Empire of Bones Read Online Free Page A

been concerned. At least until they took another tissue sample for ‘further DNA testing’.
    He’d sat waiting for the results in a small medical room for so long that he’d begun to suspect he had some subtle genetic flaw. Looked at in the proper light, he supposed he did.
    In the end, the doctor was not who came in to tell him the results. The Emperor himself did.
    Of course, he’d known who the Emperor was. Even asteroid miners who’d been born in the depths of space knew what the Emperor looked like. Jared had watched every State of the Empire speech since he’d decided to become a Fleet officer.
    That had been the least of the shocks on that cursed day. Finding out his mother had fathered an Imperial bastard had set his world off course. For his own part, the news was so far out of his realm of experience that he rejected it. Someone had to have made a horrible mistake.
    Only they hadn’t.
    The next few months had been a special kind of hell. Why the man had decided he needed to tell anyone else was beyond Jared’s comprehension. One couldn’t turn on a vid without seeing something. The only thing anyone talked about was the disintegration of the Imperial couple and the bastard child who caused it.
    Worst of all, everyone around him knew. He could feel them stating at his back, whispering about him when they thought he wasn’t listening…blaming him.
    Then there was the small minority of people that thought they could benefit from cozying up to him. Those unfortunate few were sadly mistaken in their estimation of his influence. Imperial blood brought him no power. He tirelessly avoided the appearance of ever trying to exert any sort influence, while also going out of his way to preserve the appearance of loyalty to the Imperial House, no matter how he might feel inside.
    He struggled with the effects of that day even now. The guard finished scanning him, his expression blank. Jared had met this particular man a dozen times over the years, but he’d heard scarcely a handful of words from him. Did he despise Jared? Did he fear that Jared would take some action against his master? Perhaps he was just being unapproachably professional.
    Jared would probably never know. It hurt to be isolated this way from everyone around him. To have everything he did dissected to reveal any suspected hidden motives. He could never be certain what people really thought about him.
    “If you’ll come with me, sir, I’ll escort you to the Palace,” the man said. Much the same as he had during the last half dozen visits.
    A heavily armored grav car took them to the Palace proper. The grounds were huge and beautiful, as always. That was the one thing he really did envy his half-siblings for, their easy access to such lush and lavish parks at a moment’s notice. Jaxton was much rockier and barren. All he’d known growing up were flat, dusty stretches of land.
    The car entered an underground parking garage and his keeper handed him off to different guards, who treated him with the same sterile attention. They scanned him again. Of course.
    He raised his arms as one guard ran a scanner over every part of his body. A second stood close by, her hand resting on her belt beside her holstered weapon. Once the man was certain Jared wasn’t about to explode, he checked Jared’s ID and took another ocular scan.
    Only then did they allow him to pass, but never without an armed escort, of course. Everyone seemed to have a weapon, but him.
    Jared stopped at the elevator and examined his dress uniform in the mirror. He made one last check that the gold rank insignia on his black jacket and shined boots were free of smudges. His black beret with his ship’s insignia completed his uniform. The red striping along the black pants legs gave just the right flair, in his opinion. Not that anyone had consulted him during the last uniform redesign. He hadn’t even been born then.
    They rode up to the residence level in silence. The guards took him