Jacinda's Challenge (Imperial 3) (13 page)

“Ate that much, did they?”

“Oh yeah, more than half of it gone by the time we got home.”

“Safford sent you a large one?”

“Yes, thank goodness, or I never would have gotten a second piece.”

Later, after they’d both completely finished their Torta, Jotham and Jacinda decided a walk was in order.

Jotham watched, his hands clasped loosely behind him, as Jacinda leaned over to smell a flower.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Jacinda turned to look at him and could see she had surprised him.

“You.” The word was out before he could stop it.

“Me? What about me?”

“You are someone I thought I knew, yet every time we speak I learn something new, about you, about Lata, about my home.” He looked over her shoulder at the rose bush. “Our lives have always been intertwined and I didn’t even realize it.”

“I think ‘intertwined’ is a bit strong.”

“Do you? I wonder. Tell me again why I don’t remember you from the Academy?”

“Because you only had eyes for Lata.” Jacinda smiled and began to walk again.

“I had been at the Academy for two cycles before I met Lata. You were in the class ahead of me. Why did we never meet?”

“Do you want the truth?”

“Please.”

“I avoided you.”

“You avoided me! Why? What did I do?”

“Nothing!” Jacinda quickly reassured him. “You didn’t do anything. It was because of
who
you were. What you represented.”

“What did I represent?”

“Everything I was trying to get away from. Politics. Being in the public eye. Having your every move scrutinized.”

“I don’t understand.”

Jacinda sighed heavily. She really didn’t want to get into this. “You know who my parents were, don’t you?”

“Your father was a powerful Assemblyman for the House of Healing. Some would go as far to say that in his time, he was more powerful than King Adon.”

Jacinda just shrugged her shoulders. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard growing up. “Perhaps, but he learned a great deal from
his
father, who had also been an Assemblyman, along with my mother’s father. They served together.”

“That I didn’t know.”

“Yes, well, I’m sure you can understand the event their Union became. King Adon himself attended.”

Jotham nodded his understanding. For a King to attend the Union of an Assemblyman was rare because it gave the appearance of favoritism. To attend one of an Assemblyman’s child… It would have reflected extremely well on both families.

“It wasn’t long after their Union that Dad himself became an Assemblyman and Mom conceived me. From the time I could walk and talk I was in the public eye. I was schooled on what I could do and what I couldn’t. It’s the reason I decided to go to the Academy instead of a private school.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The influence of the House of Healing isn’t as strong at the Academy as others are, say the House of Protection, especially for an Assemblyman’s
daughter
. At the Academy, I could discover who I was without worrying about how it reflected on my parents. To be seen with you, even when everyone knew nothing would ever come from it, well that would have erased all I was trying to achieve.”

“And why could nothing have come from it?”

“Because I was from the House of Healing. We both know that the heir to the throne, in any House, must wed someone from within that House.”

“I see.” Jotham walked silently for a few minutes thinking. “But that never stopped you from befriending Lata.”

“Of course not. That archaic law only applies to future rulers, the ‘commoners’ as your mother liked to refer to us, have been intermingling for generations.”

“My mother actually called you a ‘commoner’?” Jotham couldn’t believe it.

“Yes. She did not approve of one of her Assemblyman having a Union with someone
not
from the House of Protection.”

“I’ve never understood why she felt that way. Or my father for that matter.”

“Yes, well I know this is going to sound terrible and I don’t mean to make light of what you went through, but had you not become King, Stephan would have been forced to resign his seat in the Assembly.”

“I think you are overstating that possibility.”

“I’m not.” Jacinda turned hard eyes to Jotham. “I read the ‘official’ letter Stephan received from King Kado, informing him that he had to choose between serving the House of Protection or having a ‘common’ wife.”

“I…” Jotham couldn’t believe what he was hearing but he in no way doubted Jacinda’s words. He could see his father doing such a thing and it would explain the shock in the eyes of so many when he’d declared that an Assemblyman could serve in his Assembly even if his wife was from a different House. “I’m sorry, Jacinda. I never knew he’d done that.”

“It’s not your fault, Majesty, and after all these cycles I shouldn’t let it still bother me so.”

“Please, Jacinda, I feel we have known each other too long to use titles. Call me Jotham.”

“I… alright… Jotham.” Jacinda found herself stuttering slightly.

“So tell me about your other children. Ethan and Stephanie, isn’t it?”

“Yes, you have a good memory or should I be thanking Chesney for reminding you?” Jacinda was charmed when Jotham’s face flushed then felt ashamed of herself. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. There’s no possible way for you to remember the name of every child of every Assemblyman. Especially one who has been gone ten cycles now.”

“Some are easier to remember than others, but that’s not always a good thing.”

“You couldn’t possibly be referring to Shosha Pajari and the tantrum she threw at the Assemblymen’s picnic, would you?”

“As a matter of fact I was. You remember that too?” Jotham’s eyes began to twinkle.

“Of course, it was days before my hearing came back. Who would have thought not getting a second piece of cake could be so traumatic to a ten-cycle?”

“Yes, well apparently her mother promised it to her if she was good.”

“Ahh, the old bribery trick. So of course when she did receive her reward, she did the one thing Adelaide didn’t want her to.”

“Yes.”

“Ethan and his family live in Comorin. He now runs his father-in-law’s business and Kasmira restores artwork. They have two sons; Eliron and Roland.” Jacinda answered Jotham’s original question. “They’re eleven and eight now.”

“I find it hard to believe you are a grandmother.” Jotham ran an assessing eye over her knowing neither of his grandmothers ever looked like her.

“Thank you,” Jacinda blushed slightly at the compliment. “They are a joy. Stephanie is out with the Fleet. I’m hoping she’ll be home next month.”

“She’s been out a while?”

“Yes. Nearly two cycles, every time she was scheduled to come home something always interfered.”

“What does she do?”

“She works in security, that’s all she’ll ever tell me.” Jacinda saw the understanding in Jotham’s eyes. “So I don’t ask many questions going with the no news is good news philosophy.”

“Sometimes that’s the best we can do when it comes to our children.”

“Yes.”

Jotham saw that Jacinda wanted to say something but was hesitating. “Say what you wish, Jacinda.”

Jacinda tipped her head to the side slightly then nodded. “I just wanted to say how sorry I am over you losing Dadrian. I know I sent a note at the time but… it doesn’t seem adequate. I don’t know what I would do if I lost one of mine. To know that their future is gone. That everything they were destined to do and accomplish was taken away by something as minor as a loose runner on the stairs. And for you to have witnessed it… I am truly sorry, Jotham.”

Jotham’s entire body tensed at Jacinda’s words.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Dadrian.

His second son, Dadrian.

His son that didn’t come from Lata.

Jotham turned away from Jacinda, his chest heaving as he tried to stop those thoughts of betrayal. Not only his but Dadrian’s. Which one was worse? Jotham’s for allowing him to be conceived? Not that he remembered much of it, and in doing so betraying his Queen, his life mate, Lata. Or Dadrian’s for conspiring with the Regulians in an attempt to murder his brother?

Jotham had always known Dadrian had problems, and he blamed himself for them. Because every time Jotham looked at Dadrian all he saw was his own weakness. Somehow Dadrian had always known that and Jotham believed that’s what drove him to give the Fleet’s location to the Regulians, so they could assassinate Barek and force Jotham to declare him the future King of the House of Protection.

So many had died because of Dadrian’s treason. Fourteen hundred and twenty-one brave men and women of the Coalition to be exact including the entire crew of the Talon. For a time, Jotham had believed Barek was among the dead. The Fleet had been in chaos, no one knew how the Regulians were able to conduct speed attacks on the Fleet. Or how they knew where they were.

William Zafar, Jotham’s life-long friend, confidant, and blood relative had been the Admiral of the Fleet at the time. He had saved Cassandra and Victoria from Earth when the Regulians had destroyed it, and in doing so changed history. Cassandra was a direct descendant from the lost Princess of the House of Knowledge, its one true heir, and someone didn’t want her to assume her throne. It was why the Regulians had destroyed Earth and Cassandra was bound and determined to discover who it was.

In doing so, she discovered Dadrian’s transmissions to Barek, while he’d been out with the Fleet, and then been able to link them to the transmissions sent to the Regulians with the Fleet’s location. She’d discovered two traitors; one from the House of Knowledge and one from the House of Protection.

The day Dadrian died was the day Jotham’s friend and confidante, and the woman he loved told Jotham and Barek what they had discovered. Jotham had been in denial, not wanting to believe it was possible. But when Dadrian came charging in, Jotham had seen the truth as Dadrian saw the brother, he thought dead, standing there instead.

Dadrian had run from the room. He had run from facing what he’d done and in doing so he tripped on the runner at the top of the stairwell in the Royal Wing and fallen to his death.

The next days passed in a blur for Jotham. The House of Protection and the entire planet went into mourning. Yet Jotham couldn’t mourn. Not for Dadrian. He just went through the motions trying to decide what to do. He needed to report Dadrian’s betrayal to the Grand Assembly, the one that was convening to witness Cassandra’s Challenge of Queen Yakira, the appointed Queen for the House of Knowledge.

Jotham had gone to tell William and Cassandra that, and to apologize to them for what his son had done, especially to Cassandra. He knew Dadrian’s betrayal had cost him more than his throne, it had cost him his friendship with William. They both surprised him that day. First, Cassandra by destroying the evidence she had against Dadrian, and then William by assuring him Dadrian’s actions in no way affected their friendship.

Together they convinced him that the harm that would be caused by him reporting this to the Assembly outweighed any good that could come from it. Dadrian was dead. There would be no further attacks on the Fleet because of him. The one that would truly suffer if it were revealed was Barek, and then Dadrian would win and that wasn’t justice.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“I am sorry, Jotham.”

Jacinda’s voice and the gentle touch on his arm brought him back to the present.

“I didn’t know Dadrian well, but I know you must have loved him a great deal and still miss him. Barek too. To lose a sibling like that…” Jacinda was shocked when Jotham ripped his arm from her grip then rounded on her. The rage pouring off him had her taking a startled step back.

“You know nothing about it, Madame Michelakakis!” Jotham’s body vibrated with the anger that he was trying to control. “And I would like you to keep your pathetic words of solace to yourself!”

“I…”

“Majesty,” Chesney appeared from nowhere, his eyes wide at what he had just witnessed. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Sire, but the High Admiral is on the comm. He says it’s urgent.”

Jotham found he couldn’t speak, shame choking him as his mind replayed the words he’d just said to Jacinda. How could he have said something like that to her? She was just trying to help. She had no clue what Dadrian had done. He was the one to start the discussion of children. It was only natural for the conversation to turn to Dadrian.

Jacinda stepped away from him in fear… no woman had ever had to do that with him before… maybe Dadrian had gotten that from him.

Meaning to apologize, Jotham found Jacinda had turned her back on him and was moving toward Chesney.

“Would you mind showing me back to my transport, Mister Chesney? I’m afraid I’ve gotten myself totally turned around in the garden and I have an appointment I can’t be late for.”

Chesney looked to Jotham and at his stiff nod spoke, “Of course, Madame Michelakakis.”

“Thank you. That way the King won’t be delayed in seeing to his duties.” Jacinda turned to Jotham, her face perfectly neutral. “Please thank Safford for a wonderful meal, Majesty. Goodbye."

Chapter Eight

“What can I do for you, High Admiral?” Jotham asked sitting down at his desk.

“King Jotham, I’m calling to inform you of some information that has been discovered, concerning the House of Protection, after our latest ‘interview’ with Gad Stannic.

“Gad Stannic? I thought he and his father, former Assemblyman Rogue Stannic, were a Coalition and House of Knowledge problem.”

“They were and are, but now it seems that Rogue Stannic was also communicating on a regular basis with someone from the House of Protection.”

“For what purpose?”

“That’s not entirely clear at the moment, but it seems to have something to do with Prince Barek.”

“Is he in danger?” Jotham demanded.

“I don’t believe so. The communications seem to be geared more toward who will be his future Queen.”

“I see.” Jotham was silent for a moment wondering if someone else had noticed Barek’s interest in Amina. “Why would Stannic be interested in this?”