“You’re juicing them,” Ghreni said, looking.
Kiva nodded. “Juicing, concentrating, making fruit pastes from the remains, all that shit. Not that we’ll be able to do much with them directly. It doesn’t make sense for us to compete against our franchisees. We thought about it, but we’d just make them upset. So when I get back to Hub we’ll see if we can sell it as surplus to the imperial government. They’ll distribute it as part of their food assistance to poor families, or whatever, and the House of Lagos will get a tax deduction.”
“So you’ll finish the trip just fine, is what you’re saying.”
“It’s a maybe. If the imperial government doesn’t shove this shit into its food assistance program, we’re on the hook for all of it.”
“I’m sure the Lagos accountants are clever enough to find a way to bury the loss. Combine that with the extortion you’re wrenching out from the people trying to leave End, you might even eke out a profit.”
“You make it sound like a bad thing.”
“Not at all. What are the guild houses if they don’t make money? That is their point. Your point. My point.”
“You haven’t actually come to your point yet,” Kiva said.
“Then here’s my point, Kiva: The duke is concerned about some of the people you might be transporting off the planet.”
“Okay. So what?”
“Some of them are people who are of interest to the duke, for various reasons.”
“This is where I say ‘so what’ again.”
“So, if certain people try to buy passage from you, the duke wants to know.”
Kiva laughed at this. “You have to be fucking kidding me, Ghreni. The duke is the reason I’m resorting to making fruit paste and taking on rich assholes as cargo.”
“The duke asks it as a favor, one noble to another.”
“The duke can fuck himself with a loaded shotgun.”
Ghreni nodded again. “I thought you might say that. So I’ve also been authorized to offer you a bribe.”
“For what?”
“For letting us know if certain people try to book passage on your ship. And for telling us where to find them if they do.”
“I’m asking for a lot of money for passage,” Kiva said.
“The duke is willing to match what you’re charging as the reward.”
“Match, hell. If he wants my cooperation, it starts at two million marks per person.”
“That doesn’t strike you as perhaps a lot to ask?”
“The duke screwed me out of sixty million marks at least, so, no, in fact, it doesn’t strike me as a lot to ask.”
“One million marks per person.”
“Look at you, Ghreni, acting like I actually need something from you.”
“The duke could decide to make your departure difficult.”
“Is he going to have my captain arrested, like he did with the Tell Me Another One?”
“You heard about that.”
“Space is a small town. We’ve already received our clearances, Ghreni. Our departure’s already been approved. And the duke already has his hands full with not being deposed and probably killed.”
“One and a half million marks per person.”
“Two and a half million marks, and every time you try to negotiate the price from here on out, the price goes up.”
“The duke is not made of money.”
“Maybe he can just borrow some out of the money of mine he’s appropriated, the son of a bitch.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea.”
“Fuck you. Now it’s up to three million marks just because you’re pissing me off.”
Ghreni held up his hands, placatingly. “Kiva. Stop. We have a deal.”
“Three million per.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll put ten million in escrow right now so I know you won’t fuck me.”
“I’ll do it the minute I get back on Imperial Station.”
“Who are you looking for?”
“The Count of Claremont and either of his children.”
“Kids?”
“The children? No. They’re both about thirty, standard. Twins. One male and one female.”
“Why do you want them?”
“I’ll tell you for three million marks.”
“Don’t be an asshole.”
“It’s not important. What is important is that we know if any of them try to leave the planet.”
“If they try to contact us, then what?”
“Then you contact me, and we’ll come in and collect them from Imperial Station, just before they try to board the Yes, Sir.”
“So you’ll take care of all of it.”
“Yes.”
“You going to shove them down a well or something?”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that.”
“I may be an asshole, Ghreni, but I don’t want to be an active accomplice to murder.”
“We have no plans to murder anyone. We just don’t want them to go.”
“Anyone else? I mean, as long as you’re offering three million per.”
“No. But I admire the flexibility of your moral grounding.”
“You said it yourself. Who are we if we’re not making money?”
As Ghreni left the Yes, Sir, Kiva pinged Gazson Magnut. “I need you to do something for me.”
“We have quite a lot of things to take care of at the moment, ma’am.” This was, Kiva knew, as close to fuck you, I’m busy as Magnut was ever going to get.
“Yes, I know, but this is a thing that needs doing.”
“What is it?”
“I need you to get someone to discreetly—as in actually fucking discreetly, not just saying the word—tell me who the Count of Claremont is and why the duke would give a shit about him in any way. The count’s children, too.”
“Yes, ma’am. The time frame on this?”
“An hour ago would be great.”
“Understood.”
“And while you’re at it, get someone to tell me why the hell Ghreni Nohamapetan is on this planet and what his relationship is with the duke.”
“We already know he’s an advisor.”
“Right, and I know that twice in the last three days his ass has been the one crossing my path on matters involving the duke. And maybe you see that shit as coincidence, but I don’t.”
“The same time frame, ma’am?”
“Yes.”
“That will take money.”
“Spend it.”
“How much?”
“Whatever it costs. Tack it onto the boarding price of the next person who wants passage.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Kiva punched out of the conversation and used her tablet to access one of the Yes, Sir’s external cameras, right outside the shuttle bay. Ghreni Nohamapetan’s shuttle was receding into the distance, toward the imperial station.
“What are you up to, you motherfucker?” Kiva said, out loud to herself. “And what is your family up to?” Because whatever Ghreni was up to, it was just part of some larger Nohamapetan plan. And whatever those assholes were up to, it was no good for anyone else, including the House of Lagos. Or the imperial House of Wu, for that matter. Or the Interdependency as a whole, come to think of it.
Kiva looked at that shuttle, a speck now, and wondered whether she shouldn’t just order the Yes, Sir’s defensive grid to launch a missile into it. Yes, there would be explaining to do. Yes, technically it would be murder. Yes, it would probably start a war between the House of Lagos and the House of Nohamapetan, which the House of Lagos, for all its power, would probably lose in the long run.
On the other hand, at this very moment, it would make Kiva feel really good.
Kiva reluctantly put down her tablet and decided to do something else with her time, a decision, by her own admission, that she would later come to regret.
Chapter
6
The coronation robes were heavy, the anointing oil smelled like it had gone bad a century ago, the crown dug into her forehead and chafed, she was sweating, the coronational liturgy was nearly an hour long, and to top it all off, Cardenia’s period had begun last night and right now her cramps were like someone with an iron glove had taken it, wrapped it around her uterus, and squeezed.