The Augenspire (Origins of Elaria Book 1)

by V. St. Clair

  “No, it’s fine,” Carl waved off her concern. “Though I do hope you’ll check on Risa later today and let me know how she is. I don’t like to think of her brooding on her own, mired in her feelings. She has more feelings than any ten other people combined.”

  “Of course.”

  “Let’s play a card game instead. If I win, you invite me to lunch with you and Risa tomorrow, and find a way to convince her beforehand that it is a good idea so she doesn’t punch me on sight.”

  “That’s a daunting task on the best of days, but fine, I’ll try. And if I win?” Ana asked curiously.

  “Then I’ll invite myself to lunch with you and Risa tomorrow and you can watch the spectacle unfold,” Carl said decisively, throwing a pack of playing cards to her.

  Ana laughed and said, “That seems biased…”

  “That’s what losers say. Come on now, deal.”

  19

  Jessamine Elaria

  There was a box in her room that was never opened.

  Jessamine sat at the edge of the bed with it now, carefully brushing dust off of the lid. It was a plain box, completely unadorned, about the size of a standard jewelry container, deceptively ordinary. It bore a simple lock, keyed to her ID-chip only; not even her father, ruler of a planet, could open this box by conventional means. Of course, this was mostly for show. The box itself was wood, and could be cut open without too much difficulty.

  There were times when she wanted to replace it with the most indestructible lockbox money could buy and bury it somewhere no one would ever find it, perhaps beneath the Silver River. But that would render it useless to her in the event she ever actually needed to see it, and her room was one of the most secure places on the planet, anyway. Any enemy who could get into her bedroom without permission would be well-equipped to murder her, and this would be the only option left to her.

  Once again, she wondered if it would have helped her avoid a back-full of razor-spikes, had she brought it with her that day. Perhaps, but there was no point in speculating about the past. She sighed and tucked the box back onto the lower shelf of her nightstand without opening it, rising to her feet and moving to stand in front of the mirror.

  She lifted her shirt and turned until her back faced the mirror, craning her neck to see the faint lines scoring her skin from the razor-spikes attack a few weeks ago.

  I’ll probably have those scars forever, unless I want to pay for a series of top-dollar skin treatments.

  The scars weren’t from the razor-spikes themselves; the thin, straight lines were a relic of the seams between the patches of grafted replacement skin, which were different lengths to account for the sloping and curvature of her body.

  She didn’t mind the scars, though Darius would probably hate them. She smiled in acid appreciation at the thought of repulsing her future husband, though a part of her still hoped she would find him more tolerable upon better acquaintance.

  Much the same part of me that hopes that fairies and unicorns are real, she snorted. All evidence so far suggested that Darius Hamish would be nothing but a thorn in her side for the remainder of her life.

  The true pity out of the entire mess with her being attacked and nearly murdered was that both the Viceroy and Darius’s father believed it would be good to expedite his move to the capital. Jessamine tried not to think bitter thoughts about them wanting a hurried marriage, and then the pressure of producing another potential heir to Elaria.

  Am I to be nothing but a brood mare before being murdered by my own people? She wondered darkly.

  Of course, she could have a child with Darius Hamish without ever touching the man, if she so chose. Technology had at least come that far.

  Her communicator buzzed on the bed behind her, and she lowered her shirt back over her scars and went to answer it. It was Hanna.

  “Vicerina, your husband-in-waiting has just arrived at the Augenspire and cleared the security screenings. He is being brought to two-ninety-nine to deposit his considerable belongings in the rooms you have designated for him.”

  Hanna had a way of choosing her words to let Jessamine know her feelings without actually having to say them aloud. The man must have brought an obnoxious amount of luggage with him and was probably pestering every attendant assigned to him with the task of hauling it all upstairs and security-checking it.

  “Thank you, Hanna. I will receive him in the main sitting room once he is settled.”

  “Very good,” her assistant nodded and then cut the comm. Jessamine sighed and began pulling on her light armor, thankful her back injuries had stopped hurting and her nervous system had finally finished its regrowth. The weight of even her light armor was enough to send her regenerating nerves pinging uncomfortably for the first full week after she had been hit.

  After pulling her hair into a messy knot at the back of her head, she keyed her communicator to quick-dial number one. A moment later, Topher’s face appeared on the screen.

  “Vicerina,” he greeted her formally, staring intensely—with Topher, how else?—at her through the comm window.

  “Darius is here and will soon be joining me in the main sitting room—I suppose I should ask someone to supply us with refreshments, come to think of it.”

  “Would you like me to do that?” he asked steadily.

  “What? No, sorry. I was just thinking out loud. I have other people for that. ” Damn him for making her forget what she was doing. “If you are free, I would appreciate it if you would join us.”

  “In what capacity?”

  It was a fair question. Was she asking him there to stand guard and watch for trouble—which he was bound to do whether she asked it of him or not—or was he there to be introduced formally as a friend of hers?

  I should introduce him as my lover, just to watch them both react to such a colossal announcement, she thought with amusement. It would hardly be fair to tease Topher for his loyalty to her family, and to her especially, but it would be funny…

  “As…part of the first level of my immediate acquaintances he should be introduced to,” she decided at last. “Please also invite Shellina, Hanna, and—oh, you know who to invite,” she waved away her own foolishness. “Invite whoever you think should be there.”

  She cut the comm before she could make herself feel even stupider. Maybe someday she would be able to speak to Topher without looking like a complete dolt, but that day was clearly not today.

  She finished pulling herself together and left her rooms, listening for the main door locks to reengage before moving through the large, open space towards the sitting room.

  She was the first to arrive, which was good because it gave her time to call down to the kitchen and arrange for an assortment of drinks and snacks to be provided for her guests. Entertaining had never been her favorite activity, and she knew Shellina would have done a much better job at throwing this impromptu meet-and-greet together than she was, but it would have to do.

  The room was mostly done in whites and golds, a rare display of ostentatious wealth in the otherwise utilitarian building. High-ceilinged and with crystal chandeliers, there was a reason they usually entertained visitors on this part of the floor.

  At least the decorating is done for me, she thought with relief.

  She debated where to seat herself. If she chose one of the many armchairs, it would guarantee she wouldn’t be wedged in beside Darius, though it would also mean there was no chance of her sitting beside Topher, either. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

  I’m too old to be scheming up ways to sit beside the boy I like. I’m better than this.

  She sat down in one of the white-upholstered armchairs, the seat more firm than she cared for, as was the case with most of the furniture here. It often felt like more effort went into making a good show for visitors than for the actual comfort of the residents here.

  Others filed into the room over the next few minutes, filling in the seats on the couches and chairs around her so that they would face eac
h other in a rectangle. There was Shellina and one of her friends, Missy, who must have been visiting, then Hanna and Darius, Topher, Ground-Leader Skye and Sky-Leader Rolf, as well as Majors Gareth and Reya.

  Jessamine had no particularly close relationship with any of the Provo-Major, with the exception of Topher, so she assumed their addition had either been calculated to make it not so embarrassingly obvious that Topher was her favorite, or to provide discreet protection in case she should need it. That meant Topher considered both of them fairly trustworthy, which was worth noting.

  “Finally, a proper hosting room,” Darius greeted her grumpily, looking slightly off-kilter. He was impeccably dressed in a dark blue suit, shoes polished to a high shine and hair gelled artistically, though the effect was slightly ruined by the obvious effects of humidity on his hair as it began to frizz out of place. He didn’t look quite so toad-like in person, which was nice.

  “Darius,” Jessamine rose to greet him, wondering whether she was expected to embrace the man or kiss him on the cheek. She decided on the spot to shake his hand instead, almost smiling at the slightly bemused look on his face. Everyone else was settling into their seats now, and the refreshment trays were being brought in by four harried-looking kitchen staff.

  “Welcome to the Augenspire,” Jessamine said as warmly as possible.

  “I trust your journey was uneventful?”

  “Ah, drinks, good.” Darius’s bad mood seemed to peter out at the sight of cocktails and finger foods, and he reached for both before settling down on a couch beside Shellina. “Yes, the flight was blessedly boring, though no one told me it was so damnably humid here.”

  “It is atypical for this time of year,” Jessamine said neutrally, before gesturing to the others. “Darius, may I introduce you to some of my close acquaintances?”

  Majors Gareth and Reya looked a little uncertain about being lumped into that category, but they took it in stride, trying to look relaxed on their couches—or as relaxed as a person could look while wearing armor.

  Definitely on guard duty, Jessamine decided, watching Reya’s casual glance fall on all of the places Darius would be hiding a weapon if he was armed. Jessamine thought the guard superfluous, as he had probably been through a half-dozen screenings already and relieved of any weaponry before being brought here, but better safe than sorry, she supposed.

  “Please, do,” Darius said in an oddly formal voice. That, coupled with the attire, led Jessamine to believe his father must have coached him thoroughly on how he was expected to behave while here to avoid embarrassing the Hamish family.

  Good luck with that, Jessamine suppressed another smile.

  “You are sitting beside my sister, Shellina, younger Vicerina of Elaria. On her right is Missy Killot, heiress of Reindale, the largest telecommunications company on the planet, currently run by her extremely shrewd mother.”

  “Vicerina, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Darius said politely, turning awkwardly to clasp her hand briefly in his. “May I say that your dress complements you nicely?”

  Shellina, who loved being doted on, had her strawberry blond hair styled in thick curls and wore a long-sleeved dress of ivory lace. She gave him a genuine smile and said, “Thank you, Darius, though you must call me Shellina, as we’re soon to be family.”

  After thanking her for this concession, Darius greeted Missy like an old friend. “Missy, good to see you again. It seems the grounding you feared for crashing your mother’s sky-luxe wasn’t permanent.”

  Of course, Jessamine realized. Darius spent most of his time partying with other young socialites while she was busy learning to run a planet. He was probably more well-connected than she was because of it.

  Missy blushed and said, “No, thankfully, though she did threaten to make me fly an old rental if it ever happened again. Two crashes in one year and neither of them my fault, though that doesn’t matter to her. Talk about bad luck.”

  Turning to the next group of people, Jessamine said, “This is Provo-Major Gareth, along with Ground-Leader Andrea Skye.” The former was in his light armor, while the latter was in a steel-grey uniform with a four-pointed gold star on the left breast and three thick-white stripes circling the top of each arm. The color and number of the stripes marked her as the commander of the entirety of Elaria’s military ground forces, while the four-pointed star was the highest military honor a person could receive and had only been awarded three times in the last two centuries. Jessamine admired the woman for foregoing all of her other medallions and badges, as it drew the eye to focus on this singular rare honor instead.

  “Ground-Leader Skye?” Darius couldn’t seem to resist pointing out the obvious joke. “I don’t suppose she is joined by Sky-Leader Ground?”

  Jessamine admired Skye even more for not rolling her eyes at such a lame joke, accepting it with good grace, though she doubted Darius Hamish was the first idiot the woman had ever met.

  “Alas, I am Sky-Leader Vince Rolf,” the man on the opposite couch introduced himself. Unlike his counterpart, his uniform was white with grey bands around the arms, and he wore all of his various medallions and awards pinned neatly to his chest. He didn’t have a four-pointed star.

  “A pleasure,” Darius nodded at Gareth, Skye, and Rolf, sipping a second cocktail now. Shellina and Missy were also drinking dainty pink drinks; the military commanders and Hanna opted for fizzy, nonalcoholic fruit drinks, and the three Majors drank water.

  “Continuing around the room, this is my personal attendant and much-respected acquaintance, Hanna, who has been with me since childhood,” she added the last part in the hopes of circumventing any tasteless jokes about the servant class, then went on to add, “and closest to my right is Major Topher.”

  “I’m sure any friend of Jessie’s will be a friend of mine,” Darius said to Hanna, missing the barely-perceptible wince from Jessamine at the familiarity of his address. No one called her Jessie, as she disliked the childish way it sounded. Everyone else noticed her twitch, and Shellina touched a hand to her lips to hide her silent laughter at the gaffe. Jessamine would have to take Darius aside later and brief him on how he should refer to her in future.

  The smile Darius bestowed upon Hanna vanished by the time he turned to Topher.

  “So, you’re the one I’ve heard so much about.” Darius said the words as though he found them distasteful, eyeing Topher appraisingly. Topher, for his part, looked completely relaxed despite his rigid posture.

  “Am I?” he asked lightly.

  Jessamine frantically tried to decide whether she had ever said anything noteworthy about Topher to Darius before, and if he was about to make some idiotic comment about how she must be in love with him to the entire room. Was there any way to prevent it, short of tackling the man before he could all the words out? She was just contemplating that very course of action when Darius added, “You’re the hero everyone keeps talking about on the news.”

  Oh, right, Jessamine felt the blood return to her arms and legs in a wave of relief.

  Topher shrugged as though this was a matter of no importance and said, “I was simply doing my job.”

  “Had you been slightly more alert about it, perhaps my wife-to-be wouldn’t have taken a shot to the back, so I don’t see what was particularly heroic about it,” Darius continued mildly. “Undoubtedly you did your best, though.”

  Jessamine sucked in a breath and resisted the urge to get up and punch her future husband in the face. How dare he insult Topher—in public, no less—about the way he saved her life? As if that obnoxious, cowardly sack of flesh would have done any better. He would have cried like a baby and hidden his well-cushioned ass behind a tree if someone aimed a laser cannon at him.

  Several of the others looked mildly uncomfortable by the comment as well, and Shellina glanced covertly at Jessamine to see how she would react.

  Fortunately, Topher saved her from having to think of a nice way to tell Darius to go screw himself by replying, “We all
strive to do our best for the Viceroy and his family each day.”

  The uncomfortable moment passed, and the group broke into pockets of small talk as Darius moved around the room admiring the décor and drinking yet another cocktail. When he became well-entrenched in a conversation with the military commanders about emergency freight lines, Jessamine seized the opportunity to join the three Provo-Major near the snack trays. Judging by the enthusiasm with which the Majors were eating, they had obviously skipped lunch for this meeting.

  “I can call down for some real food, if you’d like,” Jessamine greeted them, pulling a face at the bite-sized sandwiches. “I didn’t mean to make you all miss a meal for this.”

  “Please don’t trouble yourself,” Gareth assured her with a mouth full of food. “We can eat later.”

  “You could stand to skip a few meals,” Reya grumbled good-naturedly from beside him, earning a flat-lipped glare from her colleague.

  “Says the woman who was complaining that her armor barely fit over her hips these days,” he retorted easily.

  “That was because you swapped out my armor for Parl’s, and he’s built like a twelve-year-old,” Reya insisted hotly, eliciting a laugh from Jessamine. She always enjoyed a chance to be less formal with the Majors, though it seemed like these days she only saw any of them when they were on official business.

  “Speaking of twelve-year-olds,” Jessamine addressed Topher. “I’m sorry for that embarrassing remark by Darius, who was acting like one.”

  Topher raised an eyebrow at this and said, “Why are you apologizing for his behavior?”

  “Because I doubt he’ll do it himself and it was unacceptable for him to criticize you like that in public.”

  Gareth and Reya knew better than to openly speak against her future husband, whether they were on duty or not, though they looked like they agreed with her censure of him.