Jacinda's Challenge (Imperial 3)

by M. K. Eidem

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Jotham looked up from the report he was reading as the door to his private office opened and Chesney entered.

  “King Jotham, Madame Michelakakis is here.”

  “Wonderful.” Closing the folder, he rose and walked around his desk moving toward the door, surprising Chesney. In all Chesney’s cycles in serving his King, never had Jotham gone out to greet someone, they came to him. “You’ve arranged for refreshments?” Jotham asked.

  “Yes, Majesty.”

  “Good.” Moving passed Chesney, Jotham entered the outer room to greet Jacinda. He paused when he heard her words, ‘I will make sure to keep my eyes open for you,’ and saw his Captain’s cheeks darken slightly.

  “Madame Michelakakis,” Jotham spoke pulling her attention from his Captain to him.

  Jotham’s voice had Jacinda turning from Deffand to address the King and for a moment, she found herself speechless. Somehow, she had forgotten just how handsome Jotham Tibullus was. While Stephan had been her life mate and the only man she’d wanted to spend her life with, it didn’t mean she still couldn’t appreciate a good-looking male when she saw one. And Jotham had always been that.

  Jotham was taller than Stephan by a good three inches. She’d forgotten that. She was able to look her husband in the eye when she wore two-inch heels and took care to make sure they were always shorter than that. It had become a habit. So now with Jotham, she had to tip her head back to look him in the eye. Jotham still had the thick, dark, unruly hair of his youth, although there was some gray starting if you looked close enough. Stephan’s had already been fully gray at Jotham’s age and Jotham’s violet eyes, a testament to his being of royal blood, were nothing like Stephan’s warm amber ones.

  If the cut of Jotham’s clothes was accurate, then time had not yet affected the King’s physique either. He was still broad in the shoulders and trim at the waist and the tailoring of his shirt discreetly revealed the muscles of his chest and abs before it tucked into the waistband of his pants.

  “King Jotham,” she finally remembered to respond and bowed her head slightly to him.

  “It’s wonderful to see you again.” Jotham gestured for her to proceed him into his office, which surprised him when he realized he truly was.

  Jacinda Michelakakis was taller than he remembered. The top of her head just reaching his chin. Lata’s hadn't reached his shoulder and her size had always made him feel that he needed to protect her. Jacinda gave off the aura of a strong, confident woman. One that could stand up for and by herself if need be. She had shown that with how she’d handled the sudden death of her life mate.

  Jotham remembered Stephan’s sochraide well. The temple had been filled to capacity with representatives from every House, for Stephan Michelakakis had been well-liked and greatly respected outside of his own House. It had to have been a daunting task for Jacinda and her children that day, but they had all rallied around each other. Jacinda had gracefully accepted the condolences of each and every person there, even when you could see it was wearing on her. Her beautiful, golden skin had become pale and her usually bright and sparkling blue-green eyes had been dull and lifeless, filled with such sadness. He had been told she was the last to leave her life mate’s grave… that her oldest son, Danton, had to convince her to leave.

  Jotham had always meant to personally check up on her. It was the least he could have done for Stephan, but then Barek had been reported lost, Cassandra had arrived on Carina, and Dadrian’s treasonous crimes had been revealed. Jotham was ashamed to admit he had forgotten all about Stephan’s widow and family until yesterday.

  Now he wondered how he could have, for Jacinda Michelakakis was an uncommonly beautiful woman. While he wasn’t sure of her age, he knew she had been a good many cycles younger than Stephan at their Union. Jotham still believed that was the real reason why so many in the Assembly had protested their Union. It had nothing to do with what House Jacinda had come from, but that they envied her beauty and confidence and worried they would be found lacking. His father should have immediately put a stop to it, but he hadn’t. Jotham had never understood why, but he ended the controversy when he became King. Moreover, while Stephan had thanked him, it had never stopped Stephan from expressing his opinion when he disagreed with Jotham. It had been something Jotham had greatly respected and missed. Now he felt like he had failed the man by not seeing to his family’s welfare.

  “Won’t you sit?” Jotham asked gesturing to the couch along one side of the room.

  Jacinda took in the room as she moved to the sofa. This was obviously where the King did the majority of his work. There were files piled on the large desk that faced the door as you entered. Behind the desk, a large window let in the light and scents from the King’s Garden that lay outside. The wall opposite the couch, where she sat, contained shelves, filled with books and what appeared to be items given to the King by the other Houses.

  “Your refreshments, Majesty,” Chesney announced placing the tray down on the small table between the couch and the chair the King had moved to sit in.

  “Thank you, Chesney, that will be all,” Jotham dismissed him.

  “Yes, Majesty. Madame.” Giving each a small bow, Chesney left the room.

  “Would you like me to pour, Majesty?” Jacinda looked at him, waiting for the King’s reply before proceeding.

  “Please,” Jotham told her and watched as she gracefully poured two cups of the hot tea.

  “Do you still take three sweeteners?” she asked, her hand poised above the sweetener.

  “I… yes.” Jotham frowned. How had she known? “How?”

  “Did I know you liked your tea sweet?” Jacinda finished for him and smiled as she handed him the sweetened cup and saucer.

  “Yes,” he confirmed.

  “Lata spoke of it once when we were having tea. She couldn’t understand how you could take it so sweet.” Jacinda shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I remembered it because Stephan liked his that way too.”

  “I see.” Jotham took a sip of his perfectly sweetened tea then sat back even though he didn’t fully understand. He had never realized Lata and Jacinda Michelakakis had been that close.

  Jacinda picked up her own cup of unsweetened tea and sipped.

  “You don’t like your tea sweetened?”

  “On occasion, but when I do, I like to use honey.”

  “I’ll have Chesney bring some.” Jotham moved to put his cup down when her words stopped him.

  “No, Majesty, this is fine. As I said, I only occasionally sweeten it.”

  “If you are sure.”

  “I am.” Jacinda continued to sip her tea, waiting for Jotham to tell her why she was here.

  “I suppose you would like to know why I asked you here today.”

  “I am curious, yes.”

  “Well, I need to start out by apologizing for never having checked on you after Stephan’s death.”

  Jacinda frowned and carefully set her cup down on the table. “Why would you check on me, Majesty?” she asked quietly looking up at him.

  “Why?” Jotham gave her a slightly startled look at her question. “Well, because Stephan was an Assemblyman for my House for nearly forty cycles. You were his wife for - of those cycles. I should have made sure you were well and had what you needed.”

  “Thank you for the thought, Majesty, and I know that Stephan would have appreciated it, but I had what I needed. I had my children, grandchildren and the rest of my family to help me through that dark time. Thanks to them, I have recovered and am carrying on with my life as Stephan would have wanted me to. So now tell me, Majesty, what is it that you need from me?”

  Jotham set his own cup down somewhat surprised at her bluntness then realized he shouldn’t be. Stephan had been the same way, especially in private.

  “I am hoping you can help me with a situation that has come to my attention.”

  “A situation?” Jacinda couldn’t for the life of her think of anythi
ng she had the ability to help Jotham with.

  “You are probably not aware of this yet, but I just recently returned from the House of Knowledge where I performed the Union of Lucas Zafar and Victoria Chamberlain.”

  “Really?” Jacinda didn’t try to hide her surprise. She had heard nothing about this and she should have. A Royal wedding would have been the talk of the entire planet. “I would have thought the Queen would have wanted multiple balls for her niece to celebrate such a joyous event, especially after all they had survived together.

  “I believe Cassandra did, but Tori and Lucas wanted it done before the Guardian’s maiden voyage.”

  “Lucas Zafar is her first Captain, is he not? And she leaves in less than a moon cycle?”

  “Yes.”

  “The Queen still could have arranged a more public Union.”

  “It is not what Lucas and Victoria wanted.”

  “The Queen just allowed them to dictate that to her?” Jacinda found that hard to believe. Everything she had ever heard and seen about Queen Cassandra was that of a woman who knew what she wanted and didn’t stop until she achieved it. It’s one of the reasons she and her niece had survived the destruction of their world.

  “I don’t think Cassandra really had a choice, not once Cyndy Chamberlain was done with her. If what Barek has told me is correct, then Madame Chamberlain has no qualms about letting the Queen know when she has overstepped her place.”

  “Really?” Jacinda couldn’t believe it. The whole planet had heard about the incredible rescue of the Queen’s family, the Chamberlains, from Earth nine cycles after it had been decimated by the Regulians. As of yet, the ‘family’ had made no public appearances and no visuals had been released. It made some believe it was just that, an incredible story, especially among the Queen’s detractors of which there were still a few. “If Prince Barek is right, then I think I would very much like to meet this fearless Titan.”

  Jotham was captivated by the smile growing on Jacinda’s face as she spoke. Her entire being seemed to light up especially her eyes. “She’s more the size of a sprite than a Titan,” Jotham told her.

  “What?” Jacinda gave him a surprised look.

  “She is even smaller than Tori. You have met Victoria, haven’t you?”

  “No, but I’ve seen visuals of her. She is quite small.”

  “Only by Carinian standards. Victoria is about average height for a female from Earth, or so I’ve been told, while her mother is quite a few inches shorter.”

  “Really? And she stood up to the Queen?” Jacinda’s eyes sparkled.

  “I don’t believe Cyndy sees Cassandra as the ‘Queen,’ but as the younger sister of her husband.”

  Jacinda was silent for a moment, thinking before quietly saying, “I’m sure the Queen appreciates that, being seen as a ‘person’ instead of a ‘title.'”

  “I’m sure she does.” Jotham paused then spoke his thoughts. “You sound as if you have some experience with that.”

  “With not being seen for who you really are?” Jacinda looked at Jotham wondering if he was really interested or just making polite conversation. She’d never really had a ‘conversation’ with him before. Yes, they had talked before but always about the current, polite, ‘political’ things and always in the presence of others. It had never veered toward the truly personal.

  “Please, I am actually interested.” Jotham saw her hesitation and was surprised to find he was. “I am just now realizing that while I have known you since you came to the House of Protection, I don’t really know you.”

  “Actually you have known me since before that, Majesty. We were at the Academy together.”

  “Excuse me?” Jotham’s shock was genuine.

  “We were at the Academy together, Majesty,” she repeated. “We actually attended several classes together even though I was a cycle ahead of you.”

  “We had classes together?” Jotham’s shock grew. “Why don’t I remember that?”

  “I believe during those classes you and the High Admiral were more focused on the Hext sisters sitting in front of you than anything else.”

  “The Hext sisters?” Jotham couldn’t stop the smile that broke out over his face or the rusty sounding laugh that escaped him. “Praise the ancestors, I haven’t thought about those two in cycles.”

  “Yes, well they led both of you on a merry chase before you caught them.”

  “Caught them?” Jotham cleared his throat and forced his lips into a straight line before answering, but the sparkle remained in his eye. “I’m afraid I don’t recall ‘catching’ them.”

  “Of course you don’t,” Jacinda’s own lips twitched at the King’s blatant lie. “No gentleman would remember such a thing.”

  “I still find it hard to believe I don’t remember you from the Academy.”

  “I don’t,” Jacinda said without any censure. “You had every girl in the Academy trying to gain your attention. There was no reason for you to look at one who wasn’t.”

  “And why weren’t you?” The words escaped Jotham before he could stop them and cringed slightly at how that sounded, but Jacinda just laughed softly.

  “Partly because I was from the House of Healing and knew nothing could come of it. I had no desire to become one of Prince Jotham’s ‘special friends,’” she said as she made air quotes. “But the main reason was that I had plans, Majesty, and those plans had absolutely nothing to do with politics. I grew up in it and I wanted to be known as me, not an Assemblyman’s daughter. I had no desire to live the rest of my life in that fish bowl.”

  When Jotham’s only response was to raise an eyebrow, she laughed again.

  “No, it didn’t turn out that way. The ancestors have the strangest sense of humor.”

  “Do you regret it?” Jotham asked.

  “No. Stephan was worth every minute of it.”

  “I still find it hard to believe I never noticed you.”

  “As I said, Majesty, I was a cycle ahead of you. I’m sure you knew my sister though. She and Lata roomed together at the Academy.”

  “Your sister?” Jotham searched his mind trying to remember who Lata’s roommate had been. “Palma? Palma Crocetti was your sister?”

  “Is my sister and yes. She’s Palma Metaxas now and lives in Kisurri. Lata used to come stay at our house during breaks.”

  “Yes, I remember that I just… I never made that connection before. I’m sorry.”

  “There’s nothing to be sorry for, it really didn’t involve you. Lata and I knew about it and it actually helped us both in those early cycles.”

  Jotham remembered those first cycles, remembered how Lata had struggled, remembered how she would cry in her bath where she thought he couldn’t hear, remembered how he felt he had failed her. Jerking himself back from that painful memory, Jotham gave Jacinda a sharp look. How had the conversation strayed onto such a painful subject? This was so far away from what he had meant to talk to Jacinda about. It was time he got back to the topic at hand.

  “Yes, well that has nothing to do with what I wished to speak to you about,” Jotham told her coldly.

  Jacinda stared at Jotham for a moment, hurt at his abrupt change then realized what he was doing. It was something he had always done if the conversation turned to Lata, not that it ever did anymore, but if it did, Jotham would always abruptly end the conversation. Jacinda had never understood it, but everyone grieved in his or her own way.

  “Of course it’s not,” she replied coolly, “so maybe you should tell me why you summoned me here.”

  Jotham leaned back slightly surprised not only by her words but by the coolness of her tone and how remote her eyes had suddenly become when just moments before they had been sparkling. He knew he had caused it by his reaction and his words, but no one had ever ‘voiced’ their displeasure with him quite so eloquently or so politely in cycles.

  “Summoned? You weren’t summoned, Madame Michelakakis. I asked you here.”

  “When a King
‘asks,’ it is a summons, Majesty.” Jacinda wasn’t going to back down. Jotham was the one who had moved this from friendly to merely polite so that was where she would stay. “I am no longer the wife of an Assemblyman, so what possible ‘situation’ could I help you with?”

  “Alright.” Jotham rose and went to sit behind his desk, the place he should have been all along and gestured to the chair before it, indicating he wanted her to sit there. Opening the folder he had closed when he’d gone to greet her, he lifted the visual out then slid it across the desk to her.

  Jacinda sat before picking it up. In the visual stood four people, all of whom she either knew or knew of. In the center was Lucas Zafar standing tall and proud in his Coalition dress uniform. The violet pants representing he was from the House of Protection were perfectly pressed. The left side of his white dress jacket displayed the medals he had earned and his newly acquired Captain’s insignia was gleaming on its collar.

  Standing next to Lucas was Victoria, her arms around her new husband’s waist. She was literally glowing in the visual and it wasn’t because of the incredible gown she was wearing although it was magnificent, one of Kia’s creations Jacinda was sure. The violet sash around Victoria’s waist was a surprise though. It stated that her loyalty was with her husband and his House, the House of Protection, not her aunt’s House, the House of Knowledge.

  On either side of the couple stood Prince Barek also wearing his dress uniform and Jacinda’s great niece, Amina, in a solid violet gown that was a simpler version of Victoria’s. Both were smiling at the happy couple. Jacinda found herself smiling. She had a visual very similar to this at home. It had been taken on her and Stephan’s Union Day. It sat on her dresser, along with visuals of her children and grandchildren so she could see them every day and remember how very blessed she had been in her life. She hoped these young people were as equally blessed.