Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 173

(Private Dining Room, Imperial Palace, Imperial Cityship Aurum Throni, Earth Orbit)

“—and that’s when her mother walked in on us!”

The Empress of the Terran Empire laughed at my story about one of my little adventures on Nuevo Edo. I’d been surprised when our dinner invitation turned out to be in the private dining room, rather than one of the more formal affairs. There were only twelve of us in the room, aside from the ever-present bodyguards that an Empress will always have, even when in private. Actually, that was a matter of law. She couldn’t change that without going through the Senate to amend the laws. Fortunately, there were female members of the Imperial Guard, so that she could, say, take a shower without a man looking on.

It was an interesting setup, of course, long steeped in tradition. Inside the Residence, she always had one bodyguard near her, and any time she left the Residence, she had at least two. If she stepped out of the Palace, she would have three, at the very least, plus whatever escorts that accompanied her.

At any rate, there were twelve of us around the table. Myself, and my seven women were the largest part of the guests, but the Empress also had three of her friends along, as well, all of whom I recognized from the Civil War. Lucio de Lici was the Nomad who helped rescue the Empress, and had become her ‘Chief of Staff’. Admiral Yamamoto had been promoted from commanding the Imperial 8^th Fleet to become Fleet Admiral, the Chief Naval Officer for the entire Imperial Navy. Admiral Han, on the other hand, had returned to service after maternity leave, and was the new commander of Home Fleet, stationed in Sol System.

Admiral Han leaned forward, looking at Sheila. “I must say, Princess, that I was surprised that you weren’t announced alongside Admiral Mollen. Was there a reason for it?”

Sheila smiled, and said, “Oh, yes. If I announced myself as Princess, then that would have all kinds of formal requirements. Officially, I have been ‘missing’ since that idiot Travis started his coup, and my Guardian was killed during the gun battle that led to me fleeing Luna. If I formally announced myself, I would have to have a personal Guardian again. I’ve grown used to not having a shadow in the bath.”

Lucio chuckled, and said, “Oh, it would be worse than that, my Lady. Until your sister manages to find time in her busy schedule for starting a family, you would be the Heir, should she fall. You’d have at least two shadows at all times.”

Sheila made a look of mock horror, and then turned to look at Merida. “Sister, dear, why don’t you hurry up and get knocked up? Please and thanks!” Another round of laughter broke out, aided, no doubt, by the good food, good company, and good wine.

Merida shook her head, and said, “Yes, well, you know how little time I had for dating when I was a Princess. My schedule hasn’t exactly gotten holes in it since I became Empress. And I am fairly certain that my Guardians would be very upset if I went and got swooped up by a freighter captain and inducted into his harem, sister.” She paused, and then said, “But speaking of children, it has been a couple years now. Surely one of you ladies must have…”

Cali giggled, and said, “Well, your Majesty, we do have plenty of fun ‘practicing’, but we’ve been busy, ourselves. Those of us who are slaves came with implants to ensure there were no ‘surprises’ unless our owners wanted them, and we’ve had them maintained since Master bought us. And the others have all had similar procedures done, so that we can pick and choose when things happen.”

Merida shook her head. “Then I guess that means that the only parents at the table are our Admirals, hmm?” Admiral Yamamoto smiled softly, since his son was older now, and had just entered the Naval Academy this semester. Of course, there were two other admirals at the table, as well.

Moon-Hee shook her head. “Well, despite the… circumstances around her conception, I wouldn’t give up little Kako for the world. Though tell me, Admiral Mollen, what should I tell her when she eventually asks how I met her father?”

I leaned back in my chair, thinking back on the raid on the slave ranch where we recovered the Admiral and several other slaves who had been ‘disloyal’ to the Usurper. “Well, I guess that depends on the age she is when she asks? As a child, simply telling her that you met during the Civil War should be enough, yes? But I guess eventually you should tell her the full story.”

Moon-Hee arched an eyebrow, “Really? You’d like your daughter to know how you raped her mother to sell a cover story?”

I shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t put it quite like that. Perhaps that I had a role to play to keep people distracted long enough that we had a chance to escape with all the prisoners? I dislike nonconsensual acts, but if I had refused, then the ranch’s owner would have been suspicious, and we would have had a lot more trouble getting out of there.”

Merida chuckled. “And I’m sure that the fact that Moon-Hee is a beautiful woman did nothing to assuage your guilt.”

I gasped in mock shock, my hand over my heart. “Your majesty, you wound me! I would have you know that, though Admiral Han is a gorgeous woman, I would never take her without her consent unless there were no other choice in order to protect the lives of my team, or those we’d been sent to retrieve from that hell. I’ll admit that her beauty made the act easier from a physical standpoint, despite the audience, but I had only the best intentions, I assure you!”

Sheila giggled, and said, “You’re just saying that because you want to get into my sister’s pants, ‘Boss’.” When Merida nearly choked on her wine, she winked at the Empress, and said, “My dear lover has never been shy about the fact that he loves beautiful women, and feels that it is his duty in this world to ‘share himself’ with as many of them as he possibly can. I’ve known that since the first time these shameless sluts dragged me into an orgy.” She pointed at Cali, Jayne, Shearah, and Carissa, my original harem members. “And then even Raven and Sana got involved, even before Jagloth!”

I shrugged, and said, “Well, I at least like to believe that I have always been completely honest with those I sleep with, so that they never had any false ideas going in. If they chose to sleep with me, knowing that I was never going to be monogamous with them, then all is well, no?”

Lucio leaned back in his chair, and said, “You know, your Majesty, a lot of the political pressures from the reformed Senate and the bureaucracy would go away if there was a declared heir. After the Civil War, not having any recognized heir to the throne has people worried.”

Merida’s eyes narrowed at her friend. “We already spoke about this, Lucio. If Sheila doesn’t want to have her life invaded by Guardians again, then I’m not going to force it on her. The Senate and the bureaucrats aren’t going to make me ruin her happiness just for political expediency.” Everyone ignored the blush on Sheila’s face.

Lucio nodded, and said, “Oh yes, quite right. And I’m sure everyone here is more than happy for Princess Sheila to follow her heart, so long as you’re alive and well. But I wasn’t talking about her.”

Merida blinked, and then said, “We just got through talking about how I don’t have time for a relationship, Lucio!”

“Sure, but one need not be in a relationship for the necessary functions to be carried out. All you need is a man to take to your bed until you conceive an heir. Since you’re not a man, there can be no doubt to the legitimacy of your child, even if there is no formal relationship between you and the father.”

“But what would people think of me? I’m not going to have people thinking of me as the Slut Empress! If I don’t name the father, people will think I’ve been assaulting my Imperial Guard, or any other insane rumors!”

“Ah, but you can acknowledge the father without having a relationship with him, you know. Especially if the father is known as a notorious womanizer, who has bedded more than one high-ranking individual, even a head of state, and is open and honest about his intentions to ‘spread the love’, as it were.” And then Lucio’s eyes went from the Empress, to me, and back to the Empress, in a clear signal between the two.

“Lucio! I told you I wouldn’t do something like that to my sister!” Merida whispered angrily, her eyes looking from me, to Sheila, pleading with her sister to see that she had nothing to do with this situation.

Sheila met my eyes, and was clearly trying to hold herself back from laughing at the little drama going on in front of us. “Well, sister, I can’t say as I’m surprised that the idea came up. I do know that the only reason Mirikon hasn’t tried to sleep with you yet is because you haven’t seemed open to the idea. And, the circumstances with Admiral Han aside, he has never, to my knowledge, been with anyone who wasn’t either his property or verbally consented to his touch. And even with his property he never pushes it if they refuse outright.”

I cleared my throat, and said, “Well, as Sheila said, I am not averse to going to the bed of a beautiful woman, whatever their status or current titles might be. And, if I may be so bold, your Majesty, you are certainly a beautiful woman. So long as everyone consented, I see no issues in trying to help ease your people’s minds over the future succession of the Imperial Throne without forcing Sheila back into the limelight.”

All of a sudden, Yamamoto laughed. “That is the most courteous way I have ever heard someone ask to be allowed to impregnate a head of state!” The laughter spread to the rest of the table. I think I even saw a grin from the two Guardians flanking the door.

Merida looked like a fish out of water, looking from Lucio, to Sheila, to me. Lucio chuckled, and said, gently, “Come now, your majesty. You know you’ve wanted to taste a bit of what your sister has had ever since you found out about their relationship. There will be plenty of time for finding a proper Emperor-Consort to share your life with and gaining any additional heirs you might like, but having at least some stability in the line of succession would do wonders for morale. And I don’t doubt Press Secretary Parkinson would be able to spin a favorable tale about it, since you two did meet during the Civil War, and fought side by side.”

Moon-Hee chuckled. “It does have a holo-novel romance feel to it, doesn’t it? The roguish freighter captain turned mercenary and the Navy Captain who was forced to take up a responsibility she never believed would be hers? There’s a lot to like there. Especially if you go with the ‘our duties keep us apart’ angle.”

Merida gave Moon-Hee the Eye. “And what if I don’t want my life to be a trashy romance novel? And my kid, if I had one, would have to grow up knowing that?”

I cleared my throat, and said, “Well, I certainly hope I could give you a better time than a ‘trashy romance novel’. I can say without boasting that I am quite sure you’d find it at least at ‘trashy porn video’ level.” I smirked as the Empress’s glare turned my way, but held my tongue.

She held the glare for a moment, and then sighed. “Damnit, this is NOT how I wanted dinner to go! It still feels like I’m trying to get my sister’s man to cheat on her!”

Lucio smiled, and looked my way, “Don’t worry, she’s just surprised. We’ll get her to come around.”

Sheila, though, surprised everyone, when she said, “Well, if the concern is about Miri cheating, why don’t I just join in?” I’m pretty sure the Empress’s jaw made an indentation on the deck, it dropped so fast.