Free The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker Page B

yes.”
    “How long does it take to ah…” She nodded in the direction the corpse had been taken.
    The surgeon unlocked a cabinet and rummaged inside. “Three to four days from infection to death, at least based on the cases we’ve had so far. Perhaps it’ll be faster for you, since you’re smaller than the men.”
    A locomotive trip to Kendor took over a week.
I’m dead if I let them infect me.
    She flexed her shoulders and tried to work her wrists free of the manacles. The remaining guard clamped his hand tighter around her biceps and gave her a warning frown. The hilt of his sword dug into her side. If she could somehow get his weapon, maybe she could hold it to the surgeon’s throat and bargain her way free. She would need her hands free first.
    “I don’t suppose you’d—” she started, but a shadow fell across the doorway.
    Hollowcrest entered the room, and four guards came in on his heels.
    Amaranthe slumped.
    He regarded her coolly, hefting his right arm. A bandage wrapped it from wrist to elbow.
    “You are a tedious pain, woman. In more ways than one.”
    “You attacked
me
,” she said, seeing no reason to bother with honorifics at this point. “After you sent me on a suicide mission.
I’m
the one who’s a pain?”
    He snorted. “Don’t put this on me, girl. It seemed a shame to waste a bright enforcer; it’s not like they’re a common breed. Your ambition is what made you dangerous. I couldn’t let you at the emperor.”
    A shame? Vanquished ancestors, was he actually regretting what he had done? Did he feel guilty? Or was she imagining it? Maybe he had just come down to gloat. It didn’t seem that he had noticed the missing note yet, though she was not sure how that helped. She could not read it with her hands behind her back.
    The surgeon removed a jar from a cabinet, one of several on a shelf. A large, winged insect buzzed inside, its droning ominous. Amaranthe made herself focus on Hollowcrest. As long as he was talking, she had to learn as much as she could in case she had the opportunity to do something with that information later.
    “Does the emperor know you’ve got me locked up down here?”
    “Unfortunately, he is mourning your tragic death,” Hollowcrest said. “Killed falling out the window. You should be pleased; Sespian appeared quite distraught by the news.”
    “What are you doing to him anyway? What does the drug you’re putting in his tea do?”
    Amaranthe glanced at the surgeon and the guards, hoping the news would come as a surprise to them. If she could trick Hollowcrest into answering in the affirmative, maybe it would shock them, coerce them to do something to defend the rightful leader of the empire.
    “It’s a herb that dulls the intellect and renders the drinker susceptible to manipulation,” Hollowcrest said calmly.
    No one in the room reacted.
They know. They all know and they don’t care.
    “Why?” Amaranthe asked. “When you were sworn to act as his regent, you made a promise to him and the empire that you would step down when he reached his majority. That was last year.”
    “Do you think I wanted to break my word? I’m no power-hungry tyrant. I have always been content to advise. But the boy would destroy the empire.” He cleaned his eyeglasses with a handkerchief. “In his first week on the throne, he vowed to make peace with all the nations we’ve ever warred with, cut military spending in half, funnel the money to education, and…oh, yes, and phase out the empire itself, instating some ridiculous people’s republic with elected officials.”
    “They sound like noble goals.”
    “You’re as naïve and idealistic as he is. Yes, let us announce to all the nations we’ve conquered over the last seven hundred years that now we wish for peace. I’m sure they’ll embrace us with heartfelt brotherhood and forget about all the men slain, the land taken, the freedoms stolen, the laws imposed. Please. They would send diplomats on the one