Chapter 12

Duchess whimpers, and I relate to the sentiment. Cookie never, ever jumps up on me. Never. But she leaps up on me now, paw pads catching on the embroidery on Mom’s bed.

Mom shoos her away and collapses next to me.

When she speaks this time, her voice is almost normal again. “Maybe you’d better pass my ring back. More people are coming.”

I hear the faint footsteps after she points them out and slide the ring off my finger. The stone barely darkens before it’s back in place on her hand, accompanied by its usual swirl of pastel color. Not two seconds later, there’s another rapid knock on the door.

“May we enter, Your Majesty?” Frederick sounds frantic.

“Yes, come in.” Mom shoots me a stern look and puts a finger to her lips before she turns to address the guards. What’s she telling me not to say? I have no idea what just happened. It’s not like I could tell them anything at all.

Frederick’s eyes scan the room, starting with Mom, moving to me, and then widening as he takes in the charred wall and drenched carpet. His uniform is bone dry. Apparently there wasn’t a fire in the hall. “There’s been an attack, Your Majesty.”

Mathias crosses the room to check the windows. He ducks inside the bathroom, examines the sitting area and then inspects the closet. When he returns, he says, “Clear,” and takes up a position on the other side of the door from Frederick.

“What type of attack does Security believe took place?” Mom asks, utterly calm.

Heavy footsteps pound down the hall toward us. “Mother?” Judica and Death round the corner of the doorway simultaneously, and Judica’s face relaxes visibly when she sees that Mom’s unharmed. Her eyes fly wide as she takes in her blackened portrait. She pins me with a glare, her lip curling.

Mom steps in front of me. “We’re both fine, and everything is okay.”

Mom’s Security Chief, Balthasar, enters the room as she finishes her statement, Edam on his heels. Mom inclines her head toward Balthasar. “Is the attack ongoing?”

Both men bow, and Balthasar says, “Too early to know, Your Majesty. We were hit with a strong electromagnetic pulse of unknown origin. The EMP wiped out most of the electrical circuits in the palace and at least a few hundred feet on either side.” He notices our wet hair and looks around the room. Edam and Balthasar both do a double take at the sight of the torched portrait.

Judica swears. “What happened in here? Did a lightbulb explode?”

“Language,” Mom says. “Expletives are the crutch of the uneducated.”

Judica rolls her eyes. “Why is my photo the only thing burned?”

“Well, that and half the wall,” I say.

“You did this.” Judica takes a step toward me.

Mom doesn’t ignore her this time. She holds up her hand. “Stop and listen for once in your life.”

Judica flinches like Mom slapped her.

I suppress a smile.

Mom turns toward Balthasar. “What do we know?”

“We don’t know how anyone came into range, and we’ve been unable to detect any other intruders or threats. We have reason to believe it originated locally, perhaps the work of a counter-agent among us.”

My mom sighs. “Oh good. You can all take a breath.”

“Take a breath?” Balthasar’s stormy eyes widen. “All our heads of state are here, or arriving shortly, as well as hundreds of evians from all five families. Someone wiped out our communications, as well as most of our day-to-day electronics. We don’t have a clue who did it, and you think we should take a breath? These might be some of our last, which means I’ve failed you, miserably. We have no leads on who set off the EMP, and no idea how it could have been done, and worst of all, we can’t fathom why. Which means another attack is likely imminent. EMPs are preparatory strikes.”

“Balthasar, relax.” My mom quirks one eyebrow, seemingly amused by his agitation. It almost looks like she’s enjoying herself. At least her heart rate has slowed.

“Your majesty, I appreciate your show of faith in me, but I cannot relax. I have work to do, and I will do it. Now, please explain how the wall caught fire so I can ensure there’s no additional threat, and then I’d like your assurance you’ll remain confined to your room until I’ve worked out a few more—”

Mom shakes her head, “Your work is done. Larena can handle electronic cleanup for the main building, and you can focus on getting our security systems back up. We have a plan in place for recovering from the effects of a targeted EMP. This will be a good opportunity to test out its effectiveness. Consider this a drill.”

Balthasar’s face turns bright red. “Unless you’re removing me from my position, I beg your pardon, but I’m not done, Your Majesty. Not until we know details about—”

“There is no outside threat,” Mom says emphatically. When Balthasar’s eyes widen again, my mom sighs. “I set it off, okay?”

“How could you—” Edam begins, his vibrant blue eyes intent.

“I am Enora Isadora Alamecha, Empress of the First Family.” Mom squares her shoulders and her eyes flash. “Do you doubt what I say?”

Edam scowls instead of cowering. Impressive, because I’m scared and I’m her daughter. Before my mom can say anything else, Judica jumps in. “Of course he doesn’t Mother, but Edam’s the head of my guard and Balthasar’s second-in-command. He’s entitled to question something that wiped out the whole island, even if you knew about it. I want to know what’s going on, too.”

“I didn’t say I knew about it, I said I personally set it off. And he’s not entitled to anything.” My mom narrows her eyes. “And neither are you.”

Edam bows. “I apologize. It was not my intention to question any action you have taken, Your Majesty.”

Balthasar says, “Well, I’m not afraid of you, and I bloody well want some answers. How do you have an EMP I don’t know about, and why would you set it off the day before—”

“The day before my ninth centennial birthday celebration?” My mom sighs heavily. “It was bad timing, but then we didn’t quite expect it to work, at least not to this degree, did we Chancy?”

I have no idea why Mom’s acting like we planned this—I’m not even sure the EMP came from me. I’m scrambling furiously for any possible reason that makes sense, but nothing materializes, so I shrug noncommittally, hoping that will satisfy Mom.

“I’m not entitled to know a thing, but Chancery helped plan it?” Judica practically gnashes her teeth and I can’t quite hold back my grin, even if I’m nearly as lost as she is.

“It was her idea to begin with. I could hardly exclude her from the execution.” Mom beams at me like she’s proud, which only deepens Judica’s scowl.

“Well it’s terrible timing.” Balthasar runs a weathered hand through his salt and pepper hair. “With everyone arriving here tonight or tomorrow, I don’t know how we’ll spare the personnel to prepare for dinner and the celebration, and simultaneously make necessary repairs.”

Mom’s eyes soften. “We have extra circuits and everything else we need inside the Faraday boxes. We always knew this would be a good pre-emptive strike tactic from a rival family. I really am sorry about the timing, Balth. I didn’t intend to drop such a mess on you, but now that it’s done, I need you to initiate the proper protocols. Find out the precise range on the EMP, with the knowledge that the pulse originated here in my room. The EMP generated a surprising amount of localized heat, which caused the fire.”

Judica, Balthasar, Edam, Fredrick, and Mathias all glance around, clearly looking for a device.

“The device has been... disposed of,” Mom says. “And if I had notified you in advance of our efforts, we wouldn’t have had an accurate picture of the damage, or known the extent of the additional preparation necessary to withstand something similar in the future.”

Balthasar grunts, but after a moment of staring at her, he bows and heads for the door.

She interrupts before he leaves. “One last thing, Balth.”

He turns back. “Yes?”

“I need you to wait fifteen minutes before you open the Faraday boxes and begin repairs. Can you do that?’

“No! Until our monitoring equipment goes back up, we’re vulnerable, defenseless even.”

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, and I swear no one else has any idea this is going on.”

They stare at each other for a moment. Mom and Balthasar have known each other for almost nine hundred years. Mom’s first Consort, Althuselah, was Balthasar’s older brother. He’s been her Chief of Security for as long as she’s been Empress. Finally, he nods slowly.

Before the door closes, he mutters, “It better be important.”

Judica stares daggers at me. “You know nothing about weapons, and even less about electronics, so what was this idea you had? What did you do? Use nail polish and a curling iron to make a bomb?”

I shrug again, feeling even dumber than usual.

“You don’t know everything about your sister.” My mom crosses her arms. “If you spent a little more time with her—”

“How many hours do I need to play dolls with Chancery, Mother, before you two invite me to join your super special club? Showing up uninvited to one of your breakfast club meetings every few weeks obviously isn’t enough.”

Judica spins on her heel to leave, but Mom grabs her arm. “You’re always welcome to eat with us.”

“Am I? That must be why there are always two place settings, unless I’ve been specifically invited. You know what? Save it.” She wrenches free of Mom’s hand.

Mom’s face falls. “Wait. Judica, you can’t leave yet.” Mom’s head snaps toward Edam. “Bring Inara to my rooms. I need to speak to all three of my daughters.” She glances at the guards. “Alone.” They nod and silently leave the room after Edam.

“What’s going on, Mother?” Judica asks. “Edam’s not an errand boy. You can’t just send him to fetch people.”

Mom pinches the bridge of her nose. “Judica, let’s scale the hostility back to a Defcon seven or eight, okay? I’ll explain what’s going on after Inara arrives.”

I sit down on the bed and pick at the soggy, embroidered duvet cover while we wait for Inara. I’m already drenched, so sitting on a wet bed doesn’t make it any worse. Judica glances around for a place to sit, but remains standing. She shifts from one foot to the other and then begins pacing. I breathe a sigh of relief when there’s a knock from the other side of Mom’s carved wooden door.

“Enter,” Mom says.

Inara’s heart rate is elevated and she’s perspiring. “What happened, Mother?”

Mom inclines her head to Edam. “Thank you, Edam. I know you’re too important to run errands, but with the communications down, I had limited options. I appreciate your willingness to help. You may return to Balthasar at the command center now. I’m sure he’s missing you.”

He glances at Judica and she nods her head. He’s second-in-command to Balthasar, but he’s also captain of Judica’s personal guard, so he takes his orders from both. It’s got to be an uncomfortable tangle to work out. After he’s gone, Mom sighs and perches on the edge of her bed next to me. My poor mom. Ever the ruler, always on guard, even with only her own daughters present.

Mom steeples her fingers. “I’m going to ask the two of you to do something strange, and I need you to promise not to talk about it to anyone.”

Inara’s brow furrows.

Mom slides her ring off her finger and the lights in it wink out again. She pinches the metal between her thumb and forefinger and holds it out to Judica. “Please put this on.”

Inara clears her throat. “Are you stepping down?”

Mom shakes her head. “No. I just need both of you to try on my ring.”

“What does any of this have to do with the EMP?” Judica asks.

Mom purses her lips. “I’ll provide more information when it’s time. For now, put this on.”

Judica shakes her head. “Inara first.”

Mom sighs heavily. “Fine.” She holds the ring out to Inara, who takes it calmly.

Inara slides it on and smiles, like somehow her world is finally complete. I know how she feels, happy to pretend, even for a moment, that she might be our mom’s choice, her successor, instead of irrelevant. The ring fills with gentle light, colors swirling through the stone slowly. Inara stares at it with complete attention, and we wait. Ten seconds. Twenty. After a full minute with no other reaction, Inara looks at me. “What’s this for? Somehow this ring caused the EMP?”

She’s too smart. What did Mom expect? She purses her lips. “No.”

Uh, okay.