Chapter 18
Love and Duty
Forbidden Precinct, Tianjing
Batista stood waiting in the vestibule of the Palace of Earthly Divinity. Normally no male with all his equipment would be permitted to enter, but an exception was made for the Emperor's personal bodyguard. It had taken him this long just to muster the courage to face her again. How was she taking to life as Empress? Was this everything she ever wanted? Back when Prince Sturla was third in line to the throne, the idea of Masako being the mother of a future Emperor seemed rather remote, but now it had come true. She couldn't go any higher than this. It was certainly more than anything he could ever offer her.
Masako's Zhao bodyguard approached him. She still seemed a little uncomfortable in her new Imperial Guard uniform.
Standing at attention, she said, "My lord, Her Majesty will see you now."
'My lord'... Batista was never going to get used to that one. The Emperor did exactly as he said he would do and made Batista a peer, unlanded and non-inheritable though it was. Who would've imagined a common good-for-nothing mercenary would be serving at the Emperor's side and have people call him 'my lord'? What would his parents say? What would TÃo Jorge say? Or Nayeli, for that matter? He remembered Nayeli telling him how she deliberately flunked out of Charter School. She didn't want to live among the Celestials in their floating cities, even if it meant a better life for her. If she hadn't done that, she'd probably still be alive, but then Batista would've never met her.
No point in thinking about other women now. Masako could tell that sort of thing and would get angry, even if she had another man. This was going to be awkward enough without him doing anything to make it worse.
He was led not to the Empress' throne room, where she held court, but rather to a smaller audience chamber. The bodyguard went ahead of him to announce his arrival.
"Lord Juan Batista, Baron Rodrigues."
It really did have an unnatural ring to it. The whole situation felt unnatural, but he was obliged to follow protocol. He walked into the chamber with military precision, got down on his knees and bowed low.
"Your Majesty."
Masako was being attended by several ladies-in-waiting and courtiers and there were eight women of the Imperial Guard posted around the chamber. Although Batista only caught a brief glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye before bowing, she didn't seem to be showing any particular emotion at the moment. He wasn't sure what that meant for him. She had at least agreed to see him, though, right?
"Leave us," Masako said.
Batista could hear the rustling of robes as her attendants started to file out of the room.
"All of you," she said.
"But, Your Majesty..." the bodyguard replied.
"Jung-hwa."
"Yes, Your Majesty. As you command."
Compared to the delicate shuffling of the nobles, the Guardswomen were much louder as they marched to the exit. Only after the door closed did Masako say, "Arise, Lord Batista."
Batista lifted up his head and stood at attention.
"Y-your Majesty, I..."
"There is no need for all that," Masako said. "Why do you think I dismissed everyone? Treat me as you normally would."
Looking at her in all the finery of the Empress, could he really treat her as if nothing had changed between them?
"So, uh, Masako... How've you been doing?"
Masako was thoroughly unimpressed.
"Is that what you have come all this way to say to me?"
"I, I've gotta start somewhere."
Masako sighed.
"I am the most powerful woman in the Empire, Batista, the wife of the Emperor and the mother of the future Emperor. Me, a woman of Wo blood who twenty years ago saw my house nearly driven to extinction, was pawned off as a whore and left for dead on the surface. Now anything I could possibly want is within my grasp."
"So how are you?"
"You have the most annoying habit of being able to see through all the smoke, Batista," Masako said. "I am doing as I must, as I was born and bred to do. And you?"
"I'm charged with guarding the life of the man who's sleeping with my wife. How do you think?"
Masako sighed.
"Well, there has not been much of that going on lately. Nothing seems to chill a man's desire for a woman than to name her Empress."
"I really didn't come here to talk about that."
"Have you not? I thought you might have come to reassert your rights as my husband."
"I don't care how 'progressive' Sturla—I mean, His Majesty—claims to be. I can't see that working well for any of us."
"Have you found someone else?"
"What? No."
"Has there been anyone else?"
Batista could feel the beads of sweat trickling down his back.
"It's been eight years, Masako. I mean, sure, I tried, but maybe I might've slipped up a few times."
Masako gave him an unamused look, then sighed.
"I am in no position to criticize," Masako said. "Any little bastards I should know about?"
"No. I mean, I don't think so. Look, do we really have to talk about this right now?"
"What did you come here to talk about?"
"Well, I did want to see you, see how you're doing, and Yasuko. How's she doing?"
The slightly bemused expression on Masako's face faded and her jaw tightened.
"What have you heard?"
"His Majesty said she was in Liuyiyuan. Have you heard from her?"
Batista could feel the air getting heavier before Masako even said a word.
"Batista... I thought you had been told. I do not know how to tell you this, but there was an accident... The flier Yasuko was on... It... It crashed... There were no survivors."
It didn't seem like it was that long ago when Yasuko told him about TÃo Jorge and Nayeli's deaths. He remembered the feeling, like his guts had been scooped out. It was like that, only worse.
"Yasuko... No..."
Batista had seen a lot of death in his time—he'd caused a lot of death—, but none of that could prepare him for this. His only child, gone, just like that.
"I... I never... I never got to..."
It was taking all of Masako's considerable reserve to hold back her tears. Ignoring the distance of their respective stations, she rose up from her seat and went over to him and put her arms around him. Numbly, he returned the embrace, just as his legs buckled under him. The two of them fell to the floor, still holding fast to each other.
"I am so sorry, Batista," Masako said. "I thought you knew. It has been nearly two months now."
Two months? Did the Emperor know that? Surely he had to. Then why was he talking about Yasuko like she was still alive?
"I didn't know," Batista said. "I would've been here for you if I did. I should've been here for you. I should've been there for her..."
"It is all right, Batista," Masako said. "We will do better next time."
"What?" Batista asked, disbelieving what he had just heard. "Next time?"
"They recovered part of her from the crash site," Masako said. "There were enough viable cells to make a clone."
She took Batista's hand and rested it on her belly.
"Six weeks and perfectly healthy. We will have our girl back soon."
"A... a clone? You mean a copy? You made a copy of our girl?"
Batista felt like he should be angry, but he was more confused than anything else. How do you just make a copy of a human being?
"I don't know what you did," he said, "but that isn't Yasuko."
"You are right," Masako admitted. "She may be genetically identical, but she will be her own person. Still, it is the closest thing we have now."
Batista remembered the Emperor's suggestion to give her another baby, but was this what he had in mind?
"He... ah, His Majesty didn't object?"
"He is too busy with the invasion to think about anything else."
The invasion. There was a time when Batista thought the Capital Beyond the Sky was just a myth. What Infernal would imagine worlds beyond their own, whole civilizations that could match the Celestials, even outmatch them?
"What are you going to do?" he asked. "If it comes to war, this'll be the first place they come."
Masako looked up to him and replied, "I am Empress. I will do my duty... as will you."
"But... the baby..."
"She will either be born into this world a Princess of the Empire or she will never see the light of day. Now you have two reasons to fight against our enemies to your fullest."
Batista hugged her tight. He didn't know how much of a difference he could make, but Masako was right. He had all the more reason to fight with everything he had.