by Jade Kerrion
Yes. No. I’m not ready. “I’ll see him for a few minutes after dinner.”
“As you wish, Lady Meira. Should I send for a servant to show you to your room?”
“I know the way.” Or at least she thought she did. It was possible to get lost in the palace, though mercifully, her memory had not faded. She traveled down familiar corridors, walking on exotic, hand-woven carpets laid over polished wooden floorboards. Priceless antiques and works of art were displayed on black marble pedestals, always to their best effect. Jem rolled her eyes, irritated by the luxury that had surrounded her from birth. It’s like living in a museum.
Ten minutes later, back in her extensive suite, Jem curled in a chair in front of the fireplace. The few clothes she had brought with her had been unpacked and hung in the closet. Her electronics were set in precise rows on the ancient desk that had belonged to an illustrious ancestor. She desperately wanted to be back at the university. She wanted the solace of her tiny student apartment where memories and belongings were untainted by a painful past.
Rio had offered to come home with her. In a rash moment of misplaced bravery, she had said “no.” Now, she wished she had taken the coward’s way out and dragged him along. She wanted familiar faces around her; Rio’s warm grin, Kav’s bright smile, Kir’s cynical one, her father’s face before the sickness had claimed his body and mind—
It’s just five days. I can do this. And if I need to, I can always head back sooner.
“Lady Meira.”
She looked up at the lean, haggard man standing deferentially outside the door of her suite. “Yes, Jeva?”
“I beg your pardon for disturbing you.”
“No, it’s fine. What is it?”
Jeva Tahak was the manager of her father’s substantial assets and her father’s most trusted friend, but like her father, he was growing old. “I am conducting interviews in the next few days. I am seeking an associate whom I can train to eventually take over this role. Given the importance of this role, would you like to meet the candidates too?”
“Not particularly.”
“Lady Meira, eventually this person will be working for you.”
She smiled faintly at the admonishment in Jeva’s voice. It was amazing how he could still make her feel like a peevish teenager. “All right, Jeva. I’ll meet them too.”
“Excellent, Lady Meira. I will have the interview schedules sent to your personal device.”
“Jeva, can you call me ‘Jem’?”
He paused by the door. Slowly, he turned to look at her. A sad smile curved his lips. “Jem, it’s well past time for you to accept that you’re Lady Meira—lady of Sylvania and heir to the Etherian quadrant.”
Heir? She was an undergraduate student fumbling her way to a degree in Biology and Philosophy and screwing up a world simulation in the process.
With her track record, she probably shouldn’t even go near a planet.
Jeva smiled kindly, as if he had sensed her overwhelming insecurity. “You’ll do just fine, Jem. You have a good heart and the best intentions. On most days, people need those more than anything else.”
Later that evening, after an exquisite meal that she hardly tasted, Jem returned to her father’s suite. Standing by the door, she inhaled deeply and prayed that her voice would hold steady. “Hello, Father.”
He turned his head to her. On the bed, his hand moved weakly. “Livia.”
She fixed a smile on her face as she walked to the bed. “How are you?”
“Glad to see you, Liv. So glad.” He wheezed. His smile should have been ghastly in his skull-shaped head, but in that wide and lovely smile, she caught a glimpse of his former self.
It made it easier to sit down beside him. Gently, she touched his hand. His skin felt paper-thin; his hand was cold. His fingers closed weakly around hers.
“I have something to tell you, Father. Rio Loren proposed to me, and I accepted.”
He smiled. “Good. Good. He promised to take good care of my baby girl.”
“He…he promised?”
“Rio. He came to see me months ago. Said he wanted to marry you. Asked for permission.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know that.”
“Promised he would take good care of you.”
She blessed Rio for his thoughtfulness and courage. Afraid that her father would disapprove, she had delayed telling him the news of her engagement. Rio came from money, but he was not titled. His family had made their wealth in intergalactic trade, but she had been afraid that it would not be enough for the aristocratic Meiras. She did not want to hear that Rio—the first and only man who had fallen in love with Jem Moran before he had known that she was Livia Jemeran Meira—was not good enough for her family.
“When will you get married?” her father asked.
“We haven’t picked a date yet. Rio’s headed to the Academy next year and…”
“Would like to be there, if I can. See you on your wedding day.”
“We…we’ll try. I’ll talk to Rio and see what we can do to bring the date up.”
He nodded. “Good.” His head sank back into his pillows. His eyes fluttered closed.
Her father’s valet stepped up to her. “I think he’s tired, Lady Meira. Would you like to come back and see him again tomorrow morning?”
She pushed to her feet. “Yes, I’d like that. Will you let me know whenever he’s awake?”
Jem made it back to her room without breaking down, but behind the privacy of closed doors, the deep ache in her heart drove tears to her eyes. She wept long and hard until sleep finally claimed her.
The next day was too packed with public appointments to offer any private time for tears. The sun was low in the sky when Jem strode out of the conference room, her heels clicking sharply against the black marble tiles imported from Carrara.
“Lady Meira?” Jeva walked out of his office and carefully closed the door behind him.
“I’m done, Jeva.”
“There is one final interview today.”
Jem spun around, her eyes narrowed. “Jeva, the interviews thus far have been an unmitigated disaster. I’m no judge of their financial acumen, but every single one of the candidates makes my skin creep.”
“How so, my Lady?”
“Every damn one of them is looking at me and thinking ‘maybe I can marry the heiress.’ Well, I’m not interested in mercenaries, and besides, I’m engaged…” She held up her bejeweled right hand to Jeva. “To a guy who fell in love with me before he learned who I really was.”
“Congratulations,” Jeva murmured.
“Thank you,” Jem snapped. “I suggest you find more candidates. These all suck.”
“Would that be your professional assessment of them?”
“That’s my personal assessment of them.”
“Would you be interested in speaking to the final candidate today, or should I send him home?”
“Just send him home. I’m going to rest before dinner. I have a headache the size of Kalypso.”
She turned and stalked off to her suite, but froze in her tracks when she heard a familiar voice come from behind her. “I understand. Thank you for your time.”
She spun around, returned to the administrative wing of the palace, and walked through the open door of Jeva’s office. “Kir?”
Kir Davos looked up, staring at her blankly.
Oh, she had forgotten. She activated the image enhancer and waited as the long waves of her auburn hair phase-shifted into a spiky cap of dark hair. Light swirled in front of her eyes. She did not need to look into a mirror to know that her features were transforming subtly; the color of her irises from green to brown; her straight nose into a cute snub; the sharp slice of her cheekbones softening, her angular features gentling, transforming into a face he would recognize.
“Jem? What are you doing here?” Something passed over his face. “Livia Jemeran Meira?”
“Kir Davos, this is Lady Meira.” Jeva Tahak stepped flu
idly into the suddenly awkward silence. “I gather you already know each other.”
“Kir and I are partners in the world simulation program,” she explained. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “Job interviews.”
She blinked. “Ah. How are they going?”
“I was just informed that my candidacy would not be pursued at this time.”
“Oh.” She flushed. “Would you like to stay for dinner?”
He arched an eyebrow. She looked away flustered and then back at him when she heard his familiar, low chuckle. The damn boy was still teasing her. “Thank you for the kind offer,” he said, “But I need to get back to Kav.”
“Would you like to bring Kav over tomorrow, if you have nothing else to do? There’s lots he can do around here.”
Kir hesitated briefly and then said, “Sure. I think he’d like that.” He inclined his head to Jeva. “Once again, thank you for your time. Jem, we’ll see you tomorrow.”
A waiting servant escorted him out. Jem watched him leave and then turned to Jeva. “Hire him.”
Jeva nodded as he stepped away from his astral workstation. “I guessed as much. I have just asked the lawyers to prepare the employment paperwork. It’ll be ready for him when he returns tomorrow.”
“Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Is this your house, Jem? I’ve never been to a house on the ground before. I’ve only seen houses on anti-grav platforms. This house is super huge!”
Jem laughed. Her disguise, the face she had worn for four years while at university, felt comfortable. “Yes, it is, Kav. Did you want to see all of it, or go outside to play?”
“I want to go outside. Is that garden real, Jem?”
“Yes, the gardens are real. Come on!” She grabbed his hand. “Let’s go see them.”
Kav raced out of the patio doors ahead of her. He kicked off his shoes and scrambled barefooted through the grass.
Kir and Jem followed behind him. “Thanks for inviting us over,” Kir said. “There aren’t many natural parks near the university.”
“I thought he’d have some fun out here.”
“He is,” Kir said, smiling faintly. He was briefly silent, and then he asked the question she had been bracing for. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want it to matter.”
“How could something like that not matter? Here I am, trying to incite galactic empires to war in our simulation, and you’re practically the empress of our galaxy.”
“I’m not an empress. My father’s in charge, technically. Anyway, the planets mostly run themselves, which is fortunate since it’s obvious that I don’t have a talent for planetary management. I’m too busy making circles in crop fields, poisoning rivers with my blood, stuff like that.”
Kir chuckled. “Come on. We have had better days.”
“Some,” she conceded.
“At least it explains your compulsive need to feel like you have a handle on things. I’d be nervous too if I thought an entire quadrant of a galaxy was counting on me to make the right decisions. Do the professors know?”
“Most of them do. Professor Ptera does.”
“I’m surprised the Academy won’t accept you outright, undergraduate or no. Given who you are, you could get in easily.”
She kicked at the grass. “I wanted to get in on my own merits. Winning the simulation would have provided some assurance of it.”
“Does Rio know?”
“Yes, he does. He needed a week and a half to get over his shock when he learned that he’d been dating galactic aristocracy.”
Kir laughed softly. “How long ago was that?”
“We dated for six months before I finally told him. That was a year ago.”
“Do his parents know?”
“Not yet. We figured we’d tell them at the wedding. They don’t like Jem Moran very much. They don’t think I’m good enough for him.”
“It’s why you use the image enhancer, isn’t it? You want to know what’s real, and what’s not.”
She shrugged. “I think I have a right to know who my real friends are.”
“Fair enough.”
Jem paused for a moment to watch Kav romp through the grass. She did not look at Kir when she said, “I’d like you to take the job.”
“The job that’s going to ultimately involve managing your family’s assets?”
“Yes. Jeva is my father’s chief-of-staff. There is no man we trust more. He has been keeping things running for the past three years ever since my father was poisoned.”
“I read about that,” he said quietly. “Your stepmother tried to poison you too.”
Jem swallowed hard. On a bad day, she could still recall the chill that had clawed at her from within. She could still see the terror on her father’s face when he realized that he was dying and that his daughter, his heir, was dying too. In the end, Jeva had saved their lives. He had found them, choking in their own blood, and had called the physicians in time. She was young and healthy, and had recovered completely, but her father’s health had been permanently affected.
“The Etherian tribunal found my stepmother guilty,” she said quietly. “She was executed within three months of the poisoning, but my stepbrother, Zekon, escaped.”
Kir shrugged. “If you’re not making enemies, you’re probably not doing your job right. So, why do you want me to take this job? Compared to others, I don’t have the credentials for it.”
“I trust you. That’s all I need. The rest of it you’ll learn along the way. Jeva will teach you all you need to know. Please, Kir? You can live here. Kav, too.”
His smile was gentle. “Are you trying to do me a favor, Jem?”
“No, Kir, I’m not. You’ll earn your salary, believe me, you will, but you’ll be doing me a huge favor.”
“Are you so short on people you can trust?”
“Yes. I am.”
He was silent. “I’m sorry you can’t find people to trust, Jem. Your stepmother probably didn’t do you any favors.”
“Oh, I’m sure I had issues long before she came into the picture.”
He reached out and tucked a stray strand of brown hair behind her ear. “It’s a lonely way to live.”
Jem resisted the urge to flinch from the intimacy of his touch. “I have Rio now, and you and Kav.”
“That’s a disturbingly short list.”
“My father says you only need a few good people.”
“He’s probably right.”
“So, you’ll take the job?”
“Yes, I will, Jem. Thank you.” He extended his hand to her.
She reached out and grasped his hand, but he did not give it a hearty handshake. Instead, he raised her hand and brushed his lips against the back of her knuckles. It was the standard acknowledgement of galactic aristocracy, but it felt different coming from Kir. She bit down on her lower lip, and tugged away as soon as she could politely manage, all the while fighting the odd feelings that curled in the pit of her stomach.
Jem, Kir, and Kav spent most of the day outdoors, romping through the orchards, and then prowling through the domed arboretums and the indoor gardens that flourished in an eternal summer. They ate exquisite meals over an ornate table in a sun-drenched dining room, and spent the evening reading in front of a blazing fire in a library.
Kav eventually fell asleep on the couch. Jem gently drew a warm blanket over him and then joined Kir, who was studying the portraits that adorned the wall on the far side of the library.
“I’m guessing these are your real looks?” Kir asked, looking up at a portrait of a young woman who, in Jem’s opinion, looked like an alabaster statue with red hair.
Jem looked up at it too. “Yes.”
“You look like a real lady in that picture.”
She glared at him. “I’m not sure I appreciate the flip side of what you’re saying.”
He laughed softly. “I like you—both of you. One’s a lovely young woman, and the other is the best f
riend I’ve had in the past year. Now that I know who you are, I can barely get over the fact that you’ve babysat Kav for weeks on end.”
She tensed. “I like Kav. He reminds me of my half-brother.”
“Your half-brother?” Kir’s eyes narrowed sharply. “Lukas, the little boy that your stepmother bore to your father? The news reports say he’s dead.”
She shook his head. “He’s not. He was only two when his mother tried to poison us. My father was so furious, he disowned Lukas and had him sent away.”
“So he’s about five now? Kav’s age?”
“Yes, about that.”
“Where is he now?”
She looked away, biting down on her lower lip.
“Jem, you know where he is, don’t you?”
The truth came out in a rush. “I arranged for him to be fostered by a good family. My father doesn’t know. He can’t know.”
“Does Jeva know?”
“No. No one does, except you. Not even Rio.”
“Why not?”
“Because Lukas is anathema. He’s the son of a Class Five criminal. Rio wants to be a galactic governor someday. He’s not going to want Lukas on his extended family record.”
“I think you are underestimating Rio’s capacity for compassion. Besides, you own the Etherian quadrant—it’s not as if Rio has to actually run for the post.”
“I’m not going to cross my father just yet.”
“He’s not going to disown you. You’re his only heir.”
“I never realized his capacity for hatred until he struck Lukas and tossed him out of the house with nothing. Lukas was two. He could barely talk, but my father treated him as if he were guilty, too.” Jem pressed her lips together at the memory of the hysterically crying child abandoned outside the closed doors, shivering in the cold, calling out for his Jem.
“What did you do?” Kir asked softly.
“I sneaked out of the palace and brought him back to my room. I held him that night until he fell asleep. The next morning, I took him out and arranged for him to be fostered.”
“So there are people out there who do know, like his foster family?”
“No, they don’t. I used an image enhancer—not this one—and used my private funds to create false papers for him and push the paperwork through the system. I found a family for him and set up a fund for his expenses.”