I

by Jake Bible

  “Transaction? Arrangement?” Meredith scowled. “You men have no idea what it’s like to be a woman in this age. Even one like me, born into royalty and privilege, is nothing more than a bargaining chip. My niece could be a prize shaow for all you care. And don’t forget that fact, gentlemen, that the woman you are negotiating for is my niece. She is my blood, more so than Minor Alexis.”

  “Meredith!” Alexis snapped. “You forget your place!”

  “And you forget your heart!” she snapped back. “Look to it, Alexis. Make sure that this decision I can see you are about to make will not crush two souls all for the price of a piece of land.”

  “Only Helios need worry about the souls of royals,” Alexis replied. “We are here to do our duty, nothing more.”

  “Nothing more…” Meredith repeated and trailed off. Then she slapped her hands on the table. “Well, I can see my counsel has been used up. I’ll let you men get to work on the trading of human beings. Just remember that you need a plan for when it all falls apart. I have been lucky with my marriage, but I doubt my niece will feel the same way. Good night.”

  * * *

  “I’m sorry for that,” Alexis said as he climbed into bed.

  “Sorry for which?” Meredith replied as she scooted away from him and tucked the covers around her body, making it quite known she had no interest in royal affections. “I counted at least three offenses that should have me dragging your ass out of this bed and into the passageway.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Alexis laughed and reached for her, but was rebuffed by a nail rake to the forearm. “Ow!”

  “What terms did you decide on?” Meredith asked.

  “A quarter million credits for a dowry,” Alexis said. “As well as Station Aelon keeps the current lease holdings on Thraen Prime in perpetuity. With future options of expansion.”

  “Future options?” Meredith asked, her interest piqued despite her irritation with her husband. “What future options?”

  “Permanent title bestowed upon Alexis’s heirs,” Alexis smiled. “They will be of Thraenish blood, after all.”

  “So despite what may happen between Alexis and my niece, their children will be the title holders?” Meredith laughed, reached over and grabbed Alexis’s arm, tugging him to her. “I forget just how smart you are sometimes.”

  “Whether the rumors about my son are true or not, it won’t matter,” Alexis grinned as he felt his wife’s warm body press against his own. “If for whatever reason the marriage doesn’t work out, as long as there are heirs, then Station Aelon will always have a claim to the lease holdings on Thraen Prime.”

  “If my brother agrees,” Meredith said as she climbed on top of Alexis.

  “When I’m only asking for a quarter of a million credits as a dowry?” Alexis laughed. “If Paul doesn’t agree, his advisors will force him to. Your brother likes his lavish lifestyle and a proper dowry would hurt the treasury enough that he’d have to make some cutbacks on his daily feasts and barrels of wine.”

  “Which the fat shaow would never do,” Meredith said. “Yet another reason I am glad I married a man of action and not sloth. Dear Helios, could you imagine what my life would be like with one of those layabout masters or stewards from the other stations? I’d probably have hips wider than a cutter and an ass as big as Thraen Prime itself.”

  “Mmmmm, I might let you do that,” Alexis said, his hands gripping her hips then her ass. “More for me then.”

  “I’d crush you with one thrust,” Meredith said, leaning over him and kissing his lips. “Because I certainly wouldn’t slow down or take it easy on you.”

  “I would expect not,” Alexis said. “That wouldn’t be you at all.”

  * * *

  “You are forcing me to do something I am not ready for, Father,” Minor Alexis said as three attendants busied themselves about the young man, making sure his trousers were free of any dirt and his tunic was perfectly tucked about his torso. “I have so much more to do before I settle down and marry.”

  “I was several years younger than you when I was married,” Alexis said, as he sat sipping gelberry wine and watched the attendants make the final alterations and adjustments to his son’s wedding outfit. “Getting married doesn’t mean your life ends. In many ways it actually starts.”

  “So the occasional dalliance is permitted?” Minor Alexis grinned. “Did you ever stray from Mother?”

  “From Eliza? Helios no,” Alexis said. “I’m not that type of husband. I was lucky with your mother and found a woman that I loved with all of my heart.”

  “And my current mother?” Minor Alexis asked. “Has the royal eye perhaps realized the amount of eligible beauties that grace our station?”

  “Again, I have been lucky,” Alexis said. “Meredith is the only woman for me. I can barely keep up, to be honest.”

  “No need to explain,” Minor Alexis said. “Really, don’t. That’s something I don’t need to hear.”

  “What about you, son?” Alexis asked. “Any beautiful young ladies catch your eye? Not that I would officially approve of any extramarital affairs, since that could undermine the marriage agreements and the crown, but I know a hot blooded youth like you must have his eye looking about.”

  The three attendants tried to look as if they weren’t listening intently, but their faces fell far short of feigned indifference.

  “There may be someone,” Minor Alexis answered. “But it wouldn’t be a union possible, whether officially or unofficially.”

  “A commoner?” Alexis asked. “One of the passenger girls? Your late Uncle Derrick was known for his trolling the decks for a taste of passenger meat. He once worked his way through an entire sector, going from woman to woman, until I think half those decks knew his privates intimately.”

  “Not a passenger,” Minor Alexis replied. “But not one of the station’s nobility, either.”

  The three attendants shared a look, which Alexis caught instantly, causing him to set his glass down harder than he intended.

  “Leave us,” he ordered and they scurried from the room without question.

  Minor Alexis stood there on the wide, tailor’s stool and waited for what was to come.

  “You know you are the heir to one of the most powerful stations in the system, right?” Alexis asked as he sat there, his fingers steepled, his eyes boring into his son. “Everything you do, every word you say, everything you wear, you eat, you drink, you sing—all of it is scrutinized down to the most insignificant detail. You do not lead a private life, son. Nor will you ever lead a private life. Image is what counts with us royals, almost more than actual substance.”

  “Yes, I have been made aware of this my entire life, Father,” Minor Alexis replied. “Auntie Melinda drilled it into me before she left for The Way. As did Corbin, that old crippled souse. Always telling me that I wasn’t living up to my potential, that I needed to take more interest in affairs of station and less interest in racing skids across the prime or even the science of agriculture.” Minor Alexis changed his voice into a gruff, old drunk’s. “Alexis! Stop dreaming of tilling soil and playing farmer! You’re going to be master one day, so Helios damn act like it!”

  “You sound just like him,” Alexis sighed. “I regretted sending him to the prime estate with you, but he was the only one I could trust.”

  “Yes, that’s what he reminded of me also,” Minor Alexis said. “Not to knock the poor sod. I did learn how to fight with every type of blade invented, plus shoot a sling better than any Aelon master.”

  “Is that so?” Alexis laughed. “Then why do you refuse to join in the tournaments the stewards host?”

  “Boredom,” Minor Alexis said. “I’d either win outright, they’d let me win outright, or I’d lose and look like a fool. The last two aren’t acceptable to me, and the first one is an almost foregone conclusion. I know the outcomes and I don’t care for any of them. I’d rather sit and drink and watch the others fight for their supposed honor.”r />
  “That isn’t a bad analysis,” Alexis responded. “I give you points for that.”

  “Do you? How generous.”

  “You know, I don’t have to be,” Alexis snapped. “I could just shove you out that door right now and make this ceremony happen today. I wouldn’t be the first upset royal parent that accelerated a wedding. It would be awkward for all involved, but then it would be done.”

  “The minoress and her father just arrived today,” Minor Alexis said. “I would guess Master Paul doesn’t like to be hurried for any reason. You’d risk the agreement, and all the hard work Cousin Stolt has put into this, just to prove a point to me? I don’t think so.”

  “No, I don’t think so either,” Alexis said. “But I always have the option. As long as I am master, I will be in charge of your future.”

  “Then when you are gone, no one is in charge of my future except me,” Minor Alexis said.

  “I’ll let you believe that,” Alexis smirked. “As an early wedding gift.”

  “Again, how generous,” Minor Alexis said then looked down at his clothing. “Do you think we could call the attendants back in so I can get out of these blasted garments? While I do enjoy the prints, the cut is riding up my craw something awful.”

  “Of course, son,” Alexis said. “We wouldn’t want your craw to be uncomfortable just before your wedding. An uncomfortable craw isn’t going to produce heirs. That’s a solid, royal fact.”

  * * *

  Meredith gripped her husband’s hand as he sat there in a huff. The entire great hall of Station Aelon was lined with The Burdened, a faction of The Way that Alexis was not exactly fond of, especially since some of their members had tried to kill him, and almost killed the very woman that gripped his hand like a vise.

  “I should have put my foot down,” Alexis whispered. “Seeing those holy thugs just makes me want to grab a long blade and kill every one of them. I could do it, too. I still have what it takes to kill.”

  “In here, yes,” Meredith said, tapping the master’s chest. “But I think the rest of your body would disagree. When was the last time you sparred with anyone from the royal guard?”

  “I don’t know,” Alexis sulked. “It hasn’t been that long.”

  “It’s been two years, love,” Meredith said, trying not to smirk. “You haven’t touched a blade, other than what’s between your legs, in two years. You’d be on your ass before you even got your blade out of its sheath.”

  “Oh, I’d take a couple with me,” Alexis insisted. “A warrior never forgets how to fight.”

  “No, they just forget they no longer can fight,” Meredith said. “So be quiet about it all. The Burdened aren’t going away, not until the High Guardian leaves the station. And the High Guardian isn’t leaving until after the ceremony.”

  “Right after the ceremony,” Alexis said. “Since his holiness is needed elsewhere in the System. Would it kill the man to stay for the reception and feast? Maybe bless some of the nobility and gentry for me? The political capital generated from that would last me the rest of my reign.”

  “So now you want him to stay?” Meredith said, beyond exasperated. “You are a tangle of contradictions, Master Alexis Teirmont. Good thing I like working out knots.”

  “All rise for his Holiness, the Pontiff of the One True System and all systems under Helios’s watch, the only human being deemed worthy enough to protect the portal to the planet and gateway to the primes! All rise for the High Guardian!”

  The entire hall stood and turned towards the entryway. Instead of wearing plain, drab robes as most of the gatekeepers wore, the man that walked through was dressed in brilliant colors of varying iridescence and shades. Spotlights placed strategically throughout the hall shone down from above, creating an almost blinding, dazzling effect of reflections from the pontiff’s attire.

  As well as wearing the head to toe show robes, the High Guardian also wore a hat that was nearly as tall as he was. Attendants walked behind the man, staves in their hands; ready to push the hat back into place should it shift or start to fall. Clutched in the man’s hand was a staff of glass that swirled with contained Vape. All that attended the ceremony were wealthy enough to appreciate the cost of the staff. Containing Vape that was not compressed was not an easy task to accomplish and the artisan who made the staff must have charged a fortune.

  Or donated it to The Way, as was usually the tradition.

  “Be seated,” the High Guardian said once he had made his way to the front of the hall, climbed the dais, and turned to address the crowd. “Helios blesses you all and thanks you for your attendance to this most holy of ceremonies.”

  The hall echoed with the sounds of shuffling feet and rustling clothing. Many a cloak and dress had been brought out of storage, more than likely expanded to fit the increased girths of the owners, and were still stiff from their cleaning. While official galas and banquets were common in the Aelon court, nothing so special had been held in Castle Quent for some time.

  “Let the betrothed walk to me,” the High Guardian said, his voice more a reedy rasp than the commanding tenor one would expect from such a figure.

  He was severely old, and rumored to have been undergoing treatments for various life threatening illnesses, but he still stood tall and clutched the Vape staff in a grip that showed he could deliver a blow or two if needed.

  “If he dies here then Helios will never forgive me,” Alexis whispered to his wife, who in turn swatted his arm.

  “Don’t even say such a thing, Alexis,” she hissed, causing more than a few eyes to turn her way.

  Eyes such as her brother’s, who sat across the aisle from her, his wife Carmnella by his side. The Master of Station Thraen nodded to his younger sister then turned his attention back to the High Guardian. Knowing full well that Meredith held no real love for him, Paul had stepped onto Station Aelon with nothing but a formal attitude to the whole proceeding as if he were merely attending the signing of some new declaration and not his daughter’s wedding.

  The High Guardian droned on for close to twenty minutes, espousing the greatness of Helios and why all beings owed their immortal souls to the Dear Parent. He paused for a moment, giving everyone the impression he was ready to move onto the actual nuptials, but it turned out he was only thirsty and once given a drink of water he continued on for another twenty minutes.

  Alexis had to guess that the man read half of the Ledger before he finally clacked the end of his staff onto the dais and called out that the bride and groom be brought before him so he might bless them with Helios’s permission to marry.

  “Alexis Teirmont, heir to the crown of Station Aelon, do you swear before Helios that you choose to marry this woman of your own free will?” the High Guardian asked.

  Minor Alexis stood there for a split-second, a split-second that everyone in the great hall noticed instantly, then puffed out his chest, grabbed the young minoress’s hands, and said, “Yes. Before Helios, I swear it.”

  There were more than a few loud exhalations throughout the hall.

  “And do you, Bella Herlect, Minoress of Station Thraen, do swear before Helios that you choose to marry this man of your own free will?”

  “Yes, before Helios, I swear it,” Minoress Bella replied immediately.

  Alexis and Meredith looked on as the couple performed their duties and recited their memorized vows, most of which were straight from the Ledger, but some were surprisingly original. Both the master and mistress had to wonder if the young minoress had heard any of the rumors about her almost husband. If she had, she never showed any indication to either of them when they spoke briefly at the welcome dinner.

  By the time the exchanging of the rings, crowns, scepters, cloaks, armbands, and belts had taken place, Alexis was close to falling asleep. Meredith kept nudging him, making sure he didn’t snort or snore as his eyes refused to stay open. The High Guardian frowned as he looked down to see the master’s head start to nod, but he didn’t increase his tem
po one bit and continued the litany of royal ancestors from both stations that would now be joined as one with the union of the minor and minoress.

  “With all of Helios’s love and trust, I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the High Guardian stated finally. He snapped his fingers and a long privacy screen was brought before the newlyweds, blocking them from the view of the entire hall. “You may now kiss.”

  The hall waited, all completely silent to see if they could hear anything from the lips of the two royals, but the screen was quickly removed and by the looks on the minor’s and minoress’s faces, some had to wonder if they kissed at all.

  The High Guardian stepped down from the dais and looked at Master Alexis then Master Paul.

  “The Way thanks you for your generosity today, masters,” he said. “Your endowments will help fund many a holy endeavor. Bless your reigns forever.”

  The masters bowed to the pontiff as he made his way down the aisle and back out of the great hall. As soon as he was gone then the newlyweds turned and looked at the assembled guests. Minor Alexis held out his hand and Minoress Bella took it willingly, if not completely enthusiastically. Music started up and the two walked down the aisle, heads held high, eyes forward until they too left the hall.

  “Shall we?” Alexis said as he looked over at Master Paul.

  “Please, Alexis, lead the way,” Paul responded. “I could certainly use a refreshment or two.”

  “I could use the whole damn bar,” Meredith muttered.

  “The same with me,” Alexis replied. “The same with me.”

  Chapter Nine

  “The hard part is acting sad,” Meredith said, her hands in her lap as she sat at the end of the bed, the letter bearing the news crumpled next to her. “I think I loathed the man more than many of his enemies.”