The Moon's Shadow Read Online Free PDF Page B

“You have his face. His build. You even sound like him. Except—” He let the word hang.
    “Yes?” Jai asked.
    His cousin tilted his head as if searching for words, though Jai suspected he knew exactly which ones he wanted.
    “You’re more, ” Corbal said. “Taller, stronger, broader in the shoulders, more hale. You have an intensity he lacked.”
    Jai spoke quietly. “He was more than I will ever be. I can only hope I am worthy of his example.”
    Corbal snorted. “I hope not. He is dead.”
    “Everyone dies.”
    “Follow your father’s example,” Corbal said, “and so will you—long before your time.”

4
Carnelian Throne
    J ai waited with his bodyguards in a lobby of the Qox palace, outside the Hall of Circles. It was too much to absorb; he felt like a desiccated sponge submerged in water, at first too dry to take in liquid, then gradually soaking in the full import of this place. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had been born in this palace. His mother had come for his father here and destroyed half the palace in the process. The weight of its history pressed on him as if it could mold him into an Aristo by its sheer gravity.
    The half-ruined palace had once been a spectacular work of architecture. This wing remained intact, though cracks showed on one wall. Black and gold diamonds tiled the floor, and columns graced the airy space. The walls were made from a blend of gold and snow-marble created atom-by-atom by specialized nanobots.
    Four men waited with Jai, all in the midnight uniforms of Razers, the secret police that served the emperor. Jai didn’t understand their status; gunmetal collars circled their necks, indicating he owned them, yet they seemed more his jailers than his bodyguards. The captain of the four stood silent, his posture alert, his face neutral. The red tint of his coppery eyes gave witness to his heritage; either his mother or father had been an Aristo, the only Eubians with red eyes. His other parent would have been a slave, possibly a taskmaker but more likely a provider.
    The Razers disturbed Jai. Their minds exerted a mental pressure he thought would crush him if his defenses weakened. He would have sweated, but this morning his protocol aides had injected him with temporary nanobots that controlled his perspiration. It kept him dry, but it didn’t calm him down. He wasn’t ready. These past five days that he had spent at Corbal’s mansion, learning about Eube, were nowhere near enough to prepare him for what lay ahead.
    Lights blinked on the captain’s gauntlet. He spoke into its comm, and a low hum came from the doors. As they swung inward, opening into the Hall of Circles, Jai felt as if he were on a wild ride, unable to stop as he plunged toward disaster. Determined to hide his fear, he set his shoulders and entered the Hall.
    Impressions hit him like an avalanche. Rank upon rank of Aristos filled the Hall, sitting on high-backed benches, hundreds of them, all in glittering black: Hightons, who controlled the government and military; Diamonds, who managed commerce and production; and Silicates, who produced the means of pleasure, including providers. Every one of them had ruby eyes, shimmering black hair, and perfect, cold faces.
    Show no hesitation. Jai repeated the words in his mind like a mantra. He strode down an aisle toward the dais in the center of the Hall. Corbal waited there, his expression triumphant. He stood with one hand resting on an arm of the Carnelian Throne, a large snow-diamond chair inlaid with red gems. Jai knew the script; just before he had entered, Corbal had dropped his bombshell: I present to you, His Honor, Jaibriol Qox the Third, Emperor of Eube.
    Every Aristo in the Hall was staring at Jai. Their shock vibrated against his mind, so great it penetrated his barriers. It was a nightmare. They exerted a pressure far worse than what he experienced with the Razers; this many Aristos in one place were like a black hole ready to suck