told!" The emperor scoured the assembled people until he spotted King Guy. "Guy, what is all of this about?"

It was clear that the emperor had not been told the nature of the incident, or who was at fault. But then, Lakshmi was not sure who or what Roland might have told.

"Nothing to concern you," Guy began. "This is all a gross misunderstanding."

"Stop your lying tongue or I will slice it out," Roland said harshly, surprising both the emperor and King Guy with his venom. The look on the face was one Lakshmi had only seen once before, in Guy's room.

"You may be a prince," Emperor Samarth told Roland, his face turning red, "but you address a king, and speak in front of your emperor. There will be order in my court. Whatever crude manners you northerners have, there will be order here."

"I have no manners when it comes to dealing with rapists," Roland said icily, holding the emperor's gaze.

For a moment the emperor's face went completely blank, shock stealing all expression. "What?"

"I was on my way to the gardens," Roland began, "when I heard a woman screaming. I ran down the corridor and found the source of the screams coming from King Guy's rooms. I entered and found two of his guards restraining Lakshmi while he stripped her."

"Lies!" King Guy cried. "Don't listen to him, Samarth, he is lying. It must be part of some northern plot."

"Quiet." The emperor looked from Roland to Guy and back to Roland. Finally, he turned to look at Lakshmi.

She was pale despite her golden skin, and her long black hair was disheveled, the golden web that had been holding it in place a tangled mess. Her veil was not large enough to completely hide the angry bruise forming on her face, and the slightest tremor occasionally ran through her, as though she was shivering.

Her gaze was fixed on the floor. She'd fought armed assassins without flinching, but she could not bear to look at any of the men around her.

The emperor looked away from Lakshmi and redirected his attention on Roland. "What happened after you got there?"

"When I entered I knocked down the guards until Lakshmi was freed. Then I got King Guy to surrender his knife and step back. Lakshmi wrapped herself in a blanket and called for guards and a new blouse."

The emperor nodded. "I would like to see this knife."

Lakshmi watched Roland present her knife, hilt first, to the emperor. She could barely breathe.

The knife had been a gift from the emperor to her two years before. The hilt was plain, but for the top which was ornately carved like a rose. The blade was also ornate, a flowering vine such as was found in the garden. She hoped the emperor recognized it. Hope he realized that it was hers and what that had to mean.

Hoped he cared enough about the truth to do something.

The emperor nodded and set the knife aside, giving no sign of recognition.

"I would like to hear your account, Guy," the emperor said. His tone revealed nothing, but his face was tight.

King Guy straightened to his full height, then folded his hands and rested them on his protruding belly. "What this prince tells you is a lie," Guy said simply. "His words are heinous, and it is no doubt jealousy that drives him."

"Was Lakshmi in your room?" the emperor asked.

Guy hesitated only a moment before nodding. "Yes, Your Imperial Majesty," he said.

A muscle jumped in the emperor's jaw. "Why?"

"I believe she meant to seduce me," King Guy said.

"That's not true!" Lakshmi cried, unable to hold her silence. "He sent for me. Ask the servants!"

"Not now." The emperor gestured at her dismissively. "I will hear your side later." He turned his attention back to Guy. "How did Lakshmi's blouse come to be ruined?"

"It must have torn when she threw herself at me, and I tried to hold her back," Guy said, smiling at the emperor as though they shared a joke between them. "Silk is easily torn."

The emperor grunted. "And how came two of your guards to be in your room?"

"They are my guards." King Guy said. From the look on his face, Lakshmi thought he might be genuinely affronted by the question. "They were there to make sure my person was secure. Where else should they be? I hardly brought them here to drink ale and gossip."

"And do you have an explanation as to why Prince Roland came to your room tonight? Does he often visit you?"

King Guy shrugged one shoulder and gestured absently with his right hand. "I don't know why the prince felt the need to come to my room," he said. "There was certainly no screaming. Perhaps he means to curry favor."

"This hardly seems way to do that," Roland said dryly.

The emperor shot him a dark look, but King Guy responded quickly. "Perhaps you believe that, finding me in what appeared to be a compromising situation, you can take advantage. Much can be gained by a younger son who gains the emperor's favor."

"You believe that I am accusing you of rape to gain favor with the emperor?" Roland asked, his eyes wide. Lakshmi hadn't realized the truth in the stories that northerners did not play the same games as were played in the southern courts.

The emperor cut in. "Enough talking. Who put the bruise on Lakshmi's cheek?"

Again Guy hesitated. His story painted Lakshmi as the aggressor, but it would not be believable that she hit herself, or that she fell and caused the bruise. The placement was wrong for the latter. "I hit her," Guy finally admitted.

"Why?"

"To fend her off. She was most insistent in coming on to me. I would never take one of your women, Your Imperial Majesty, but I could not keep her off me without hurting her."

"Even with two guards there?" the emperor asked. He didn't bother waiting for an answer, but turned instead to Lakshmi. "My darling, tell me what happened."

Since becoming the emperor's bodyguard, she had given many incident reports. She relayed the events that had happened in King Guy's room in the same way, as if it had happened to someone else. Lakshmi couldn't have told him any other way. Could not have born the telling if she thought about it happening to her. If she remembered the feel of Guy's hands on her, his lips, or the sharp, humiliating smack of his hand on her face, she wouldn't be able to keep her composure enough to give a report. Still, she could not keep her voice from wavering, and by the end her voice had become little more than a whisper. The emperor waited, and with each word his eyes got darker, harder. When Guy tried to interrupt, the emperor yelled at him to be silent.

"He would have raped me, had Prince Roland not arrived in time," she said at last. "I couldn't get away."

"Your Majesty, this is outrageous! I—"

"I don't want to hear anything from you," the emperor snapped, anger causing his voice to shake. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides, and a vein throbbed in his forehead.

But Lakshmi knew that anger did not tell the whole story. The emperor was conflicted. The emperor wanted to unite his daughter and King Guy; wanted to enmesh Guy further into the empire and perhaps name him as heir one day. And there was a friendly history between the two men.

But whatever political machinations and friendly feelings the emperor might hold toward the king, he abhorred the thought of a man sleeping with another man's woman, be she wife or concubine. Women were little more than property, and sleeping with another man's woman was the worst sort of theft in the emperor's eyes.

Lakshmi had never relied quite so much on the emperor's sense of morality.

"Your Imperial Majesty." Esma's soft voice surprised them all. She looked perfectly put together, but Lakshmi had been around Esma and the emperor's other women too long not to pick up the small signs that said the emperor had been with his wife before duty pulled him away.

"Esma, this doesn't concern you," the emperor spat, his anger spilling over onto his wife.

"I think it does," Esma contradicted.

The emperor rose from his throne angrily, and though Esma flinched slightly, she held her ground.

"What then?" the emperor demanded, raising his fisted hands. Lakshmi knew that it would not be the first time the emperor used his fists on his wife.

"I must confess that King Guy has been making advances toward me since he arrived at the palace," Esma said, keeping her head raised proudly. "I did not tell you because I did not want his behavior to interfere with the wedding." Lakshmi knew that Esma would have done anything to have the wedding called off, but the emperor was not as astute when it came to his wife's feelings. He would think it natural for Esma to want to protect Ajuni's future marriage.

"Explain."

Esma's tales were not as violent as Lakshmi's. There had been an incident in the corridor much like the one that had taken place between Guy and Lakshmi in the storage room, without Esma being paralyzed by fear of the dark. There had also been lewd comments and gestures made on a regular basis until Esma had begun having a servant girl escort her everywhere. Then King Guy had reduced his lascivious behaviors to looks.  
At the end of his wife's recital, the emperor sat back on his throne and released a long sigh. Lakshmi thought that she should go to the man. As his concubine, it was her place to go to him in times of stress, offering to rub his shoulders and soothe him. She couldn't force her feet to move. After what had happened with Guy, she didn't know the next time she would be able to offer such a gesture without shuddering.

Esma gave Lakshmi a sideways look and crossed to the emperor herself. She approached him warily, and whatever offer she made was rebuked without any attempt at gentleness or gratitude. Esma bowed and left the dais.

The emperor stared over the assembled people, his eyes shuttered. She wished that Emperor Samarth liked Roland better, so that he might be more inclined to take the young prince's words as truth, but there was nothing to be done about that. Nothing to do but wait.

It was a long time before the emperor said anything, and when he finally did it was with seeming regret. "I have heard reports from everyone involved in the incident," the emperor said, for to him the guards were incidental. Servants and guards could be paid to say what their masters wanted said. "King Guy, I find you guilty of the attempted rape of one of the emperor's concubines."

"No! I didn't—"

"Silence!" The emperor thundered, even louder than the protest of the king. "The punishment for such a crime can be quite severe. I could have you locked up. If you were a common man, I would consider hanging you."

King Guy stood silent, waiting.

"I have known you a long time, Guy," the emperor said, sounding tired. "I never suspected such treachery. However, you are a good king. You will return to Samalt. You will rule your country in the way you have since becoming king, without sign of what happened here. There will be no more rumors of ill-behavior between you and other men's women. There will be no marriage between you and my daughter."

"Emperor—"

"No," the emperor cut in. "You will abide by my ruling, or you will take up residence in the palace dungeons."

King Guy bowed his head. "Yes, Your Imperial Majesty."

"You will leave tomorrow morning. Guards—my guards—will be placed on your room, and any men you brought with you will leave the palace tonight. There should be room enough in the city inns to house them for the night."

Guy wisely did not voice his displeasure. The emperor dismissed them all, and Lakshmi was grateful that she was not asked to hold back. She wanted to take a bath, to scrub the feel of Guy off her skin, and then to sleep until the memory faded.

Roland called after her when they were alone in the corridor, but Lakshmi did not stop or turn around. She needed the baths, and she needed to be alone.

## Chapter Fifteen

Lakshmi demanded more hot water be brought until the bath was almost scalding, and climbed in despite the protests and admonishments of her maids. The heat from the water was almost painful, but when she was finally submerged up to the neck in the steaming liquid, the shivers that had coursed through her since being held in Guy's room finally stopped.

And then they started again, shivers turning to wracking sobs until she was hugging her knees and rocking. One of the women rushed forward, trying to save the towel that was wrapped around Lakshmi's hair from the water.

"Get out!" Lakshmi screamed, yanking the towel off of her head and throwing it at the woman. "All of you, get out!"

"But we—"

"Out!"

They left, and Lakshmi buried her face in her hands, crying as she had not cried since her mother's death. She remembered everything that had happened, every horrible moment that seemed to stretch a hundred years. She had never felt helpless, the way she had when those two guards were holding her. Had never truly felt in danger of anything.

And had never imagined that she could feel so much fear and live through it.

As her tears ran through, she reminded herself that she was safe. Roland had saved her, and Guy was under guard. He would leave the city tomorrow, never to return.

She was safe.

She splashed water over her face to rinse away the tears, and called for the maids to return. They washed her long black hair, then worked to dry it even as she soaked her body. One of the woman insisted on covering Lakshmi's face with a thick, gooey mixture that she insisted would help the bruises heal faster. Although Lakshmi didn't like the look of the mix, the smell was not unpleasant, and anything that could keep the bruising from getting worse was welcome. She tilted her head back and allowed her face to be covered.

Long after the bath had started to cool and the women had begun to remark that it wasn't healthy to sit in cold water, Lakshmi decided it was time to return to her rooms. She stood up and was immediately wrapped in a luxuriously soft towel. Another woman hurried forward with a robe, and the exchange of towel for robe was almost seamless.

The woman who had applied the facial mask wiped it off now, and smiled at the results. "I think, if we keep doing this, in a couple of days no one will know that anything happened," she said.

The other women shifted uncomfortably, but Lakshmi just nodded. There was no point in pretending everything was okay. They might not know the details, but they knew enough. And servants always had a way of knowing more than anyone told them.

"Then we will do this every day," Lakshmi agreed, forcing herself to smile, although it was painful.

"Now that you're finished with your bath," one of the women said, "I have a message for you."

Lakshmi's smile vanished as she listened. "What?"

"The emperor asked to see you after your bath," the woman repeated. "He said I wasn't to interrupt your bath to tell you, but that once you were told—"

"I was to go straight to him," Lakshmi finished. "I heard you." She just hadn't believed. She'd thought this once that he might leave her alone.

"Then you'll go?" The woman sounded pathetically hopeful.

"Of course." It wasn't Lakshmi's place to question the will of the emperor.

After dressing in dark maroon silks, thicker and less clingy than those she typically wore, with a thicker veil as well, Lakshmi went to the emperor's private rooms. She did not kneel as she might have at other times, but she curtsied and kept her eyes down. "You wished to see me?"

"Yes. I find today's events very distressing."

Lakshmi bit down on the inside of her cheek hard enough to taste blood. "I can imagine," she finally said, barely able to get the words out past the rage building inside of her. A glance up at Emperor Samarth told her that, distressed as he might be, it never occurred to him to worry about how she was feeling.

"I had counted on Guy uniting our two families. Word has already been spreading about the marriage."

"I know," Lakshmi said, suddenly worried that Samarth might change his mind about Guy. "But surely word of what the king attempted is starting to spread as well."

The emperor waved his hands as though it was of no consequence. "In time it will spread, yes," he agreed, "but I'm not worried about rumor. I'm worried about strengthening the position I hold here, while I still hold it."

"You are the emperor," Lakshmi said, not understanding.

"I am an emperor with no heir. I had thought to name King Guy my heir once he married Ajuni, but...well, that is in the past, now."

"So you mean to arrange another marriage?" Lakshmi asked, wondering what that could possibly have to do with her.

"No, Lakshmi. I mean to have another child." Her look of utter confusion must have amused him, since he laughed and kept laughing as comprehension dawned and horror replaced her confusion.

"You can't mean..."

"Esma produced a daughter, and has not quickened again in all these years. But you are young, and strong. You could give me a son, and one I would name heir."

Lakshmi felt bile rise in her throat. "I am not a concubine, I am your bodyguard, I—"

"And I am your emperor," Samarth reminded her. "Never fear, this is not a change I mean to make tonight. I want your pretty face healed, first," he said, touching the bruise on her face with his pudgy hands. "But I thought I would let you know that soon, you will be my concubine in truth. And before long, you shall be the mother of the next emperor."

Lakshmi nodded, her mind racing. "If I may take my leave now?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"Yes, yes. Go. I will check in on you in a couple of days." He grinned. "The proximity of your room will truly be convenient, now."

She nodded and left, barely making it to the chamber pot in her own room before she emptied her stomach.

## Chapter Sixteen

Lakshmi lay in bed, unable to sleep. She heard boots in the hall, heard them stop outside of her door. She could almost see Roland there, his hand hesitating inches from the doorknob.

When the person outside the door moved on, Lakshmi wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. She didn't know if she would have been able to handle the intimacy of being alone with Roland right then, but she didn't want to be alone, either.

She sat up, grabbing the robe that was hanging on the edge of her bed and shrugging into it. Perhaps she would dress and take a walk in the garden. Clear her head. One of the cooks could warm some milk for her, and...

She realized she was wringing her hands and forced herself to stop. A part of her knew that being nervous was natural, but at the same time it was infuriating. She was not a woman to be reduced to handwringing and vapors. Even here, she refused to show such weakness. Things practiced in private too easily became public. Her mother had taught her that. From the time Lakshmi and her mother had returned to the palace, Lakshmi had never once referred to her mother as anything but "aunt." It would be too easy to slip otherwise. And now Lakshmi had to learn to control her emotions again. Her fear.

Now more than ever, she needed to be able to think and act rationally. She should be coming up with solutions to her problem, not thinking about whether or not she wanted Roland with her.

What the emperor had asked...

A laugh escaped her, and she could hear the hysterical edge to it.

The emperor. Her father.

What would he do if she told him the truth? Nothing good, she was sure. Perhaps he would change his mind on a woman to give him an heir, but she doubted rotting in a prison cell was much better than sleeping with...

She shuddered. No, perhaps the prison would be better.

Or I can leave, she thought. Just go.

There was no reason for her to stay now. Ajuni was safe from King Guy. Lakshmi herself would be the only one in danger if she remained.

Life after she left the palace might be difficult at first, but Lakshmi's mother had done it. Lakshmi could, too. Feeling calmer and more sure of herself than she had since the attack, she crossed to her armoire and threw back the doors. She took out the large sack rolled up at the bottom. Hardly the appropriate way to transport silks, but she could hardly carry a trunk by herself. In the sack she put some of her more serviceable silks, her shifts, a pair of sturdy boots, and some of her more subtle jewelry. She didn't have much in the way of coin, but she had some loose gemstones that she hadn't taken to a jeweler's yet, and she put them in a secondary coin purse that she would keep on her.

She had one outfit that was plain linen, finely cut but not a display of palace life, and planned to stop by the laundry the next day. She could steal some livery, and alter it so that it looked more like plain clothes and less like what palace servants wore.

Her mother had not told her much about leaving the palace, but Lakshmi knew her mother had done the same in stealing servants' garments, and sold her silks and gems as she traveled. She hadn't spent them wisely, though. As Lakshmi recalled, her mother had liked to live a grand life, and had spent much too freely before realizing that soon there would be nothing left.

Lakshmi did not plan to fall into that same trap.

She grabbed a thin blanket, rolled it up as tightly as she could, and put it in the sack, then tucked the whole thing under the bed, where the servants wouldn't notice it.

She had a day or two before the emperor would expect her to fulfill her new duties. A day or two to steal and alter livery, to gather food, and to figure out where to go.

Would the emperor look for her? Her mother hadn't told her whether the emperor had chased her, and no concubines had run away since Lakshmi had returned to the palace. Would he care?

Probably not. He might be angry, maybe even angry enough to issue an arrest warrant if she was found, but he would not go chasing after her, or waste guards on such a task.

Bodyguard or no, concubine or no, she was merely a woman.

Satisfied with the progress she had made, she lowered her hands to the belt on her robe, ready to return to bed.

And froze as she heard a woman's screams coming from next door.

After only a moment's hesitation Lakshmi reached for her knife—not the one that had been taken from her earlier that day, but another, older knife, and ran for the door that joined with the emperor's room. She braced herself for anything, but was still shocked by what she found.

The first person she saw was one of the emperor's concubines, pale and wide-eyed. She followed the woman's gaze, and felt the blood drain from her face as she looked at the remains of the emperor.

The bed was soaked in blood. The emperor's throat had been opened from ear to ear, and the spray had soaked body, mattress, and curtains alike.

"What happened?"

The woman shook her head. "I don't know. I..." She swallowed hard. "I was told he had sent for me. When I got here..." She looked away. "When I got here...I'm going to be sick."

Lakshmi hurriedly grabbed the chamber pot and thrust it into the woman's hands. Then moved closer to the body.

At first the cut had seemed vicious, but there was purpose behind it. Whoever had done this—or ordered it done—had not cared whether the emperor suffered. They just wanted him dead.

And Lakshmi had heard nothing. She'd stopped dozens of assassins over the years, but on the night the emperor had needed her protection most, she had been too distracted to notice.

"Guy," she whispered.

"What?" the concubine asked, looking dazed.

Lakshmi shook her head and reached for the pull cord next to the emperor's bed. It would summon a maid faster than Lakshmi could go find one herself. She had to know if King Guy was still being guarded. Had to get a message to Captain Garth. Had to...

The emperor was dead.

"Let's go into the sitting room," Lakshmi urged the other woman. "We don't want the maid coming in here."

The woman nodded and followed meekly. When she was seated in one of the chairs, Lakshmi poured her half a glass of the golden liquor that the emperor kept—had kept—on hand and urged her to drink.

"But I don't—"

"You'll feel better," Lakshmi promised. The woman looked doubtful, then took a small sip. She made a face and coughed slightly, then took another, longer sip. "That's good," Lakshmi said.

There was a soft knock on the door before it was gently nudged open. "Your Imperial Majesty, I—" The maid stopped, confusion crossing her face when she saw the two women, with no sign of the emperor anywhere. "Excuse me, the emperor rang?"

"You need to run and get some palace guards. And Captain Garth," Lakshmi said.

"I don't—"

"This is a matter of great urgency concerning the emperor," Lakshmi said, thinking of the man in the next room. He would never feel urgency again, but there would never be a more urgent time. He was dead, and there was an assassin somewhere in the palace.

King Guy, perhaps, or someone in his employee. Or perhaps an unknown enemy, one completely unaware of the day's events. Any number of people had reason to kill the emperor.

"But—"

"Run and get them!" Lakshmi snapped.

The woman ran, leaving Lakshmi alone with the concubine who had come to serve the emperor that night.

Lakshmi wondered if she should question her, but couldn't summon the energy. It all seemed so unreal. The entire day seemed like a dream, a nightmare. Guy, the emperor's plans for her, and now the emperor's death. A murderer in the palace. And her, the emperor's bodyguard. What was her role now? There was no emperor to guard. No succession to guide the empire. Would this day end with a promise of civil war?

"No," Lakshmi said. "Not civil war. That's not..." Then she saw it. If King Guy had arranged this, it was not because he wanted revenge. He could have gone back to Samalt and lived his life much as he had been. But here, where the day's events had hardly had time to sprout rumors, but where stories of Guy's impending marriage to Ajuni were well-rooted, he could set himself up as successor.

Samarth himself had said he planned to name Guy heir. If Guy made a play for the throne, no one would stop him. He would be free. Free to be the emperor, free to seek revenge on Lakshmi.

Free to marry Ajuni, and continue the emperor's line.

"I can't believe he's dead," the woman said, drawing Lakshmi's gaze. "How can he be dead?"

Lakshmi shook her head. She didn't know how, but if she was right about the who...

Creation help them all.

## Chapter Seventeen

Lakshmi looked up at the knock on her door, but it swung open before she had a chance to say anything.

Esma was there, in mourning white, but the look on her face had nothing to do with her recent loss.

"Guy is free."

Lakshmi jerked slightly, then nodded.

"You knew?"

Lakshmi looked down at her clenched hands. "I suspected, when Captain Garth was not the one who came to the emperor's room." The man who had come instead was one Lakshmi hadn't recognized, and she'd thought she knew every guard that served in the palace.

"You didn't come to me."

Lakshmi looked up and met the woman's dark eyes. "I didn't want to call attention to myself. Or you." Although Esma was probably in a less precarious position than Lakshmi. It wasn't Esma, after all, who had gotten Guy locked up.

"What about Ajuni?" Esma asked.

Lakshmi shook her head. "I don't know. She's young. She's too young to be legally married, even if Guy's proclivities run to children."

"She's not too young for a khonsa marriage."

"There hasn't been a khonsa marriage in a hundred years," Lakshmi said. "Why would he do that, rather than wait until she is older? Or marry someone else entirely." She narrowed her eyes. "Do you think he means to marry you?"

Esma's eyes widened with surprise, but she shook her head. "I'm too old to give him heirs," she said. "And if he marries me, he might look like an opportunist. Marrying Ajuni, however, even in a khonsa marriage, will make it look like he is honoring the emperor's last wishes."

"His last wishes were to banish Guy from the kingdom," Lakshmi growled.

"Few of us know that," Esma said. "Fewer who know are important enough to matter."

The truth of that hadn't escaped Lakshmi. Captain Garth was likely dead by now. Possibly all of the palace guards were dead. She wondered what had happened to Roland, and felt a pang in her heart that he may have been hurt. She thought about asking, but stopped herself. Esma didn't know of the relationship between Lakshmi and Roland, and there was no reason that she should. "What will you do?" Lakshmi asked at last.

Esma shrugged. "It will depend on Guy. If he proclaims himself emperor, he will have the power to send me away. I am from Farath, you know, not Madarede and I have family still living there."

"I didn't know."

"My brother is a duke. I married up, you see, as my uncle was always cunning. He brought me with him when he came to visit the emperor many years ago. I was sixteen, and beautiful. Samarth was dazzled, and he chose me over the kings' daughters he had been considering for marriage."

"Do you regret it?"

Esma shrugged again. "I became the emperor's wife. I've live in luxuries that even queens can't imagine."

"But you were married to Samarth," Lakshmi protested. "Did you ever want something else?"

"I married Samarth when I was sixteen," Esma said. "My uncle had come to the palace prepared with a letter from my father giving permission for me to marry. I haven't been home since. There was hardly time to think about marrying anyone but Samarth."

Esma's voice was light, but there was something in her eyes that caught Lakshmi's attention. "Really?"

"There was a boy," Esma admitted. "He was a squire under my father. The younger son of a duke. I believe he would have gotten some land, but no title unless his brother died. He would have been a bad match. And I loved him." As though she could sense Lakshmi's surprise, Esma laughed. "Oh, it wasn't real love, I imagine. The love of a girl, unschooled in life. And I wouldn't trade Ajuni for anything, even that love, even if it was real."

Esma seemed sincere, and Lakshmi nodded, though she couldn't help but wonder if, given the choice, her mother would have chosen life in the palace over her daughter. Lakshmi had never doubted that her mother loved her, but if given the chance to do everything over, Lakshmi wasn't sure what decision her mother would make.

"You seem sad for me," Esma said. "Why? What you have—had—with Samarth was hardly a love match. Do you think to leave the palace now, and find a man to settle down with?"

The idea of leaving had occurred to Lakshmi ever since she had discovered the emperor dead, but finding a man to marry had never occurred to her. And it should have, she realized. She had no male relatives to care for her, and no property of her own. With Samarth dead, Esma would inherit something from him, but Lakshmi would have nothing but the gifts Samarth had given her over the years, if those weren't taken from her when she left.

If she left.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Lakshmi admitted.

"I would decide soon," Esma advised. "If King Guy becomes emperor...and that seems more and more likely...I'm not sure that this is a place you want to live."

Lakshmi sighed and nodded. She didn't know where she would go, but Esma was probably right. She couldn't stay here.

~~~

Lakshmi stirred uneasily, her mind floating somewhere between waking and sleeping, and still plagued by the dreams that had haunted her all night. The emperor, bathed in blood. King Guy, a wide smile on his face. Her mother, crying. But sometimes it wasn't the emperor, but Roland, who was bleeding, and Guy was laughing, and it was Lakshmi who was crying. She stirred again, and her conscious mind became aware of a sound.

Quiet, so quiet she could hardly hear it. Yet persistent.

The sound of knocking from the balcony.

Her heart jumped in her chest, then settled back down as her mind caught up with her body. Whoever was out there wouldn't be bothering to knock if they had come to hurt her. She got up and pulled on her robe, belting it around her waist before crossing to the balcony doors and cautiously swinging them open.

It was Roland.

"I need your help."

Lakshmi nodded, and after a moment's hesitation motioned him inside. At least inside they couldn't be overheard by anyone standing outside.

"What do you need?"

"I was in one of the city taverns drinking when I learned of the emperor's death."

"News travels fast," Lakshmi said. It had been less than a day, and she had expected King Guy to lock the palace down tight until everything had been figured out.

"It was one of my guards who found me," Roland said. "He must have left as soon as the cry got out, because he didn't know much more than that the emperor was dead. Killed, he said, and that one of the concubines had found him. It was you, wasn't it?"

"How did you know?"

"That guard didn't return to the palace, but I found a way in." He smiled. "There's always someone to bribe, even with the emperor dead."

Lakshmi felt a moment of disgust for whoever was willing to compromise security before the emperor was even buried, but it wasn't her problem anymore. She had been the emperor's bodyguard, and she had failed, but with him dead her duty was over.

"What have you learned since?"

Roland shook his head. "Not much. The servants are unusually quiet, but I've seen King Guy's guards walking around." His lips tightened. "I believe he killed the emperor, or had him killed."

"Yes," Lakshmi said.

"You're not surprised?"

She shook her head.

"Lakshmi, I know you've been keeping something from me, but you didn't want me to ask you questions, and I respected that."

She shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I'm grateful for that."

"I have to ask now," Roland said. "I have to know. You weren't the emperor's concubine. I need to know what you were to him."

Lakshmi's mind raced for a moment. How much to tell him? "Why does it matter?" she asked. "The emperor is dead."

"It matters because I think you might be able to help me," Roland said.

"Help you what?"

"Get away from the palace. I was part of King Guy getting locked up. He won't forget that."

"You think he'll kill you?"

"I think he might arrange an accident," Roland said. "He can't afford for me to go back to Ugarth and report what has happened. The northern countries don't have the same political pull as the ones here in the south, but my father is a powerful man. He could rally the north to him, but only if he knows what really happened here."

"Why do you think I can help you?"

"Because I think whatever secret you're keeping is important. Why were you pretending to be a concubine? Why did Samarth let you?"

His face was drawn in serious lines, his blue eyes bright with intensity. Caution warned her that it could be dangerous to tell him, but she couldn't resist the urge to help him. "I wasn't the emperor's concubine," she said. "I was his bodyguard. And his daughter."

More by this author:

The Talented

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