“It is an honor to meet you, king’s mate.” Bork bows his great dark head. “And an even greater honor to escort you to the palace.”
"We're going to the palace? With this guy?”
“Oh, yes,” Krush smiles. “We’re going to the palace.”
I am frightened to be out in the city. I feel as though there are eyes everywhere. We skip around drones, and we avoid patrols, but still. Lyric’s intrusion into my shopping has made me feel unsafe. I suppose, and I have thought about this a lot, she simply staked out the most popular Blindspot. There are only so many locations where scum and exiled korabi can trade. She didn’t find me, so much as she found where she knew I would need to be.
We are moving through the streets with what I consider to be a brazen kind of openness. I hope Krush isn’t going to get us all killed because he insists on behaving as though the whole world is his.
“Here we are. The palace.” Krush extends a proud arm toward nothing at all. Or at least, nothing noticeable. It is a building, like many buildings, though I suppose there are a few noticeable qualities. The buildings that once would have stood around it have been cleared to rubble to create a sort of perimeter.
This is not a palace. But it is a building the likes of which I have not inhabited for a very long time. Abandoned at some point for some reason, it boasts thick concrete and steel walls, and a great number of additions.
The longer I look, the more I see. This is a stronghold. This has been fortified in many directions. If I am not mistaken it sits over various scum transport lines. It has all the potential of a great construction, now that I look at it with the eyes of technician. It is not all the way there yet. There is much to be done, but much has already been done. Many hands have worked here for a single purpose. It almost reminds me of the den I used to share with my family.
"What if they send drones to destroy this?”
“We have been using your technology, Jax. Extending it. Our palace is tapped into the main energy networks, so it cannot be cut off. If they cut one feed, there are dozens of redundancies. There are cannons on the roof capable of bringing down drones long before they can unleash their payloads. I can run through all the security measures with you, and you are welcome to engineer more. But our days of running from hole to hole are over. We have a home. We have a guard,” he extends his big, muscular arms in a grand fashion. “We have a kingdom.”
It can’t be this simple. Or wait. Can it be simple? Why can't it be this simple? A palace is not one place forever. It is wherever a king lives. Technically, the scum holes we have been living in have been teeny tiny little palaces all of their own.
“I intend to make a broadcast in very short order,” Krush says. “I wanted you to be here to see it.”
He has outfitted his palace with all the essentials, including a communications chamber. I cannot help but notice that the cameras are being manned by scum. He has incorporated humans into his court. He must be the first korabi king to ever do that.
“Are you happy?” He looks at me with an adorable level of anxiety. “I want you to feel safe. I want you to know that I will use my power to protect you.”
“I’m very happy,” I tell him, my eyes welling with tears. Krush has toiled to build this place for us. He has withstood humiliation and defeat and emerged stronger from both. In his new palace, I am more than happy. I am home.
* * *
Krush
“Hello usurpers, traitors, and general undeserving filth, this is your king. Your true king, not your purple pretender.”
I wish I could see their faces. As it is, I have to imagine the dumb shock on their stupid mugs. It is not nearly as satisfying as it could be, but it will have to do for the moment.
“This is the new power of Megaris! Keep the palace, and the korabi enclave. I hold the entirety of the real city. I have the loyalty not only of the disavowed korabi, but of the scum too. Your elites can only work within the boundaries of their limited little worlds. So we have them too. If they are disrupted, their augmentations interrupted, they will become entirely useless to you. I don’t have to explain that we are capable of doing that, and we will if you make so much as a hint of an aggressive action toward us. Oh. And…” I draw Jax into frame. She is quite obviously pregnant now. I want them to see that. I want them to know that my line does not end with me. "Further congratulations are in order. Soon, a new heir will rise. This is where our baby will be born. This is where our family will grow. This is where the new power of Megaris lies. So Rath, Tusk, enjoy rattling around in that big, old shard with your lying, duplicitous, so-called soldiers, wondering when they will cut your throats or send assassins for you. Live in fear of your own making. Our story is only beginning, while yours draws to a miserable and ignominious end.”