The Moon's Shadow Read Online Free PDF

mine.”
    Jai was aghast, or so he told himself. Appalled. Ah, hell. Corbal had just offered him his pick of among the most desirable pleasure slaves in an empire. It would take a saint not to respond, and Jai was no saint.
    His cousin smiled. “Take any girl. As many as you like, as often as you like, for as long as you like.”
    Jai’s face was burning. “That’s, uh, generous of you.”
    Corbal indicated the glass doors leading into the living room. “Come. Look at my stock. See if any pleases you.”
    Stock? The word hit Jai like ice water. His anticipation turned to disgust. “Maybe later.” His body had other ideas, but he pushed away the thought, angry at himself. If Corbal thought he could control his young cousin with pleasure girls, he was mistaken. It was hard to stop thinking about them, though.
    Corbal laughed. “Saints, but you’re young.”
    Was he that easy to read? “I’ve no idea what you mean.”
    His cousin leaned against the rail. “You lived in seclusion all your life, with your mother, yes?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Your Aristo mother.”
    “Yes.” Jai’s pulse jumped at the lie.
    “And there?”
    “Pardon me?”
    “Always, Your Highness.”
    Gods. Conversing with Corbal was maddening. “What did you mean, ‘And there’?”
    “Where did you live?”
    Sweat broke out on Jai’s forehead. “I don’t know.”
    “Interesting,” Corbal murmured, “that you lived there but didn’t know where it was.”
    “Only my mother needed to know the planet’s location.”
    Corbal studied his fingernails. “Odd that we have no record of this woman.”
    Jai restrained himself from wiping his sweating palms on his shirt. “My father wanted to protect me from assassins. So he hid both my mother and me and told no one about us. Even I didn’t know all the details.”
    Corbal exhaled. “The hell of it is, that makes sense.”
    Personally Jai thought it made his father sound like a paranoid lunatic. But maybe Aristos found such behavior logical.
    “Of course,” Corbal added, “it makes just as much sense that you are an impostor.”
    “You’ve analyzed my DNA.” Jai had no doubt Corbal was having that analysis verified. His cousin could have easily stolen a sample of Jai’s tissues during the past few days. Jai wasn’t worried. His genes offered the necessary proof. Before contacting Corbal, he had also bought an expensive genetic tattoo that made him appear more Highton.
    Corbal waved his hand. “Oh, I’ve no doubt you’re the son of Jaibriol the Second. But you have no proof he married your mother.”
    Jai scowled. “My birth is legitimate.”
    “Can you prove it?”
    He could, in fact; their marriage was recorded on Earth. But he doubted it would do him any good to prove his father had married the Skolian Imperator. So he summoned up the most arrogant bearing he could manage. “I find your implication offensive.”
    Corbal looked amused. “That may be. But nevertheless, you have no proof of your legitimacy.”
    Jai shrugged. They both knew Corbal had to produce an emperor after giving up Prince Eldrin.
    Corbal sighed. “I suppose proof can be supplied. An impeccable Highton woman, young and beautiful, though of course we Hightons are all uncommonly pleasing to the eye.”
    Modest, too, Jai thought.
    “It should of course be possible to find your father’s records of the marriage,” Corbal added.
    “Of course.” Good gods. It sounded like Corbal had offered to falsify records proving Jai’s mother had been an empress. It was a crime punishable by execution. Then again, if Corbal didn’t produce an emperor he could also end up dead. The more important question was why he had accepted Jai as the emperor in the first place. Even after only a few days with the Xir lord, Jai had no doubt about one thing; if he just came out and asked why, Corbal wouldn’t give him a straight answer.
    “You look like him, you know,” Corbal said.
    “My father?”
    Corbal nodded.