Page 116 of Smuggler's Beauty

“You mess up her makeup, I stab you,” Veronique muttered. “But youcando this. They’ll be at your back as long as they’re permitted. Once you’re in the chamber, I’ll be in your ear. You’re not going this alone,cher.”

“Let’s make moves,” Elenor said. She adjusted the holster at her waistband, ensuring her access to the blaster hiding beneath her jacket was seamless. “Pop that door, Cairn.”

The access hatch hissed as the airlock released the seal. As the doors retreated into the walls, the cool spring breeze filled the chamber. Evelyn could smell the flowers in the air, gardenia and roses brushing along her senses, stirring her memories of playing with her sisters, going to performances at the opera house, leaning against a tree in the park while she waited for her father to be done with meetings so they could devour dripping ice cream cones. Home. She was home.

She descended the stairs. As her feet hit the ground, she felt the trill of the planet’s energy zip up her spine. Evelyn blinked. She split her attention between putting one foot in front of the other and attempting to parse the psychic awareness she had finally stopped suppressing.

Evelyn hadn’t noticed anything resembling this understanding when they’d left Earth. She’d still been tamping down on her siphoning ability far too hard. The trip to Antopolet had been brief, but she’d felt the energy radiating from all directions there. Evelyn had assumed it was just the untouched nature of the planet, the freely flowing wild energy had danced around her.

Neither planet had felt like this, a screaming demand for her attention. Notice me, fix me, free me, the message thrummed up her feet and into her mind with every step she took.

She had always felt connected to Tanalia, but had assumed it was because everyone felt connected to their birth planet. People always spoke fondly of home, didn’t they? She reassessed that notion now. Maybe it was the subconscious attachment to the energy of their home worlds that spoke to far-flung travelers.

She knew Emil had been systematically dismantling the Tanalian way of life since he’d wrested control from her father, smothering the spirit of the people. It hadn’t occurred to her that the planet might be suffering as well.

Tanalia’s population was a universally psychically gifted one. The purveying theory was that the radiation of the universe was the key to unlocking that adaptation in humanity, and that Tanalia had an unusually high concentration of the right sort of non-lethal radiation that had caused the mutation to develop in it’s population far before it spread throughout the galaxy as a common occurrence. Would neglecting that population’s free expression of that mutation affect the planet itself? Was the planet suffering along with its people?

She reached out with her mind, exploring the state of the planet itself. Waves of melancholy hit her, despair and helplessness. Suffocation. And once Evelyn reached out to soothe those tendrils of sadness, a brief flash of hope pulsed through her awareness. She pulled back her focus and came back to the reality of the walk she was taking. A despondent planet needed to be dealt with, but she needed to make sure she entered the building without getting winged by an earnest military recruit Corrie’s reign of chaos may have missed.

She glanced around the square, making eye contact with those who were shouting their support of her, waving to others. Every so often, she’d meet the eyes of someone who would giveher a subtle nod before returning to their chanting. Did Corrie have people seeded throughout? Evelyn tried to remember, but she’d largely spent every planning session freaking out about her own part of the plan. She should have focused more on the larger picture.

Her eyes raised above the heads of people in the crowd and found the trees that surrounded the opera house were neatly manicured. The trees didn’t match her memories. They had been allowed to flower wildly when she was a child. A small change, to be sure, but one that drove home Emil’s message of conformity over individuality that much more plainly than many of his other restrictions.

Her back straightened. Every change in the square, every triggered memory, fueled her rage at Emil and his senseless, cruel conquest of her planet. Righteous indignation fanned the fire, spurring her out of her reluctance to take on the responsibility of rule. She heard Veronique in her ear, encouraging her renewed good posture. Nannette and Elenor stood to either side of her, a step behind. Aidan and Veselko trailed behind them, taping and commentating her actions, doing their best to keep from getting the rest of them in any of the shots. Newscasts were inconvenient when you made your living as a thief. Lillian was editing and scrubbing as necessary before releasing their stream, but it never hurt to be extra careful. Besides, the crowd all possessed communicators. Numerous people would be uploading their own images of their procession.

Cairn had managed to park the jump ship close to the steps of the Senate building, so much so that her journey was shorter than she’d anticipated. The crowd had surged in on the doors when they’d opened, but as she walked, her path was parted on either side by people bowing to her. Behind them, the crowdwas cheering, waving, chanting. “Remember who we are,” they repeated, over and over. “Remember who we are.”

Evelyn felt her face burning and hoped Veronique’s makeup covered the worst of her blush. She clamped down hard on the urge to cringe. She hated this, the pageantry, the fawning.

At least I’m not naked.

She ascended the stairs of the Senate building, the crew following in her wake. The crowd surged behind them, advancing with every step they took. There was no easy path back to the ship now. Was the crowd spurring them on, or was it fencing them in? Her pulse was thrumming in her veins.

When she finally reached the top of the stairs, she turned, taking the opportunity to search the crowd for guards, and waved. She chose to let the pageantry work for her as camouflage. If she couldn’t avoid it, it may as well serve a purpose.

Maybe I wouldn’t be a completely useless politician after all.

From the elevation of the staircase, she could see men in unfamiliar military uniforms struggling to make their way into the square. Their path was blocked by a group of elderly women, their locked arms and the stubborn set of their feet providing a formidable barrier. Even these newly enlisted men knew it would be bad optics to shove an old lady in the crowd, let alone six of them. A similar scene was unfolding on the opposite side, but the blockade this time looked to be a group of young men who had no qualms heckling the enlisted men.

Corvinia’s plan seemed to be working as intended. Maybe they’d make it through the next few hours unscathed after all.

She smiled at the crowd, threw them a kiss, and turned to enter the Senate building.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Per Tanalian law,the entrance to the Senate chambers was never locked. Anyone who wanted to participate in the running of the government was welcome to offer themselves for service. Coming from Earth, Aiden had thought this a charming affectation when they were researching their approach. Normal people rarely found their way into the halls of government without extensive vetting processes after Earth’s planetary unification. But on Tanalia, there were few requirements if one wanted to run for office. The ruling body had been one of the most diverse in their galactic quadrant when Evelyn had signed her life away to Emil. Aiden had hated the look on her face when she’d realized the makeup of the Senate had shifted from the well-represented mixture of Tanalian civilization to one that looked little like the world she’d left behind.

Heavy, intricate wood doors on well-oiled brass hinges opened smoothly as Evelyn shoved them both open at once, giving the moment a well deserved bit of drama. She may not have thought she had the chops for the political arena, but Aiden suspected that Vinnie had been planting little seeds in Evelyn all her life. She was sliding into the moment with an ease hewouldn’t have believed she possessed based on how nervous she’d been before. Polished marble floors gleamed under her boots as she walked into the antechamber, the echo of her steps bouncing through the empty hall. Aiden waited for the rest of their group to enter, then closed the doors behind them. Elenor, Veselko, and Nannette took in the lavishly carved reliefs on the walls, and Aiden saw a burst of pride bloom on Evelyn’s face. He gestured to Veselko to cut the cameras while they searched the building.

“Is it always this dead in here?” Nannette asked, glancing around.

“It wasn’t when I was a kid,” Evelyn replied. “To be fair, I was only here when specific bills required my father’s attention. Who knows what this place looks like on a normal day.”

Aiden nudged her shoulder. “Aren’t Tanalians nosey? I thought you were supposed to be representative of the planet.”

Her brows drew together as she shrugged.

“An empty Senate building was one of the eventualities that Corvinia prepared us for. It’s likely that Emil has a limited understanding of that loophole Vinnie wants to exploit,” Elenor said. “He may think that the absence of the body would prevent Evelyn from going through with her declaration. The senators could be too scared to walk in here; who knows what they or the crowd have been threatened with.”