me as a friend, at least for now. That’s why I’m still alive. But he won’t tolerate my refusal to cooperate with him much longer. I’ve refused to go along with his plans; I’m the only one of his nobles with the courage to stand up to him. He’ll kill me just as easily as he had my brother killed.”
“What plans?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
“Well, he feels that the Saurellians have gotten too much power. He wants to start fighting them again, to end the truce," he said. "That would be a disaster for our people. We don't have the strength, or the right, to continue fighting. Do you know how the war started?”
“I’d heard the Saurellians attacked several systems in the disputed region,” she replied. “That they were seeking new territory.”
“No, that’s just imperial propaganda,” he replied quietly. “I think you know better than to believe that. Didn’t you hear another story while you were in Saurellian space?”
“Yes,” she said quietly, looking out over the city. “I’d heard that the Emperor had liquidated an entire planet because their assembly refused to pay a new tax, and that the systems in the disputed regions asked the Saurellians to protect them. I didn’t believe it, though, at least not the whole story. The Saurellians are very aggressive, and I had trouble believing the Emperor would kill billions of people over taxes.”
“The Saurellians are aggressive, but they aren’t greedy,” he said quietly. “They started fighting the Empire because those people came to them, pleading for their lives. They knew they’d be next if the Emperor had his way. He’ll do it to Von'hotten, too, if he feels we're defying him. I have to stop that from happening.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” she asked, turning to look at him directly. There was a sorrow there, and deep compassion in his face. Compassion for her, she realized. A new wave of horror and nausea swept over her, and she fell to her knees. She suddenly realized that the only way he could afford to tell her this much was if he planned to kill her.
“Oh, no, I don’t want to know,” she whispered. He came and knelt before her, tilting her chin up with on finger. He leaned forward and gently kissed her, then sat back on his heels.
“It’s too late, Dani,” he said quietly. “I think you already know that.”
“Why did you tell me?” she asked. To her surprise, the horror was passing. In its place was a new emotion, anger that he would drag her into this. Her voice grew stronger. “Is it because I dared to come here and spy on you? Are you out to destroy the Guild, in addition to committing treason against the Emperor? We’re not part of your Empire, we don’t want anything to do with this. Take care of your own problems.”
“Oh, it’s a Guild problem, too,” he said.
“How do you figure that?” she asked, her voice cold with disgust. “We’re neutral. We don’t need your crap.”
“No, you were neutral,” he replied. “Until 25,000 licensed Pleasure Guild workers were killed when the Emperor liquidated the planet of Kelvani. The action took place without warning, and they weren’t given the option of using their diplomatic immunity to escape.”
She gasped, shaking her head in disbelief.
“I didn’t hear anything about that,” she said. “If that was true, I would have known. The Guild takes care of their own. Our Council wouldn’t just let the Emperor get away with killing our people.”
“They don’t intend to,” he said, his expression growing fierce. “Don’t you realize that even the Guild isn’t strong enough to confront the Emperor directly? Neither are the nobles of the Empire. Do you think we like seeing him do things like this? Our civilization has flourished for a thousand years, and now one crazed idiot is going to bring it crashing down around us. The Saurellians aren’t going to stop him. They don't want to break the truce. It’s up to us.”
“Who