by Dani Hoots
“Is there a reason you’re being a pain in my butt today?” I grilled as I shoved him against the railing. The few guests that were outside paused to look at us quizzically for a moment and then went back to their conversations.
“Not particularly.”
I sighed. “Then can you leave me alone? We have a banquet that needs to be guarded. Can you be civilized for just tonight?”
“Nope,” Tom grinned.
I rubbed my temples, thinking of how much I wanted to shoot him. “Damn you for being so persistent in your jackassary.”
He placed his arm on my shoulder. “Arcadia, sweetie, I’m just trying to get under your skin, of which I seem to be succeeding. As for not telling you about Jack, I just wanted to see your reaction. You held your composure pretty well if I might add but I could still see the worry in your eyes. The worry that something might slip and your affair would be discovered.”
I glared at him but didn’t say a word.
Tom went on. “Don’t deny it; I saw the way he looked at you. He’s jealous the Emperor has you wrapped around his little finger. I would be too if my girl was so,” he paused trying to find the right word, “loyal to another man.”
“You don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Oh but I do. My father was a general before you came into the picture. He told me of how he kept you a secret all those years, training you to be his weapon. You are his pet, Arcadia. Question is, why does he want you? What does he need you for?”
“That’s for me to know and you to never find out.”
“Tell me, Arcadia. Tell me what makes you so special? Why did the Emperor keep you hidden all that time?”
“Ask him if you really want to know.”
Tom just glowered at me, knowing he couldn’t ask Neil straight out. Neil never liked being asked questions, even by me.
“It kills you, doesn’t it? That he looks at me more highly than you,” I said
He took a step closer to me. “One of these days, Arcadia, when you aren’t prepared, I will end you.”
I sniggered. “You think you could hurt me?”
“I do,” he grasped my arm and tried to pull me close.
I resisted him. “What are you doing?”
“Dance with me, Arcadia.”
“What? I thought you just said you wanted to kill me. Now you want to dance?”
“We can’t fight here. It’s a formal event after all. Besides,” Tom gave me a once over. “I don’t want to ruin that pretty dress of yours.”
“I’m not going to dance with you Tom.”
“Just one dance. Then I will leave you alone for the rest of the night. What do you have to lose?” he pleaded.
“My dignity, among other things. And I don’t trust you.”
“There aren’t many people out here. Come on, Arcadia,” Tom leaned his forehead against mine. “Just one dance.”
His eyes gazed into mine. Tom was rather charming when he wasn’t being so annoying. I glared at him, trying to figure what my best option was. I could just leave him standing there and go back to the Emperor but then he would keep bugging me and I would be back out here yelling at him later. Or I could let him dance with me, which had no downside other than me just not wanting to.
“Fine,” I set my glass of wine down on the railing. “But just one dance. Touch me where you aren’t supposed to, you die. And you better promise to leave me alone for the rest of the night.”
“One dance and I promise I will leave you alone. And you have to be more specific, where can’t I touch you?”
I gave him a dirty look as he wrapped his arms around me and I him. I could still hear the music from the ballroom playing a slow, classical melody but it didn’t matter. Tom swayed to his own beat.
“You’re not on the beat,” I derided his dancing.
“Shh, it doesn’t matter.”
I let out a slight chuckle. He really did have an ego-complex.
“Was that a laugh because you are having fun or are you just making fun of me?”
“A little of both actually. It’s not every day you get to dance with the General Draff of the Pandronan Imperial Army,” I sarcastically replied. Truthfully I hadn’t danced with someone like this for a long time. I missed it, even though I would rather be dancing with someone else.
He ran his hand up my back and twirled my curled hair with his fingers. I had to admit the dancing was quite pleasurable. Tom knew how to make a girl fall in love with him. His quirky smile, his soft hands, girls stood no chance. Not that I had any feelings for him, I just have seen many girls come out of his quarters in the early hours in the morning.
Pulling my head to his shoulder, he whispered into my ear. “You look beautiful tonight.”
“I thought you promised to shut up.”
“I mean it, you look beautiful,” I felt his breath against my neck. It almost made me shudder.
“I hate you, you know that right?”
“I know. And at this moment I don’t think your boyfriend cares for me either.”
I stopped and pulled my head back to face him. “What are you talking about?”
Tom nodded behind me. “Jack, he’s glaring at me. I think it’s quite cute, getting jealous that another man is holding his girl so closely.”
I whirled around to find Jack standing behind me. His eyes met mine in a questionable inspection. Spinning back around, I punched Tom in the nose. Falling back, he caught himself on the railing and wiped the blood off his face. I looked down to find blood on my glove.
Tom wiped at the blood that poured out of his nose. “You punched me!”
“You deserved it,” I blurted out.
I grabbed my drink and downed the rest of it in one swallow. Heading back to the Emperor, I pushed past Jack. He followed me as we entered the ballroom.
“Arcadia, wait!” Jack called.
I turned to him. “What, Jack? What do you possibly have to say to me here? As you can see, I am constantly watched. It’s not like Recar where we don’t have to worry. You don’t understand what it’s like here. Just go home, Mister McHannon, you are too civilized for this type of company.”
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he looked down at my hand.
“I am fine. Now, please,” I looked him squarely in the eyes with sincerity. “Leave me be.”
He nodded as I went back to the Emperor who was now talking to the representative of Ttkas. As I approached, the Ttkassian left Neil and we were standing alone. He took a look at my bloody glove and sighed.
“I told you not to do anything rash.”
“I didn’t,” I rose my empty glass and grinned. “Just spilt some wine on myself.”
He turned to the crowd and saw Tom walk in with a napkin held to his nose. “Doesn’t have anything to do with General Draff’s broken nose?”
“Nope,” I lied.
He pulled a clean glove out of his jacket pocket.
“You know me too well sir,” I pulled off my glove and hesitated as I spotted the bars branded on my wrist.
“You should cover that before someone sees it,” Neil commented.
“Yes, sir,” I pulled on the clean glove.
A crash sounded from across the ballroom. I quickly inspected it. A waiter had spilt wine all over one of the guests. Sir Lain if I was correct. The waiter quickly apologized and hurried off to the servants’ locker room to change out of his now ruined uniform.
“Now, while you were preoccupied with... whatever you were doing, I have talked to the Ttkassian representative. He is in need of some assistance. There are rumors of the P.A.E. planning an attack and I need you to take a look and make sure nothing is going on,” he changed matters to business.
“Consider it done, sir,” I grabbed a new glass of wine.
“Good, I like to hear that. Once you figure out the details about the attack the P.A.E. are planning, I want you to work with General Draff to figure out a way to stop them.”
I f
rowned. “Draff, sir? Why can’t I do this one alone?”
“I have a feeling this one will be too big for just you to handle. You won’t have to work with him for too long, just make sure you give him all the information you fathom. Besides, I thought you had nothing to do with that bloody nose of his.”
My eyes fixed down at my newly filled glass, “I didn’t.”
He raised my chin with his finger. “You always look down when you lie to me, which is rare.”
“I’m sorry sir; he’s just such a hassle. I will see what I can do.”
“That is what I like to hear. I want you to head out to Ttkas first thing in the morning.”
“Yes, sir.”
Putting his arm around me once again, Neil led me to another group of representatives that were talking. As Emperor, he had to keep fraternizing with the guests and as his escort, I had to accompany him and make sure nothing happened. I usually never talked but stood and nodded as if I was participating in the conversation. I peered around to see if Jack was still around, but he wasn’t. No use thinking about him now.
I turned back to the conversation and kept up my smile. I kept my gaze on the guests around me as well, making sure nothing looked suspicious. I saw Tom in the back, still holding a napkin to his nose. I chuckled. He looked pissed. I watched as waiters and waitresses passed by with their trays of drinks and appetizers.
As a waiter passed by, an overwhelming feeling came over me. Something felt out of place. I glanced at the waiter, recognizing him from somewhere, but I didn’t know where. All I knew was that he wasn’t from the list of servers that I had carefully reviewed..
Keeping an eye on the stranger, I clicked on the earbud. “Thomas, there wasn’t anyone else you failed to mention to me was there?”
“No,” his voice became serious. “Why?”
The man started to pull out a knife. I quickly grabbed his wrist and twisted it back, hearing a slight snap as he dropped the knife. The guests all around screamed and ran around in fear that the attacker might have a gun. This made matters worse. The man wrenched out of my grip. I tried to grab him again but he had already run into the crowd of fleeing representatives.
“Sir,” I hurried to the Emperor. “Are you okay?”
Neil nodded. “Yes, I am fine. Go after him.”
I motioned the two guards present to stay with him and others towards the exits as I pulled out my own gun and ran after the intruder.
“What happened?” Tom’s voice came through the earbud.
“Someone tried to attack the Emperor with a knife. I broke his wrist but he got away. The Emperor is fine. I think the man went up the stairs towards the east wing,” I explained.
“The doors to that area are locked, if you get to the corridor before he can figure that out, you should have him trapped,” Laura remarked through the earbuds.
“Fine, I will head there. Tom, you have my back?” I questioned as I headed up the stairs.
“Yes,” he agreed.
“Laura and Peter, make sure he didn’t get away via another route. Tom and I have the corridors,” I ordered.
“Understood,” Peter chimed in.
Opening the door that led into the corridor, I raised my gun. Darkness filled the area with only soft moonlight to show me where to step. I advanced softly, listening for any movement the intruder made. The only noise that echoed through the corridor was of the crowd that occupied the ballroom. Whoever waited ahead of me used that to his benefit. He knew he had gotten himself trapped and awaited any opportunity to get past me since I blocked his only exit.
I heard something behind me crash. As I turned I realized the intruder threw something to divide my attention. Cussing under my breath, I turned back to find a TG-1 barrel pointed at my face.
“Drop your weapon,” the man ordered.
I dropped my gun and held up my hands. I examined him but couldn’t make out any of his facial features for the room was too dark.
“Now kick it to me,” his voice didn’t waver.
I kicked it to him, thinking of how I would get out of this. It wasn’t the first time I had a gun pointed at me and it surely wouldn’t be the last. In fact, last time it had been a TG-4 pointed in my face. Now that was an interesting day.
The man slowly picked my gun up with his broken hand and stuffed it in his coat pocket.
“If you had a gun this whole time, why didn’t you use it instead of the knife?” I questioned.
“That’s none of your business,” he answered coldly.
I shrugged. The intruder studied me, probably trying to figure out who I was.
“You are the Emperor’s shadow, aren’t you?”
Just as I thought. “I am.”
“You have killed hundreds of my people, slaughtered them like animals. You deserve to die,” the man proclaimed.
I chuckled.
“You think this is funny?” he waved the gun. “You are at my mercy and you think laughing at the death of my people is smart?”
“I wasn’t laughing at the death of your people, I was laughing because you are right and I do deserve to die. I’ve done countless things I don’t even want to admit to myself. Despite that, I have learned in all my years of serving the Emperor that no one is perfect.”
A noise sounded behind him and he turned slightly. I took this chance to tackle him and take my gun and his. I pointed it down at him.
“As I said, no one’s perfect,” I smirked.
“Cadi, don’t.”
I narrowed my eyes. No one ever called me Cadi except for Jack and he wasn’t Jack. I stepped closer and tried to make out his face in what light the moon permitted. There was only one other person who called me that in my entire life.
“Rik?” I could see his face now. It had been eleven years but I could still see my brother in him. He started to stand.
“Don’t move!” I ordered.
“Cadi, it’s okay. It’s me. You aren’t going to shoot your own brother, now are you?” he tried to calm me down.
Thousands of emotions flowed through me. Surprise, anger, confusion, and understanding. All these feelings were there and I didn’t know which to listen to.
“Don’t move, Rik. Don’t make me shoot you,” I begged once more.
“Cadi, just let me kill him for all the destruction he has caused to the galaxy,” he tried to persuade.
I refused. “No.”
“But he killed our father. Don’t you want revenge for that?” he kept stepping closer.
“He didn’t kill our father. Don’t step any closer.”
“No, the Empire did, and if I kill him then the Empire will fall.”
I shook my head. “I can’t let you kill him.”
“Yes, you can, just let me pass,” he stepped even closer.
I heard the door open down the hall and became distracted just long enough for him to punch me and grab his gun. Mine slid across the room. I fell down as he ran past. I heard a struggle behind me and quickly got up to find Rik on the ground with Tom standing above him. He had his gun pointed down at him.
“Arcadia, will you be useful and come cuff him? I have some in the breast pocket of my jacket,” Tom nodded down at his coat pocket.
I grabbed the cuffs out of Tom’s jacket and bound Rik’s arms back. I felt him flinch as I bound the broken wrist. It felt a little swollen now.
Tom pressed the earbud. “Peter, Laura, we have him. Inform the Emperor. Tell him we are taking him to the cells.”
I started to take Rik down towards the cells when Tom stopped me.
“Wait, I can take him. You need to stay with the Emperor in case there’s another person involved. Guard him the rest of the night and make sure he is fine.”
I stopped for a moment, wanting to take Rik down to the cells. I needed to find out where he had been all these years, what had happened and why he was here now. However, Tom was right; my duty was to the Emperor. The Emperor came first.
“Fine, but keep him alive. I wa
nt to question him myself,” I handed Rik to him and grabbed my gun. I headed back into the ballroom.
I found Neil calming his guests, not letting them worry about what had just happened. He knew how to keep himself composed in every situation, no matter the threat, as if he knew what they all needed.
“Sir,” I began as I approached him. “I think it is best we end the Representative Soiree early and head to your quarters. We don’t know if this was a one-man attack or not. Tom has the intruder in the cell now and is seeing if he can get any information out of him. He will keep us posted.”
Neil nodded. “Fine,” he turned to his subjects. “As you can see, we need to end this ball a little early. Thank you all for coming and I will hear from you soon. If there’s anything else you need, please do not hesitate to contact me.”
The representatives bowed as I led the Emperor out of the ballroom and towards his quarters. I sent men ahead of us to make sure everything was clear as we went.
“Sir, you are taking this assassination attempt very well,” I remarked once we were away from the guests.
“I know I have nothing to worry about when you are around Arcadia,” he commented.
“I am serious sir, if you aren’t too careful something could happen.”
“Don’t worry about me Arcadia, nothing will happen to me as long as you stay at my side. Isn’t that right?”
I nodded. “Yes sir.”
We reached his quarters and I assigned four guards outside the main doors and six others further down the hallways. Checking his room to make sure it was clear, I let him proceed.
“All clear sir,” I stated as he entered his quarters.
“Thank you, I trust you will be staying out here the rest of the night?” he questioned as he pulled off his jacket and tie.
“Yes sir. If you need anything let me know.”
Neil nodded and retired to his bed chambers. I sat down on the couch, pulled out my gun and laid it next to me for easy access. I gazed at the tiles that spread across the floor and let my mind drift back to what had happened in the past eleven years, and how my brother was still alive.
Chapter 3
Hours passed and I stared blankly into the darkness. I listened for any sound that could signal a threat. The only thing I heard all night was the sound of Neil tossing and turning in his bed. I wondered how he could sleep after what had just happened. I wouldn’t blame him for restless, but he knew I would keep him safe. He knew he could trust me.
