Jacinda's Challenge (Imperial 3) (35 page)

"
Me
!" Palma squeaked. "What can
I
possibly do?"

"Palma," just as Jacinda started to speak, they both heard the first tentative notes coming from the Pianola. The notes of someone exploring the instrument for the first time. Slowly, the notes grew in strength and confidence turning into a melody.

"She's..."

"A musician. An artist. A singer."

"That's what she was on Earth?" Palma couldn't hide her shock.

"Yes, and she doesn't think she can continue to do that here, that there is no place for her here. That's why I brought her to you."

"Is she any good?"

No sooner had Palma asked, a husky voice joined the melody playing on the Pianola, and both women froze. Coffee forgotten, they let the music wrap around them and it dared them to come closer.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Cyndy couldn't take her eyes off what she knew was a musical instrument, tucked away in the corner of the room. It was obviously well used and loved and it called to her.

Rising, she moved closer and saw that it resembled a piano, even down to the black and white keys. She needed to know if it sounded the same. Sitting down, she ran her fingers over the keys and smiled. It was the same. Amazing.

Without conscious thought, her fingers began to play an old familiar melody and she smiled. When it ended, she played it again, hesitantly adding the words, testing the feel of them, wondering if she could still sing them. What she discovered was that her voice was huskier, deeper, more mature than it had been the last time that she had sung the song and she suddenly realized she'd never truly sung it before. Oh she’d thought she had, thought that she had fully understood the words about not knowing her own strength, but she had been a child then, one who had yet to experience the traumas life could inflict on someone. Now she truly understood and sang with a conviction in her attitude and voice she'd never had before.

When she finished, she felt as if a piece of her very soul had been returned to her. With tears freely flowing down her face, she closed the lid to the Pianola.

"That was the most incredible thing I've ever heard," Palma whispered, tears running down her own cheeks as she stood at the opposite end of the Pianola.

"I'm sorry," Cyndy stood, wiping the tears from her own eyes before clasping her hands behind her back as if she were a naughty child caught doing something she shouldn't. "I shouldn't have played it without asking."

"Ancestors, Cyndy, why would you think that?" Jacinda asked.

"Because... well I mean I could have damaged it or something."

"Cyndy," Palma moved closer to her, "that Pianola has been in my husband's family for hundreds of cycles. It's a treasured family heirloom that my husband plays daily, and in all the cycles we've been wed, I've
never
heard a more beautiful sound come from it."

"I... thank you. I still shouldn't have..."

"Done something you loved? Something that made you feel whole?" Jacinda asked.

"How could you possibly have known that?"

"Because I
heard
it, Cyndy. In your voice. My ancestors, if this is you singing not as well as you used to then, I can't imagine what you sounded like before. It must have been like hearing the universe sing."

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

"What do you mean she's not in the Palace?" Jotham demanded surging to his feet. He and William had just finished up a two-hour comm with Lucas. The Guardian had been sent to investigate the explosion on Nuga, as they were the closest ship to the planet. It had been the largest loss of life on the planet since the Regulians had attacked back in 49 and they all wanted answers.

"I'm sorry, Majesty," Deffand spoke. "I was only just informed she had left the Palace. Apparently, the order regarding her security level wasn't immediately relayed to the Palace guard. When she requested a limisin, one was issued."

"Jotham," William spoke up. "She will be alright."

"I might add, High Admiral, that she left with Princess Cyndy."

"What!" Now William surged to his feet. "With no Royal guards?!!"

"Two Palace guards accompanied them."

"Where did they go?" William demanded.

"The guards reported that they went directly to Palma Metaxas' residence."

"Hadar!" William roared.

"Yes, High Admiral!" Hadar came rushing into the office.

"Have my limisin brought around immediately. Tell Paa I want two more filled with Royal Guards."

"Yes, High Admiral!" Hadar hurried away to follow his orders.

"If Cassandra finds out about this, there will be hell to pay," William muttered, looking at Jotham. "What was Jacinda thinking taking Cyndy outside the Palace walls?"

Jotham bristled at the condemnation in his friend’s gaze. "First of all, why shouldn't Cyndy be allowed outside the Palace walls, and second, why is Cassandra treating Jacinda this way!"

"Jotham..."

"Don't use that tone on me, Will. Cassandra spoke to Jacinda as if she were the enemy as if she were someone to suspect."

"The same way you treated Cassandra when you first met her?"

"Are you saying this is some kind of payback?"

"NO! I'm just saying the situations are similar. You are someone Cassandra greatly cares about and respects. She knows you've been hurt in the past and doesn't want it to happen again. And Jotham, we both know the lengths she will go to protect those she loves."

"I don't need protection from Jacinda. What I need is for my friends to accept that she is in my life."

"Give her some time, Jotham. Cassandra doesn't know Jacinda the way we do, she doesn't know that she has had struggles of her own. You know, I hate to admit it, but I'm almost afraid of what will happen when those two becomes friends. Can you imagine?"

Jotham looked at his friend thoughtfully. Jacinda had always been a confident and powerful woman in his Assembly. He knew she and Evadne
Terwilliger, as wives of the longest-serving Assemblymen, had seen to many of the duties Lata would have performed, had she lived, when especially important events occurred within the House of Protection. What would she do if she had complete authority?

"They will change our world," he found himself whispering, then smiled. "I can't wait."

"King Jotham," Deffand's words drew his attention.

"What is it?"

"I was just informed that Madame Michelakakis and Princess Cyndy have left the Metaxas residence and are returning to the Palace."

"Hadar!" William shouted again.

"High Admiral, your limisin is currently pulling up."

"Cancel it. King Jotham and I will be heading to meet the returning limisin."

"Yes, High Admiral."

Chapter Twenty-One

Jacinda and Cyndy were laughing as they walked through the corridors of the House of Knowledge.

"Oh, that was wonderful, Jacinda. Thank you so much!" Cyndy hugged her new friend.

"I didn't do anything but introduce you to my sister, Cyndy." Jacinda smiled as she returned the hug.

"Whose husband just happens to be the Director of the Arts for the House of Knowledge!"

"Sometimes, the ancestors decide to smile on us." And did they ever today, Jacinda thought.

Arm-in-arm, they turned the last corner putting them just outside the guarded doors of the Queen's Wing. Looking down the corridor, they saw William and Jotham striding toward them, frowns marring both their handsome faces.

"Oh!" The women waited and Jacinda's gaze traveled from William to Jotham wondering what was going on. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes." They said together.

"Peter? Brett?" Cyndy's fingers dug into Jacinda's arm, the fear easily heard in her voice.

"No!" William exclaimed and was instantly at Cyndy's side. "No, Cyndy," he reassured her, his tone a great deal gentler this time. "They are fine. It is you we were worried about."

"Me?" She looked up at him in shock. "Why in the world would you be worried about
me
?"

William couldn't believe the honest surprise he heard in Cyndy’s voice. Did she really believe no one worried about her? Her next words, to his dismay, confirmed it.

"You all leave after first meal. You go and live your lives and I don't see you again until last meal."

"Cyndy..." William started, only to be cut off.

"No one ever asks
me
where I've been. What
I've
been doing. So why ask
now
?"

Jacinda was shocked at the way the tiny woman stood up to the High Admiral. It was the first real spark of anger she'd seen in her. Anger to Jacinda's way of thinking, she had every right to.

"Cyndy, you're still recovering," William said trying to calm her.

"So is Peter. So is Brett. Yet you always ask them about
their
day. Do I really matter so little?"

"Of course not!" William instantly denied.

"Maybe it would be best if we took this conversation somewhere more private," Jotham suggested looking to the guards who were doing their best to not listen. Nodding at them, they opened the doors of the Wing. Putting a hand at the small of Jacinda's back, he guided her into the Wing, giving her a hard look.

Jacinda frowned back. What was Jotham so upset about? They'd taken no more than a few steps into the room, the doors closing behind them when they burst open again and Cassandra stormed into the room, anger flowing off her in waves.

"Tell me I am misinformed!" she demanded, her eyes flying around the room, calming only slightly when they found Cyndy.

"Cassandra..." William tried to calm his wife. Cassandra rarely got enraged, but when she did it was never a good thing.

"Don't you 'Cassandra' me, William! Tell me that this woman," her arm swung out to point at Jacinda. "Did
not
take my sister-in-law outside the Palace walls! That she was stupid enough to take only Palace Guards!"

"
Excuse me,
" Jacinda found her own anger growing. "Just who do you think you are calling me
stupid
, your
Royal
Highness!"

"You!" Cassandra walked right up to the taller Jacinda. "How
dare
you take her outside the walls! How dare you even think about it without asking
permission
!"

"
Permission?
" The Queen's words enraged Jacinda further. "I wasn't aware that
Cyndy
needed your
permission
to do
anything
!"

"You have no idea what she's been through!" Cassandra fired back. "How fragile she is!"

"
Fragile
?" That word exploded from Cyndy, as she shoved a shocked Jacinda aside to stand toe to toe with the much taller Queen. "How
dare
you talk about me as if I wasn't even here, Cassandra! As if I should be allowed no say in my own life!"

"Now, Cyndy," Cassandra’s tone immediately turned placating, which only enraged Cyndy further.

"You might be the
Queen
, Cassandra, but you know
nothing
about what I've been through and do you know
why
?" Cyndy didn't give her a chance to reply. "Because you never
cared
enough to
ask
! To
listen
!
Neither
of you did!" Her gaze turned to the High Admiral, who was listening closely. "You listened to the others, but never once asked
me
! Why? Am I somehow less because I can't train your men!" Her gaze returned to Cassandra. "Or because I'm not as 'teachable' as Brett is? Maybe it would have been better for everyone if I had just died!"

"NO! God, Cyndy! NO! How can you even think that?" Anguish filled Cassandra's face and voice.

"Because that's what your actions say!
Jacinda
is the only one who actually sat down and
talked
to me! She listened, asked questions, and treated me like a living, breathing person with thoughts and feelings of my own. Not like someone that needed to be watched, placated, then patted on the head and sent on her way!" Cyndy angrily wiped away the tears that were streaming down her face. She turned to Jacinda, who stood beside her, silently watching the drama unfold.

"Thank you, Jacinda, for listening, for helping, and for being my first real friend here on Carina. I hope you will continue to be."

"Of course I will be, Cyndy." Jacinda reached out, gently squeezing her arm. "Nothing's happened here that can change that."

"Thank you." After giving Jacinda a quick hug, Cyndy rushed from the room.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Silence echoed through the room after Cyndy's departure, at least until Jacinda rounded on the Queen.

"What in the name of the ancestors is wrong with you?!!" Jacinda found herself nearly trembling with rage. "It's one thing if you want to be condescending and a b’osh to
me
, after all you are a
Queen
and that's what you tend to do!" Jacinda sneered at the title. "But that amazing woman," she pointed to the door Cyndy had just exited through, "is a member of your
family
. Has becoming Queen so warped your mind that you've forgotten that
family
is the most important thing there is in this life?!!"

Jacinda was about to continue when the devastated expression on the Queen's face penetrated her rage. She watched as Cassandra turned to William, who immediately swept her off her feet when she started to crumble to the floor. Giving Jacinda a furious look, he carried Cassandra out of the room, but not before Jacinda heard her whisper.

"What have I done, William?"

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Jotham said nothing as he gripped Jacinda's elbow firmly as he led her from the Queen's Wing to the Royal Wing assigned to them. Deffand and several members of his Royal Guard followed. They would discuss what just happened, but right now he was more concerned about her leaving the Palace without telling him
or
with
the proper security.