Swords of the Imperium (Dark Fantasy Novel) (The Polaris Chronicles Book 2) Read Free Page B

make lil’ Karma do the job? He’s your unlovable spawn.”
    “The Triada are idiots and blowhards. I’d execute them if I weren’t concerned about rebellion. And Karma may be my son, but he is eminently unqualified for any position of power and prone to treasonous leanings. I often entertain the thought of having him killed. Prophylactically, you understand.”
    Hecaton grinned. “You are one of the few barbarians who understand good parenting!”
    “Stop trying to flatter me and change the subject. I want you to run the Temple and appoint a new command. I want you to make us strong again.”
    Hecaton threw her head back and laughed. “No.”
    “I expected you’d say that. I’m prepared to offer you almost anything within reason in return for your acceptance. How much? ”
    “A million bullets and a pony.”
    “Will you take installments? The animal can be delivered immediately.”
    Hecaton glowered. “You don’t do sarcasm, do you? I want nothing, and I won’t accept.”
    “Then I order you to, on pain of death.”
    “Good! Just when I think you’re getting boring, you prove me wrong again. If someone like you had been in charge a long time ago in my homeland, things would have turned out differently for Shastirch and I.”
    “All I hear from you is gibberish,” Amilia said.
    Hecaton inhaled deeply, exhaled, and smirked. “I know what you’re trying to accomplish. Sadly, it’s impossible. I am a ‘twice born.’ Do you know what that means?”
    Amilia shook her head.
    “Unlike most of you peons, I’ve been a human once before. This is my second birth, and because I’ve been such a good little arhant, I get to shoot lightning out of my cooter. Choniates and the Triada are barely twice born, and they’ll just return as vermin when they die. Only the twice born among my people can manage this much power. I haven’t seen it anywhere else, and I’ve traveled much further than you think I have. So I can’t turn your Polaris into a bunch of little knockoff Mezetas. Not that I’d ever want to, anyway.”
    Amilia snorted. “Although I respect your power, you also display shocking levels of ignorance.”
    “Oh? Do explain.”
    “My order has nothing to do with your ability to control the elements or act like an arrogant ass. It has everything to do with preserving the people of this nation. And to do that, we will need to resist Imperial whims. We need to preserve our way of life.”
    “ You’re the one who offered the country on a platter,” Hecaton said. “Besides, I’ve traveled their lands, and compared to the Dominion way of life, they’re practically enlightened. No Imperial will accuse you of being a witch just so they can stone you and steal your house.”
    Amilia chuckled. “You act as if I haven’t been accused of witchcraft before and haven’t gotten my accusers boiled for slander. I offered a conditional surrender because my choices were to either sign a surrender treaty or reduce my own country to ash with the God Hand.”
    “That might have been preferable.”
    “I should have pressed the button then, but only for you.”
    Hecaton stamped a foot. “Why don’t you nuke me right now?”
    “Because it’d be a waste of a good relic. You’re not that important.”
    “Clearly I must be, if I’m your only guard against the Imperium overtaking this shitty culture.”
    Amilia made a fist. “Mezeta, I despise many things about my own kingdom, and that’s why I wished to change it. But the way the padishah sees it, each and every one of us is mere fodder for the machine of conquest. The man blathers on about parity between sexes and the primacy of merit through deed, but the reality is a shit pile. Men and women and queers all carry the same spear and turn into the same mincemeat to take some unimportant hill. Even you will meet that fate in his world.”
    “So be it. There’s always someone stronger.”
    “And I aim to be smarter. So, will you accept?”
    Hecaton rolled