by M. K. Eidem
Jacinda had remained silent as Jotham and Stephanie clashed because the majority of what they were discussing was part of their professional lives. When it turned personal, she'd meant to step in because Jotham was still learning how to navigate the sometimes complicated waters that came with having a large family, but he'd done just fine.
"So when is Nicolas moving in?" Jacinda asked.
"Later tonight, since Nick is traveling with Jotham to the Bering today," Stephanie responded, handing her mother a cup of the forgotten coffee.
"You are?" Jacinda frowned at Jotham, as she absently took the cup. She hadn't been aware he'd be off planet.
"It was scheduled at the last minute," Jotham told her. "I meant to tell you about it after Evander and Evadne left but you... distracted me."
Stephanie smiled at the blush that crept across her mom's cheeks as she leaned forward adding three sweeteners to the cup before passing it to Jotham. It was wonderful to see her mother so happy and full of life again.
"So you aren't going to be here for lunch?" Jacinda asked, picking up a cup for herself.
"No, my love, I'm sorry."
"It’s fine." Jacinda waved off his apology. "I'll just see if Evadne can meet early and we'll have a working lunch."
"To discuss implementing your changes to the Public Wing?"
"Yes."
"You're making changes in the Public Wing?" Stephanie asked, taking a sip from her own cup.
"Yes, we're going to update many of the exhibits and add others. The people of the House of Protection need to be able to see and understand their history and what it costs to have the freedoms they currently enjoy. They..."
"I get it, Mom," Stephanie cut her off, having been on the receiving end of her mother's passion for this subject on more than one occasion growing up. "It's a great idea, and it needs to be done. Since you're making changes, I think you should include something concerning the Guards of the House of Protection that have given their lives to keep the Royal Family safe."
"That's a wonderful idea, Stephanie," Jacinda said, surprised that hadn't already been done.
"It's something only a Commander who truly understands and cares about her men would think of," Jotham agreed, giving her a nod of approval.
This time it was Stephanie's cheeks that darkened. "Thank you, Jotham."
Chapter Eleven
Nick looked up from his comm as Kort walked into the Captains’ Office.
"You're in early," Nick commented. He knew Kort's hours were just as long as his, but with Jacinda not having anything scheduled until after lunch, he'd thought he would be catching up on his sleep.
"Been up for a while," Kort told him. "I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk."
"Okay..." Nick sat back in his chair, his fingers steepled on his stomach as he waited. He'd known Kort for cycles. The man didn't say things for no reason.
"I thought I saw movement on the grounds, so I went out to investigate," Kort told him coming to stand in front of Nick's desk. "Imagine my surprise when I saw you leaving the Commander's Quarters wearing a wrinkled uniform."
"Noticed that did you?"
"I did. So do you want to tell me what's going on?"
"You're the Captain of the Queen's Guard, Kort. You should be able to figure that out on your own."
"Are you out of your ever-loving mind, Nick?!" Kort shouted the words. "You can't treat our Commander like some woman you're on leave with."
Nick surged to his feet so fast his chair slammed into the wall. "If you ever talk about my life mate like that again I'll rip your head off."
At Nick's reaction Kort instinctively raised his fists. Lowering them, his eyes widened as he whispered, "Life mate?"
"Yes."
"Ancestors, Nick." Kort ran a hand through his hair as he walked over to his desk and sat down staring at his friend in disbelief. "You never could take the conventional path, could you?"
"What are you talking about?" Nick demanded. Leaning down, he righted his chair and sat.
"You. I know you. Remember? I used to go home with you on leave from the Academy. I know how talented you are working with wood. You could have had an amazing future there and still, you chose the Academy."
"It's where I wanted to be."
"Yet you resigned your Commission right before you were set to get a big promotion."
"I was accepted into the RGTP," Nick reminded him. "You know that."
"But there was no guarantee you'd complete it or even be accepted into the Royal Guard. They only had one position open. Yet you succeeded and then less than a handful of cycles later, you became the Captain of the King's Guard."
Nick just shrugged his shoulders. "I was lucky."
"No, you weren't. You followed your own path, worked hard, and trusted your instincts even when you were highly criticized for it."
"If you're referring to Cid and the rumors he used to spread in the Coalition, I could care less what he thinks or says about me."
"I know, and that still pisses him off, especially since he's never been able to advance past Lieutenant in the Coalition."
"That's because he blows Goryn fog up the ass of all his superiors and they know it."
"True," Kort agreed, "but you're missing my point."
"Which is?"
"Stephanie's another path you are going to be highly criticized for."
"No one gets to choose who their life mate is, Kort."
"True, but there will be those who won't believe she actually is. They'll claim you're taking advantage of the situation to advance yourself."
"Advance myself... to what? I'm already the Captain of King Jotham's Guard. There's no other place for me to 'advance' to, and don't say Commander because I don't want it."
"You and I know that, but others don't, and that's not what I was referring to."
"Then what were you 'referring' to?"
"The fact that when you and Stephanie have your Union, you will become a Prince."
"What?!" Undisguised shock that crossed Nick's face.
"You never realized that, did you?"
"No, and for the record, Stephanie and I haven't even discussed a Union."
"You haven't?" Now it was Kort's turn to be shocked. "So what are you going to do? Just keep sneaking around?"
"No, and we're not sneaking around," Nick told him angrily. "We've been taking our time, keeping it private, until we are ready to let others know we were taking it to the next level."
"And what level is that?"
"I'll be moving into the Commander's Quarters later today."
"Seriously?!"
"Yes, it will allow us to spend time together privately, and prevent anyone from questioning my coming and going." When Kort didn't say anything, Nick frowned. They'd been friends since their Academy days, and while Kort hadn't resigned his commission when Nick had, they'd remained friends. When Kort's application had crossed Nick's desk, he'd immediately accepted it, knowing Kort would be an amazing Royal Guard, and he had been. It's why he'd recommended him to be Captain of Jacinda's guard. If Kort wasn't able to support Nick and Stephanie's relationship, then they were going to have problems with the rest of the guards. Something he hadn't anticipated. "Are you going to have a problem with it?"
"With you and Stephanie living together?" Kort asked, giving him a surprised look. "Of course not. I've seen the way you look at her. I watched you read everything you could find on her condition so you could understand how her injury was going to affect her."
"Then what's the problem?"
"I'm just concerned how Jotham's going to react to this. He's never had a daughter before."
"Jotham is just fine with it." Stephanie's words had both men looking to find her standing in the doorway.
"You've talked to him already?" Nick asked.
"To both him and Mom." She pulled up a chair and sat. "By the way, Kort, Mom's schedule will be changing today. Evadne Terwilliger will be having lunch with her."
"I'll mak
e sure everyone is aware of it," Kort said tapping the change into his comm. Once he was done, a slightly uncomfortable silence began to build.
"So I take it you told Kort you were moving in with me," Stephanie said deciding to address the issue head-on.
"Yes, he saw me returning this morning."
"I see. Seems you need to work on your stealth skills, Captain," she said, her lips twitching.
"I'll work on improving those," Nick replied.
"Are we good, Kort?" she asked, her gaze turning to him.
"We're good," Kort told her, "although I'm not sure if I should offer you my congratulations... or my condolences."
"Really? Why?"
"Because I've lived with this big idiot before."
"Hey! I'm not that bad," Nick denied.
"Seriously? Your snoring is a thing of legend."
"That was back in the Academy, and I had a broken nose!"
Stephanie just laughed. "I'll let you know if it's still a problem. Now is there anything I need to know before I head to my office?"
"I'm good," Kort said.
"Me too," Nick told her. "I will, of course, keep you informed on any changes in Jotham's schedule while he's on the Bering. These meetings tend to be unpredictable. You too, Kort, since I know Jacinda is going to want to know when he'll be back on planet."
"She will," Kort agreed.
"Alright, then I'm going to head to my desk. Nick, you'll let me know when you're heading out."
"Of course."
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Stephanie lost herself in the multiple reports her Captains had filed on the previous day’s occurrences. Nothing major had occurred. A citizen had tried to enter Danton's office without an appointment. Not uncommon, but no longer acceptable with his change in status. She knew Danton didn't like it, but he would learn to deal with it. They all would.
Eliron and Roland had a typical day at the education center then each had a sukan game, at the same time, in different locations. Again, not uncommon. Kasmira attended one while Ethan the other. Both of the boys’ teams won and the family celebrated by going out for ice cream.
Stephanie smiled remembering how her parents had done the same thing after either her or her brothers' games. It always made the victory so much sweeter. She lost her smile as she began reading Burk's report on Ethan. Some of Sokol's men had been sighted around Ethan's office.
Sokol was being brought up on multiple charges of murder because of the incident on Nuga. The original thought had been that the Regulians had attacked the planet, but after an extensive investigation, it had been discovered that part of the mine had collapsed due to Sokol’s and his manager's greed. Because of that, every mine associated with the Sokol Corporation was being inspected. Ethan's company was in charge of the inspections and was being highly criticized for it by Sokol's supporters.
A knock on her door had her looking up to find Nick standing there.
"Hey," Stephanie said softly, her gaze taking in how good he looked in uniform. Of course he looked better out of it.
"Hey," he replied, giving her a sexy smile seeming to know what she was thinking. "Just wanted to let you know I was taking off."
"Jotham's ready to go?" she asked pulling he mind back to the business at hand.
"Just finishing up a comm in his office."
"Alright, keep me updated, and I'll see you later."
"You will," he agreed. When he turned to leave her next words stopped him.
"Be safe, Nick."
He turned, his eyes latching on to her blue-green ones. "I will be."
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Nick walked into the office area of the shuttle and waited. When Jotham finally lifted his head from what he was reading, acknowledging him, he spoke. "Sire, we will be arriving on the Bering in fifteen minutes."
"Thank you, Nicholas." When Nick would have turned to leave, Jotham stopped him. "Sit for a moment, would you?"
Nick knew it wasn't really a question and did as ordered.
"Stephanie came and spoke with her mother and me this morning."
"I’m aware of that."
"I see. Well, I feel we should discuss how this will change our relationship."
"With all due respect, Sire, I don't see why it would."
"Really?" Jotham asked leaning back in his chair. "You don't see this being problematic?"
"No, I am still the same man I was yesterday. The same man that has guarded you all these cycles."
"You know you're not... you're now more. My life mate adores you, everyone knows that, so this relationship with her daughter makes her extremely happy." Jotham gave him a putout look. "But that daughter is also my Commander, so I have to look at it differently."
Nick wanted to smile at Jotham's look because he knew his words were true. Nick wasn't sure why Jacinda had taken such a liking to him, but she had, and he returned those feelings in a completely platonic way. He wanted to use that to his advantage but knew that was precisely what Jotham was worried about as Nick’s next words reflected.
"So how do you see it?"
"As a situation that is going to cause a great deal of controversy for a House that has already dealt with more than its share over the last few moon cycles,” Jotham stated.
"My being in love with Stephanie does that?"
"Yes."
Nick paused for only a moment before saying, "I understand."
"Do you?"
Nick's gaze left Jotham's for a moment, traveling around the shuttle. He hadn't mentioned it to Stephanie, but he'd known it might come to this. Yet with what she'd said this morning, he'd thought they'd cleared this hurdle. Apparently, Jotham had only been placating both women. His gaze returned to his King. "Yes, and as soon as we are back on planet, I will resign my position as your Captain."
"You would actually do that?" Jotham gave him a disbelieving look.
"Majesty, I have dedicated my life to making sure you and yours were safe and protected. Never once have I regretted the sacrifices I've had to make to accomplish that. It has been the greatest of honors that you entrusted me to do so, but my life mate won't be one of those sacrifices. No man of any worth would allow it. So yes, I would do that with no regrets."
Jotham found he agreed with Nicholas that any man who chose his career over his life mate was a fool, and Nicholas was no fool. Neither was Jotham. Which was why he would never demand a man do something he wouldn't. Because Jotham would have willingly stepped down and allowed Barek to assume the throne had Jacinda refused to become his Queen. He'd only wanted to make sure Nicholas was as committed to Stephanie as he was to Jacinda because they were going to face problems, just as he and Jacinda did.
"That's what I wanted to hear, Nicholas, and just so you know, I never would have accepted your resignation."
"So this was a test."
"A verification," Jotham corrected. "To make sure you were as committed to Stephanie as she is to you. She was also willing to risk her position for you."
"What?!" Nick surged to his feet.
"She didn't tell you?" Jotham could tell he had surprised Nick.
"No, and when we get back, she and I are going to have a serious discussion about it."
Jotham couldn't help but smile at that. Nicholas and Stephanie were both strong, independent people who were used to making decisions alone. Not unlike him and Jacinda and like them, they were going to have to learn to include someone else in that process, or there would be clashes. But oh, the making up was a beautiful thing.
"Be that as it may," Jotham pulled himself away from his thoughts. "You and I still need to come to an understanding of our new relationship."
"Sire, while others might believe it will be a problem, I don't. You are my King, and I will still willingly give my life to protect you, your Queen, or any member of your family."
"Which you will now be a part of."
"When we are alone, with other members of the family perhaps, but the majority of our time togeth
er will be as we are now, and now I am only the Captain of your Guard, Majesty."
Jotham said nothing for a moment. He'd known this wasn't going to be quickly resolved. It was going to take time for everyone to adjust and to see if Stephanie and Nicholas could keep their personal life from bleeding into their professional one. The slightest of bumps along the side of the shuttle signaled they had arrived on the Bering.
"Alright, Captain. We'll keep things as they are for now and see how it works out." With that, he rose and allowed Nicholas and the rest of his guard to escort him onto the space station.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
"You're sure, Captain?" William asked, staring at his son's face on the screen.
"Yes, High Admiral," Lucas replied from his desk in the Command Center of the Guardian, the privacy screen engaged. "There's been too much activity, in too many different locations, for anything else to make sense."
"Understood. Keep me advised." William disconnected the comm then cursed under his breath when he saw the time. Rising, he left the secure comm area and headed for his office.
"Sir, King Jotham is in your office," Hamlin told William when he entered his outer office.
"Thank you, Hamlin," he replied then nodded to Deffand who stood at attention beside his office door. He'd already passed the rest of Jotham's security detail guarding the outer entrance.
Entering his office, he closed the door. "Jotham, my apologies for being late."
"None needed. I'm sure it was important."
"It was." William didn't expand on that, then sitting down across from Jotham poured himself a cup of coffee. Sitting back he grimaced as he took a sip.
"Not Pittaluga's, is it?" Jotham commented.
"No."
"Why don't you bring some up with you?" Jotham asked.
"Because this is a military facility and the High Admiral will drink the same thing those under his command do."
Jotham just shook his head. William had always been this way. Never putting himself above those under his command. It made him a good Commander, and beloved by those under his command. "You are a better man than me, Will."
"No, I'm not. The majority of my time is spent on planet, where we both know the only coffee I drink is Pittaluga's. Drinking this," he lifted his cup, "just makes me appreciate it that much more."
