After some length of time, the sound of the door opening shook Jainan out of his reverie.
“Oh, good, he’s resting,” Bel said. “I’ve sent the report off. The Emperor can breathe easy. Not that I think she was that worried, but one dead prince could be an accident. Two dead princes in three months—no offense—starts to look like a body count.”
“Yes,” Jainan said.
“Mrh.” Kiem stirred, opening his eyes, and made an effort to sit up on his bed. “I’m taking some offense. Someone just tried to kill us.”
Hearing Kiem say it bluntly made Jainan feel colder than at any point on their trek. It didn’t faze Bel, though, who gave the kind of smile that seemed designed to worry onlookers. “Did your last school board meeting go badly?” she said. “Or maybe you pissed off a municipal councilor?”
“Jainan found more evidence Taam was embezzling money.” Kiem’s voice was hoarse, but for once he sounded serious. “You said he was messaging Sefalan relays. We know there’s a black market on Sefala. Then someone tried to break into the Kingfisher networks, and they’re still trying, even after Taam died. Is it possible Taam tried to cheat the raiders and they came after him?”
“Anything’s possible,” Bel said. “I can tell you some of the raider congloms would kill to get their hands on Iskat military surplus—but mining equipment? I can’t see them killing anyone over that. They trade in weapons. And why would they come after you?”
“Because we started investigating?” Kiem said. “Come on, Bel, it might have been raiders.”
Bel gave him a long look that was opaque to Jainan, as if she was familiar enough with Kiem that she could see something he couldn’t. “Why do you want it to be raiders so badly?”
Kiem rubbed a hand through the hair on the back of his head. “It means it was nothing to do with Thea,” he said. “It means the Auditor might accept Thea is entering into the treaty voluntarily. It means he might instate us. We just have to tell him Taam was a small-time criminal who cheated the wrong person.” He seemed to hear what he’d just said and cast a somewhat guilty look at Jainan. “Sorry.”
They could get instated and sign the treaty. Jainan should feel relief, but instead a gap had opened in his chest. He couldn’t find anything to say in Taam’s defense. Taam had cared about the military. Jainan wouldn’t have thought him capable of undermining the whole institution like this—but in some ways, it was becoming clear he hadn’t known much about Taam at all. Taam had been talking to raiders. “We would need proof,” Jainan said, “and we would need Internal Security to support us. They must be the ones to give evidence to the Auditor. I—we are too involved. We won’t be believed.”
The grinding noise of the flyer’s engines changed to a whine as they stopped climbing and started to glide.
Bel grimaced and looked over at one of the porthole-like windows on the opposite wall. “I could see what I can get from the Kingfisher outward comms. See if anyone else tries contacting those message relays.”
“Bel—no,” Kiem said, apparently catching something from her tone that Jainan hadn’t. “You’re not in the Sefalan Guard anymore. You can’t just eavesdrop on people’s comms.”
Bel pushed herself off the bed and paced to the porthole. “This is not okay,” she said. “I don’t know if it was raiders or not, but this is so far beyond okay. I know you like to think everyone’s basically nice deep down, but they’re not, and someday that attitude’s going to come back and bite you. I don’t have a job without you.”
“Come on, you have your pick of jobs,” Kiem said, apparently trying to lighten the mood. Bel folded her arms and leaned against the hull wall. “I’m not sure about relying on Internal Security to help us, though,” Kiem added. “I’m still deciding if I’ve forgiven them for the security clearance thing.”
“Please don’t blow that out of proportion,” Jainan said. “They have to do their jobs in order for the system to work. I was calculated to be a risk. I can’t be the first.”
“A calculation that completely screwed you over!” Kiem said. “They handled you like an enemy of the state!”
“That is not your pro—” Jainan stumbled halfway through the sentence. The look Kiem was giving him now was betrayed; Kiem was fully aware how he intended to end that word. Jainan let out a slow breath. His mind was a train running on a phantom rail; he had to stop this. Ever since the wedding Kiem had treated Jainan’s problems as his own.
Trying to work out what was fair treatment of himself made Jainan’s head hurt. “All right,” he said. “But if we don’t cooperate with them, we’ll both be held in contempt. We could be arrested. They have the authority of the Emperor.”
Kiem slumped back against the hull where it met the bed, as if the burst of energy had exhausted his reserves. “You’re a treaty representative. They shouldn’t even have any power over you.”
“They do,” Jainan said tightly. “The Empire comes first. My home planet can do nothing for me without endangering the Resolution treaty. I am not an asset—I am a liability.”
There was a sudden silence, as if Jainan had thrown another spanner into the exchange. Kiem’s steady gaze was disconcerting. He left a considered pause before he said, “That’s not right.”
“It’s how it is,” Jainan said, in a voice flat enough to shut down the entire line of conversation. “We must cooperate.”
The door to the cabin clicked open. “Good to hear that,” Colonel Lunver said. Jainan sat up straighter, wary, but she had apparently only caught the last thing he said. “Your Highness. Now that you’re awake, can you tell me what happened?”
Kiem traded glances with Jainan. Kiem was usually cooperative with everyone, but this time Jainan recognized the stubborn twist at the corner of his mouth. “I was flying and there was an explosion,” Kiem said. “Not sure what you want from me, Colonel—believe it or not, it doesn’t happen to me on a regular basis.”
“This is not the time for jokes, Your Highness,” Colonel Lunver said.
“No, I should think not,” Kiem said. “Did Aren tell you what Jainan found?”
“Excuse me?” Colonel Lunver said.
“Your operational records are littered with proof that Taam was embezzling from Kingfisher,” Kiem said. “And you’ve got someone trying to hack into your systems as well, though I’ll admit that one’s probably not Taam’s fault—why didn’t you want us to visit Hvaren Base, by the way, Colonel? That doesn’t look good.”
It was so amiable, you could almost miss it was an accusation against Colonel Lunver personally. Jainan pressed down a sudden spike of panic. There was nothing she could do on a ship with civilian witnesses.
Lunver frowned, as if her pet cat had suddenly started spouting wild allegations. “Are you going to explain what you’re saying, Your Highness?”
“I’m saying that it’s a bit weird that Jainan was the first person to find out about all the holes in your accounting,” Kiem said. “I know you got moved onto the operation after Taam died, but it’s been two months. Weird that you didn’t find anything.” Whatever burst of energy he’d found was clearly running out; his words were slurring at the edges from tiredness.