Primary Inversion (Saga of the Skolian Empire) Paperback by Catherine Asaro Read Free Book Online Page A

He was afraid I would die. He asked me to quit.”
    “I thought you couldn’t quit.”
    I stiffened. “I’m not indentured. I can retire if I want.”
    “But if you do, don’t you lose your position in the Imperator’s
line of succession?”
    I wanted to say so what? I had never asked to be born
into the remnant of a dynasty that was three thousand years dead. Right now the
title of Imperator belonged to my half brother Kurj. “Technically Kurj has no
heirs in his line of succession. He’s my mother’s only child by her first
husband and he has no children of his own.” No legitimate children, anyway.
    “I thought he chose you to follow him.”
    I shrugged. “I have seven full brothers and two full
sisters. He could have chosen any of us. Hell, he could make my mother his heir
if he wanted.”
    Rex gave me his wicked grin. “No one would fight. They’d all
be in love, too busy trying to look at her to think about going to war.”
    I scowled at him. “Only a man would say that.”
    He laughed. “I don’t know about that. Helda might.”
    I had to smile. In truth, I couldn’t imagine my mother as a
war leader either. She was a superb diplomat and a lovely ballet dancer, but
the military was a foreign language to her.
    Before I married anyone, though, I had to sort out how I
felt about my heritage. I brought up my thoughts on it like a game player
setting up a board. There were three main pieces: the Imperator, the Assembly
Key, and the Web Key. Or, more popularly, the Fist, the Mind, and the Heart of
Skolia. The Triad. As Imperator, my half brother Kurj commanded the Skolian
military. My aunt presided over the Assembly. For her heir, she had chosen my
mother. My father was the third side of the Triad, Key to the Web, a title that
for him was primarily ceremonial.
    I knew my mother had married my father because he was a Rhon
psion, which meant he could provide Rhon heirs. Kurj hated him, this man who
had become his stepfather when he was half Kurj’s age. If I married Rex, what
would it be like for him? The fact that he wasn’t Rhon could make his position
among my family even less comfortable than my father’s.
    But was that a fair comparison? When my parents met, my father
had been living on a primitive world. His people were the remains of a colony
established by the ancient Raylican starfarers and then isolated for thousands
of years after the decline of that fragile civilization. Over the millennia,
his people had backslid so far that they no longer had electricity, steam
power, or even a written language. Marriage to my mother had yanked him from
that simple culture into the Byzantine morass of Rhon politics.
    Rex was far more experienced in Imperial intrigues, perhaps
more so even than myself. My parents raised us on my father’s world, hoping to
spare us the fierce machinations of Skolian politics. They hadn’t foreseen the
consequences. Only I and a few of my brothers had managed to adapt to life away
from the simplicity of our home, and it hadn’t been easy for any of us.
    In Kurj’s unforgiving view of the universe, any children produced
by my father were flawed. But we were still his best candidates for an heir.
    “Kurj needs a military heir,” I finally said. “Someone who understands
Space Command.”
    “You.”
    “No.”
    “But I thought—”
    “He chose three heirs. Me, and the two of my brothers who became
Jagernauts.”
    “Why three? Only one of you can be Imperator.”
    I gritted my teeth. “That’s right.”
    Rex stared at me. After a moment he spoke in a quiet voice. “The
one who survives.”
    “Yes. Only two of us are left now.” The muscles in my shoulders
bunched up under my jacket. “Kurj knows I can’t stay on active duty forever.
And I’ve proven myself for over a quarter of a century. But sixteen years ago
it was different.”
    “That was when your husband wanted you to quit?”
    I nodded. “If I had quit when Jato asked me to, then yes,
you’re right, it