“You see now?” Ilemina leaned forward, resting her hands on Soren’s desk. “You are the key to the tachi and lees. Without your intervention, the tachi might have left already and Nuan Cee, who loves money above all things, dotes on you as if you were his own child. Congratulations. You’ve made enough of a difference to become a high-value target.”

“Yes,” Soren agreed. “The Kozor and Serak stooped to attacking a child just to remove you. They are willing to weather the shame if it means running off the lees and the tachi.”

Otubar leaned forward. “The ends justify the means.”

“But we’re back to why,” Karat said. “What possible detriment could the lees and the tachi be to their plan?” She turned to Maud.

Great. “I don’t know.”

“That reminds me,” Ilemina said. “Could a lees have poisoned Helen? They are devious enough to injure her and then magnanimously provide the cure. It would put Maud in their debt.”

Maud shook her head.

“It needed to be said,” Otubar said.

“No,” Arland said. “That was the first thing I checked. None of the lees were anywhere near the game grounds or the lake. Their equipment is sophisticated and can render them practically invisible, but I have seen their disruptor in action and Nuan Cee knows it. The disruptor relies on a maa emitter, and once you know what to screen for, it’s not hard to find. They’ve been using plain stealth to get around the castle and record candid videos of us, but they had nothing to do with poisoning the child. It would be too heavy-handed for them anyway.”

“Why?” Karat asked.

“The lees seek balance,” Arland said. “A good bargain is the highest honor they could strive for. Saving a child and collecting a favor from the parent satisfies the need for balance. Hurting a child to save it and then collecting the favor is not a balanced transaction.”

Maud almost did a double take. He flashed her a grin.

“Is he right?” Ilemina asked.

“Yes. The lees pride themselves on being clever. To set us up by hurting Helen would go against Nuan Cee’s clan’s code.” Maud took a deep breath. “However, I do owe him a favor. He will collect, which means he will ask me for something and I won’t be able to refuse. I am now a security risk.”

Ilemina waved her hand. “Eh.”

“You are a security risk if we don’t know about it,” Soren said.

Arland leaned back in his chair. “What do the lees and tachi have in common? Why do Kozor and Serak want them gone?”

Maud sighed. “The two species couldn’t be more different. The lees live in clans, the tachi are a monarchy. The lees prize wealth, the tachi seek knowledge. The lees are secretive ambush predators, the tachi swarm their target. The lees encourage personal achievement and strive to earn individual recognition, the tachi win or lose as a whole. They don’t have much in common. They’re both omnivorous species. They are both interested in a trade station and an alliance with Krahr. They both arrived in spaceships…”

“Battle station,” Karat said.

Everyone looked at her.

She hit her fist on her father’s desk. “The scum. They want the battle station.”

Arland sat up straight. “The battle station has limited personnel and a central control point. Two hundred wedding guests, the elite of their Houses, would pose a real threat.”

Karat nodded. “Once they have control of the battle station, they can pound the planet to dust. Even the full power of our fleet might not be enough.”

“They don’t have to face the fleet,” Otubar growled.

“He’s right,” Arland said. “If they gain control of the station, they can hold the planet hostage while they clear the system.”

Maud blinked. “Did you actually put a warp drive on that thing?”

“Of course we did,” Ilemina snapped. “What good is a weapon if you can’t move it where your enemy is?”

“It’s a bold plan,” Soren said. “If they pull this off, they would be untouchable. The bragging rights alone would guarantee them a seat at the big table.”

“They would still have to take it from us,” Karat reminded him. “The only way for them to get on to the station is through the wedding boon.”

According to tradition, the couple about to wed could request a small favor from their hosts. To deny the boon was the height of rudeness.

“They will request that the wedding be held on the station,” Karat continued. “We deny the request. Problem solved.”

“On what grounds?” Ilemina asked.

“On the grounds that we know they’re up to something.”

Soren heaved a sigh. “So, you want to accuse our honored guests of plotting behind our backs. With what evidence? Do you have any proof to support your baseless claims?”

Karat opened her mouth and shut it.

Her father nodded. “Silence that speaks volumes. We have no proof, only guesses, deductions, and suspicions. Furthermore, we already permitted them to tour the battle station when they arrived. We can’t claim that it’s forbidden, unfinished, or secret now, because we invited them for wine and pastries on the observation deck.”

Of course they would invite the rival Houses to tour the battle station. Look at our big new super-awesome weapon. Behold the might of Krahr. We are the greatest and you could never compare. Ugh.

“If we refuse to grant the boon,” Soren continued, “we would have to do so without any explanation. At best, we would be viewed as discourteous and uncouth. At worst, timid and cowardly. How could we, with all our might and our planet only a shuttle flight away, be so wary of two hundred wedding guests? Even if we do refuse to step into the trap, they score a wounding blow.”

He was right. Reputation was everything. It wasn’t enough to stop the scheme. House Krahr had to do it in a way that brought them credit.

“There has to be more to their plan,” Arland said. “Some scheme, some ploy to minimize the risk. There’s something we don’t know that makes them think they could win. And they view the aliens as a wildcard.”

“Both the lees and tachi have battle ships in orbit,” Maud said. “Between the two of them, they pack a lot of fire power. The tachi have the technological superiority, and the lees fight dirty and hold grudges for generations.”

Ilemina bared her teeth. “The pirates are afraid the aliens will come to our aid. What kind of world is it that a vampire from another House is my enemy and bugs and Merchants are my allies?”

Soren turned to Maud. “Would they help us?”

“Hard to say,” Maud said. “I’m leaning to yes. If you promise them the trade station, then definitely.”

“The plan you’re contemplating requires a military alliance,” Ilemina told Soren. “Do you truly want this? An alliance of one House and another species against other Houses has never been done. How would this be received by the rest of the Anocracy?”

“How would the end of our House be received, my lady?” Soren asked.

Maud took a deep breath. “The rest of the Anocracy doesn’t have to know whether this alliance was forged before the other houses broke the rules of hospitality or after.”

Ilemina pivoted toward her.

Maud met her gaze. “The Kozor and Serak will request to hold the wedding on the battle station. By virtue of their presence, the lees and the tachi, honored guests of House Krahr, would be invited to said wedding. If during the ceremony, the other Houses commit an act of treachery and attack their hosts, it would be only natural for the lees and the tachi to defend themselves against a common threat. If, in the course of such a battle, they are so impressed by the might of House Krahr that they seek an alliance, who could blame them? And wouldn’t House Krahr, moved by their bravery, then be honor-bound to accept such an alliance, if for no other reason than to compensate for the danger the guests had experienced? After all, who would stand with the Houses who drowned so deeply in dishonor that even the aliens have judged them unworthy?”

Silence claimed the room.

“Draft it,” Ilemina said to Soren. “Maud, once it’s drafted, take it to the aliens. Tell them that if they agree, I will personally open negotiations for the trade station.”

Otubar’s eyebrows rose a hair.

Ilemina bared her teeth. “Kozor and Serak are wary of them, so I will use them. ‘He who is feared by my enemy is my shield.’”

16

Maud rushed down the hallway. The meeting with the lees and the tachi was in less than ten minutes, but her harbinger had pinged, letting her know Helen was awake. Maud tore through the castle at a near sprint. Logic told her that everything would be fine, but emotion trumped logic, and her emotions were screaming at her that something would go terribly wrong in the time it would take her to get to the medward. By the time she reached the door, she was in a near panic.

The door whispered open.

In a flash, Maud saw the room in excruciating detail: the bed, the white instruments, the blue readouts projected on the wall, the medic standing to the side, and Helen, upright on the bed.

“Mommy!” Helen cleared ten feet in a single jump.