“The toast was probably a bit much,” Jainan murmured. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I can propose toasts if I want,” Kiem said. “Toasting your partner is practically de rigueur. It’s what you do at dinners. Totally unexceptional.”
“That is an absolute lie,” Jainan said. “You are trying to sell me a blatant untruth.” His hand tightened on Kiem’s arm. “And giving me that smile isn’t going to help you get away with it.”
“I’m not smiling,” Kiem said, but as he said it, he realized he had been, and must have been for a while. “I’m having a good time.”
“I can tell,” Jainan said. There was a thread of something in his voice, everything proper and controlled except this odd—affection? Kiem decided it was affection and felt warm all over. “You may want to steer away from that colonel up ahead,” Jainan added, in a more neutral tone. “She knew Taam. She’s probably read the interview.”
“She won’t say anything,” Kiem said cheerfully, escorting Jainan in a slightly different direction. “Not after you eviscerated that politician who mentioned it.”
“I was polite.”
“You froze him dead,” Kiem said. “I felt the temperature drop and I wasn’t even the one you were staring at.”
“Well, you somehow steamrollered him into volunteering for the Municipal By-Laws Subcommittee.”
“He clearly doesn’t have enough to do, if he’s going around reading interviews in newslogs. Someone’s got to … by-law those municipals. And everyone says it’s the committee nobody wants to be on.”
Jainan stifled a laugh, trying to disguise it as a cough. “You’re incorrigible. You’re abusing the system.”
“Very badly,” Kiem agreed. He recognized Ressid on the other side of the room, but since there were dozens of people between them, Ressid only gave them an acknowledging wave. Kiem and Jainan stopped to greet the Thean Ambassador and a small circle of dignitaries; Prince Vaile was also there, fashionable in a dress made of some floating, mist-gray Galactic fabric. She seemed to be hatching something with the Ambassador.
“Your Grace!” the Ambassador said, with more pleasantness than Kiem had ever seen him display. “Good news. We’ve secured the Kingfisher operation for you.”
“Excuse me?” Jainan said.
“The Emperor has generously transferred all the mining equipment to Thea and offered a team of specialists,” Vaile said. “Kingfisher did have some real mining engineers to provide it with the cover Taam needed. I believe you’ve met some of them.”
“Run … the regolith mining operation?” Jainan said. “Run Taam’s operation?”
“On a temporary basis,” Vaile said. “You could do a trial period of six months to start.”
“I don’t—I—”
The Ambassador coughed genteelly. “It would be advantageous to have someone in your position publicly attached to it.”
Jainan glanced at Kiem. Kiem almost said something but realized he didn’t have to. Jainan was already turning his attention back to the Ambassador. “I. Yes. I’ll do it on a trial basis.” Kiem squeezed his shoulder, which was all the delight he could politely show in company. “I have some ideas. That catalytic intensifier Audel and I were…” Jainan trailed off, apparently in thought, and then focused on Vaile again. “I would like Professor Audel and her students on the operation.”
“I believe that’s a matter for Thea,” Vaile said blandly. “The Emperor would never impose the Iskat way of doing things.”
“Excellent,” the Ambassador said, while Kiem had a coughing fit and Jainan looked thoughtful. “Count Jainan, I must set up a meeting with the Infrastructure Bureau back home. I look forward to working much more closely with you. Ah. The Emperor.”
They all turned to make their bows as an attendant opened the doors, and a wave of polite obeisances rippled out from the Emperor’s entrance. The Auditor was next to her. The people in their group gave them a nod and drifted away, part of a general realignment of the room as people flowed into the Imperial orbit. “Not very anxious to see her unless you are,” Kiem said to Jainan under his breath. “She’s probably got over the worst of it, but we may not be her favorite people right now. Just a guess.”
“I imagine not,” Jainan said. “Neither do I have any desire to speak to the Auditor. Is that Bel?”
Kiem followed his gaze. Bel was apparently deep in discussion with one of the Emperor’s soberly clothed aides. She looked up, as if she felt their eyes on her, and gave them an unreadable look before going back to the conversation.
“None of our business, apparently,” Jainan said dryly.
“Looks like it,” Kiem said. He had something of a premonition about what they might be discussing, fueled by the realization that the Emperor as a matter of course employed aides with bodyguard skills. Perhaps Bel demonstrating the ability to break into a military base to help out her employer wasn’t so much a problem as he had thought. The Emperor had granted that pardon to Bel without too much persuasion, now that he thought about it.
“Dammit,” he muttered. “I think we’re going to get our aide poached.”
“By the Emperor?”
“I’d bet money that she’s trying,” Kiem said. However much alarm he felt at the prospect of losing Bel, it would probably be a good move for her career. The Emperor’s ex-aides went on to run committees, palace departments, spy networks. Bel was too clever to stay as an aide for long.
Jainan was hailed by someone else from the Thean contingent, a woman wearing a jacket in the same greens as Jainan’s uniform. As they spoke, Vaile stepped away from the Ambassador and touched Kiem’s arm discreetly. “I’m glad I caught you,” she said. “The palace has been organizing the Thean side when it comes to events like this, but the palace coordinators have a lot on their plates. Taam was supposed to help, but of course, he was Taam … and the Minister for Thea wasn’t really up to it by the time he resigned.”
Kiem became wary out of habit whenever Vaile went elliptical. “What are you getting at?”
Vaile fluttered one hand. “The Emperor’s shuffling around the Diplomatic Service. She wants you to take the post of special liaison to Thea.”
Kiem swallowed what felt like a sudden stone in his throat. “Er.” Someone had gone mad. He hesitated to say it was the Emperor, but it was that or Vaile, and Vaile seemed to be in full possession of her faculties. Kiem wasn’t fully acquainted with the Diplomatic Service, but a liaison post was definitely something that came with more responsibilities attached than just a treaty representative.
On the other hand, that was a command if Kiem had ever heard one. “What happens if I don’t?”
Vaile spread her hands. “Nothing.”
Kiem paused and looked over at the Emperor. She was greeting various dignitaries, apparently holding five conversations at once while leaving everyone in no doubt that she saw everything happening around her. Her hard, black eyes skimmed over the crowd and caught Kiem’s. She carried on as if she hadn’t noticed him.