Read Online Emperor's Edge Republic by Lindsay Buroker - Free Book Online Page A

propped himself up on his elbows and stared at the person who had sent him flying.
    “You told me not to hold back,” the man said. He, too, was bare-chested, though only a few flecks of gray marked his short black hair. His battered nose had been broken at least twice, and a thick, knotted scar occupied the hollow where his left eye should have been. Apparently the compromised vision didn’t affect his boxing prowess overmuch.
    “I tell everyone that,” Rias said, waving away a couple of offers of help and climbing to his feet on his own. “You’re the only one who listens.”
    The man bared his teeth in something that wasn’t quite a smile. Given his pugilistic exterior, Tikaya expected half of those teeth to be missing, but they were straight, white, and all present.
    “Is this... some old enemy of yours?” Tikaya asked. Her husband had a knack for turning enemies into allies, if not always friends, exactly.
    “Close,” Rias said. “My brother’s son. Daksaron Starcrest.”
    “Oh?” Tikaya considered the man anew, wondering if any of the family intellect lurked beneath his brutish facade. Rias had quite a few scars as well, she reminded herself, though none of the blows to his face had stolen his ability to draw a lady’s attention, even now in his sixties. It was hard to judge intelligence from peering into a man’s eyes— eye —she supposed, but she did find a hint of humor there at least.
    “Call me, Dak, my lady.” Rias’s nephew thumped his fist to his chest and bowed.
    “Why don’t we get to call him Dak?” a man in the crowd whispered.
    “With your checkered record, you’re lucky he lets you call him Colonel,” his comrade whispered back.
    Rias and Dak were grabbing towels and pretended not to hear the commentary.
    “Continue without me, please, gentlemen,” Rias said.
    “Wait, My Lord,” a middle-aged man implored, managing to appear quite earnest despite having nothing except a towel around his waist. “What about the Nurians? They’re the last thing on the agenda, remember? Those two spies we caught...” He glanced at Tikaya, as if he worried she wasn’t on the list of people allowed to hear state secrets.
    Technically, she supposed she had never signed any paperwork promising loyalty to Turgonia, and she certainly hadn’t given up her Kyattese citizenship. As far as she knew, Rias didn’t keep any secrets from her, though with as little as she saw him lately, he had scant time to divulge the details of what he had for breakfast, much less anything juicy about the new republic’s enemies.
    “Ah, yes,” Rias acknowledged, then gave Tikaya an apologetic look. “Can you give me fifteen minutes? I’ll meet you in my office. We can have a nice lunch delivered.” He brightened so at the notion of a private meal, one that might even involve sitting down to eat, that she was reluctant to mention...
    “It’s after dark, love.”
    His smile faltered, but he recovered it. “Dinner?”
    Tikaya had already eaten with Mahliki, but she would take any time she could steal with him. “Yes, I’d like that. And while you’re being beaten up by more of your men, could you ask someone to scrounge up a couple of diving suits?”
    Rias had been turning back to the ring, but he halted at this. “For... the plant?”
    “Yes, Mahliki wants to get samples of the roots and take a good look at it from down below.”
    “She can’t wait until Sicarius returns with the submarine?”
    “It’s growing at an alarming rate,” Tikaya said.
    “That will be dangerous,” Dak said. He’d had his arms folded as he watched a pair of younger men square off in the ring, but he scowled at Rias now. “I have all the latest reports on that thing.”
    “Mahliki is capable of taking care of herself,” Tikaya said.
    “Yes, I have all the reports on her too.” The hint of amusement had returned to his eye, but something about the way his eyebrow twitched made Tikaya wonder if her daughter had been up