It was unnecessary. Kiem had already lost the battle and sunk into a doze, the lines smoothed out of his face. Jainan couldn’t touch him in case he disturbed him; Kiem would need all his energy for the interview that waited for them.
Shafts of light lay bright across the floor from the small windows set into the flyer’s sides. Jainan lifted his eyes from Kiem’s sleeping form to watch the white horizon pass under the pale-blue sky, felt the rumbling of the flyer through his body, and tried to be glad they were returning safely to the palace. They flew on.
CHAPTER 20
Internal Security summoned them as soon as they’d touched down in Arlusk.
Kiem refused point-blank to enter the comms dead zone in their working quarters, so instead Rakal ordered the receptionists’ office cleared, and they perched uncomfortably on chairs for visitors. Kiem was slumped back across a hard couch, slow and bleary, his fingers resting on his wristband as if to remind Rakal he was recording everything they said.
“You think someone caused the crash to stop you from investigating,” Rakal said.
“I make no accusations,” Jainan said. His voice was hoarse. He had spent the last hour laying out his Kingfisher research in exhaustive detail. Rakal showed no sign of being tired; they ran the interview like a belt grinding over a gear—
the same questions over and over again until Jainan started to doubt his own facts. “We were not subtle about our investigations.”
“You should not have been investigating at all,” Rakal said, but with curt impatience that said they knew it was too late for that.
“You knew about the hacking already,” Kiem said. He’d taken another half of a stim tab when the flyer had landed, in spite of Jainan’s objections, so he was at least talking coherently. “You’ve had days to link it up with Jainan’s information. Stop pretending you don’t have your own theories. You’ve gotten much further than we have, haven’t you?”
Rakal sighed and touched the bridge of their nose, a gesture so uncharacteristic that Jainan wondered if he had started hallucinating. “Your Highness,” Rakal said shortly. “I am going to ask you to stop recording so we can have a genuine conversation. I will ask this once.”
Kiem met Jainan’s eyes. Jainan nodded. “All right,” Kiem said reluctantly.
“We’ve already obeyed your Imperial Voice command, though, so if you make any threats, we’re leaving.”
Rakal watched Kiem deactivate his wristband before they spoke. “There has been trouble with the Auditor since you left.”
Jainan felt the Auditor’s presence rise up from the back of his mind where it
had been lurking like a storm warning. “What kind of trouble?”
“Something has upset him and his staff,” Rakal said. “They have all retreated to their ship, with the remnants, and set off early for Carissi Station. They are not communicating even with the authorized representatives. The Emperor believes they will still carry out the treaty ceremony; the Resolution has some arcane protocols we still don’t fully understand.”