Cress

Chapter 22

     "Lunar Thaumaturge Aimery Park, Your Majesty."
           Kai and Torin stood as the  thaumaturge  glided  past  Nainsi into  Kai's
       office. Although Aimery bowed respectfully to Kai  as  he  came  to stand 
       on  the  opposite side of desk, so  low  that  the  long sleeves  of  his  maroon 
        jacket  nearly brushed  the  carpet there was   something supremely 
       disrespectful  in  his  air that   always set Kai on edge. He had never quite
        been able to  pinpoint  what  it  was about  this man—maybe it was the way
        he  always  wore a  faint  smile  at  the corners  of  his lips, or perhaps how
        that smile only reached his eyes  when  he  was  using  his gift to manipu-
        late someone.
            "Thank you for joining us," said Kai, gesturing to the chair across from
       him."Please make yourself comfortable."
         "My  pleasure,"  said  Aimery,  settling  gracefully  into  the offered   chair.
       "Anything for Luna's future king."
                The  designation   made   it   squirm. It   was quickly that  he would 
          be  taking on a new title as much as  Levana  was,  but  the  difference  was
         that  Luna had very strict laws governing who  could be  put into  posi-
   tions  of power, and  Earthens certainly did not make the cut.  He  would
         be  crowned  King   Consort,  meaning he would be a pretty figurehead with
          virtually no power whatsoever.

                 Unfortunately,  the  Commonwealth  did  not  have  the  same fail-safes
           put   in   place. Kai's  great-great-great-grandfather, the country's   em-
            peror,  must  have trusted his descendants to make sound decision on
          their spouses.
                   "I  wanted  to  discuss with  you  a  discovery  recently  made  by the 
          Earthen Union," Kai said, nodding at Torin.
                  His adviser stepped closer to the desk and set a portscreen in its center.
            With  a click, the holograph  of   Earth  with  327  Lunar  spaceships surrounding
          it  flickered to life above the desk. Kai watched the thaumaturge closely but  the  man
         did  not show an  iota  of  a reaction to the holograph, even  with hundreds  of yellow 
          dots  reflected  like fireflies in his dark eyes.
               "This is real-time imagery of  Earth  and  its  surrounding space," said
         Kai. "The marks have all ben confirmed to be spacecrafts."
               Aimery's cheek seemed to twitch,  as  though  he  was on  the verge  of 
        laughing, yet his voice remained as  smooth as caramel when  he  spoke.
       "It  is  a  very  striking picture indeed, Your Majesty. Thank you for sharing
  it with me."
    Clenching his teeth, Kai  lowered  himself  into  his  own chair. He   was
          tempted to keep standing, as a  show  of  power, but  he'd  been  around   Lu-
    nars  enough  to know that  such mind   games  rarely  had  any  effect,  and
          at  least  when he  was sitting he could pretend to be comfortable. Pretend 
          that  he  hadn't   been   dreading this conversation all day.
                "You're very welcome," Kai  deadpanned. "Now perhaps you  can  ex-
    plain  to   me what they're all doing up there."
  "Recreation." Aimery leaned back, leisurely  crossing  his  legs. "We  
          have   many wealthy families  on  Luna  who  enjoy the   occasional  holiday
   cruise  through  our galaxy. I'm told it can be very relaxing."
                "Kai narrowed his  eyes. "And  these  holiday  cruises  routinely  bring
          them  to within  ten  thousand   kilometers   of   Earth? Where   they   remain  
         anchored   for days?"
                   "I am sure the view afforded them by such a location must be quite
            lovely." One side of Aimer's mouth quirked. "Breathtaking sunrises, I'm
            told."