“Fjola,” Sartika sighed, holding the bridge of her nose. “I think the bond animals on your planet aren’t talking to their mates because everyone is still in the dark. The bond animals obviously can talk across planets. You should call a meeting and let your sixteen in on everything. Maybe their bond animals will keep them more up to date and you will hear things quicker than our phone calls.”
“You’re right, of course. I’ll set it in motion immediately.”
Fjola disconnected Sartika and raised Viljar and Jovin. She arranged for all of them to meet to clear the air. Viljar saw her reasoning immediately, but Jovin was still a little bitter he had been kept in the dark for so long and how Fjola had treated Isolde. She intended it to just be a quick conversation, but it ended up being a huge argument between the three of them on how Isolde had been raised. Jovin apparently hated everything Viljar ordered him to do to her and didn’t like beating her either.
The argument took just enough time for her meeting with Petruk and she ended up having to use it as an excuse to get off the call. She went down to the cells and Petruk stood as soon as he saw her. The guard unlocked his cell and escorted him down to an interrogation room. Viljar was already in the background scrambling the signals to the cameras like he had been doing this entire time.
She sat across from him and eyed him. Petruk folded his hands, tapped his foot, and stared right back at her. What she really wanted to do was show him she had all the power here and stare him down until he spoke. She knew it would blow Isolde’s plan, so she just gently asked if they had come to a decision. She had been allowing them out their cells after lunch until bedtime to talk amongst themselves.
“We came to an agreement, and understand, we are following your daughter, not you and your other advisors. Yani, Isolde’s slave, spoke about her experience serving her. She didn’t serve her. Isolde asked her to come at breakfast and fed her the same food she was eating. Your daughter told her to enjoy her chambers while she was out and make herself at home. She cleaned them herself. The only thing she asked of Yani was to brush her hair, but when Yani was done, Isolde made her sit and brushed out her hair.
“Yani was never a slave in Isolde’s quarters. Isolde spoke to her as an equal and promised her one day, things would change. Isolde made that promise to many other slaves behind your back. Most of us thought it was an empty promise, but Yani convinced us to put our trust in her. You couldn’t lie when you told me Isolde is really on Cendis and not hiding in the mountains like everyone thinks. We know nothing of Cendis, including the current king, but if he loves her and is willing to make this alliance, then we follow both of them.”
“You don’t think their children would be abominations? Monsters?” Sartika told her about Ace’s visit before he knew and what his opinion was at first. Before she set these slaves loose on a new planet, she had to know Isolde’s twins would be safe.
“I’m sure there are those on Cendis who would. Hikmat would have put a stop to it. We discussed it when we were talking about everything else. Perhaps the answers to why both our people lost our gifts lie in the future. In the children that are mixed with Cendian and Avalian.”
“I hope the rest of the people on Cendis feel this way.”
Petruk clucked his tongue. “You know they won’t. The slaves here are much more Avalian than they are. It’s all we know. The only things we believe and know from home are what Hikmat and those before him taught us through COMM. Now, you tell us they were all madmen who manipulated us and wanted to cause death among their own people. He wanted to murder Isolde and she has been nothing but kind to us.”
Fjola had an idea. She hoped it would mean something to Petruk and the others. Maybe it would show them she was behind Isolde as well.
“Elan and Isolde are busy now making an announcement on Cendis. I can get them on COMM and project them so you can all see them and talk to them. It won’t be much, but maybe they will be somewhere they can show you a little of Cendis.”
Petruk finally smiled. “We’d like that. Hikmat only spoke to us in a building that looked like it had been burned. He never told me what it was, just that it was important and they gathered there. It would be nice to see parts of Cendis that aren’t in ruin.”
Fjola left promising they would all be released once she could give a logical explanation and point the finger elsewhere for Isolde being missing. This had gone much better than she hoped, more like Isolde thought it would.
She just hoped everything was going this well on Cendis when Elan made his announcement.
Chapter 32
Elan could tell Isolde was nervous. He was already dressed and she was on the other side of the bed fighting with her dress like it was a foe and swearing up a storm. It wasn’t past his notice she had chosen a gown with a lot of metalwork on the bodice like she worried she would be shot at. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Do you want another dress or do you want me to help you with this one?”
“How does this go? We don’t have dresses like this one Avala.”
He straightened the bodice around her slim waist and kissed the top of her head. “You would have needed me for the back anyway.” He fastened the clasps and tightened them so the metal plates fit her more like a second skin.
She started squirming in his arms. “It’s different than a corset, but it’s comfortable.”
“No one is going to shoot at you, Isolde. Only our military carries guns and they are behind me, remember?”
“Your mother’s advisors looked at me like they wanted to see me burn to get me away from you.”
“They’re no longer in power. It’s me and the rest of the sixteen with you soon to be by my side. Come on, we shouldn’t make them wait.”
He was almost glad she refused to take his arm and walked behind him like a slave when Soma and the rest of his mother’s advisors looked like they were intending on joining him on the platform. Soma grabbed his arm and pulled him further away from Isolde.
“We’re dressing the slaves up now? Send this girl away and visit the courtesans until your mother can arrange a marriage. There’s no itch bad enough you need to satisfy it with a slave.”
“Soma, do you believe Fia speaks to me? Did the freeze and the moon make you doubt? Shut your mouth before you make a total fool of yourself,” Elan said through clenched teeth, wrenching his arm away.
He thought it was just going to be himself, Isolde, Sartika, and his new advisors with him on the platform with Ace and the others guarding them. He had no idea why Soma and the others thought they still had a place on the platform. Their time was over and if they couldn’t accept change, they could just stay on Cendis when he left.
His throat was suddenly dry. Sartika did all the speaking before and this was his first time addressing his entire people as king. Botak taught him how to speak properly and with force, but he hadn’t really prepared him for the butterflies in his stomach at facing that many red eyes at once. He looked over his shoulder. Ace and the others had formed a protective circle around Isolde, but Soma was standing way too close to them. Close enough to grab a gun and shoot her if he wanted. He could only hope she was listening in and stopped him because this announcement had to happen.
He stepped up to the microphone COMM to speak. “I know all of you are questioning the slave girl I’ve been keeping with me. I know you are questioning her clothes and jewels right now. All of you saw her save my life right here on this platform. I want you to ask yourself something. How did she know I was being shot at? The shooter waited until the crowd would have drowned out his gun. There was no way she heard the shot up here. The shooter was surrounded by the crowd when he took that shot. It would have been impossible for her to pick him out unless she had help.
“I’ve asked her all of these questions. I asked her why Fia wants me to keep her close and how she knew to save me that day. She’s confessed everything. Fia is speaking to her too. Fia confirmed it to me by telling
me the freeze was an additional sign. It’s a sign that fire and ice need to mix. This slave is no longer a slave. Her name is Isolde and Fia means for her to be my bride. This is for several reasons. I understand how to rule, but I don’t understand the plight of our people we’d like to forget about. Those that live in the slums and live off rations. Isolde understands being invisible to those of us that would like to overlook certain things and people. Together, we will better the lives of all the people on Cendis, not just the ones we think deserve it.”
Elan looked out at the crowd. Most of them were clapping and some of the ones he could see faces of were crying happy tears that he was trying to make their lives better. The high born all looked like they had just eaten something sour, but they weren’t going to fight this. Elan thought it was more that they thought Fia chose her and not one of their daughters for his queen. The girls his age that would have been in the pool picked for him if he and Isolde weren’t promised to each other were pouting like they wanted him for themselves.
He heard a commotion behind him and turned around to see Soma trying to break through the wall of men around Isolde to get to her. He was screaming she was really a demon and manipulating Elan. Before anyone else could hear that and possibly believe it, Hound punched him right in the face. Soma went down and no one else on the old council looked like they intended to make a scene.
He turned back to the crowd. “We will wed in the palace and anyone who would like to witness is invited. It doesn’t matter if you are high born or you live in the slums, you will be made welcome. If I see anyone treating another person badly, you will be escorted out the palace. Things will be changing and some of you might not like the changes, like my new bride. I will not tolerate insurgence or riots. I will not take from you what you already have unless you force my hand. But we have to start taking care of all our people.”
The crowd started cheering again and it looked like he had settled the minds of almost all the high born. The girls his age still looked unhappy. He wasn’t arrogant by far, but he suspected part of that had to do with the looks Isolde always gave him when he had his shirt off and the way Nia reacted when she saw him for the first time.
“Now, all of you, go home. Be with your families. I have a wedding to plan!” Elan yelled.
The crowd erupted again. This time, he walked straight over to Isolde and took her arm so she could walk beside him with her head up. She stepped over Soma like he was a flea. They must have just intended on leaving him there to sleep off his headache because Ace and the others followed them out.
Hound seemed concerned. “Are you okay, my queen? I should have decked him before he said all those awful things.”
She smiled and took his arm with her free one. “I expected more people to react badly, to be honest. Soma didn’t say anything I wasn’t expecting. Since I couldn’t punch him myself, it was quite satisfying to watch you knock him across the platform.”
“My queen, I’d never assume you couldn’t fight your own battles!”
“Hound, I couldn’t attack him on that platform without opening all kinds of questions as to why a slave knows how to fight. It would put the other slaves here in danger. You did what I couldn’t do. Feel free to punch anyone when I can’t. Get them good.”
Stretch started sniggering at them from behind. “I think Hound is sucking up because he knows you could take him out.”
“I’d never take any of you out. You’ve been such a help and you don’t judge me.”
They got to his chamber door and he wasn’t sure if they were going to ask to come in. He hoped they didn’t. There were things he wanted to do to her when Sartika and Galih started pounding on the door. They had hardly gotten into his bedroom when that bloody COMM started vibrating again. She looked at him helplessly.
“Maybe they’ll be quick? It’s my mother,” she said, pressing the keypad to answer.
He flopped into bed and waited for her to join him. “Fjola, what are you doing with the Cendians?”
He knew she was going to pace so he got up and hauled her to bed. He actually heard her giggle before she snuggled into his chest. Fjola was surrounded by so many Cendian slaves, the COMM didn’t pick up all the faces.
“Isolde, this is Petruk. He’s one of Hikmat’s relatives. They’ve all agreed to come to Ragnis Crystal and Hikmat was deceiving them this entire time. I thought they should meet Elan and see what you could show them of Cendis.”
“Is Yani there?” she asked.
Elan had no idea who Yani was, but a baby-faced Cendian girl pushed through the crowd. She seemed to be very familiar with Isolde as the two of them talked like old friends.
Yani fluttered her long lashes. “Do the rest of the men on Cendis look like our king?” Elan wondered if he was ever going to get used to women commenting on his appearance.
Isolde threw back her head and laughed. “I think you’d like my friend, Hound. He’s in the military and even bigger than Elan, but quite gentle. You always did say you liked tall men. Hound is huge. Is Hound married, Elan?”
Yani giggled. “Didn’t you tell me you had this big secret betrothal to a big powerful man and you wished I could have him instead?”
“Watch it, Yani. That was before I met him. I really do think you would like Hound though.”
It didn’t even bother Elan she told Yani she didn’t want him. That was when she had been fed lies. He was more amazed to watch Isolde giggle and gossip. With a Cendian slave, no less. The rest of the slaves behind him had the same look on their faces he probably did. Isolde and Yani were talking like girlfriends, not master and slave. Elan didn’t have that kind of relationship with any of their slaves. He should have tried harder.
“Isolde?” A Cendian man came to stand next to Yani. “I realize now the two of you may want to catch up, but none of us know our king.”
“Of course. I’m sorry. It was just nice to talk to Yani again. I’ll stop playing matchmaker and let Elan take over.”
“My name is Petruk. I apologize for my people for following Hikmat. We had no idea what his intentions were.”
“Petruk, you are my people and now Isolde’s too. We are getting married tomorrow. You are not alone in being deceived by Hikmat. We suspect most of his followers here don’t know of his true intentions. If they didn’t know and they are here to attend his meetings, how could you possibly know just speaking to him over COMM?”
“The tech we stole—”
“Was stolen under false premises. If he had told you what he meant it for, would you have done it?”
“Petruk, do you know of a man Hikmat smuggled into Avala? He was able to pass himself off as Avalian. He tried to kill me,” Isolde asked.
The slaves all started murmured and Petruk looked disturbed. “He never said anything about bringing someone here. I think I know why. Think about it. If we knew Hikmat planned on killing you, we would have stopped him. You’ve always been kind to us, even if we didn’t know about you and Yani. If we knew Hikmat could easily get someone on Avala, we would have assumed he could easily get all of us off and back home.”
“I don’t think Isolde is accusing you. We’re all trying to figure out how he got to Avala and how he managed to get the tools to pass as Avalian. If you intended to act with him, all of you would have black hair and green eyes right now.”
“We were all injected and questioned. None of us knew how a Cendian could pass for Avalian and had no idea why we were being asked. Now that I think about it, it would be easy. Many of the high born we serve on Avala are vain and careless. No offense, my queen, but their chambers are full of things to change their hair color as often as they want. They talk like we aren’t in the room. If anyone tells them they are attractive with a certain color, they stock up on it so they can continue with that color. Some that don’t make their hair strange colors don’t like aging. They visit your surgeons to look younger and they keep black dye in their chambers for the first sign of white hair.”
“You
aren’t offending me,” Isolde sniffed. “The man that trained me was like that. He has so many fillers in his face to smooth out the lines, he’s totally altered his appearance. I see those that see the surgeon for upgrades too. Bigger lips, a smaller nose, bigger eyes. Our surgeons are good and one upgrade does the job, but it’s not enough for some Avalians. They go back for more. I don’t understand it, but I can understand how Avalian vanity could have made it easy for him. Some of my people are like strutting animals doing some sort of strange mating dance.”
“Are you going to outlaw upgrades on the new planet?”
Elan knew nothing of these upgrades and no one surgically altered their appearance on Cendis. The whole idea was entirely foreign to him, but he didn’t see any reason to outlaw it. It wasn’t hurting anyone and maybe it made the people who did it happy. Isolde was with him like she usually was.
“No. Too many freedoms have been taken away from both our people, but Elan and I are going to be making big changes. No more slaves for one. There’s not going to be high born and the poor again. There will be schools for anyone who wants to learn, not just private tutors and universities for the wealthy. Anyone can be a scientist or doctor if they work for it. And no one is going to be arranging marriages anymore. I know they pick for the slaves too. You aren’t going to be married unless you want to be.”
“Your arranged marriage seems to be working for both of you. You seem deeply in love,” Petruk pointed out.
“Isolde and I could hate each other right now. Everything happening on Avala and Cendis right now with the swarms and water, it wouldn’t have happened if Isolde and I didn’t love each other. If our love could do that, what do you think an entire planet of people in love could do?”
“Do you plan on sentencing Hikmat with love?”
Elan cleared his throat. Maybe the Cendian slaves didn’t know? “Hikmat wanted to kill Isolde and experiment on me. He intended to overthrow our government and incite civil war. Laws here would have him burned. Justice is not like on Avala.”
Child of Fire, Child of Ice-A Sci-fi Romance Series (The Waljan Chronicles Book 1) Page 24