Jacinda's Challenge (Imperial 3) (32 page)

"Understood." Disconnecting, Jotham relaxed back into the bed and while he pulled Jacinda closer, his mind was on the strange dream he'd had.

It had to have been a dream. Right?

"Jotham?" Jacinda roused sleepily in his arms, rubbing her cheek against his chest.

"Hmm?" Her next words had him stiffening.

"I just had the strangest dream."

"You did?"

"Yeah." She lifted her head to look at him. "Was that Chesney I heard?"

"Yes, he was letting us know we are fifteen minutes from Kisurri."

"Oh, I guess we'd better get up then."

"In a minute." Jotham sat up and leaned back against the wall and pulled her across his lap so she was in his arms, facing him. "Tell me about your dream."

"I..." she hesitated.

"It involved Stephan, didn't it?"

"Yes." Jacinda's eyes widened as she looked at him. "How could you possibly know that?"

Jotham knew he had to be honest with her. "Because I just had one with Lata."

Jacinda felt her eyes start to fill. "Praise the ancestors! That means it wasn't a dream, that it was actually an encounter and..."

"And?"

"Stephan was actually holding me in his arms."

"As Lata was in mine."

Jacinda gave him an uncertain look. "And she was okay with..."

"Us being together?"

At her nod, Jotham gave her that little half smile from the left side of his mouth that always made her heart beat a little faster.

"Yes." Now it was Jotham's turn to look uncertain. "Was Stephan?"

"Yes."

Silence reigned for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Jacinda tried to understand everything Stephan had told her. He said she needed to follow her instincts, her heart, and both were telling her she needed to tell Jotham how she felt. Needed to tell him now.

"I need to tell you something, Jotham."

"You can tell me anything, Jacinda."

"I'm in love with you."

"Jacinda..." Before he could say more, she put gentle fingers over his lips.

"I'm not sure I'm happy about it."

"What?" Jotham pulled away from her fingers, his heart that had leapt at her first words now fell.

"I never wanted to be involved with a King. If I had, I would have stayed in the House of Healing. It's why I always steered clear of you at the Academy." As she spoke, she traced his full lower lip. "I worked so hard to try and not end up here, but it seems the ancestors have other ideas."

"You don't wish to share your life with me?" Jotham felt his heart begin to ache.

"Of course I do!" Jacinda instantly denied. "I love you. You! What I don't love is the thought of watching another man I love working himself to death. I can't do it again. It will destroy me."

"Jacinda, Stephan died..."

"Because I didn't stand up to him, make him keep his promise to slow down, to cut back. He promised he would stop chairing so many committees, that he would delegate more. He did neither and you are even worse."

"Jacinda, I am the
King
. There are things that only I can do."

"Yes, but there are things that you don't need to do, like being involved in the labor talks for the Sokol Corporation. There's no need for it, and in truth, it's detrimental for the workers every time you are."

"What are you talking about?!!" Jotham took great pride in that work. "They are always my top priority."

"Sokol knows that. He also knows how much your people love and respect you and he uses that. He knows if he presents them with a contract that you've approved, they will accept it, no questions asked. Every time they do, his share of the profits increases. "

"How can you know this?"

"It was one of the new committees Stephan was chairing before his death. He was investigating Sokol after he was approached by several disgruntled workers."

"Why didn't they go to the Chair of the Labor Committee?"

"Because Pajari chairs that committee and Sokol is his biggest supporter."

Jotham couldn't believe what she was telling him. How could he not have known this? All he was trying to do was help his people.

"And you do." Jacinda saw he hadn't realized he'd spoken out loud. "But by doing so much, you don't have the time to give any of it your full attention. You're no longer that new King, the youngest ever crowned, trying to prove yourself. You are not that newly-widowed King trying to fill those suddenly empty nights to keep your mind off of what you had lost."

"How can you know that?"

"Because I was there, Jotham. I saw it all and then I did the same thing after Stephan died. The nights were always the worst, especially in the beginning. But it's time for it to stop.
You
rule the House of Protection, Jotham. It doesn't rule
you
. Not like this."

Jotham just looked at her, letting her words sink in. Everything she said was right. He had felt he needed to prove himself in those early cycles. He didn't now. He had demanded to take on more and more after Lata's death because he couldn't stand to return to his rooms and know they were empty. Now when he wanted to clear time, time to spend with Jacinda, something always interrupted. But how did he step back now?

"I understand what you are saying, Jacinda, and you are right. But I can't just abandon these duties, to do so would be like abandoning my people."

"I would never suggest that, Jotham, but you can assign those duties to someone else."

"There is no one else."

"Not even Barek?" She saw she had surprised him.

"Barek?"

"Yes. He is your heir, shouldn't he start to learn the responsibilities that will one day be his, from you? Not be thrown into them unprepared as you were?"

"I... I never considered it before. Barek never expressed a desire to be more involved."

"Just like he never expressed an interest in knowing more about his mother?" she quizzed gently. "He is his father's son, Jotham. He watched and learned from you and it's made him a very good, strong, and proud man. It's also made him a very private one."

"Yes." Jotham nodded his agreement.

"When it comes to men like that, sometimes you just have to be very blunt to get them to tell you what they are thinking."

"And if that doesn't work?" He caressed her cheek with a knuckle.

"Then you yell at them, at least I do. Tears work well too, but only when it’s absolutely necessary."

"I find it hard to believe you ever had to take it that far with Stephan."

"Oh no, never with Stephan. Yelling always made my point with him. I only ever had to pull out the tears with my father." Jacinda smiled gently at the memory. "My mother taught me how."

"What could you possibly have had to cry about to get your father to agree to?"

"My Union with Stephan."

A discreet knock stopped Jotham from replying.

"Yes?"

"Majesty, I need to inform you that we are beginning our descent."

"Thank you, Chesney, we'll be out in a moment."

"Yes, Majesty."

"Jacinda," he cupped her cheek, stilling her when she went to move away. "We
will
talk about this again when there is more time. But right now, I have something I need to tell you."

"What?"

"I'm in love with you too."

Chapter Nineteen

Jacinda lay across Jotham’s chest, propped up on her elbow as she watched him sleep. She still couldn't believe this amazing man loved her. Her. Jacinda Michelakakis.

When they arrived in the dead of the night, they were quickly shown to a private wing and informed that the High Admiral and the Queen were expecting them for first meal at seven.

Now the second sun was just starting to rise and Jacinda knew they would need to rise soon too. She wasn't sure what type of reception she was going to receive from the Queen and High Admiral, but she hoped it wouldn't cause problems for Jotham. She knew he thought they would welcome her with open arms, Jacinda wasn't so sure.

What she
was
sure of was that Jotham loved her, and she loved Jotham. Together they would figure the rest out. No, it wasn't the life she expected, being a King's... companion, but she wouldn't shy away from it either. She of all people knew how precious love was.

"Do you know how much I love waking up with you in my arms?" Jotham's husky words pulled her thoughts back to him. "How much I love you?"

Jacinda smiled gently down at him. "As much as I do you?"

"More," he told her stretching up to capture her lips.

It had been cycles since Jotham had woken up to a beautiful woman staring down at him. The last had been Lata and now because of his 'encounter' with her he could experience and love again with no doubts and no regrets.

Jacinda let him take control of the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as he rolled her onto her back. They both sighed heavily when there was a knock on the chamber door.

"Yes?"

"Majesty, I was just letting you know you have thirty minutes."

"Thank you, Chesney."

"One of these times we are going to wake up without Chesney interrupting us," Jacinda teased.

"Yes, we will." Giving her one more, hard kiss he rose then held out his hand. "Come on, my love, I'll let you use the shower first."

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Jacinda walked confidently beside Jotham as they were escorted through the Queen's Wing to the private eating area of the Royal family. She was trying not to be nervous but found she was. Not because of who she was meeting, but because they were Jotham's friends and she wanted to make a good impression.

The chatter of voices could be heard through the closed doors. When the guard knocked on the door, the chatter ceased.

"Enter," came the command and when the guard opened the doors, Jacinda was surprised at what she saw.

A long table was set in the middle of the room and seven pairs of eyes turned to see who had interrupted their meal.

"Jotham," William rose as he greeted his old friend. "Come in, I saved you some food and I want you to know it wasn't easy, not with the way these four rascals eat." He eyed the boys sitting at the table.

With a hand on the small of her back, Jotham guided her to William. "I believe it. I've seen the way these monsters eat. Will, you remember Jacinda Michelakakis, don't you?"

"Yes, of course. Hello, Jacinda, it's been a long time. Won't you sit?" He gestured to the two empty seats, pulling the closest to him out. "Cassandra will be back shortly, Sabah was being fussy so she went to lay her back down."

"It has been a long time, thank you." She took the seat next to him.

"Let me make the introductions. The one at the end down there, shoveling food in his mouth is our oldest, Kayden. Next to him is Brett, Peter and Cyndy's son. Across from them is Jacob and Willie, our second and third sons. Say hello to Madame Michelakakis, boys."

"Hello, Madame Michelakakis." The four quickly obeyed then went back to eating.

"Hello," Jacinda smiled, remembering how much her own boys used to eat.

"This is Peter Chamberlain and his wife, Cyndy."

"Hello." She acknowledged the couple that sat across the table.

"Madame Michelakakis," Peter Chamberlain greeted while his wife gave her a small smile.

"As I said, Cassandra will return shortly." He gestured to the empty chair to his right. "Coffee?" he asked lifting the container in front of him.

"Please," Jacinda smiled her thanks. She hadn't yet had a cup.

"So, Jotham, how was your flight? You got in earlier than I expected."

"It was fine and you can thank Jacinda for that, she packed in record time."

"Really?" William raised an eyebrow at that. "You'll have to teach Cassandra that trick."

"Teach me what trick?"

Jacinda watched as the sound of his wife's voice had William immediately rising to pull out the empty chair for her. "How to pack quickly. Did she go down okay?"

"Yes." She sat. "Hello, Jotham."

Jacinda saw the warmth in the Queen's eyes as she greeted Jotham. They quickly cooled as she glanced at her, waiting.

"Good morning, Cassandra," Jotham replied. "I'd like to introduce you to Jacinda Michelakakis. Jacinda, Queen Cassandra Zafar."

"Majesty," Jacinda bowed her head slightly.

"Madame Michelakakis." Cassandra acknowledged her before looking to her husband. "So are you saying I take too long to pack?"

William frowned slightly at his wife's coolness to Jacinda. "There are times."

"Hmm, I guess I'll have to let you start packing for yourself then."

"Michelakakis? Lieutenant Michelakakis is your daughter?"

Jacinda looked over to find herself under the gaze of Peter Chamberlain's brown eyes. "Yes, Stephie was thrilled to be selected for your advanced training program, although I'm sure she'll be mortified when she finds out I called her by her childhood nickname."

"Daughter? I didn't realize any of the trainees were women." Cyndy frowned at her husband.

"I never thought it important, Pixie."

"But you said this is the most aggressive training program you've ever put together, that you've already had to cut a third of the class.

"Pixie...." Peter gave her a warning look.

"What?" Cyndy demanded.

"It's alright, Captain. I have the greatest faith in my daughter."

"You don't believe she's among the ones already cut?" Peter asked curiously.

"No," Jacinda's answer was swift and decisive. "My daughter has never failed at anything, once she's set her mind to it, and she's set it to graduate from your groundbreaking program. So she will." She saw Peter's lips twitch.

"I see where the Lieutenant gets her confidence from."

"Oh no," Jacinda waved a dismissing hand, "trust me. That all comes from her father."

"He was an Assemblyman for the House of Protection, wasn't he?"

Jacinda looked back to Cassandra, sure the Queen already knew the answer. "Yes, for nearly forty cycles."

"But you're not."

"I'm sorry. I'm not what?"

"From the House of Protection."