A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix Read Free Book Online Page B

reluctant fingers pinched one corner of my underpants to pick them up, Haddad appeared at my elbow, offering clean clothing, including what would be my first Imperial uniform: the very dark blue tunic with purple piping of an officer cadet of the Imperial Navy.
    I dropped the underwear and looked around. Morojal the arch-priest had disappeared as if she had never existed, and a much older male priest was standing on the bridge, his eyes downcast. The fishing pole had vanished with the arch-priest.
    ‘The Commandant, Prince Huzand, is waiting for you, Highness,’ said Haddad. He didn’t need to ask me about my connection to the Imperial Mind. I could feel his mental presence as part of a connective web that included an outward link to the Mind, though beyond Haddad all the relaying was opaque to me. Presumably it was being done temporarily by the priests of the Academy, a task that in time would be taken over by priests of my own household.
    ‘I’d better go and see him then,’ I said as I got dressed, transferred my weapons to the new uniform, and sealed it up. ‘Um, what happens after that?’
    ‘Usually you would be given a week’s leave or more in order to establish your household, Highness, before commencing the Academy’s training program.’
    ‘Usually? What do you know, Haddad?’
    ‘I have no definite information, Highness,’ replied Haddad. ‘However, I have seen that this academy is not entirely run on orthodox lines. Any commanding Prince in such a situation has considerable latitude in how they apply Navy regulations. Prince Huzand appears to have taken that latitude further than most, probably because he is well protected higher up the chain of command by other members of House Jerrazis.’
    ‘He can’t assassinate me, though, can he?’ I asked, trying hard to disguise my anxiety. The misplaced confidence I had built up over the years had been dissipating rapidly ever since my ascension and had taken some particularly hard knocks in the last little while. ‘Or kill me in a duel or something?’
    Haddad didn’t answer immediately, which did nothing to reassure me.
    ‘A Prince cannot challenge a junior or senior officer of any service while on active duty. Nor would it be legal for a senior Prince to assassinate you. But they can influence more junior Princes in indirect ways. It would be best to presume that this academy is not as secure a territory as I had predicted and wise to keep up a connection to the Imperial Mind at all times.’
    ‘I’m doing that now,’ I said. ‘I think . . . but I can feel the connection go through you and then priests here in the temple. What if they stop relaying?’
    ‘The relay is now being undertaken by your own household priests, Highness,’ said Haddad. ‘They were assigned to you several minutes ago, but they will not appear as unique individuals in the relay chain until you have met them. At that point, you will be able to relay to any of them even without me being part of the chain.’
    ‘I’ve already got some priests? That’s good. Uh, how many of them are there?’
    ‘You have been assigned twelve, which is more than usual, Highness,’ said Haddad. ‘The number is supposed to be random, as modified by the availability of priests, number of new Princes in the area, and so forth. However, most new Princes would be fortunate to be granted more than a single priest in their first year.’
    ‘And I’ve got twelve?’
    Haddad’s face did not show any surprise, but it sounded like a big deal to me. I’d been given twelve times as many priests as a normal Prince starting out? Maybe I was even more special than I’d thought. My confidence and natural sense of superiority, nurtured for so long in my candidate temple, began to return in full force.
    Unfortunately, massive overconfidence is not a survival trait.
    ‘It is also . . . unusual . . . that all of Your Highness’s priests serve one Aspect, in this case that of the Inward