Neutral Read online

  “I never thought I would be so thankful for underwear.”

  Nexica winced. “I had not realised that the contrasts in your skin colouring would be so visible beneath the gown. The dressmaker has been given your specifications and the rest of your evening wardrobe will be adjusted accordingly.”

  “Terrans use a fine layer of slick fabric that increases opacity without changing the line of the dress.”

  She was being swathed in a long black skirt, and she pulled on the white cap-sleeved blouse. Tubes of fabric were handed to her and after a little trial and error, Ari got them into place. They covered her from just below the edge of the sleeve down to her wrist.

  Nexica urged her to the dressing table, and her hair went up in five minutes. It was still a little damp, but it was out of the way. Her makeup base went on faster than the day before, but the details still needed twenty-five minutes to get in place.

  Nexica leaned back and checked her work as a knock at the door sounded. She nodded in satisfaction and rose to her feet, checking the door and allowing the guard with the tray to enter.

  Ari asked, “Is this how I will get all my food?”

  “It will always be delivered by your guard, yes. They prepare it themselves. When you are with the emperor, you will eat from his servings. His food has all been vetted for poison or other substances.”

  The guard set the tray down on the table, and Ari called out her thanks as he left the room.

  He nodded his head in acknowledgement, and she settled down at the table for breakfast.

  “How long do I have, Nexica?”

  “Thirty minutes before you must leave, lady. Shall I bring your kit?”

  “Please. I need to check it before I do anything stupid.”

  It didn’t bother her that Nexica had looked into the kit and identified it as the tools of her trade. Ari knew every scrap of paper and every fleck shaved off a seal in that box.

  Breakfast was over in ten minutes and the guard could definitely cook. Ari sat back and smiled before sipping her tea. The moment Nexica removed the tray, Ari put her kit in the empty space on the table, and she began to take an inventory for her day’s work.

  Ink, practice parchment and the fine pens that she favoured were all accounted for. Nexica had examined her seals, but had put them back in the nearly correct position. In her months of training, Ari had learned to put her seals in so that if she reached for one, it would be in the correct rotation for immediate use. She was supposed to be using the imperial seals, but she would have to be installed in her workstation before they would bring them to her.

  Nexica paused, “Are you ready?”

  Ari snapped her kit together. “I am.”

  “Your meals and tea will be brought to you by your guards. If you don’t see them bring it in, don’t eat or drink it.” Nexica gave her a serious look.

  “Yes, Nexica. Thank you.”

  Nexica knocked on the door and nodded to Ari. “Good luck, lady.”

  Ari walked through the door and two of the guards were waiting to walk with her while two others remained in front of her door.

  She was on her way to work.

  The idea of a scribe working on a high-tech world had puzzled her until her instructor had told her about the idea of slowing things down to keep the ruler from being overwhelmed. The act of writing the positions out by hand limited the amount that could be processed in any given day. It kept folk like Usorn from being swamped by endless electronic proposals.

  One day, Ari would like to sneak out and see the palace without an armoured back in front of her.

  It was only her second day on Hredu and she was thinking of breaking protocol. It was not a good sign for the rest of her contract that she was already dreaming of the day she could get away.

  Ari sighed. She just needed to get to work. Once she had a schedule, everything else would fall into place, just as it had during her training.

  A crowd was gathering outside an audience chamber and that is where her guards took her. Her guards drew weapons and the crowd parted.

  She had seen the ritual on one of the research recordings, but being in the center of it was quite a bit different.

  Ari carried her kit to the scribe’s desk and she settled herself, checking the paper, the ink and the pens that she was supposed to use for the petitions. She would have preferred to use her own pens, but on day one, she didn’t want to try to pull any fast ones.

  Her guards were stationed on either side of the desk with their weapons out. When she was settled at the angled podium with her ink and pen at the ready, she nodded to the guard on her right, and he nodded to the man who was apparently coordinating the crowd. The first petitioner came in and took the seat across from Ariadne.

  She dipped her pen in the ink, they started speaking and she started writing. It was the beginning of a very long day.

  Every three hours, Guard Number One brought her a cup of tea. She paused and drank the tea before resuming her work. This was what she had been wanting, had been missing even for the one day. She wanted to work and it consumed her day until she was brought her meal.

  Guard One leaned in. “You will be brought your meal, and then, you will attend the emperor as he decides on the petitions and record his decisions.”

  She flexed her hand. “I have only seen twenty people.”

  “That is ten more than any other scribe before you. Take a break and have your meal. When it is done, you will move into the audience chamber and record the emperor’s decisions.”

  She nodded and grimaced as she massaged and oiled her hands. Captain Kredik came in with a covered tray, and he relieved the man she thought of as Guard Three.

  Ari had cleared her work area, and she settled the tray down, removing the cover and settling in to eat. Her meal disappeared quickly, and when she covered the empty plate, another guard brought in a pot of herbal tea.

  “When do you guys sleep?”

  Captain Kredik grinned. “When you do. There are only two of us on duty when you sleep and they are out right now. Nexica is a qualified bodyguard as well, though she probably didn’t mention it.”

  “When do I move to the inner office?”

  “As soon as you finish your tea. We don’t want you getting dehydrated.”

  She wrinkled her nose and worked her way through the teapot. “You realise that this is going to force me to a call of nature.”

  He shrugged. “We are here to keep you healthy. That doesn’t stop at preventing you from attacks.”

  “So, you are not guards, you are keepers.”

  He grinned, “Yes, but most scribes are perturbed at the notion of having keepers, so we have gone with the guard title.”

  “Being keepers explains why you bring my meals.”

  He chuckled. “Most scribes have not made that connection.”

  “I had a lot of time to think this morning while I was being buffed to a high shine.”

  Captain Kredik was still snickering when she was escorted from the private and highly secure restroom to the imperial chambers.

  Usorn was sitting at a desk and going over the petitions. His tea tray was sitting to one side, and he looked up with a rueful smile. “I suppose it would be too much to ask you to be less efficient.”

  “Of course, Emperor Usorn. I will do less petitions tomorrow.” She inclined her head and moved the scribe’s desk he had set up in his chamber.

  With efficient movements, she set up the parchments and prepared the surface for ink.

  Her keepers removed themselves from the audience chamber, and she waited for Usorn to make a move.

  He glanced at her. “Did you enjoy dinner after we left?”

  She shook her head. “No, I left after you did. My guards and I were all tired from the trip.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “That is too bad. I hear it was quite good.” He chuckled. “I suppose I owe you a dinner now.”

  Ari shook
her head. “It is not necessary, but thank you.”

  “I am your emperor, and if I say that I will have dinner with you, I will.”

  She blinked. “Of course.”

  He sighed.

  She cleared her throat. “How was your mission last night?”

  “We rescued two citizens trapped in a vehicle under the collapsed slope and shored it up against further degradation in the rains.”

  Usorn looked at her and held up the first document. “Shall we begin?”

  “Please.”

  “I am addressing the issue of the offer of a bride from the Jurskak system. While the offer is appreciated, I decline the invitation to join with one of the royal houses of Jurskak. My family has always found their own mates and no alliance will influence my marriage bed.”

  Ari blanked her mind and recorded each decision and all comments offered by the emperor. When she had dried them all, she passed them to him for his seal.

  They had gone through the twenty petitions in ninety minutes. It seemed that Ari had the rest of the afternoon off.

  She looked at Usorn and cleared her throat as he confirmed her writing and set his seal to the documents. “Am I dismissed for the day?”

  “When I tell you you are dismissed, you will be.” He smiled slightly and kept sealing each of the documents.

  She sorted her tools and set them all in their precise positions. She rubbed her hands and applied the cream that would help with the cramping once again.

  “What is that?”

  She looked up from her focused massage. “Oh, it is cream that I use to warm the stiff muscles of my hand. Allowing my tendons to shorten can dramatically reduce my usefulness as a scribe.”

  “Does writing for all those hours hurt?”

  Ari smiled. “Not until I stop. When I stop, I feel the tension and the constriction of the muscles.”

  He set the pages down and cocked his head. “Are you truly content to just write each and every day?”

  She looked at him in surprise. “Yes. I have loved putting pen to paper since I was a child. To be able to do it every day is a joy.”

  Usorn stroked the edge of the parchment he was holding and her gaze fixed on that light touch. “What do your lovers think of your obsession?”

  Surprised, she met his gaze. “They don’t stay around long enough to have a valid opinion.”

  His lips quirked. “You drive them off?”

  “I am very good at it. It is a strong secondary talent.” She smiled.

  “What would you do if you found a man you couldn’t drive off?”

  Ari shrugged. “I don’t know. It has not happened yet.”

  “A reasonable answer.”

  “Thank you.” She closed her kit and folded her hands on the desk.

  He set his seal and moved on to the final parchment. He nodded and finished his authorization for his decision.

  “Good. Come with me.”

  Ari got to her feet and met him halfway. He tucked her hand into the curve of his elbow.

  “I do not think you have seen the gardens yet. It would be a pity to come to Hredu and miss the imperial gardens.”

  She didn’t have a choice. She walked with him through the hall, down toward a set of glass and metal doors and past half a dozen guards.

  When the doors opened without anyone touching them, she looked at her companion, but his face was filled with delight as they moved from the still air of the palace to the wildly scented air of the gardens.

  Ari wanted to stand and take in the expanse of the manicured and wild pattern that mixed and swirled away from the palace as far as the eye could see. It was gorgeous and she was hauled into it.

  The twenty-foot descent was managed with forty steps, and Usorn supported her for each one. As he hauled her into the pathway through the green, she inhaled the wild scents in the air.

  When they were hidden from all views, she asked him what was on her mind.

  “Is there anyone else here, Emperor Usorn?”

  “No. Call me Usorn and I will address you as Ariadne.”

  Blinking in surprise, she realised that he had brought her out here for the lack of protocol. “Usorn, why are we here?”

  “So that I could speak to you as a peer, not as master to servant.”

  She whispered, “You are not my master.”

  He paused and smiled. “No, but I do wish to try something.”

  To her amazement, he pressed his lips to hers, cupping the nape of her neck in his hand.

  Her second day on a new world and she was making out with the emperor. She definitely wasn’t on Earth anymore.

  Chapter Five

  He tasted cool and his lips moved over hers slowly, easing her into responding.

  Ari clutched at his arm and pressed her palm to his chest, feeling the beat of his heart speed up when she moved toward him.

  He raised his head with a quick lick at her lips. “That answered that. Would you like to continue the tour?”

  She nodded. “Please.”

  They walked further into the maze of green.

  He asked her, “What are you thinking about?”

  “That the paint on my face is very sturdy stuff. You aren’t wearing any of the blue on your lips.”

  Usorn smiled. “I am gratified that you are looking. The makeup is protective and sealed against damage. It goes back to the days when Hredu was contaminated and masks were required for even the smallest task.”

  “Would you tell me about it?”

  He cocked his head. “Don’t you know all about it?”

  “I did some research, but it is cold facts when you don’t know about how the Hredu came to be under an emperor.”

  He smiled and took her hand in his, “Well, when this world was younger and the people were ruled by a series of kings around the globe, they fought for industrial supremacy. The air became contaminated, the environment rebelled and the people began to die. Masks became common. No one entered or left their homes without one. The first emperor was Kriako, a weather elemental. He travelled the world and agreed to fix the environment if his people would simply accept his will over the globe. Any area that did not agree was excised from his balancing of the elements. They soon came and begged to be included in the empire.”

  He was rubbing his thumb over the back of her knuckles as they walked.

  “The masks became a symbol of the world before the empire. They shifted from gas filters to symbolic representations of a dying population. Your makeup is a mask of sorts. No airborne contaminant can get through to the surface of your skin.”

  “Why don’t you wear a mask?”

  “Because, as emperor, it is my duty to die for my people if necessary. As a Guardian, I face the same option.”

  She swayed closer to him as they walked through shadows, and she got a little cool. “All the Guardians are elementals?”

  “We each have an affinity for one particular season; our talent mimics elements of it. Winter, for example, withdraws heat from an object or subject. Summer has the opposite effect; he uses heat to get his manipulation of surfaces going.”

  She smiled and shivered, moving closer to him. “I am guessing that Spring has a water effect?”

  “He does. And I, as Fall, can work with wind and projections of my mind when necessary.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “And use wind to cool off?”

  He shrugged innocently. “It is certainly an option. Are you cold?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  He slipped his arm around her shoulders. “Better?”

  The bite of the wind and shadows stopped as quickly as it had begun. “Yes.”

  They continued their walk, and she smiled at the flowers that greeted them around one corner. She eased away from his grip and walked to the flowers, taking in their scent and smiling. They were like scarlet multiple-layered daisies with a rose-like scent.

  “These are bea
utiful.”

  “Beauty is definitely present. I will give you that. The deelar are just lovely flowers.”

  She caressed the petals with her fingers and straightened, returning to Usorn’s side. “They smell wonderful.”

  “I will order some cut and placed in your room.”

  “That would be nice. Thank you.”

  “There are very few opportunities for me to give flowers to a woman I am interested in.”

  She blinked. “Interested? I thought you told the other petitioner that you had no interest in being bound to a wedding bed.”

  “Who said anything about a wedding? I am interested in you and you are responding to me. We could be lovers for a time until one of us tires of the other.”

  “That is very baldly stated. I am on contract to Hredu for two years, so if we discontinued the relations, it would make my job awkward. My neutrality might be in question at that point.”

  Usorn stopped and looked down at her. “I do not think it will. I think that you prize your personal integrity over all else. You would survive a discontinuation of our intimacies.”

  Ari smiled. “I have never had the discussion about breaking up before I ever started seeing someone socially before. This is definitely new. I don’t know if we are sexually compatible.”

  He shrugged. “We are; I ran the information search on you last night when I returned. You were given all necessary injections to become one of a dozen species via the copying of their genetics. You are primed to become something else.”

  “Are you ready to see me as a Hredu for the rest of my time here?”

  “Of course, thought the precise nature of the transformation is unclear.”

  “This is all theoretical. I am sure that you do not have time to carry on an affair with your scribe. It seems ridiculous.”

  “If I don’t, Winter and Spring want to try. Summer has a woman already.”

  Shock ran through her. “What?”

  “You are delicate, soft, intelligent and an alien with the potential of her species in her genes. You could bear a whole new span of Hredu evolution. Winter is very interested in the development of our physical beings.”

  “I just got here.” It was a strange protest, but it was all she could come up with. Her attraction to the Guardians had been something she had dealt with last night, but she had never guessed it went both ways.