Insatiable Read Free Page B

yet. Give me a week more. The station is near a very heavily populated area.” Esta wasn’t sure who that was, but it sounded like one of the new so-called science ministers Ciro had had hanging around him of late.
    “More cattle where that came from. The Imperium is crawling with people. One of them is just as good as another to mop up and clean.” Alem. Esta curled her lip.
    A throat cleared. “I was thinking more that witnesses would be a bad thing. Until we gather the rest of the materials we need, the lab should be able to act without being monitored overmuch.”
    What in the name of the gods above and below was her husband doing now?
    “The longer we delay, the longer our justice will be denied,” Alem argued.
    “Hartley, do calm down. We’ll get our results, and you can keep your program going in the meantime. Caine, do continue to move the populace away, but slowly and quietly for now. You have your week.”
    “Thank you, sir.”
    “We have an audience to take. Let’s get that done. Guard! Send for my daughter. Tell her I wish to see her in my audience chambers before the hour is up.”
    They moved away, their speech fading as they did. Esta needed to move and move quickly.
    She peeked out from her spot and then around the corner. No one was there, so she hurried down the hall and stepped into the private offices her husband worked from. Or pretended to work from while the others destroyed their ’Verses one by one, all for greed.
    He had a personal assistant, but she was gone. Not surprising, considering her only job was to service him and look pretty. Better her than Esta.
    She used the keypad to enter his space and closed the door. Fear kept her skin clammy, but realization that she had to act and act now kept her from bolting out of the room. Too bad Ciro didn’t have a personal assistant who could service him and keep him organized.
    His desk was a mess of data chips and files, of discs and tossed-aside reports. She grabbed several of them, including one that bore Alem’s insignia. Esta wasn’t sure what she’d find, but she couldn’t take it all, and there wasn’t time to use his reader, so she took the discs with the highest color rating for security clearance and one with the science ministry’s stamp.
    No one saw her leave. The halls were empty until she got closer to the living quarters and areas the public were allowed into. Not that anyone paid her any mind; she was the first wife, tossed aside after her sons had failed to rise to power.
    They thought she didn’t know. Or worse, that she did know and cared. She didn’t care because he left her alone. She’d never had any misconceptions that he loved her. She did her duty, a duty she was born to, and bore his children. For duty and then, as she began to raise those children, for love.
    It was love that kept her moving toward her personal quarters where she could secret the things she’d stolen. And love, still, for her people, that would lead her to do whatever needed doing with the information she’d found.
     
     
    D espite the summons she’d received from her father, Carina stared out the windows of her bedroom, looking down the long, steep line of the rampart and into the courtyard below. The late afternoon suns sent warmth over her face, even through the darkened glass. A warmth she didn’t feel inside. Inside she was cold. Always cold, alert, scheming, listening and keeping her mask firmly in place. The penalty for slipping was something she kept close to her heart every moment of every day.
    Not many people were outside at this point of the day. The heat drove them into the shade of the arches and into the buildings. They’d congregate in the cafés and taverns until the first sunset and the heat wore away. The local taverns were raucous, filled with noise and laughter and the sharp scent of the spices used for the mulled wine. She’d always wanted to spend some time in one, but the closest she got was observing from