Jainan tried not to show the urgent fear driving the wheels in his mind. “It will be fine,” he said. “The palace will release a statement. Nobody saw the abduction. It can be passed off to the newslogs as a misunderstanding.”

Gairad stood in the middle of the room, rocking back and forth on her toes and staring at him. There seemed to be something else. “Didn’t anyone tell you?”

“Tell me what?” Jainan said.

“Bel says it isn’t true,” Gairad said. Her expression had clouded. “I don’t believe it, if it helps.”

Jainan couldn’t tell if the spike of nausea was part of the field aftereffects or not. “Bel,” he said, “please tell me what is going on.”

“Take a deep breath,” Bel said. “There’s a nasty rumor that’s making the whole thing worse. I suppose Aren thought the abduction wasn’t enough to screw up public opinion.”

“What rumor?”

“That Kiem’s the one who was violent to you.” Bel said.

She said something after that, but Jainan didn’t hear it. He had to stare at her and follow her lips until his brain started to make sense of what he heard again.

“… after you had that argument at dinner, it’s muddied the waters, and a couple of anti-royalist newslogs on Iskat got hold of it somehow…”

He ceased to hear her again. He felt as though his skin had been stripped away and every particle sleeting through the universe could now hammer into his exposed flesh, tearing away what he used to defend his core. His fingers were numb; his muscles no longer worked.

“Jainan?”

Jainan realized Bel had spoken to him more than once. With an effort, he cut short the fugue state that wanted to take hold of his mind. “Oh,” he said.

“Shut the hell up,” Bel said, jabbing something beside his bed. The beeping that had filled the air stopped. “Jainan? Didn’t mean to give you a relapse.

Kiem’s denied it, of course, but nobody knows about you and Taam. It’s hard to explain away some of the evidence without—you know.”

Without telling the truth about Jainan and Taam’s real relationship, which Kiem wouldn’t do. Of course. “It’s not a relapse,” Jainan said. Oddly, his head now felt very clear. “Bel, could I ask a favor of you?”

“Break you out of the med room?” Bel said, only semi-facetiously.

“Not quite,” Jainan said. “I would like the contact details for the Emperor’s Private Office.”

Bel raised her eyebrows. “Going straight to the top? It didn’t work so well for Kiem. She’ll just tell you to keep everything under wraps.”

“I understand,” Jainan said. He did, that was the thing. It was a delicate matter. “I don’t plan to ask her to do anything. I would also like you to contact a visitor for me.”

Ten minutes and a few calls later, Bel and Gairad had gone—Gairad to reassure Professor Audel and Bel to message Kiem. Jainan waited in bed, keyed up to unbearable levels, and jumped as the door chimed.