The Servant Queen

I would be wed in three hours. The hall was decorated, gilded and shining. Every inch of the Imperial Palace scrubbed until fingers bled. Banners declaring the marriage of My Lord Emperor streamed throughout the City Of Echoes. A once in a lifetime moment for any woman with my background.

I hate it all. I’d eat my own heart to not be here.

He strides in, spilling opulence everywhere. My future husband. Already my king. The finest fabrics sewn by the most skilled craftspeople cover him head to toe. Platinum glinted from every surface that would accept it on his outfit.

“My Queen,” he said with a smile made of threats.

I bowed. I never bowed before I came to the city. The great city of remembrance. The last city on Earth. The City Of Echoes reminds us of our past. Or whatever parts of it they want you to remember.

I want to throw up.

“My Lord,” I didn’t raise my head to look him in the eyes. This wasn’t unusual. I always had trouble meeting people’s eyes. That’s how you know they’re looking back.

“Are you comfortable? Hungry? Do you require anything at all to make you happy?”

A shuttle to a fast ship? “No, my lord. I’m quite satisfied.”

“Please— call me Pytor— we are to be man and wife. There’s no reason we can’t be— civil,” his teeth hung out like fangs on the last word. I could imagine blood dripping from them.

“Of course, Pytor.”

Taking his index finger he raised my chin. His eyes pierced through me.

“Understand that your happiness— is your people’s happiness,” he relaxed his stare into a more sly look, “You do want them to be happy don’t you?”

An imaginary knife thrust into my gut. I pictured it wielded by my own hand. So I dug it in deeper.

“My only concern is your happiness, Pytor,” I let every bit of my truth pour out of my open stomach and managed a smile.

He kissed me on my forehead. His lips were dry and cracked. Like sandpaper, “Good Answer,” he said. Then he turned to go, “See you in three hours.”

He was gone. The pressure in the room relented and I was able to take full breaths. I wanted to punch through his cyber upgrades and rip his fusion heart out.

“Citizen Shyla!” A woman appeared, yelling from the doorway. She was dressed sharply and held a data pad, “I’m Exla Gorbins. Journalist with the Daily Reminder. I’ve been graciously allowed to interview you for our publication,” she held her palm to the side of her mouth, “Approved topics of course.”

I definitely didn’t want to do this. I could snap her like a twig. Take the data pad and hack her way out. Steal a verti-car and fly out of the territory. I thought of my mother sitting in the front seats of the wedding hall. Dressed in the finest clothing she’d ever seen. With a full belly and no worry about the next meal.

“Yes— I’m Shyla Mortz, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ll do my best to answer your questions to my Lord’s satisfaction,” I managed a smile from the corner of my mouth.

My guts were testing the top of her throat to see if they could escape. She gestured to a small table with two chairs. Exla walked over and sat immediately. Strange, I thought, in a few hours she wouldn’t dare sit down before I did. I didn’t even want to be here, why did such a silly thing bother me.

I approached my own chair cautiously, flattening my dress in the back to sit. Exla put her pad on the table and pressed a button on the screen.

“So! How does it feel?” The reporter smirked.

“Umm— how does what feel?”

“Today! Your wedding day! Marrying the Emperor of the Starlight Dominion? Women throughout the galaxy would give anything to be in your position.”

Giving isn’t exactly the term I’d use. He hadn’t tried anything inappropriate yet, besides murdering hundreds of thousands of people. That’s the thing with despots I guess, they like to fool themselves into thinking they’re good ones by using proper table manners and scrap like that.

“It’s like a dream,” I answered.

“More like a nightmare,” she said so fast I barely caught it.

“Huh?”

“You come from Lorna Three, yes?”

“I do— what did you say?”

“Tough planet, Lorna Three. Harsh environment I hear, little food, bad weather?”

“It has its beauties as well but you’re right to say it’s harsh,” I thought of the sun beaming against red rocks jutting into the sky. I thought of women with babies on their backs carrying baskets of desert fruit. The breeze of the atmosphere-cooler brought the hairs on my arm up.

“Hmmm— how is the planet adjusting to Imperial rule?”

I honestly didn’t know. Not that it was hard to imagine. My planet would be stripped of everything it had. My people would be forced to work it if they wanted to eat.

“I’m sure they are enjoying the comforts of the Dominion’s embrace.”

“Hmm,” she looked down at the pad, “Lorna Three was established independently some two hundred years ago, was it not?”

“Yes, it was.”

“The fighting over territory must have been awful without the Dominion’s organization.”

“As with all history, there is good and bad,” I winced a little after I said it. There was no good before the Starlight Dominion.

She nodded, “This is true.”

Phew.

“So the transition was— peaceful?” She continued.

Was she trying to trick me? I leaned over to look at the pad. The bottom half of the screen depicted a short description of Lorna Three. The imperial version. Without the melted satellites decaying in orbit. Or the small island that was the defenders last line. Now irradiated and desolate.

I looked at Exla, unsure of what to say. So I deflected.

“I’m sorry, with all the excitement of my nuptials I really haven’t been able to keep up—.”

“So you’re excited?”

“Who wouldn’t be?” I lied. I knew exactly who wouldn’t be. Me.

She stared for way too long. Not blinking once. The same tiny smirk curling her lip. Scrap this lady.

“Yes, yes. Being chosen as Queen Consort is quite the honor,” she brought up a new page. My face was at the top. A terrible picture from the prisoner camp, “But you would have some experience, after all, your family was of the current ruling class. Was it not?”

“Sort of,” I answered, trying not to roll my eyes.

“Ah! Right, most interestingly, officials were called Servants. If I’m not mistaken? Chosen by the people to lead.”

“Yes, my father had been chosen as Servant right before—,” I choked on the words and gulped them back, “Before his untimely passing.”

“Hmm,” she tapped on her chin, “That must have been hard.”

I should choke her. Would he be mad at me? He did it all the time. I felt my hands curling around an imaginary throat.

I smiled instead, “Something has to become the past for there to be a future.”

She burst out laughing, “That is so true! You know? I was telling my friend Damien the other day—,” the name went off like a supernova in my brain, “The future is what matters.”

My mind flashed to Damien on the beach. Surrounded by Starlight Dominion troops. Telling his men to hold their ground. My mother meeting with a captain who gestured to me. I agreed to make peace. I watched the island bombarded while the shuttle lifted me up into the void.

There were lots of Damiens in the universe.

“I don’t really understand where you’re going with this?” Probably the first full truth I’d said.

“Let me ask another question,” she leaned in close, “Are you happy?”

A security drone buzzed in and zoomed around the room. It scanned each of our faces. Exla held her breath. The drone beeped a satisfied beep and flew off. I heard a slow exhale.

“Are you happy, Your Highness? Are you happy for your people?”

Oh scrap this asshole. I launched at her. My fist connected with her lip and sent her flying back. Shocked, I glanced at the door. No one was coming. I didn’t have a guard. No one would be stupid enough to threaten the Emperor’s peace.

I looked back at Exla who lay sprawled on her back. Crying. No— laughing. This crazy woman was laughing.

“Oh that’s good!” She said between chuckles,

“I was afraid you wouldn’t have any fight in you.”

“Who are you?” I yelled at her.

“I’d ask you the same question, my Queen.”

I’d really had enough of this, “I’m not a Queen! I’m a prisoner! This whole system and every one he touches is a prison! What do you want from me?!”

My attendant walked in showing no emotion behind a pair of goggles.

“Is everything alright here, Miss Mortz?” Still not queen yet.

I met his concerned glance and thought. I could have her removed if I wanted to. The problem was I didn’t know how removed she’d end up.

“Everything is fine, Diven. I was showing Miss Gorbin some wrestling moves.”

“Wrestling moves, ma’am?”

“Yes. The excitement has me really energized,” I started doing jumping jacks. In a wedding dress.

“Hmm,” Diven bent over and extended his hand to Exla who graciously accepted. She righted the chair and sat back down as casually as could be.

“The soon to be Queen is quite the fearsome opponent,” she said.

“As she should be,” Diven nodded at her and turned to me, “Will there be anything else, ma’am?”

“No, that will be more than enough. Miss Gorbin and I are heavily engaged in talk about— decorations. You know, flower colors and cloth patterns. We are not to be disturbed.”

“Right. Decorations, well. If there’s nothing more I can do, enjoy your talk. I will come for you fifteen minutes before the ceremony.”

I didn’t know what planet Diven was from. He was extremely pale skinned. I’d heard of some planets where it was so cold people lived underground. I couldn’t imagine living without a sun.

Once he left I eyed Exla and took my seat.

“You don’t talk like the reporters I’m used to hearing in the City Of Echoes.”

“I’m from out of town.”

“Where out of town?”

“A planet with the best desert fruit in the galaxy.”

I pursed my lips. My brow furrowed. All the things you’re supposed to do when someone surprises you and you don’t believe it.

“How hard did I hit you?” I got up slightly and started checking around her head for blood.

“Look— I’m here on behalf of the rebellion.”

“How is that possible? He wiped out everyone— Damien,” his name felt like cactus needles scraping my throat on the way out.

She dipped her head, “Yes. Damien fell. But the Emperor didn’t wipe out everyone. We’ve been inside his operation for a long time now. Causing chaos. Waiting for the right time.”

“The right time for what?”

She flipped her pad over and pressed in different spots until the back came off. Her eyes were on me the whole time. Burning like lasers. I dare not let them meet mine. I just punched her in the face and I couldn’t look her in the eye.

She held out her hand. In it was a piece of paper with a small black dot on it.

“This microdot can be absorbed into organic material instantly and unnoticeably, don’t get it on you. It will complete its task at ten AM tomorrow.”

“What happens then?”

“There’s a reason most people don’t have fusion hearts, honey.”

Ten AM was when Pytor met his members of his inner circle. Generals and Governors. The men who held the keys to every chain in the galaxy.

“You can’t be serious! This isn’t something you can just spring on me now! Can’t we talk about it?”

“Palace credentials are hard to get. I can’t guarantee we’ll ever get this chance again.”

“You don’t understand— he’ll kill them all. He’ll kill me last so I can watch,” tears started to trickle down my face. Scrap this. I’m not crying now, I thought.

“He’s going to kill them all eventually or make them live something worse than death. Already on Lorna— they’ve started eradicating the Lozzo Cactus.”

The Lozzo Cactus produces the fruit. It was everything to the local diet.

“They couldn’t do that! That’s a third of the food supply,” I was lying again, of course. They started burning Lozzo in the first strikes.

“They’re supplying food dependent on the weight of mined ore. Since I was planted here I’ve seen horror stories from every system. He won’t stop until there’s no one left to fight him,” she placed the microdot on the table and slid it over, “You can end this.”

The dot looked small but felt huge and monstrous. It sounded so easy, “I’m not a hero. Damien was a hero. When the bombs were falling he didn’t cower,” now tears I couldn’t control were coming out, “He held his rifle up and shot at them. And I believe with every piece of my heart that he thought the next bullet would work. Because that’s who he was!”

“History isn’t made up of just heroes. It’s made up of people like you, Servant Mortz.”

“I’m not—.”

“You were voted in unanimously when you sacrificed yourself. Wherever your heart leads you. I’m sure it will be just and true. Shady days and full stomachs, Servant.”

“Shady days—,” I repeated, still shaking a little. 

She nodded and left. I sat there staring at the dot for a long time. Tracing circles around it with my expensive acrylic nails. Thinking of my mother just a few rooms away. What if I was discovered? What would happen to my home? What was happening to my home?

I fixed my makeup shortly before Diven returned. His face betrayed no emotion as he complimented my appearance like he was reading from a card.

“Ah— is this trash ma’am?” He pointed to the small piece of paper on the table. 

My heart beat fast. I felt a weight on my shoulders pushing me into the floor, “Yes, it’s just trash.”

I watched him crumble it up and toss it with a mixture of relief and sadness. He gestured for me to follow his lead.

We arrived at the doors to the hall as a grand orchestra started to play a march. It felt so much like a funeral march. When the doors opened I almost had to block my view from the shimmer. White marble and gold gilding reflected the sun as it poured through a large opening in the roof.

Everyone turned to look at me. I scanned the room for my mother and saw her on the right. Standing at the back of a wall in a smaller walkway to the side.

As I approached the stage she was led forward. Never getting ahead of me. Never allowed to the front until I’d shown my loyalty. The usher put a hand out to let her know she was going too fast. She bowed in contrition.

The Emperor stood with his retinue. Watching the crowd like a conductor. Making sure everyone was following his direction. The air smelled like spices and lavender. This was a fairytale and every fairytale has a monster. 

When I was just feet from the stage my mother was allowed to sit. I watched her worried face. I could tell she was trying to remember all the proper protocol.

“Citizens of the Starlight Dominion! We welcome you to the City Of Echoes on this most auspicious occasion. The joining of two hearts and two systems!” The officiant spoke. The crowd clapped, “Now we are one system of many stars!”

“We are one system of many stars!” The crowd repeated. The knife was still twisting its way around my insides. Hollowing me out.

Pytor beamed and puffed his chest.

“All because of our kind and fearless Emperor Pytor Oslo!”

“Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!”

“Who gives this woman away?”

“I do,” my mother stood and bowed.

I watched Pytor from the corner of my eye. He made a face that was half bloodlust and half disgust.

The officiant turned to me, “Do you, Shyla Mortz take His Imperial Majesty Pytor Oslo as your husband?”

Acid built up. I wanted to vomit. I looked at the usher standing by my mother. One changed plan and she could be whisked away. Never to be seen again.

“I do.”

“Do you, His Imperial Majesty, take Shyla Mortz to be your wife?”

The Emperor looked into the crowd and back at me, “I will have her,” is all he said.

He will have me. He will have whatever he wants. He will not stop until he gets it all.

“By the power vested in me by the Starlight Dominion I pronounce you man and wife! You may kiss your queen.”

Pytor looked at me smiling. I raised my head, a Queen now. I met his eyes with my own. He leaned in. I reached for his face and brushed my nail over his neck. The Emperor requested them long and gaudy. He never felt the tiny black dot that I’d placed on the tip as it absorbed into him. 

I waved to my mother and blew her a kiss, then I turned back to Pytor. I pictured a Lozzo bearing fruit. Still looking him in the eyes. I spoke.

“Something must become the past for there to be a future—,”

I saw a free Lorna III.

“Shady days and full stomachs, Pytor.”

I was going to enjoy the party.