"Yes, father?" she sunk to a curtsy in front of him, something he had instructed her to do hoping she would appear more ladylike and would appeal to someone of a higher social standing. He himself had no hope: his stained, torn clothing and unshaven face was a stark contrast to Alikos's clean-cut appearance. His eyes were redder than they should have been, colored by the same alcohol that made his veins protrude.
"We are going home. Now."
"Yes, father," Jak said, the only option she ever had when replying to his demands.
Alikos interjected. "The empress asked that you remain here, Jaklyn."
Jak pleaded to him with her eyes. He ignored her.
"The hell she is."
"The hell she's not. I have orders. It is treason to disobey them."
"The court wouldn't bother to come after Jak. She means nothing to them. She barely means anything to some of us. C'mon, Jak." He gestured to her.
"Jaklyn, it's treason to leave."
She paused, glancing at Alikos's expression one last time. Her heart racing, she almost whispered the response to her father.
"No."
"What?" He stared at her, a bomb about to explode.
"I'm not going with you. If it's treason to leave, I'm staying."
"You are coming with me. I am your father, you do as I say." He grabbed her arm and tugged her toward the door. Though she had braced herself, her torso still staggered at the pull and her feet had to catch up. She tried to pull from his grasp, but her arm was too weak to fight the strength of a determined drunk man.
A hand shot out to grab his forearm. "Let go." Alikos's sword made a metallic sliding sound as he unsheathed it and put it up to her father's neck. "She is staying here, but you are leaving. Let. Go."
The hand eased from Jak's arm, but Alikos's grip lingered for a moment longer. The sword blocked the way between father and daughter, and though he seemed to be calculating whether he could grab her and force her home, he evidently reached the conclusion that he could not overcome the obstacle of Alikos.
He smiled. "Well, when you're done being a whore, Jak, I might let you back home. Might. Just make sure your customer pays you well enough." He gestured toward Alikos before turning his back on his only living daughter and walking toward the door. He opened it, said with a final smirk, "As long as you don't end like your slutty sister did," and left.
"Lovely," she whispered, her thoughts on the reunion that would await her after she finally returned home. She stared straight ahead.
Alikos said nothing for a moment but studied her expression as she brought her hand up and rubbed the spot her father had held her. She forced herself from her reverie to turn and smile faintly at him in silence. She hoped he wouldn't pry, that he would realize this was a conversation best left for the future. This time, he appeased her, even if the expression in his eyes almost asked the questions his mouth would not speak.
Chapter 2
Lack of chores and school seemed to make time pass more slowly than it had while Jak was at home.
It still seemed too short a time before Alikos declared one evening that they were to go to court the next day.
Jak woke up with the sun the following morning, her body already trying to succumb to the nervousness she associated with court. Her mind struggled over what to wear, and with a shudder she realized that regardless of the outfit she decided on, there was no way she could fade into the background. She decided on a dress Alikos had picked up for her and headed downstairs to face the ordeal of breakfast.
"Good morning," he said at the sound of her arrival without turning away from the stove. Some kind of meat sizzled in a pan.
"Morning," she said. The nerves were canceling out her exhaustion and her voice was more chipper than it usually was in the morning.
Alikos flipped over a piece of meat and turned to face her, crossing his arms. And froze.
He scrambled for words and broke his pose.
"I thought you were scared."
She swallowed and leaned over, covering what she could of the outfit with her arms. "I am."
"In case you didn't notice, you decided on a brightly colored dress. That is not usually how people go about avoiding attention."
"I don't have a chance, anyway. I'm going to take a noble to court."
"Even so."
"Would you like me to change?"
"No. I just didn't expect it." He smiled on one side of his mouth, trying to reclaim composure. "It saves me the trouble of trying to convince you a dress is a better choice, though."
"Thanks."
"I didn't want you to freak out too much before today, but I should tell you something before we get to the courtroom so that if you freak out, it's only in front of me and not in front of everyone else too.”
Murder lurked in her eyes.
"I'm sorry. It's not that bad, though. Really, it's not, you can stop glaring at me now. I just think I should forewarn you that the empress has decided that she’ll judge this case instead of the normal official."
"Oh no."
"Like I said, it's not a big deal."
"Alikos! She'll favor her soldier!"
"Then it's even. I'm on your side, remember?"
"It's not your honor though. It's mine and his!"
"Jaklyn, don't worry. It's not as bad as it seems. This doesn't happen that often and we don't have any idea how she'll deal with this. All this means is that she's taken an interest in this specific case."
Right. That's all.
Jak and Alikos walked into the courtroom at the palace. There were a fair number of nobles that sat in seats, and there were ropes on the far side of the room. Jak entered down the aisle, walking toward the ropes. A figure sat on an elaborate chair that communicated importance. The woman wore her red hair in an updo and a dress in the turquoise color of the crown. Her bored eyes surveyed the room.
"The empress, right?" Jak asked Alikos.
"Yes. Curtsey when you approach her."
"Of course," she breathed. She was out of her league here.
When she finally got near the makeshift throne, Jak had to take in deep breaths to ensure that she didn't stumble during her curtsey. She almost didn't manage it. Alikos bowed after her, a perfect execution of the textbook. She wondered where his nerves were but forced herself to remember that it was her and Cadmus in court, not him. It would be easy for him to get over if they lost. She wondered again at his motivations for helping her and then wondered why she was so reluctant to take it at face value.
"Welcome, Phoenix," the empress addressed Alikos. She turned to Jak. "Are you the lady who is pressing charges on this gentleman?" She gestured to Cadmus.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Jak replied. Her ability to keep her voice even amazed her. She thought she saw the empress cringe and wondered if she had already messed up the procedures somehow.
"Phoenix, what is your purpose for accompanying her?" the empress inquired.
"I come to act on her part by testifying against Cadmus, Empress," he responded.
There was no mistaking it: the empress definitely twitched this time. One of her eyebrows also lifted in silent confusion, but her words were only business when she spoke them.
"Very well. Please sit on the bench." The two did as told, walking to the bench on the opposite side from where Cadmus sat. He also looked confused at Alikos's proclamation, but smirked at Jaklyn when they made eye contact. She turned away from her would-be rapist to stare at the empress.
Jak had never been this close to a noblewoman; they spent far too much time at the palace when in the city and the rest of their time at each other's estates. She noted how uncomfortable the empress seemed in the dress with such a large skirt and a top that looked like it was squeezing her very bones. Her hair looked like it had been frozen in place. Certainly this level of discomfort was abnormal for those so wealthy?
"Your Majesty," Cadmus began, and the empress turned a sharp eye to him. "I would like to request a method of tradition. A winner
chosen by battle." He eyed Jaklyn and Alikos. It was obvious he was trying to decide whether he thought he'd be able to beat the soldier.
"Request denied," the empress said almost before he finished talking, cackling. "I will judge the case and choose an appropriate punishment if necessary. Please be seated."
"Thank you, Empress," he said with nonchalance and sat once again.
"Jaklyn, please stand," the empress spoke. Surprised into action, Jak rose. "Are you opposed to the use of a mind mage in this trial?"
"No, Your Majesty."
The empress bid an ancient-looking, dark-skinned woman in bright colors of dress forwards.
"Ezra, welcome to court. Do you swear to pass the words straight from the heads of the people involved in this trial without alterations of any kind, to only pass on information relevant to the case, and to never speak of what you see in them other than this one time required for the unbiased evaluation of the events that occurred?"
"Yes, Minndi."
"Thank you. Please join me." Ezra walked toward the empress and sat in an adjacent chair.
"Jaklyn, I would like you to think back to that day. Start in the morning and walk yourself back through everything that happened. Do not speak out loud, but try to form nearly complete sentences and thoughts in your head."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Jak revisited her memories of that day. She started, as she was told to, in the morning, going through the school day and all its relative unimportance. She resisted the urge to watch Ezra's lips whisper what she heard in Jak's mind into the Empress's ear so she could get in as many details as possible, but she saw the Empress's eyes focus on her face as she remembered her fear from that day. She blacked out in her memory. Then I woke up in Alikos's house. That's all I remember.
It was several moments before the Empress spoke again.
"Alikos," she dropped the usage of his last name, "I would like you to do the same, please."
This time, Jak paid close attention to her reactions as Ezra whispered Alikos's thoughts into her ear. She watched the empress's face shift from indifferent to interested, then to angry. Again, after Ezra's speaking ceased, the Empress took several seconds to process what she had heard.
"Cadmus," she said slowly. She seemed upset already. "Your turn."
He snickered as he began. Ezra's lips moved rapidly, and the Empress's face changed in response to what she was hearing. This time, her face did not remain calm for more than a few moments. Her lips went small, her eyebrows drew her forehead downwards, and her nostrils flared. By the end of his internal talking, she was hyperventilating slightly and was livid. It took her several minutes to control her emotions this time. Cadmus's face went from confident to unsure to scared. This made Jak darkly pleased, and she was glad Ezra would not go into her mind again soon.
The empress stood from the place on her throne and walked out of the room.
Everyone froze. The nobles watching began whispering amongst themselves. Jak wondered what they made of the situation, but her own thoughts were too fragmented for her to make anything out of the bits of conversation she could hear.
"Alikos?"
"Yes, Jak?"
"What's going on?"
"I have no idea."
She had guessed this much from the frozen expression on his face. He was visibly worried for the first time she could remember.
Minutes passed. The sounds from the nobles became louder and more cheerful and laid-back. Jak and Alikos both stared ahead, absorbed in their own worries. Alikos sat still, but Jak shook slightly and rubbed her hands.
The empress walked in a little too fast for dignity's sake. It was odd to see the very woman meant to portray the perfect noble in such a state.
"Jaklyn, Alikos, Cadmus, please rise."
The three did so, anxious to hear what she had to say and to remain out of her rage if it came to that.
"Cadmus, please come to the throne. I declare, with everyone in this court as my witnesses, that you are guilty."
There was an uproar. Cadmus looked as if something had been stolen from him and as if he wanted to scream. The nobles began whispering and there were obvious mixed emotions behind their conversations, even if Jack couldn't make out any of their words. Jak shook more and resisted the urge to laugh in hysterics. Alikos stood and turned to her, holding out his hand to help her up.
"That went well," he said.
Jak stared at him for a second and forced her mouth to form a "thank you" before she made her escape from the room, pounded down a hallway, and started crying. She wasn't sure why.
"Jaklyn," Alikos's voice whispered from the end of the hallway. She refused to turn to face him. He walked to her and kneeled so they were at eye level.
"Jaklyn," he repeated, "it's okay. You're fine. Nothing bad will happen."
She drew her knees closer to her but forced her head to sit on top of them, digging it from the hole she'd had it buried in. She looked at Alikos and held his gaze for as long as she felt she was able before turning them at his feet.
"This… seems wrong," she told him.
"What does?"
"We should not have won that case."
"We were right, Jaklyn."
"That's not the point. Three months ago we wouldn't have had a chance."
"Well, then I suppose it's a good thing it happened now instead. We did nothing wrong. You were attacked, it was taken to court, and justice won."
She looked at him long enough to say, "Justice rarely wins," before she went back to shaking.
"Maybe it should," he told her with sincerity. "Would you like to see what she's going to charge him with? Based on her anger, it looks like it's going to be severe."
"Not… right now. You can go ahead though." She attempted to smile at him. He didn't buy it.
"Let's go back home."
She nodded. "Okay. Sure. Father probably wants me to return." He looked unsure. "Maybe."
"I meant my home. I'm still under orders."
"Oh. That's okay. Let's just get out of here."
"I'll go inform someone that we're taking our leave."
He left. Jak forced herself to get together to at least some extent before he returned. He appeared next to her again after several minutes, looking amused by something. Jak couldn't imagine what.
"The empress took Cadmus into the room behind the courtroom to talk to him about his punishment."
"Oh?"
"I could hear her screaming over the whispering and gossipping of the other nobles in the courtroom."
"Wow." Jak hoped Cadmus wouldn't try to get revenge for this. If it was even a fraction of what he was being dealt now, she wasn't sure she could handle it.
"Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what comes of it," Alikos said.
"It doesn't matter. It's over now."
"This part of it is."
"There's more to it?"
"Not… usually. But I'm suspicious of some things. I have a feeling there's a reason besides the obvious one that Minndi is going off on Cadmus like that."
"Such as?"
"I'm not sure. It's probably not something we should discuss too much here, though. We'll talk about it at home."
"May I hold you to that?"
"Sure. Jaklyn?" he added after looking at her face for a fraction of a second.
"Yes, Alikos?"
"Everything will be okay. Please trust me."
She didn't know how to tell him she couldn't. "I will."
It wasn't until after they were on their way home that she realized he'd been avoiding her nickname. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. For now, though, she decided she didn't care. The worst part of this was over.
Less than a day after the trial, word from the palace came in the form of a messenger for Alikos.
"The empress would like to request that you join her for tea in the palace garden tomorrow three hours past noon. She has a matter of great importance to discuss with both yourself and Jaklyn. She wishes that I also tell you t
hat Jaklyn is not to wander unaccompanied at any time between now and this meeting. That is all."
"Thank you." Alikos handed a few glittering golden coins to the man in turquoise. "Please tell her we will be there at the requested time."
"Very well." The messenger departed.
"I'm not allowed to go outside alone?" Jaklyn asked Alikos almost immediately, confused but not sure whether this bothered her. After the recent events, she had already wondered whether it was a policy that she should adopt.
"Apparently not."
"Do you have the slightest idea what the empress needs to talk to us about?"
"Absolutely not." Her magic read that he was being honest. At least she wasn't the only one in the dark.
"Hmm." She considered the intentions the Empress might have. None of her guesses seemed likely.
"We wouldn't be able to do anything if we knew what she was thinking, you know."
"I know."
"You look scared, Jaklyn."
She almost corrected him, but she stopped herself just in time. She supposed it didn't matter, and he didn't add the same edge to her proper name that he did to her nickname. She couldn't wrap her head around the difference.
"I am," she said.
"Don't be scared. The trial turned out fine."
"I'm just afraid of the unknown. That's all."
"I repeat: Don't be."
She just smiled and looked away before getting absorbed by her thoughts. She didn't notice him leave the room, and he didn’t try to make her.
Chapter 3
Jaklyn put on one of the first things her hands touched the next morning. She was almost too nervous to care what she was wearing, and had she cared, she wouldn't have known what a person wore to have tea with the empress, anyway. She ate her breakfast without speaking to Alikos, though he was in a normal mood.
Nothing seemed to sway his demeanor. He was a perpetual cheery presence. She kind of wanted to smack him, and she wondered whether he had found a charm to keep his spirits up.
The Traitor of Tyiku Page 2