Free Fortunes of the Imperium by Jody Lynn Nye Page A

Donel was my first cousin thrice removed on my mother’s side. He came over with a group of his friends, none of whom I recognized.
    “Thomas, I can never get a story right the way you can. Tell them the one about the malfunctioning flitter.”
    I bowed. “It would be my pleasure.” I made conspiratorial eye contact with each of my newfound audience in turn, and began. It was rather a long story, but it built up toward the conclusion a satisfying giggle at a time.
    I heard a familiar shriek, and glanced toward the gate.
    My cousin Jil arrived amidst a gaggle of ladies whom I did not know, but I did not mind. She acquired friends like a butterfly hunter amassed a collection, and a small thing like their failure to be invited to a private event would not stop her bringing them. She preferred colorful acquaintances to drab ones, but learned every detail of their lives, personalities and preferences. If there was an obsessive love of learning in the Kinago heritage, that is where it manifested itself in Jil. She was not threatened by a friend being prettier or richer than she, though there were few on Keinolt who fit that description. Jil was tall, very slender, with a golden complexion that set off her deep blue eyes and caramel hair that was not dissimilar to my mother’s.
    I waved to Jil, making a note to compliment her upon her blue-green gown, which floated upon the evening breeze like a distant melody. She had not yet notified me as to our mutual travel plans, but it would not surprise me to have her wait until the last minute, the better to prevent me from refusing. But, forewarned was forearmed, and I knew that I had Parsons’s approval to allow her to take ship with us.
    She broke free of the pack and, in a thoroughly businesslike manner, cut me out of the circle of friends, but not before I finished my joke.
    “. . . And he said, as he picked himself up, ‘You see? It wasn’t so far to the ground. Just one little step.’” My audience laughed appreciatively. When the arm hooked around my neck and dragged me backwards, as if removing me from a vaudeville stage, I had had my applause.
    “Thomas, dear,” Jil said, low in my ear. “I need to speak with you.”
    “You have my entire attention, cousin,” I said, theatrically clutching my abused neck. “But all you had to do is beckon to me. My throat may never be the same.” I signed for the server to bring drinks. Then I remarked upon the unfamiliar apprehension in her eyes. Teasing her, which she surely deserved, could wait. “How may I help?”
    “Thomas, I . . . I hate to ask.”
    “Then don’t frame it in the form of a question,” I said. “Tell me a story.”
    She pushed me. I staggered melodramatically backwards. The little pantomime broke the tension.
    “Thomas! I need to leave Keinolt for a little while.”
    “Do you need to leave tonight?” I asked, in all seeming innocence. “Then it was very kind of you to come to my party at all.”
    Her eyes went wide with dismay.
    “No! I mean, I need to go away somewhere far.”
    I frowned. “How far?”
    “Well . . . as far as the Autocracy sounds rather good at the moment.”
    “What a coincidence!” I said, all jolliness. “My mother is sending me on a diplomatic visit tomorrow morning. Do you want to come along?”
    She gripped my forearm with both of her hands. Her painted fingernails, half as long as the digits to which they were attached, dug into my skin through the fabric of my sleeve. I did my best not to wince.
    “May I? It would save my life. ”
    “Of course, cousin. I think it would be great fun to travel with you. It has been a long time since we went on a long trip together.”
    I was able to sound sincere because I was. Jil was good company. She exhaled, as if she had been holding her breath for hours.
    “Thank you, Thomas. I am very grateful.”
    “We depart from Oromgeld Spaceport at 0900,” I said. “I know it’s an awful hour. I shall have to have all the valetbots