Jacinda's Challenge (Imperial 3) (8 page)

“That you are still letting affect you. I know that’s why you always wore low heels around Stephan.”

“Stephan would never have done that.” Jacinda couldn’t believe her sister would even suggest such a thing. Stephan had been nothing like Henry.

“Of course not, but you still always made sure he was taller than you.”

“Because he was.”

“He wouldn’t be with those heels,” Palma gestured to the ones she was currently wearing.

“No.” Jacinda suddenly found herself sad at the thought. Her Stephan would have loved this gown. “He wouldn’t be.”

“I’m sorry, Jacinda.” Palma was instantly at her sister’s side all teasing gone. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t.” Jacinda squeezed her sister’s hand. “It’s just going to be so… odd being there without Stephan. Not helping him choose what to wear. Not standing beside him, reminding him of the wives’ names he’d forgotten.”

“But Danton will be at your side and that boy is going to need all the help you can give him. The only women he’s ever interested in are the single ones.”

“Isn’t that the truth,” Jacinda laughed, and that quickly her sadness evaporated. “I should send him a list of names to memorize just to torture him for giving me so little notice.”

“It would serve him right,” Palma agreed.

The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly with the women chatting while Kia made slight alterations to the gown so it fit Jacinda perfectly.

“Kia, I can’t thank you enough for doing this on such short notice. I know how in demand you are.”

“It was nothing, Jacinda, especially not for you. Just make sure you instruct your son that the next woman he tries to pull this on may not be as understanding as his mother.”

“Trust me, Kia, I will make sure he understands.”

“Ladies, I have to go.” Javiera looked to the message on her comm. “I’ve had a wonderful time this afternoon. Palma, we’ll have to get together again soon.”

“I’d like that, Javiera.”

“Jacinda.” Javiera walked over and hugged her. “Don’t be a stranger. You know you are always welcome in our home.”

“I know and know that you and yours are always welcome in mine. Montreux isn’t that far from Pechora. Amina will always be welcome in my home if she needs to get away or just wants a home-cooked meal.”

“Thank you, Jacinda. I will let her know. Maybe it will convince her to go.”

“What do you mean? I thought she wanted to go. Is there a problem I can help with?”

“No. Not really. She’s just working on something with her father. I can’t talk about it, but she may put off Montreux until it’s finished.”

Jacinda looked at Javiera and realized whatever it was, she was upset she’d brought it up.”

“Well, no worries. No one will hear anything from us. Will they?” Jacinda looked to Kia and Palma, who she both knew could keep a secret.

“Of course not,” they immediately responded.

“You just let her know my offer is open-ended. Whenever she gets there, she is welcome in my home.”

“Thank you, Jacinda. Now I have to go. Oh, I will send you that visual.”

“Thank you, Javiera. Give Leander and Dell a kiss for me.”

“I will.”

Chapter Five

“Hello, gentleman.” Jacinda smiled as she walked up to the two guards who were dressed in the colors of the House of Protection. They were protecting the door that led from the Public Wing to the more private wings of the Palace and she stopped several feet away. “I am Jacinda Michelakakis and I have something for Prince Barek.”

The guards’ hard stares traveled over her for a moment before moving to the package she carried. One lifted the comm attached to his wrist.

“We’ve received no notification to expect you,” the larger of the two told her.

“You won’t have. I didn’t contact anyone to let them know I was coming.”

“We can’t let you pass, Madame Michelakakis.”

“Of course not, I totally understand.”

As Jacinda spoke, the door behind the guards opened and Captain Deffand followed by Prince Barek stepped out.

“Madame Michelakakis! How wonderful to see you again.” The serious look on Barek’s face turned into a blazing smile as he spoke.

“It’s good to see you too, Prince Barek, and I thought you were going to call me Jacinda.”

“Of course, I’m sorry, Jacinda,” Barek blushed slightly to Deffand’s amazement. “What brings you to the Palace today?”

“You do.”

“Me?”

“Yes,” Jacinda laughed at the confusion on Barek’s face. “I returned from visiting my sister yesterday and have something for you.”

As she offered the package she carried to Barek, the two guards immediately stepped between them knocking her back.

“What do you think you are doing?!!” Barek angrily shoved his way through the guards to find Jacinda standing several feet away, her face pale. The package she had been carrying lay on the floor. “Jacinda, are you alright?”

“I…” Swallowing hard, she took a deep breath trying to calm her racing heart. “Yes. Of course, I am. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Barek spun around to confront the two guards, but before he could, Deffand spoke. “They were doing their job, Prince Barek.”

“Since when is shoving a woman their
job
, Captain?” Barek’s rage was easily heard.

“Prince Barek,” Jacinda’s soft but firm voice interrupted him and pulled his furious gaze from the Captain to her. “Captain Deffand is correct. The fault is mine. It goes against every protocol for me to directly hand you a package that hasn’t been inspected by your security first.”

“That gives them no right…”

“It gives them every right,” Jacinda again interrupted. “They do not know me and were protecting their future King, as they should.”

Leaning down, she picked up the package of visuals she’d gotten from Palma, along with one she’d ‘accidently’ slipped in and extended it to Deffand.

“Captain.”

“Thank you, Madame Michelakakis.” Deffand took the package.

“Are those the visuals?” Barek’s question was directed at Jacinda, but his eyes were locked on the package now in Deffand’s hands.

“Yes, and I have to thank you.” She saw the confusion on his face. “Palma and I had a wonderful time going down memory lane. We laughed until our stomachs hurt. We tried to attach comments to each one for you, about who’s in the visual, when and where it was taken. I took the liberty of making hard copies of them, but they are also on the memory foil that’s inside. If you have any questions just contact me and I will do the best I can.”

“I… I can never thank you enough for this, Jacinda.” Barek’s voice was tight as he spoke. “You have no idea what it means to me.”

“Your mother was my friend, Prince Barek. She would have done the same for one of mine if the situation were reversed.” She gave him a warm smile. “Now I will get out of your way for you seem to be on your way somewhere. I will see you tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night?” Barek’s question halted Jacinda as she started to turn away.

“Yes, at the Assemblyman’s Ball.”

“You will be there?”

“Yes. My first son, Danton, is now an Assemblyman and asked me to accompany him.”

“Then I will save a dance for you,” Barek smiled at her.

“I look forward to it, Prince Barek.” With a nod, Jacinda turned and left.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Deffand watched the gentle sway of Jacinda Michelakakis’ hips as she walked away. She was truly a beautiful woman inside and out and he wondered if he would ever find a woman half as beautiful and kind. He pulled his thoughts away from what he wanted, to what was in his hands.

“These are visuals of the Queen?” His gaze traveled to Barek to see he too was watching Jacinda leave.

“Yes.” Barek extended his hand. “You and I both know Jacinda Michelakakis would never cause harm to the House of Protection.”

“I know that, Sire, but there are still protocols that must be followed.”

“Those are private visuals, Deffand. Of my mother before she became Queen. Jacinda’s sister was kind enough to share them with me. I won’t allow someone else to view them, especially before I do.”

Deffand could see that Barek was adamant about this and sighed heavily. Barek didn’t demand much. He had always seemed to understand the need for security, unlike his late brother, Dadrian, who had always pushed everything. For Barek to be this insistent meant these visuals were extremely important to him. Still he couldn’t just hand them over to him.

“I will personally walk this package through security. It can be scanned and tested without being opened. No one will view what is yours, Sire. That is the best I can do.”

Deffand watched Barek struggle and knew Barek wanted to argue further even while he knew he was right. Finally, Barek nodded jerkily.

“Do it, but I want that package waiting for me in my personal quarters by the time I return.”

“It will be done, Sire.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“Yoo-hoo… Jacinda...”

The high-pitched, scratchy voice had Jacinda cringing slightly. She should have known her luck couldn’t hold out forever. That she’d managed to get into her house the night before and then out again this morning without Madame Nitzschke catching her had been a miracle, but now it was time to face the music. Turning, she forced a smile on her face.

“Hello, Madame Nitzschke. How are you this beautiful day?” Jacinda watched as her neighbor came teetering up the sidewalk. Jacinda tried not to shudder at the outfit her meddlesome neighbor was wearing. It was one of her ‘signature’ outfits, that had never been in style, even though Madame Nitzschke seemed to think it had. A knee-length, multicolored skirt with vertical stripes over leggings that if you looked at them too long gave you vertigo. Her shirt, while black and white had horizontal stripes with dots splattered in-between them. Her outfit was completed by a wide-brimmed, straw hat with a garden of artificial flowers banded around it and short-heeled, ankle-high, red boots on her feet.

Madame Nitzschke had been a fixture in their neighborhood since before she and Stephan had purchased their home. She was the only child of an Assemblyman that had met the ancestors before Stephan had become one. It was rumored that her life mate had been killed while serving in the Coalition, in a surprise attack by the Regulians along the border. Because of it, she had never had a Union. Instead, she’d made it her life’s work to know everything about everyone in the neighborhood.

“It could be nicer. It’s too cloudy.” She put a hand on the top of her hat, keeping it in place as she squinted up at the half-dozen, fluffy, white clouds floating across the sky. “Looks like we might have a stoirme.”

“Really?” Jacinda glanced up not seeing a single stoirme cloud.

“Yes. I’m glad to see you are okay, Jacinda.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, because you just
disappeared
there for several days.”

“I didn’t
disappear,
Madame Nitzschke. I went to visit my sister in Kisurri.”

“Really?” Madame Nitzschke’s tone let Jacinda know she didn’t believe her. “Without telling
anyone
?”

Jacinda had to bite her tongue to stop from telling the old biddy to mind her own business. In her heart, she knew Madame Nitzschke was actually concerned and that her nosiness came from being lonely.

“I did tell someone. I told Myesha.”

“But not your son.”

“No, Madame Nitzschke, I did not call my son to tell him where I was. I am a grown woman and don’t have to account for my comings and goings to
anyone
.”

“He came pounding on
my
door in a panic.”

“Danton did no such thing!” While Jacinda was willing to humor Madame Nitzschke to a point, she wouldn’t let her outright lie. “You were walking by as Danton was leaving. He told me so when he called me on my comm.”

“Well he was in a panic and I can understand why with the men you ‘entertain’ in your home, especially that last one. My goodness, he barely looked older than Danton. You should be ashamed of yourself, Jacinda.”

“Excuse me!”

“You heard me, young lady. You were the wife of a well-respected Assemblyman. You owe it to him and those who supported him to make sure your actions are above reproach.”

Jacinda felt her face flush and her blood begin to boil. That this self-righteous old… That she felt she had the right to judge her. “Madame Nitzschke, I understand and sympathize with the fact that you have no family of your own, that you have nothing better to do with your time than interfere in other people’s lives. But it does not give you the right to judge me, or whom I see. I thank you for your concern, now if you will excuse me, I was on my way in.” Spinning around, Jacinda walked away before she said something she would regret.

Jacinda barely stopped herself from slamming her front door. How dare that condescending, old biddy think she had the right to tell her who she could ‘entertain’ in her own house. Not that she ever did. It had taken nearly five cycles after Stephan died before she had even considered dating again, let alone ‘entertaining’ a man. Not that there hadn’t been offers.

It seemed there were many men who thought that as a widow she would welcome their subtle, and not so subtle advances. She hadn’t, not until Oran Halloran. Oran had been an old family friend from the House of Healing. A few cycles older than her, they became reacquainted when he traveled to Pechora for a business meeting. Oran was also a widower and his business brought him to the city every few weeks. Slowly they had begun to see each other, both tentative about starting a new relationship. It hadn’t lasted long. After just one night of intimacy, six moon cycles into the relationship, and it had ended. It had felt terribly awkward to Jacinda and while they occasionally still had dinner together, neither of them had wanted to pursue the relationship further.

Her second attempt had lasted longer. With a man Jacinda thought she could spend the rest of her life with. Paul had been a quiet, unassuming man and after Stephan, Jacinda thought that was what she wanted. She’d been wrong. She found herself bored and unchallenged. Paul had been a nice enough man, but he wasn’t someone she wanted to spend the remainder of her life with.