Lord Regret's Price: A Jane Austen Space Opera, Book 3 (23 page)

Now she needed to prove the Tongzhi Emperor carried dragon DNA. Although she still didn’t know exactly what that information gained her.

The crew manning the servers had changed at least twice since she’d been allowed access to the Zijin mainframe. Prince Gong had remained at the helm the entire time, hovering at her shoulder and completing small tasks for her without question or hesitation. He’d had a note delivered to Dowager Empress Cixi along with a small scanner, which she immediately agreed to use in order to have her son quietly scanned.

Running a few diagnostics on her datapad while the main comparison processed, Charlotte couldn’t find anything significantly wrong with the young man. He bore residues of opium from his favorite brothel, but he hadn’t contracted any diseases, sexually transmitted or otherwise. Yet his blood count was definitely low and his organs weren’t functioning at full capacity. It was as though he suffered from anemia and malnutrition, even though his iron and mineral counts were within the normal range. He wasn’t thriving as a young man in his prime should. In fact, she was fairly certain that his health was failing alarmingly fast.

At this rate, he wouldn’t be alive to see the New Year, and she had no idea why.

The viewscreen beeped, making both of them jump. Charlotte immediately sat, with a quick warning look to make sure Prince Gong wasn’t trying to read the results over her shoulder. Not that much of this would make sense to anyone but a scientist, unless he knew about proteins and genetic sequencing.

As she’d suspected, the dragon and the Emperor were related. At some point in the past, they’d descended from the same ancestry. The Imperial line had been founded on some inhuman DNA. Throughout the palaces, those symbols of the very strange-looking dragon with horns and five claws were an homage to that ancient legendary pairing.

Yet she still didn’t know exactly what was wrong with either of them.

The dragon’s lethargy she could blame on old age. Not knowing its physiology or typical life span, she could only assume the beast was near a natural death. But why was the young Emperor suffering from general malady at the same time? Could one’s health affect the other? There might be clues in the journal Cixi had referenced. If there’d been similar recorded situations in the past, then surely she would have used that information to her advantage.

Although she could be using that information…as she was using Charlotte. Perhaps Cixi didn’t like the alternative presented in that journal.

Disconnecting her datapad, she allowed her mind to churn without direction. Most of the time, the facts were already there. The truth lay hidden by too much data. If she allowed her mind to chew and work on the details without consciously directing her thoughts, she often found the solution solidified quicker than if she tried to force the image to clarify.

Prince Gong took her arm and escorted her from the room. Absently, she allowed him to lead the way. She wasn’t sure where she needed to go yet. She had nothing new for Cixi. She might visit the dragon again but in all honesty, she wasn’t sure what that would accomplish. Unless she had a specific test to run, she’d already performed the basic diagnostics.

“You seem troubled,” Prince Gong said. “Did you not find what you were looking for?”

“Not exactly.” She sighed. “I’m missing something. It’s probably as obvious as the nose on my face, but right now, I’m oblivious to it.”

“I know you’ve been discussing something with the Dowager Empress, but is there something I might help you with?”

It wasn’t a bad idea. She forgot sometimes that Zijin had long been a patriarchal society, which made Cixi’s victory in keeping her power all the more miraculous. There might be tradition and information that only a man in power might have access to.

Prince Gong’s the Emperor’s uncle.

That thought rang like a gong in her head, drawing her up short. She looked up at him. “May I run a quick scan on you for comparison purposes?”

He inclined his head and held his arms out in a welcoming gesture. “Be my guest.”

She laid the small box against his chest. “Here, hold this and be still. It’ll only take a few moments.” He obliged, freeing her hands so she could retrieve the datapad and scan the results. This time she didn’t have to do a full DNA analysis. She only had to look for a specific abnormality she’d already identified.

He was descended from the same dragon ancestry.

Even more importantly, the prince’s readings confirmed that he was a healthy man in his prime. Older, certainly, than the Emperor, but all of his health indicators were high and positive. Going on his health readings alone, Prince Gong should have been the next Emperor of Zijin.

She’d grown up in the midst of the most brutal political game in the universe. Health or even sanity was never a condition for taking power. Ancestry, yes; existing familial power, certainly. Wealth and privilege, unfortunate but true.

“I’m curious, Your Majesty, why you supported the young Emperor’s claim to the throne instead of taking power yourself. You certainly could have made such a claim, instead of supporting the Dowager Empresses. In fact, I surmise you would have faced much less opposition.”

Prince Gong resumed walking, although at a much slower pace. She didn’t press him for answers, merely waiting while he found the words he wished to share. After several long moments, he finally spoke. “I’m not suited to rule, my lady. I’ve never wanted that responsibility.”

“But the security of the entire system is currently your responsibility. Surely that’s even more concerning than just signing laws and making public appearances.”

“In many ways, it is more responsibility, but those duties I can accomplish well. It’s the politics of rule that I care little for. I’m a man of action, and I have little patience for the complexities of compromise and negotiations.”

Charlotte phrased her next words carefully, even though for once, no one followed them. She didn’t know where the listening devices were or who waited on the other side, hoping to trap her by her own words in insult or treason. “Surely an extremely young man without any worldly knowledge is ill-suited for those responsibilities.”

Prince Gong lowered his voice as well. “Indeed, but he has two very strong and capable ladies behind him who relish just such word wars. They support and smooth the way for him to make his rule as successful as possible.”

“What did they offer you?”

He arched a brow at her bluntness, but admitted, “Travel. I wouldn’t be bound to the throne and duties. Once his rule is solidified, I’ll be free to travel as I’ve always wished. My first stop shall be the great city of Londonium, assuming your Queen doesn’t try to assimilate us.”

The emptiness of the hallway struck her as odd. They’d never been so very alone before, even in the most secure areas housing the Xuanyuan servers. Distracted by the interesting puzzle in her mind, she’d been oblivious to the zinging energy pulsing in her blood. Now that warning hummed inside her mind, urging her that danger was close.

Edging toward the wall so she had some protection at her back, she rummaged around in her reticule until her fingers closed around the right item. She pulled out a lacy fan and unfurled it. It wasn’t much to her personal taste, but it was at least pink. If she were in Londonium, everyone would be staring at her in shock for she’d long ridiculed the ladies who insisted on fluttering their eyelashes over the rippled edges, yet Prince Gong didn’t even look at the fan twice.

Suspicion nagged her despite his seemingly open and congenial manner. What if he’d deliberately taken her to some secluded area of the palace just so he could kill her?

“Even if something were to happen to His Majesty, nothing could convince me to take the throne.” Halting in the middle of the hall, he turned to face her. “Not even if every male heir but me is deemed unsuitable. I’ll never be Emperor.” His eyes narrowed with consideration. “What’s wrong?”

She laid a hand on his sleeve and widened her eyes in a hopefully beseeching manner to appeal to his patriarchal arrogance. “I’m afraid Her Majesty might punish me severely for failing her.”

“You’ve done so much for Zijin already that I sincerely believe you have nothing to fear, Lady Wyre. But how may I be of assistance?”

Keep your enemies close.
To that end, she fluttered the fan flirtatiously and left her hand on his arm, squeezing lightly to keep his attention. “Can you tell me more about the dragon legends associated with the Emperor?”

Surprise flickered through his eyes, but he complied readily enough. “Have you heard about the Yellow Emperor?” At her nod, he continued. “They say that the next Emperor could actually transform into a dragon. Down through the ages, those stories have become more and more fantastical, until he supposedly tamed a wild dragoness to his hand and sired a whole line of Imperial dragon princes to rule Zijin through the ages.”

She smiled and tapped his chest lightly with the fan. “Not so fantastical, Your Highness.”

He started to laugh, but when she merely arched a brow, he hesitated. “You’re serious.”

“You bear the proof yourself.”

“What does that mean?”

“You aren’t fully human.”

His eyes flared wide and he opened his mouth, but he didn’t actually speak. He couldn’t. He just stared at her like she’d suddenly sprouted a second head. Or as though he might sprout wings and scales himself.

His eyes flickered upward, drawn by some whisper or creak she hadn’t heard, but it was enough of a warning. She flatted against the wall and depressed the button at the base of the fan. A three-inch glass blade shot out, insignificant in the face of an assassin attack, but with careful placement, she’d more than be able to protect herself.

Prince Gong pushed closer, covering her against the wall with his own body. Guilt suffused her. After all her doubts, now he was the only thing between her and a possible assassination. His shoulders were too big to see around, and then he was bearing her down to the ground, his breath rushing out in a grunt of pain.

“Bloody hell, Your Highness, you’ve gone and gotten yourself wounded, and now I’m trapped beneath you. It’s going to be much more difficult for me to save us now.”

He choked out a laugh. “Forgive me, my lady. I’m not used to having damsels in distress save themselves.”

She’d lost her reticule in the fall, and she wouldn’t have time to rummage around and find the shield anyway. With a sigh, she reached up and touched the heart-shaped locket that helped keep Sig alive. “Never mind. I have a few surprises tucked away for just such an emergency.” Although she hadn’t intended to reveal her most exciting new toy so quickly.

She pressed the back of the locket. A sound wave detonated, vibrating the floor beneath them. Something crashed, glass exploded and painful sound throbbed through her head. It wasn’t loud, not exactly, and she couldn’t even say exactly what she heard. It was the frequency that counted. She’d fine-tuned the wave to minimize the impact on her own ears, but it was still much more painful than she’d expected.

Poor Prince Gong must have received even more of a residual wave, because he let out a high-pitched cry and shook on top of her. She heaved him toward the side, using the shaking of his body to help her get him sliding. He was still a heavy weight on her skirts, pinning her to the floor, but at least she could sit up enough to see.

A black-garbed man lay sprawled on the floor, his arms and legs broken and twisted beneath him. Even his midsection looked odd and misshapen, as though his internal organs and bones had been shifted to unnatural positions. She turned her attention to Prince Gong’s injuries. He had two puncture marks in his back. Tugging on her skirts, she scrambled out from beneath him and retrieved the scanner so she could determine the depth of the wounds. If a major artery had been damaged, she’d only have a few minutes to help him.

A woman’s scream turned her head. Princess Rong’an rushed toward them, falling to her knees beside him. She lifted his head into her lap and stroked his cheek. Moaning softly, she rocked him. “Yixin, oh Yixin. Not you.”

Guilt if she’d ever seen it. Charlotte turned her attention back to the man’s wounds, even though she could feel the stab of the woman’s accusing eyes.

“Good news, Your Highness. As long as you don’t develop infection, I believe your injuries will heal quite nicely with some stitches. My dear, could you call for one of the Imperial Physicians?”

The young woman glared at her but grudgingly set the wounded man aside and rose. “Of course. I’ll be back, Yixin.”

He sighed, a shallow, wet sound. “How bad is it really?”

“One of your lungs has been punctured and it’s filling up with blood. You’re going to drown if we don’t get the bleeding stopped.” She spilled the contents of her reticule out on the floor. She never went about without some bio-bandage. “I can heal the injuries with my invention, but there are risks.”

“Do it, please. I’m not prepared to die yet.”

She tore open his silks a little more to bare unmarred flesh and pressed her locket to his back. No sense in getting blood on it. “Lie very still a moment. I need my datapad.”

Crawling over to it, she prayed it wasn’t broken from the fall or the sound wave. The metal housing was dented on one corner, but the datapad fired up at her command. Quickly, she opened the nanobot programming, downloaded the scanner detail of his injuries and typed in the commands for them to attack the bleeding in his lung. Then she closed the puncture wounds with bio-band. Her nanobots would destroy any foreign particles that had already entered his body, and as long as the bleeding stopped in time, he ought to recover very well.