“Kiem?” Jainan said. “I mean—Prince Kiem?”
“I couldn’t say,” the orderly said. “Now, do you think you could drink some water?”
“Am I under arrest?” Jainan said. “Has anything happened on Thea?”
“Under…？ Nobody told me anything about that,” the orderly said. But Jainan could see him reassessing Jainan and his security arrangements with a sideways glance. Jainan also saw the moment when he resolved that his superiors would have told him if his patient were a dangerous criminal, and the professional upbeat manner returned. “I wouldn’t worry, I don’t think so. At least you’ve got all the bits of your brain in working order, how’s that for luck? How about that water?”
So he wasn’t under arrest, but Internal Security had people outside his door. Fenrik couldn’t have succeeded in starting a war; the orderly would surely have heard. “Yes,” Jainan said, though his stomach felt like a shriveled, nauseous lump. He needed to be functional. As the orderly got up and fetched a plastic cup from a tray, memories piled into Jainan’s head, feeding the sense of urgency pumping through him. “I would like to see Kiem, please.”
The orderly handed him the water. “Drink that for me,” he said encouragingly.
Something inside Jainan snapped. His fingers curled around the cup. “I have had enough,” he said, in a voice that surprised even him, “of being treated as if I am incompetent. Last time I saw my partner, he was tackling a man with an incapacitator gun. Please show me the visitor list so I can ascertain if he is alive.”
The orderly seemed taken aback. “If you’ll just calm down there, sir,” he said, in a quelling voice, but he was already reaching over to gesture the bedside screen awake. “We’ll get you that.”
Kiem would have found some way to soften what Jainan had just said. Jainan raised the plastic cup to his mouth mechanically. “I appreciate the water,” he said. “Thank you.”
This seemed to mollify the orderly. “There we are,” he said as the names flashed up. “It’s visiting hours, so if any of them are still around, your readings are stable enough to see someone.”
“Thank you,” Jainan said. He scanned the list.
Kiem’s name wasn’t on it. The omission was like a hand clenching at Jainan’s throat. He spun down to the bottom with the screen’s clumsy sensor and then read it over again, but unless Kiem had given an alias, he hadn’t requested a visit. Were Jainan’s memories of him from the Tau field even real? A beeping noise started up next to the bed. Jainan realized it must be his heart rate monitor.
“Steady there,” the orderly said, checking the tube going into his wrist. Jainan swapped hands and spun back up the list.
He told himself it didn’t mean anything final. The situation was complicated; Kiem could have been instructed not to visit him. And surely everyone on Carissi Station would have heard if a member of the royal family had died, just as they would have heard if combat drones were dropping on a Thean city. He glanced at the orderly, who was frowning over his readings.
He needed more information. He took a deep breath and looked down the list again. He needed someone who would help him.
Nearly every name was someone he knew. Bel. Gairad. Professor Audel. Bel again—she seemed to have called every hour. The Thean Ambassador, and the Deputy Thean Ambassador, and others from the embassy. He realized, with a light-headed feeling, that he could call on any of them, and they would tell him what they knew and help him find out more. He didn’t understand how he suddenly had so many options.
But it was obvious whom he should talk to first. He lifted his head. “Could you see if Bel Siara is still waiting, please?”
The orderly left him in private. After much less time than he expected, a familiar face appeared in the doorway. “Welcome back to the world of the conscious,” Bel said.
Jainan’s neutral mask fell away in relief. Even Bel wouldn’t be using that sardonic tone if Kiem were in danger, but he asked just to make sure. “Kiem’s alive? General Fenrik hasn’t made a move?”
“Oh, Heaven, of course Kiem’s alive,” Bel said. Her professional Iskat accent was back, Jainan noticed. She hadn’t sounded like that when he’d last seen her. “Alive and operating like there’s a time bomb under his feet. No military strike on Thea either, not since we told the Emperor what General Fenrik was planning. She isn’t pleased. Are you out of danger? I’m guessing you are, since you’re talking, but the medics were making grim faces at me right up until yesterday.”
“Yes, I’m fine,” Jainan said. “You’re not hurt? You took—” He faltered. Some of his memories were still blurry, but he could piece them together. He hadn’t been hallucinating when Aren shot Bel.
“He missed anything vital,” Bel said. “I’d bet most of the palace officers have never seen real action. I was fine by morning.”
Jainan looked at where his wristband should have been, then at the time display on the screen, and had to conceal his shock. It was the day before Ressid was due to land; the Unification Day ceremonies began tomorrow. He had been unconscious for three days. “I was told I’m not under arrest.”
“You’re not,” Bel said. “But Kiem definitely is.”
Jainan’s hand clenched in the bedsheet. “Kiem is? Why have they arrested Kiem?” The tube in his wrist tugged in its bandage, and he realized he was leaning forward. “I was the one they accused! What is Aren going to charge Kiem with? Sabotaging his own flyer? Aren was the one who killed Taam! He was the one who tried to kill both of us!”
Bel held up a hand. “Saffer’s also under arrest. Sorry. I’m not explaining well. It’s been a long few days. Let’s take this back to the beginning.”
She did have the look of someone operating on too much stress and no sleep. Jainan felt a pang of guilt and looked around for a chair. The bench the orderly had sat on was bolted to the wall, so he drew up his legs, leaving a space on the bed. “You should sit down.”
Bel looked down and paused. Jainan realized it was uncharacteristic of him to let anyone who wasn’t his partner that close, and felt his throat close up in embarrassment before Bel unceremoniously dropped the folder she was carrying on the end of the bed and made herself comfortable next to it. “Tell me if I’m on your feet. How are you really feeling, by the way?”
“Fine,” Jainan said. Bel raised an eyebrow, and he gave ground. “My head hurts. It’s not too bad.”
“Ye-es.” Bel said. “You know prisoners who spend too long in that thing tend to suffer permanent brain damage?”
“That’s very reassuring,” Jainan said. “I’m glad we all went through this, or I might never have experienced your tactful bedside manner.”
“You should hear me when Kiem thinks he has a cold,” Bel said. She brought a foot up, resting her shoe on the bed, and slung her arm around her knee as she apparently collected her thoughts. “So. They found where Fenrik had stashed the stolen remnants, but the treaty is still on shaky ground, and the deadline is tonight. Even though the Emperor told the Auditor that Saffer killed Taam, the Auditor still says Thea doesn’t have enough indications of population consent. He might be talking about the newslogs.”