The Mandate of Heaven (36 page)

“You’re lying.  Jealous of what he’s achieved, surpassing even your own accomplishments.”

“Such a vocal defence of a person—one that you don’t even know the name of.”

“I know his name,” Jessica challenged brashly, but inside felt unsure.  “Lord Alex Greystone.”

“Rubbish, Alex is no more a Lord than I, just an assumed title, probably one he summoned from thin air.”

“Impossible,” Jessica snapped, confident of at least this one thing.  “I grew up in my father’s court, surrounded by Lords and Ladies of every station.  Alex is arrogant, insufferable, overbearing and has an over-inflated sense of his own self-importance, of course he’s a Lord, what else could he be?”

“Still, you don’t even know his real name.  He won’t tell you and do you know why not?  Because there is power in knowing a person’s true name.  It gives you a hold over them that they can never break, it reveals something of their inner self.  That is why Alex hides it from you, he doesn’t want you knowing who he really is.”

“Fine, and who is he, really?”

“I’ve already told you, he is little, frightened, Alex Grey, but you don’t recognise him, do you?” At this Granville gave her a long, quizzical stare, as if trying to plumb her depths for the truth.  “You really don’t know who he is, do you?  A name that strikes fear into Lords and Ladies alike, who is despised and hated by them all, yet is considered a hero by almost everybody else.  My what a truly sheltered life you’ve lived, then let me enlighten you as to his full name, see if it jogs your memory:

Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Grey, Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion, 104th Space Marine Regiment, serving under High-Lord William
Stanton
.”

Jessica could only stare in mute horror.  It was like a veil had been lifted from her sight and all the little pieces suddenly seemed to click together, to become one encompassing picture—and it was one of bloody horror.

There couldn’t be a person alive, over the age of ten, that hadn’t heard of Alexander Grey.  He was a monster, a larger than life demon that mothers warned their children about, in hushed whispers, late at night when the candles began to flicker low—do as I say, or Colonel Grey will come for you.  He had led a bloody rebellion, an uprising, against High-Lord Stanton.  There were revolts that had happened in the past, and likely others would try in the future, but none had ever come as close to succeeding as Colonel Grey.  The only reason that he had come so close, where so many others had failed, was because of his monstrous brutality.  Thousands had died; men, women and children.  All were given the same ultimatum, join him in his crusade, or die.  For seven days and seven nights, the streets of Capella had run red, with rivers of blood.  In the end he had been defeated, caught and sentenced for his crimes.  His life spared only by the leniency of High-Lord Stanton, who’d commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Instead they had found the deepest, darkest pit for him and there, alone, chained to the wall, they had left him to rot.

Jessica only just made it to the corner of the room, before she retched.  With eyes closed, she remembered all the times that she’d allowed him to touch her.  How many times she’d instigated the contact, how he’d made her feel, like she was on fire, and he alone was able to quench the burning flames.

She dry-heaved again, from the memories alone.

“So much for your brave and honourable knight,” Granville said grimly, as he poured her a glass of water.  “You see Alex is just using you, like he’s used everybody else and once he no longer has a need for you, you’ll be discarded like the rest.”

“But why?” Jessica croaked.  “What could he possibly want from me?”

“You? Nothing,” Granville said sadly, shaking his head.  “He wants nothing more from you, beyond what he’s already taken.  It’s never been about you.  It’s always been about Stanton and to bring him here.  You see on Capella, Stanton is surrounded by an army, where he’s virtually untouchable, so Alex needed to draw him out.  You see Alex plans to finish what he started all those years ago, he’s bringing Stanton here—to kill him.”

*****

Over the years Alex had experienced the full gamut of emotions, from complete happiness to utter despair, but never doubt.  For doubt lies somewhere between belief and disbelief, and Alex had always believed that one day he and Stanton would meet again and, on that day, either one, or both of them, would die.

It was a belief which had sustained him throughout his long incarceration but, in the past few days, he’d found that belief to be wavering.  He could never escape from the mistakes of his past, this he knew with absolute certainty yet, for the first time ever, he considered the possibility of moving on.  Starting a new life where nobody knew of his past, and probably cared even less.  For perhaps Abercrombie and Sanderson had the right of it, that an angel had fallen from the heavens, straight into his lap and he shouldn’t be so quick to discard it.  Now, all he had to do was to convince her of that.  He knew that Jessica had some financial troubles, that much was plainly obvious, still he was now a man not entirely without means…

Stepping into their room, without knocking, after all it wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen it all before, he came to an abrupt halt.  He had been very, very, wrong, when he thought that he’d seen it all before, as he’d obviously seen nothing of the sort.  Jessica had her back to him, admiring her reflection in a full length mirror, obviously brought in for that exact purpose.  She was wearing an absolutely stunning white silk dress, which was perfectly chosen because it offset her ebony hair, while beautifully matching her flawless white skin.  She had obviously taken great care preparing her hair with ivory combs so that the loose strands around her face softened her features with their casual disarray.  She wore silk stockings, white silk slippers, but not any jewellery, except for tiny pearl studs in her ears.  She didn’t look like any high-born lady that he had ever seen, but instead a princess, straight from the pages of a book of fairy tales.

He was about to comment as such, but the words caught in his throat and all he could do was stare.  In that moment the decision was made for him, he didn’t know which gods to thank for delivering her to him, all he knew was that he couldn’t let her go.  There was no reason why together they couldn’t just walk away from this, go home and make a new life, a future—

She looked up, obviously alerted to his presence by the opening door and their gazes met in the mirror.  All of his hopes and dreams instantly turned to ashes, only to be scattered to the four corners of the universe by the solar winds.  It wasn’t that he didn’t recognise her expression, as he was intimately familiar with it.  A mixture of disgust, despair, sorrow and anger.  He’d seen that look on countless faces before, but never on hers, and he knew with absolute certainty that she knew everything.

“You look ravishing,” he said flippantly, to cover his surprise. “I like what you’ve done with your hair, but did I miss the party invitation?  I’m going to have to have words with Sanderson about that.”

“Granville supplied the dress, something about looking the part.”

“Granville, I see,” Alex mused out loud.  “I’ll need to discuss that with him and come up with some form of suitable payment.  Anyway, I’ve just been informed that your father’s frigate has arrived, he’s currently taking a shuttle over and should be here shortly.”

“Good.  I’m looking forward to seeing him again and accompanying him back home.”

“That’s not the only reason I came,” Alex began hesitantly.  “I wanted to offer you an, alternative.”

“Alternative?” she asked distractedly, glancing away from the mirrored glass.

Alex bit back a curse, wishing she would turn around and face him, having no desire to have this conversation with her back to him.  “Yes, an alternative.  I know that you have no desire to marry Stanton, so forget about him.  Come with me instead.”

“Just forget him?” Jessica laughed, but there was no humour in her voice, only hurt.  “You mean like you already have?  As you only mentioned that my father has arrived, but nothing of High-Lord Stanton, he said—”

“You’ve spoken to him?” Alex interrupted sharply.

“Oh yes,” she replied frankly.  “He made it clear that he now considers me family.  That’s what it means to care for another, to protect them, remember?  But perhaps you left something out, for if you care about somebody you should be honest with them, don’t you agree?”

“Yes,” he replied helplessly, as he could already feel her slowly, but surely, slipping away from him.

“Then true, or false.  Your real purpose was to bring High-Lord Stanton here.”

“True.”

“You intend to kill him?”

For a moment, he didn’t respond then, very quietly, he said, “True.”

“True or false?” she carried on softly.  “You never cared for me at all, I was only a means to an end to get High-Lord Stanton here?”

“Absolutely false, Jessica, I—”

“Oh, Alex,” she said.  “If you’ve never lied to me before.  Why start now?”

“Jessica, I’m not lying to you.  I admit that it was originally my intent, but—”

“Just tell me one thing, all those terrible things they say about you, are they true?”

“What things?”

“That you led an uprising against High-Lord Stanton, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of innocent men, women and children?”

Alex remained silent.

“That’s what I thought,” she replied sadly.  “So the answer to your question is no.  I won’t go with you.  It’s time that I grew up and accept what duty demands of me, namely to marry High-Lord Stanton and save my family.”

“Fine,” Alex retorted bitterly.  “Go with your father.  I promised that you would be returned to him safe and well, but don’t marry Stanton.  Anybody but him.  Go and find some other rich and titled Lord, god only knows there must be enough of them.  Have him solve your money worries.  Just stay away from Stanton, he is dangerous, in ways you couldn’t possibly imagine.”

“Money worries?” Jessica laughed violently.  “Money worries are for some labourer worried that he won’t have enough to tide him over until his next pay cheque.  My family owes one point two
trillion
to our creditors.  Stanton has agreed to cover the debit in its entirety, once our families are joined.”

“One point two
trillion
?” Alex replied, appalled.  If it helped her reconsider marrying Stanton, he had been prepared to offer her the money from the sale of the necklace.  But that amount of money wouldn’t have covered the interest on that debt for more than a few hours.  “How can that be possible?  Your father is renowned for being fiscally conservative, he doesn’t gamble, has no known vices.  The Hadley Corporation is one of the oldest and most powerful.  It is also the number one supplier of Alcubierre drives.  The profits from that alone must total seventy billion this quarter.”

“I don’t know all the details, only my father does,” Jessica sighed.  “All I know is that several new business ventures failed recently and, desperate to cover the losses, he invested in other even more riskier ones.  When those failed too, he didn’t have the capital to service the remaining debt.  You were not far wrong when you said that High-Lord Stanton outbid the others, he is my family’s last hope.  I really have no other choice but to marry him.”

“There must be some other way?”

“There isn’t.  At the moment my family is putting on a façade that we have no money problems, for if even a hint of a rumour of our financial plight started, our creditors would demand early repayment of the debt and we would be ruined.  I can’t allow you to harm Stanton, he’s all that stands between my family and ruin.  I’ll do anything in my power to stop you, even kill you, if that’s what it takes.”

“I understand,” Alex sighed resignedly.  “I never had a family, but I do comprehend, better than most, the depths that a person would go to, to protect the ones that they love.  I’m glad that I had the opportunity to get to know you, I would have spent the rest of my life regretting not have.  I would, however, like to offer you a parting gift, one that you can remember me by.  While it cannot match the finery of your new clothes, at least it will compliment them.”  With a flourish he presented her the oak carved jewellery box that Angela had given him, opening it to display the pale blue pearl necklace.

“It’s beautiful,” Jessica gasped.  “What are they?”

“Al-Keishi pearls,” Alex replied.  “Yes, the very same I asked your father for, but these are far more inferior in quality, as you can see from the bluish colouring.  Still, Al-Keishi pearls are special, because if you hold them tight and wish real hard, they can make your dreams come true.”

At Jessica’s doubtful expression, Alex smiled, slipping the necklace around her bare throat, tightening the clasp, before taking her hands and putting them around the necklace.  With a boyish grin, he placed his hands over hers, before closing his eyes and breathing heavily as if wishing real hard.  Opening his eyes, he glanced down at the necklace and smiled again, before turning her around, so she was once again facing the mirror.

Her gasp of surprise, and the expression on her face as she observed the pearls glowing a bright sapphire-blue, was beatific.

“Al-Keishi pearls are nature’s most perfect energy converters.  So flawless in fact that Professor Alcubierre spent years trying to use them as the focusing crystals in our fusion pistols.  They can take any form of energy; chemical, electrical, thermal, simply anything and convert it into light.”