Jacinda's Challenge (Imperial 3) (18 page)

"Why would you say that?"

"It was one of my first days as a member of your Guard. There was a dinner, in your Wing, for a select number of Assemblymen and their wives to meet some dignitary, I don’t remember who."

"Yet you remember Jacinda."

"Yes. I was dreadfully ill that night, but I refused to tell Captain Rutherford. It was my first 'real' assignment and I wasn't about to call in sick. I stood at that wall, guarding the door as course after course was brought in and tried not to vomit. I was just about to excuse myself when Jacinda rose from her seat and asked if I would escort her to the restroom."

"I don't remember that." Jotham thought back, but there had been so many dinners.

"Yes, well as soon as the door closed she grabbed my arm, dragged me into the room with her, shoved a glass of water into my hand and ordered me to drink. She then went on to berate me about men who were too stubborn to admit when they were sick and just how was I supposed to protect the King when I could barely stand." Nicholas smiled at the memory. "No woman had ever dressed me down so well, except for maybe my mother."

"She does have a talent for letting a man know when they've done something she perceives as incredibly stupid."

"She does. Anyway, she refused to return to the table until she was sure I would make it through the rest of the night. We both know Rutherford would have dismissed me if I had left my post for any other reason than to watch over a guest."

"Jacinda would have known that too."

"Yes."

"And she never approached you about it?" Jotham already knew the answer. "Never asked for any special favors in return?"

"Never."

"I've had my life mate, Nicholas."

"As has Jacinda, that doesn't mean you can't have another."

"Spoken like one who’s never had a life mate." Jotham's laugh held no humor.

"No, I haven't, and it’s doubtful I'll ever find one. I never had the honor of meeting Queen Lata, Majesty, but I can't believe your life mate would want you to spend your life alone... Not when there is someone you obviously care about."

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

It was later that night as Jotham lay in his bed, alone, that he truly thought about what Deffand had said. It just wasn't possible.

"Why?" The sweetest voice he ever heard asked.

Jackknifing up, Jotham found he wasn't in his bed. He wasn't even in the Palace. He was back at the Academy, in Lata's room, leaning against the wall along her bed, holding her in his arms as he'd done so often when they'd stolen time together.

"Why what?" he asked and closed his eyes as his arms tightened around her, enjoying the feeling of her sinking into them.

"Why isn't a relationship possible between you and Jacinda?"

"What?" Jotham's eyes flew open and he looked down at her, but it wasn't Lata's sixteen-cycle eyes he was looking into, it was the eyes of his wife, his Queen, the ones that knew him so well.

"Why is a relationship with Jacinda impossible?" Lata's warm hand pressed against his pounding heart as she pushed slightly away. "I'm with the ancestors, Jotham, but you’re not."

"That doesn't matter!" His tone was angry but still he held her.

"It does." Lata's soft voice cut through his angry one. "It's been so long, Jotham. You've suffered so much. Did you think I couldn't feel it? That just because I was gone that a part of me wasn't still connected to you?"

"Then how can you possibly want..."

"You to be happy again? To find love again?"

"Stop!"

"I won't stop, my love, because I love you!" Lata framed his face with her hands. "You were my first and only love, Jotham. We had such plans. So many dreams."

"I'm sorry I couldn't give them to you." He felt the crushing weight of it descend again.

"Jotham, you did! Don't you see? Was it the way we planned? No, but that doesn't mean you still didn't give them to me." She tipped her head to the side. "Do you remember our first anniversary?"

"I remember you wanted to go away to Messene. We didn't go."

"You had a meeting, so instead you brought Messene to me. You had the Chef get all his ingredients from Messene. You ordered him to make only 'authentic' Messene dishes."

"They were awful," Jotham half-smiled as he remembered the disaster that meal had been.

"Because you never asked him if he
could
make authentic Messene dishes. He had no clue," Lata laughed.

"I wanted it to be so special for you."

"It was. I was with you."

"I was always with you."

"Not like that you weren't. You cleared the
whole
day. It wasn't enough time to
travel
to Messene, but it was better. You gave me your
time
.
No one
interrupted us for the entire day! We laughed, we talked, we loved. We created Barek that day. It was a happy time."

"It was."

"You can be happy again, my love. Can love again. You can if you let yourself."

"It would never be the same."

"Of course not, but that doesn't make it wrong. It doesn't mean you can't. Love is a precious gift. Don't let it pass you by."

Chapter Eleven

"I'll get it, Mom!" Stephanie called out as she walked up to answer the knocking on the door. Opening it, she was momentarily stunned to find Captain Deffand standing there.

"Lieutenant Michelakakis."

"Captain Deffand."

"May I come in?" he asked raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Oh. Yes. Of course."

"Stephie, who’s here?"

Deffand pulled his eyes from Stephanie to see Jacinda walking toward him. "Madame Michelakakis." He noted her look and corrected himself. "Jacinda."

"Much better, Nicholas. So to what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?"

Deffand reached inside his jacket to the concealed inner pocket and withdrew the sealed envelope the King had asked him to deliver, and handed it to Jacinda.

Stephanie looked on confused. Why was the Captain of the King's Guard delivering a message to her mother and why did her mother seem so hesitant to take it?

Jacinda slowly reached out and took the envelope from Nicholas. Without even opening it, she knew it was from Jotham. He was the only one the Captain of his Guard would deliver a message for. What could he possible want to say to her?

Breaking the seal on the envelope, she walked across the room toward the open doors that led to the garden to give herself some privacy. She pulled out the folded piece of paper and read the words written in Jotham's own hand.

Madame Michelakakis,

I feel the need to apologize for the way I spoke to you the other day.

I know your words were heartfelt and I didn't mean for my response to alarm you.

I would like the chance to repair any damage my actions may have caused and invite you to dine with me tomorrow night.

I await your response.

King Jotham

Jacinda reread the note, feeling the weight of the paper between her fingers and taking in the House of Protection arrow imbedded in it. Jotham's initials were along the shaft, telling her it was from his personal stock. She'd seen enough ‘correspondence’ to know it was always on a lightweight paper with just the arrow.

How was she supposed to respond to this? She understood why Jotham felt the need to apologize. It had been so out of character for him to react that way, to allow his emotions to be revealed like that. She'd witnessed Jotham’s anger before and seen him put someone in their place, both during dinners she and Stephan had attended. But he'd always done it politely, so coolly that some missed the rebuke altogether. And he
never
raised his voice and he
never
revealed his emotions.

It was something she'd always admired... and wondered about. Had he really become that controlled? That cold? Where had the young man Lata had said was so warm and romantic gone?

She had gotten a glimpse of him during their lunch, but the words in this note came from the cool, controlled man she'd known for cycles. It was the other man that intrigued her, he was the one she wanted to get to know better.

He had asked her to call him Jotham, but he'd signed this note 'King' Jotham. Again sending mixed signals. Did he want to have dinner with Madame Michelakakis, the widow of an Assemblyman and the mother of a new one, to make sure he hadn't offended her? Or did he want to have it with Jacinda, a woman because he was interested?

Jacinda couldn't decide which one she wanted it to be. Was she really interested in trying to start a personal relationship with Jotham? He was an attractive man. They had a long history together even if Jotham was only starting to realize it. They had a lot in common: both had lost their life mates, both had grown up in politics, and they both knew it could never go anywhere.

Jacinda looked through the doors to her mother's rose bush. The one she'd transplanted here after her mother's death. She'd been so worried the 'mother' wouldn't thrive here. After all, it had always grown in House of Healing soil. She could still remember her amazement when it bloomed that first time. The root her mother had given her had bloomed violet, just as Lata's had. She remembered calling her mother distraught about it.

Her mother had laughed and said it was the way of the plant. It would bloom the color of the House where it was planted. Yet the 'mother' hadn't changed to violet. Instead it bloomed the deep golden color of the House of Healing. It was only after Stephan's death that it had begun to change, blooming the gold
and
the violet of the House of Protection.

Jacinda hadn't understood why and she wished that
her
mother had been alive to ask. Had she known it would happen? If she had, why hadn't she said anything?

Yet none of that really mattered. She was just trying to distract herself from doing what she knew needed to be done. Turning back, she found both Nicholas and Stephanie watching her.

"Stephanie, while I go respond to this," she waved the note in her hand, "would you please keep Nicholas entertained? There's some wine." She gestured to the bottle she'd opened right before he had arrived. "I won't be long." With a forced smile, she left the room.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

"So are you going to 'entertain' me, Lieutenant?" Deffand couldn't believe he was flirting with Jacinda's daughter. She was a member of the Coalition. Her brother was an Assemblyman. And on top of all that, she was nearly ten cycles younger than him.

Stephanie looked at Deffand in shock. Sure, she'd been approached by men before, powerful men. Her mother was an amazingly beautiful woman and she'd been compared to her all her life. For her mother, it had been an asset, but for Stephanie it had been a hindrance. Too many men saw only her looks and refused to believe there was anything else to her. She had fought that attitude since the Academy, and to find it again in the Captain of the King's Guard, hurt more than she thought possible.

"I am not 'entertainment,' Captain," she spit out.

"Of course not! I'm sorry, Lieutenant, I never meant to imply..." He took a deep breath and forced himself to continue. "You are obviously a beautiful woman, but that doesn't excuse my words. You are a member of the Coalition. A highly decorated one. For me to imply any less insults me more than you."

"You investigated me?"

"I... yes. You are the child of Stephan and Jacinda Michelakakis. Your brother is now an Assemblyman. It is part of my responsibility to know about anyone who has access to someone who has access to the King."

"
That is
why you had me investigated?"

"In part."

"And the other part?"

Nicholas found himself struggling to maintain eye contact with Stephanie. "That was entirely personal," he finally admitted.

Stephanie found her breath catching. If this was any man other than the Captain of the King's Guard she would be all over him. She had thought of nothing other than him over the last few days, but to reach her goals, she had to resist him.

"Then you know why I'm on planet."

"You have been accepted into the first class ever taught by Captain Chamberlain. That speaks for itself in your abilities. I've met Peter Chamberlain, he is an amazing man, with great skills. Anyone trained by him will be a great asset to wherever they choose to serve."

"I hope you still feel that way when I apply for the King's Guard."

"What!" Nicholas found himself taking a step back as her words struck him. "You... you wish to be a member of the
King's Guard
?!!"

"Yes." Stephanie stood proud as she stared him down.

"But..."

"But what?"

"You are...."

"I am what? A woman? Are you saying that as a woman I am unable to protect my King?"

"Stephanie! That's enough!" Jacinda's voice cut through the tension growing between the two.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Jacinda walked into her bedroom, Stephan and hers bedroom, and walked to the desk that used to be his. Sitting down, she opened the desk and pulled out a sheet of her own stationery, and penned her response to King Jotham.

After a moment's hesitation and a great deal of regret, she sealed her response and returned to her living room only to be shocked at what she heard.

"Stephanie! That’s enough!"

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

"Madame Michelakakis, the fault here is mine," Deffand spoke first.

"Excuse me?"

"My... words to your daughter were inappropriate. I apologize, Lieutenant." Deffand bowed stiffly to Stephanie. "If you have finished your response then I shall deliver it to King Jotham."

"Yes." Jacinda handed it to him and found she was as reluctant to let go of her response as she had been to receive his request. "It was wonderful to see you again, Nicholas. Please, don't be a stranger. No matter what else occurs in our lives, you are always welcome in this house."