Starfall: A Starstruck Novel (9 page)

That must be when they’d obtained the footage to put together that video I’d been sent. But why had they sent it so soon, risking me finding out the
Luminosity
hadn’t even left yet?
 

Because I’d demanded Rigel be brought to the Palace, I realized. Mr. O discovered I’d done that the evening I was Installed and I’d received that message the very next morning. Almost certainly
not
a coincidence!
 

Again I cursed myself for not being more suspicious from the start. But I didn’t have time now to beat myself up—not when there was so much I still needed to know. “What’s the plan for when Rigel gets to Earth? Did they say?”

She shook her head. “Not to me, other than a mention of you never encountering him again. I’d guess they intend him to live somewhere far removed from any place you might visit, should you ever return to Earth for any reason.”

Oh, I was going to return, all right! On the very next ship, if I could.
 

“The other day, you reported a lot of progress in restoring erased memories. I’ve seen some of the evidence myself.” I tried not to think about how messed up some of those people still were. “Can you send me all the details on how you’ve managed that?”

Now her expression was so pitying it scared me. “Excellency, I’m sure you’d like to think Rigel’s memory can be put back just as it was, but that is extremely unlikely. Certainly, it’s not as simple as informing him of everything he’s forgotten. In fact, we’ve found that method to be rather dangerous to a patient’s mental state, occasionally leading to a psychotic break, as their perceived reality is so at odds with what they’re being told. This is even more likely in Rigel’s case, as actual blocks were put in place to prevent him remembering particular events.”

“Blocks?”

“Yes. It’s a procedure we occasionally use when a person has undergone extreme trauma and wishes to have a particular memory permanently removed. The odds of accessing a memory that has been blocked in such a way are extremely remote, I’m afraid.”

“What kind of blocks? What did you do?”

“Normally, the traumatic memory is overlaid by a different, innocuous one, created for that purpose. There was not time in Rigel’s case to create completely new memories, so actual prior memories were used instead. Memories that were deemed not to be, ah, sensitive in any way.”

Obviously, anything to do with the Grentl would be considered “sensitive.” But did that also mean memories about the special relationship Rigel and I had, like our
graell
bond? Probably. At least they hadn’t stuck in fake memories of him hating me or something. One tiny thing I could be grateful for.

“I’d still like you to send me whatever information you have on possible treatments, no matter how unlikely you think they are to work.” Maybe, if Rigel and I re-bonded…

“Of course. I can send you my files on what has worked best in typical cases, though I’m afraid much of it may not apply to Rigel’s situation—even if you should find a Healer on Earth able or willing to attempt it.”

“Thank you.” I stood. “You’ve been very helpful, Healer Adara. I’ll make certain you suffer no repercussions from those who would have preferred you to keep the truth from me.”

She stood as well, then bowed deeply. “I am ever at your service, Excellency, and apologize again for the part I played in this deception. Please believe that my allegiance is wholeheartedly yours.”

I thanked her again and left, my mind working furiously—in both senses of the word—to figure out what my next step should be.

Though my first instinct was to march straight back to Elana’s room to ream Mr. O for his duplicity, I realized in time how awful that would be for the others. Better to go to the waiting room, like he thought I had. I’d wait for him there…and plan my attack.

Back outside the office, I frowned uncertainly at Cormac. Healer Bowyn was gone, and without him I didn’t know where to go. Maybe this building had a directional system like the Royal Palace’s?
 

“Visitor waiting area,” I said clearly. Sure enough, a blue line immediately appeared on the floor, which soon led me to a soothing blue room with cushy chairs. I’d barely sat down when Sean appeared in the doorway.
 

“Um, Excellency?” He glanced warily at the handful of other people scattered around the room. “Do you want to come meet Elana properly now? She’d like to, so Dad sent me to get you.”

I nodded and got up. Planning would have to wait.

“So? Did you find out what happened?” he whispered as soon as we were alone.

“Yep, and you and Molly aren’t going to like it. Neither will your dad, when I get through with him.”

Sean glanced down at me in alarm. “You’re not going to accuse him in front of Elana, are you?”

“No, though waiting won’t be easy.” I didn’t respond further to his questioning look, just worked, hard, to rein in the fury still seething inside me.

Molly and Mr. O’Gara were sitting on either side of Elana when we reached her room. Though they were both smiling, I sensed sadness, too, that Elana was still clearly far from her normal self. No, I wouldn’t unleash my anger on Mr. O just yet. Soon, though…

“I’m glad to finally meet you, Elana.” I pasted a smile on my face. “Sean and Molly have told me so much about you.”

Elana immediately jumped to her feet and bowed. “Excellency! I’m very happy to meet you, too. Molly has been telling me what good friends you two have become, and I know Sean always—that is—” She glanced uncertainly at Sean. “I mean, it’s wonderful those rumors we believed all those years turned out not to be true.”

My smile came closer to being real. “Thank you. I look forward to becoming friends with you, too.” Not that I planned to stay on Mars long enough for that to happen anytime soon.

With a regretful look at his oldest daughter, Mr. O stood. “We really must be going, Elana. The Sovereign has duties to attend to. But I’m sure we’ll be back to see you soon, and Healer Bowyn says you may be able to join us at the Palace in a month or so, at the rate you’re improving.”

“The Palace?” Elana looked blank for a moment, then smiled. “Oh, are you living at the Palace now? That must be lovely!”

Molly’s strained expression implied they’d already told her that—maybe more than once—but she quickly hid her distress with a smile. “You’ll love it there, Elana, just wait! And we’ll come back soon, okay?”

They all hugged again, then we joined Cormac in the hall to head back to the Palace. Now? Should I say something to Mr. O now? But there were Healers and aides within earshot and I had a feeling once I started, things might escalate into a major scene. Better to wait for someplace a little more private.

The moment we were all in the hover-limo, I took a deep breath and turned to face Mr. O.
 

But before I could say anything, Molly let out a sob. “Oh, poor Elana! Did you see how thin she is? And how she kept spacing out? I mean, they told us to expect that, but still…”

Sean shot me a warning glance as he put an arm around her shoulders. “Hey, they said she’s getting better all the time. But yeah, it’s hard to see her like this. I can’t even imagine what she must have been like at first.”

Mr. O nodded sadly. “It’s possible she may never be what she was before. But she was clearly happy to see us, so we’ll try to spend as much time with her as our schedules—and her Healers—will allow.” If it weren’t for what he’d done to Rigel—and me—I might almost have felt sorry for him.
 

Impatient as I was to lambast Mr. O for his perfidy, I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it while they were all still so emotional about Elana and her condition. Staring out the window as Cormac drove us back to Thiaraway, I went over everything Healer Adara had told me, fitting together more pieces of the puzzle and getting madder and madder. By the time we reached the Palace, I was ready to explode.
 

Sean must have sensed that, because he put a hand on my arm as we were getting out of the limo. “Not yet,” he murmured so softly the others couldn’t hear. “I need to talk to you first.”

I sent him an angry glance, ready to argue, but the urgency in his blue eyes made me hesitate. “Better be soon, then,” I muttered. Not trusting myself to even look at Mr. O, I headed straight for the Royal wing, walking so quickly Molly had to trot to keep up.
 

“Are you okay?” she asked as I palmed open the ornate double doors of my apartment.

“No.” I glanced over my shoulder and saw Sean and Cormac, but not Mr. O.
 

As soon as we were inside, Sean confirmed that was his doing. “I told Dad that Molly and I needed a little more time. So? What did you find out? You’re obviously pretty pissed at Dad.”

I gave a humorless laugh. “You might say that. Turns out the whole thing was his idea.”

Molly’s gray eyes went wide and horrified. “What? Are you sure? What did Dad do?”

“Conspired with Devyn, Nels, Gordon and Morag Teague to have Rigel’s memory wiped and to pretend it was all Rigel’s idea. This was before I was even Acclaimed, right after that memory extraction. Then he bullied Healer Adara into going along with it and swore her to secrecy. Rigel is on his way to Earth in a
coma
right now! And when he wakes up he won’t remember me, or Jewel or anything. They even put
extra
blocks on his memories of me so they can’t be restored.” A tear escaped from the corner of my eye to trickle down the side of my face.

Though Molly looked stricken, still not wanting to believe, Sean’s expression hardened. “I was afraid that was it. The way Dad acted after I told him about that video… But why take the risk of you figuring out the truth by sending it so soon, when Rigel wasn’t even off-planet yet?”

“Because I ordered Rigel’s grandmother to bring him to the Palace. Remember? Your dad saw Morag Teague’s message promising she’d have him here by noon the next day, and he definitely wasn’t happy. And the very next morning I got that fake video. He must have called Devyn or Gordon and told them to send it right away. Maybe if they’d had more time, they’d have been able to make it even
more
realistic, who knows?”

Sean’s mouth compressed into a grim line. “No wonder Dad’s been keeping you so crazy busy these past few days. He was probably afraid you’d find out the
Luminosity
hadn’t left yet or pick up on other clues if you had time to think it through and go digging.”

“Yeah, he claimed it was to keep my mind off of Rigel.” I snorted. “Which was true, just not the way I thought.” Bile rose into my throat again at the depth of Mr. O’s duplicity. “He might have kept me from finding out the truth until it was too late to stop them, but I can still make them pay for what they did. And then I’m going after Rigel, no matter what they say!” I headed for the vidscreen, to summon Mr. O to face my wrath.

“Wait, M.” Sean spoke urgently. “Think. What’s the most important thing?”

“Getting back to Earth. Getting to Rigel. Doing whatever I can to…to fix what they did to him!”

“Is it really? What about the Grentl coming? What do you think Dad and the others will do if you announce you’re leaving, while that’s still hanging over everyone’s heads?”

I glared at him, my hand on the vid control. “They won’t be in any position to do anything! I’m the Sovereign. I can have them all locked up for…for treason or something.”

“Without a trial or anything? Think who you’re dealing with—Nels Murdoch, who was Interim Governor until last week, Devyn, who was your main rival for leadership of Nuath, and my dad, who’s generally regarded as a hero, who’s always been known for putting the good of Nuath ahead of everything else.”

“Do you really think
this
was for the good of Nuath? Why should I even listen to you?” I flared, my rage at Mr. O—and myself—spilling over onto Sean now. “You had a chance to stop this, remember? You
knew
that video was fake and never said a word!”

“And I’m really sorry, okay?
Super
sorry.” His blue eyes blazed into mine. “I swear I’m not making excuses for my dad, because there aren’t any. He screwed up big time. I saw what that video did to you. If you hadn’t been able to pull yourself together to contact the Grentl, a quarter of a million people would be dead now and it would be his fault.”

“Then why—?”

“Stop and think for a minute, M! If you’re not careful, you could make things even worse for Rigel and maybe for you, too. What’s to keep them from sending word ahead so Rigel never wakes up from that coma, huh? Or banding together to have you declared incompetent or unbalanced or something. You haven’t named a Regent yet, so it wouldn’t be hard for them to convince the people one of them should take over, at least until the Healers can ‘evaluate’ you.”

I stared at him, breathing hard, as his urgency finally penetrated my anger. “But…” I looked over at Molly, who now had tears running down her cheeks. “What do you think I should do? I can’t just let them…let them…”

“No, you can’t. You won’t.
We
won’t. But we need a plan.”

He was right, much as I didn’t want to admit it. My first priority had to be protecting Rigel until I could get to him. “In that fake video, Rigel said he was bringing along a letter asking his parents to move away from Jewel, but who knows what it really says? Maybe orders for them to go into hiding or worse. I need to send a message right away, before Rigel gets to Earth. And I know just who to send it to!”
 

There was only one person on Earth I could think of who was both influential enough and trustworthy enough to help me. Turning back to the vidscreen, I opened the secure channel Leontine had shown me how to create. “Message to Shim Stuart, Earth, highest security setting.”

*
   
*
   
*

Once I’d sent my message to Shim explaining everything that had happened and begging him to keep Rigel safe in Jewel until I could get there, I felt a little better. If anyone could protect Rigel, Shim could.

For good measure, I also sent a secure message to Rigel’s parents, telling them that no matter what that letter or anyone else said, under no circumstances were they or Rigel to move away from Jewel before I got there, adding that Shim could give them the details.