The Scorpion's Empress Read online

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  Cover Art:

  Michelle Crocker

  http://mlcdesigns4you.weebly.com/

  Publisher’s Note:

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and events are the work of the author’s imagination.

  Any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is coincidental.

  Solstice Publishing - www.solsticepublishing.com

  Copyright 2016 Yoshiyuki Ly

  The Scorpion’s Empress

  By

  Yoshiyuki Ly

  Dedication

  For Jay, who supported me infinitely when I had nothing.

  Chapter One

  The Right of Action

  (Raj)

  Sprawling metropolis of second-hand timber, with windows lined with stolen silks for screens, towering high up to the reject-wall above us—Elysium was our city-within-a-city, built with our own hands. The folks up in Eden, Tynan’s hightown, thought we didn’t have much down here. My people did a damn good job at acting the part: they walked around wearing torn-up shawls and hoods to protect themselves from the heat waves. They sat around like hoodlums on the filthy streets of Kin and Brood, picking at their soiled fingernails, scratching at the ground; tweaking for a hit. They got into fights in the nearest bar; smashing machetes into whoever fucked them over—well, that might’ve been for a real reason. They begged the temple knights on-watch down here for coin and food, knowing the scorpions wouldn’t show them any decency. Scorpions, we called them—it was for anyone from Eden who came crawling down to the heat down here for whatever reason. We made sure the scorpions didn’t figure out the truth: that we all had it made down here without breaking the law. Most of the time.

  Vassago was my homely headquarters at the center of it all. My gang was in charge of keeping everything in order down here. From here I had a view of the rising stone bridge leading up to the rest of Tynan. Dozens of temple knights were stationed there, shooing away any small groups of people who wanted to pass through. Behind their backs, my bandits snuck through to the scorpions’ outpost, nicking all kinds of knick-knacks and weapons to sell on the black market. That money went toward our business here. People worked for me—gathering information or whatever else I needed them to do—and all of Elysium who were loyal to me ate well and survived the hot summers. The heat in the city came from the vast desert next door to us. I was originally from Limerick, a small, run-down town right in the middle of the desert. I spent my early childhood working out in the sun and my olive skin and my jet black hair with sun-stained scarlet highlights were what I had to show for it. I liked wearing bangles and earrings, and flowing, dark silks like less traditional saris with sandals to show off just enough of my body. No one else in Tynan, Eden or Elysium, wore what I wore or had my loose accent. My Empress of Elysium title sounded exotic to fit with my appearance, so I went along with it.

  On this Sunday, I had people coming in to collect their weekly share of meals for their families. It was ten o’clock—time to close up and head out. I only had two customers left. Work was scarce down here. Not all of my people were suited for the kind of work I needed done. Most of them could barely afford rent, let alone keep food on the table. The work my bandits did helped everyone who passed through these doors—so long as they deserved it and never screwed me over.

  “Got everything you need?” I asked the man and his wife, smiling.

  “Oh, yes, thank you, Empress, thank you!” he said to me. He and his wife bowed. My heart swelled from their gratitude. “This is plenty to feed our children. You are truly, truly kind! If we ever find any silks, I’ll be sure to send them your way. You can make a new sari with them if you’d like!”

  Even though my work made me happy, it broke my heart that we had to live this way. I didn’t let the couple see my regrets before my nightingale saw them out. I sat down at my desk, staring down at the Intel my bandits had collected that day. The Holy Knights Thirteen in charge of Tynan didn’t oppress us. We had plenty of rights that we used—and abused—as needed to survive. It was the nobles who had their pockets lined with gold, bribing paladins and temple knights left and right; the noblewomen who slept with priests and blackmailed them into doing what they wanted; the people of mine who went rogue and trafficked young boys and girls from Eden down here…the list went on, told as a story across my desk.

  I did everything I could to fight against anyone who tried to shut Vassago down. But I knew, one day, I’d be in over my head. I had a lot of power. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that would always be enough. I already couldn’t sleep at night from the whispers of my enemies who wanted to tear me down.

  There used to be someone who took my mind off of all that. Well, I’d wanted her to, back when we were wide-eyed twenty-year-olds. I reached in one of my drawers, pulling out my only picture of her. Her short, slicked-back silver hair had caught my eye first. Then the deep, burning crimson of her stare that had bored into me. Her quiet femininity; the leanness of her muscles and the sharp, sexy way her leather outfit marked her curves… More than all of that, her attitude had hooked me. Silent and obedient, but quick to speak her mind without caring about hurting someone’s feelings—that was her. There’d been a spark between us. We’d gone out plenty and had amazing sex. I’d dug my feet in the ground whenever she’d asked me for more. I’d known that I couldn’t have her and Elysium. I’d had to give her up if I wanted this spot on my throne. She was married to my rival now—my rival who’d had this place, but hadn’t done enough with it. She’d stepped down in exchange for the woman I’d wanted.

  That was six years ago. I’d given up my one chance at love for my ambition. I was too high-up now—anyone who thought they wanted me only loved my fame, not me. Loveless sex was my only alternative.

  “Raj…?” asked Satya, lingering in the doorway. She fidgeted with her skirt beneath her long, colorful tabard, looking uncertain. “Are you sure you want to go out before the raid? You seem sad.”

  Before I could answer, another of my head bandits came running in. “Empress! Lady Nightingale!” said Finn. “I just got word that Mistress Fury will be at our location tonight! She’s on her way to Slutgarden now. Should we avoid her? What do I tell the others?”

  I groaned from hearing that name again. Mistress Fury—head of Elysium’s whore house, Nirvana. She was the one who’d taken my girl from me in exchange for this throne. “That woman don’t do nothin’ if it ain’t for a reason,” I reminded them. “She knows we always go there right before a raid! And she knows better than to come knockin’ on my door if she’s got somethin’ to say to me. I’ll be damned if all she wants is a friendly chat.”

  “Do you think she has information for us?” wondered Satya. “The last time this happened, I thought the intelligence was too convenient. I knew it was from her. I have no idea what else she could want.”

  “Me neither. In case she’s got another bone to pick with me, I ain’t backin’ down. Let’s go!”

  A dozen of my most loyal bandits walked with me down the streets of the Fury’s Mercy to our outdoor club, Slutgarden. On the way there, we passed by people sitting in the gutters in the middle of the night. Some of them looked sad for the act; some were downright depressed, and for good reason. A lot of my work involved outsourcing up-and-comers to Eden, getting them to scope things out and report to me afterward. There was only one way—taking advantage of our Right of Assembly. We
’d stage a raid by storming up the bridge with a huge crowd. On the way up to drop them off, they dispersed between all the confusion. Once it was time to pick them up, on the way back down, they blended in with us. Some of them didn’t make it. The people all knew that I did my best with what we had. That was why their faces lit up when they saw us. Satya danced and played her lute as we went, singing amid the clapping and cheering from everyone around us. She made sure to smile at me often, giving a little hint that she did this to cheer me up. I smiled right back every time, humming along to the heavenly tune she sang.

  Technically, Slutgarden was on my rival’s turf. I couldn’t go up to her and demand what she wanted from me. If she had words for me, then she’d say so herself. I might’ve hated her for knowing right where to sting me all those years ago, but I respected the woman for the work she did. Nirvana was a decent place, and she took care of her girls there. A lot of her workers came to me with good information, courtesy of Mistress Fury herself. Some of them were at the club with her that night, taking time off to party. I didn’t see her or her wife yet.

  I sat on my brass throne on top of one of the platforms, observing the crowd. The lit clock tower shone down on the people dancing, kissing, and fucking everywhere. A few women came over, asking if I’d have them before the raid. “For good luck!” they’d said. I waved each of them away, not in the mood for pointless sex that night. Along the other platforms, I saw some of the Nirvana girl’s pole dancing—some did it for fun, others did it for their regulars who tossed money at them. Satya went around singing and spying like the wonderful bard she was, picking up information from passing conversations. I finally spotted Mistress Fury in the crowd. Those decorative pins holding up her long ponytail stood out, both in sight and in memory. She sat at a private booth on the other end of the club, wearing her usual corset and fuck me boots. Her slave-wife gave her a lap dance. They looked like a damn glamour couple with their leather, power and sex appeal. I quickly nursed away the bits of jealousy I had from the sight.

  Mistress Fury stared right at me from over Nyte’s shoulder. At first I thought she kept doing it to make me stay jealous. She was a little over thirty years old—obviously mature enough to have more class than that. No matter how long I stared back at her, I couldn’t decipher the meaning behind her stoic, deep russet eyes. Our silent understanding kept me from going over to her. What did she want…?

  Satya hurried over to me. “There’s terrible news!” she whispered in a rush. “People heard a young girl screaming at the Lord’s palace in the Garden! Someone must have trafficked her through Eden for him. Seems he hasn’t learned his lesson.”

  “Kurtz…that fucking pervert!” I hissed. “I told him to stop bringin’ young girls ‘round to his place! He’s steppin’ on Mistress Fury’s territory. If he wants a whore, he needs to go to Nirvana!”

  “What should we do?” she asked. “His guards will let us in if they think we only want to talk to him.”

  I finally deciphered the meaning behind my rival’s stare. She nodded to me, returning her full attention to her wife. Not too surprising that she was the one who’d passed this along to us. “Well, that’s all we can do—at first anyway,” I explained. Satya and I left the club as discreetly as possible, on our way to the Garden of Eden—the suburbs of Elysium where a bunch of Eden’s noblemen owned land. They did it to show off their money to us lowlifes, like we gave a shit. “Once we get in there, I’m gonna invoke the Right of Action to get the girl out of there. Unless he wants a bunch of paladins tearin’ down his door for ignorin’ our rights, we’ll have the advantage. Let’s hope you’re right about his guards.”

  The Garden of Eden looked just like it sounded: a proper paradise with flowers and foliage in between mansions and palaces. Elysium’s reject-ceiling didn’t stifle this place. Fresh air blew in and the moonlight shone down on the oasis nearby. This place was anything but a paradise. The nobles who lived here fucked us over every chance we got. Twice a year, the Holy Knights Thirteen handed everyone in Elysium our tax refunds as part of our Right of Allotment. And, every time, these greedy bastards in the Garden found some way to scam my people out of their hard-earned money. Kurtz Rubrum, the Lord of the Garden, was my main contact here. As soon as I sniffed out the crimes, he gave me the names I needed in exchange for me turning a blind eye to his drug dealing. He made a fortune off my people; I made some of that money back when a few of them inevitably needed a place for rehab at Vassago.

  Kurtz getting away with fucking underage girls wasn’t part of our deal. I wouldn’t have agreed to any shit like that in the first place. This was yet another thing that weighed me down. I couldn’t let it get to me.

  When we made it to Kurtz’s glittery palace, one of the temple knights held his hand out. “State your business, Empress. Lady Nightingale,” he said to us.

  “The Lord Kurtz wasn’t straight with me,” I told them. “He left a few details out of our contract. I’m here to set things right.” From the window up above, I heard a high-pitched scream from the girl. Kurtz’s guards dropped their poker faces, looking at each other, anxious. “You can’t hide nothin’ like this from me, boys. Now do us a solid and let us through. We’ll be outta your hair soon enough.”

  “If the lord asks, we were off-duty,” replied the guard, letting us through the double doors.

  The girl’s struggling and screams blared through the foyer. She shouted for help at the top of her lungs over Kurtz’s deranged laughter. Kurtz’s butlers and maids all stood stone still. From their tense jaws and trembling fists, they wanted to do something, but they were afraid of losing their jobs—or worse. Satya and I ran up the carpeted winding staircase to Kurtz’s room. I had to remember that I couldn’t hurt him. No matter how much I wanted to. No matter how much power I had, it wasn’t my place to fuck with the chain-of-command and the way things worked down here. Every time I put out one fire, ten more sprung up in different places—most out of my reach. I couldn’t keep going like this. I had to do something. Killing him wasn’t the answer.

  Eventually, something had to give. I had to figure it out before it offed me first.

  “Kurtz!” I yelled, bursting in the room. He was topless, wearing a pair of leather pants; still laughing like a damn maniac. “Stop this right now!”

  He stopped mid-crack of his whip. “Empress!” he shouted in shock. “What the hell are you doing here!? I didn’t invite you over!” The girl was chained to his bed on all-fours, wearing a cliché nurse’s outfit. Her long, blonde hair stuck to her face soaked with tears. She couldn’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen. I imagined Satya in her place and how pissed off I would’ve been. My blood boiled all over again. “Ohh, I get it! You heard the party going on and now you’re here to join in. Is that it?”

  “Please help me!” screamed the girl. Kurtz laughed again. I fought back my urge to rip off this man’s balls. “Get me AWAY from him! Please!”

  “The Right of Action,” I said through gritted teeth.

  Kurtz winced. “That serious, huh?” he asked. “Calling down the might of Tynan’s paladins who pretend to give a damn about you people? You’re basically admitting you have no power to stop me. Since when does the Empress drop her pride like that for some kid she doesn’t know?”

  “Satya, get the girl,” I ordered. “We’re takin’ her with us.” Satya quickly unchained the girl from the bed, whispering reassurances to her. Kurtz sighed like I’d taken his toy train away. “You sick fuck! What makes you think you can do this to little girls?”

  He shrugged and said, “Animal impulses. If the desire is there, why bother holding back?”

  “It’s illegal!” I shouted. “It’s wrong! You’re forcin’ her to have sex against her will! I don’t know why I bother tryin’ to explain this shit to you.” I got in his face to make a point. “Stick to drug dealin’ and helpin’ me clean this place up, all right? I don’t need you goin’ around making things worse! I work my ass off to keep Elysium runnin’
smooth. Don’t fuck with me, Kurtz.”

  “Or else what?” he asked. “Our deal’s off? You’d end up losing the most if that happened. Your precious tax refunds would get eaten up by the sharks here. Think before you threaten me.” The girl needed help—she sobbed uncontrollably, begging to see her sister again. I had to get her out of here. “Oh, yeah. I want her back, by the way. I paid good money for her virgin pussy. You interrupted before I could take her. You have one week to come to an arrangement with me. That’s generous.”

  I didn’t have time to ask what he meant about an arrangement. This was non-negotiable and he knew it. Satya and I left with the girl, taking her back to Vassago. Most of the gang had made their way to Slutgarden by then. The ones who’d stuck around were smart enough to not ask questions or gossip. We took her up to Satya’s room and got her a fresh change of clothes. I leaned against the wall nearest the bed while Satya got her to talk. I did care about the situation, but my nightingale was gentler than I was with these kinds of things.

  “You’re from Eden?” asked Satya. The girl nodded. “You mentioned your sister earlier. Do you think she’s looking for you?” No answer that time. I noticed the girl had on a sterling silver heart-shaped locket around her neck. “I really like your necklace. Could I take a look at it?” She handed it over. Satya opened it and read the engraving: “‘For my baby sister, Luna. I will always protect you. Love, Videl.’ Is this your sister with you? Ser Videl?”

  Luna nodded again. “It’s…not her real name,” she mumbled. “It’s her knight-given title.”

  Satya handed the locket to me and said, “If she’s a paladin, I’m sure she’s searching for you.”

  From their matching layered, long blonde hair and hazel eyes, it was obvious they were related. Luna was a little younger here, holding her sister’s arm in both of hers, the two of them smiling brightly. This sister of hers was no ordinary paladin. I recognized the elegant, pearly armor with that purple cloth draping over it, and her long Mutsunokami two-handed katana. Ser Videl here was a high-ranking Seraphim, just three ranks under the Holy Knights Thirteen themselves in the chain-of-command in the Grand Cathedral. She looked about my age. She looked like she could hold her own in a fight. She looked like she truly cared about her sister, her duties. And she looked…impossibly fucking gorgeous.