by Brenda Hiatt
“His mother—she’s a Healer. His dad’s Informatics, I think. He took Shim’s place on the Council a couple of weeks ago.”
I’m glad tonight’s band is loud, since it would be nearly as bad for anybody to overhear what we’re saying. But even if the people at the next table were Echtran, I doubt they’d be able to, since we’re keeping our voices down.
Kira’s still frowning, but more thoughtfully now. “Doesn’t it bother you that she’s doling out all these political favors to Rigel’s family? Making his grandfather Regent, then putting his dad on the Council? Doesn’t that seem a little…inappropriate to you?”
“She hasn’t—I mean—” I hesitate, remembering how upset my mum was about both of those appointments. “She, um, had her reasons. It wasn’t just because of Rigel.”
“Are you sure?” Her gold-flecked eyes bore into mine and my stomach gives a tiny lurch. “Why are you defending her, after everything she’s done to you? I’d think if anyone had reason to question her judgment, it’s you. I mean, you not only witnessed most of her screwups, you’ve suffered from some of them.”
I shift uncomfortably in my chair. “It’s not… Okay, yeah, she’s acted impulsively a few times. But she’s only sixteen, and she’s been under incredible pressure since finding out who she is.” I don’t mention that I added to that pressure, acting so jealous of Rigel for so long. Until just recently, in fact.
“A leader has to be able to handle pressure without cracking—or turning her back on someone as supportive of her as you’ve been,” she insists. “The feeds back home showed the two of you together constantly, up until she got Acclaimed. She sure seemed willing to ignore whatever bond she claims to have with Rigel Stuart then, when it was in her best interest to do so. When power was at stake.”
“She wasn’t— You don’t—”
But she continues inexorably. “I guess as soon as she was secure of her position, she didn’t find you so useful anymore? I’m not the only one who noticed you were hardly ever with her when she started making those speeches all over Nuath. And as soon as she gets back to Jewel, all she can think about is Rigel—again. I can’t imagine that doesn’t hurt, Sean.”
I swallow, unnerved by how accurately she’s describing how I’ve felt—pushed aside, after putting my all into getting her Acclaimed, keeping her safe. I even helped her restore Rigel’s memory, giving him bits of the truth, making friends with him…
Yeah, it hurts. Even now, when I’ve admitted the two of them really do need to be together and completely backed off, it still hurts.
“It’s not fair at all, the way she’s treated you.” Her voice is softer now. Sympathetic. “You’d be surprised how many others feel that way.”
“What do you mean?” But I think I know. I saw that Echtran Enquirer article last week that made me out to be some chump M ditched, and I noticed the pitying glances a lot of the newcomers gave me at NuAgra Thursday night. The last thing I want from Kira is pity.
As though she knows what I’m thinking, she says, “Personally, I think it’s admirable that you’ve stood by her this whole time. How you put the good of our people ahead of your own personal feelings. It’s something I’ve always tried to do myself. Guess you got that from your parents, huh? Now they were actual heroes during the Resistance—you should hear my mum and dad go on about them.”
I seize gratefully on the change of subject. “Were your parents active in the Resistance, too?”
“Of course, though maybe not as active as I was. It was easier for me, being a minor and traveling all over Nuath for caidpel. And a lot less risky, since all I ever did was pass messages.”
My admiration for her increases even more. “Still dangerous, though. Good for you. I wish my folks had let me do more back then.”
“Are you kidding? If Faxon had discovered who you were, you’d have been toast. I’m sure your parents knew that. Me, I was just a nobody Ag.”
“A nobody?” I have to laugh. “You’re kidding, right? You were, like, one of the best-known caidpel players on the planet.”
She shrugs modestly, making her chocolate-red hair bounce. During the game and post-game feeds, she always had it in a sort of knot on top of her head. Down around her shoulders, it’s a lot more noticeable. And attractive.
“Not until this season, when Faxon was already out. Last season I was still new to the co-ed league. My only claim to fame then was being one of the youngest players in years to make the cut.”
“Thirty-eight years,” I point out. “So you were basically a phenom even then. I still can’t believe your parents made you leave Nuath right when your career was taking off like that. If the Ags had won the playoffs, you might’ve—”
“Hey, guys.” It’s Paul and Andy, two of my basketball teammates from last year. “Mind if we pull up a couple chairs?”
I definitely mind. I try to convey that with a glare, but they blithely ignore me and borrow two unused chairs from nearby tables.
“We didn’t get much of a chance to talk to you last night,” Andy says to Kira. “And here Sean is, keeping you to himself again. You need to give us lesser mortals a chance to impress you, too.”
“Lesser mortals?” She shoots me an amused but questioning glance. I give her a tiny head-shake that they don’t know anything they shouldn’t.
Paul confirms that by saying, “You mean he hasn’t been bragging about last year’s basketball season? It’s because of him we went to State for the first time in like forever. But that doesn’t mean the rest of us aren’t worth getting to know better.” He winks at her.
“Yeah,” Andy agrees. “Sean may be the best player on our team, but I’ve got the best car. You want to come outside and see it? Maybe go for a spin?”
“Er, maybe some other time,” she replies, but with a smile that makes Andy’s eyes widen and Paul suck in his breath, like they’ve never seen anybody so gorgeous up close before. Which they probably haven’t.
They hang around for another twenty minutes, trying to outdo each other with their over-the-top flirting. Kira doesn’t shut them down like I half expect, considering how stand-offish she’s been at school. But she doesn’t flirt back, either. I keep throwing out hints that she and I want to be alone, but they refuse to take them.
“Don’t you guys have an elsewhere to be?” I finally demand.
“Not really,” Andy replies with a grin, but Paul elbows him.
“Okay, okay, we get it. C’mon, dude, we know when we’re not wanted.”
They leave with exaggerated leers, clearly hoping to embarrass me, but I’m determined not to waste this chance to talk privately with Kira. Who knows when I’ll get another one?
“Sorry,” I say the moment they’re out of earshot. “Like I said last night—”
“You don’t get many new girls. I know.”
The fact she’s gorgeous has something to do with it, too, but of course I don’t say that. “Right. So, tell me more about what you did for the Resistance. What pulled you into it in the first place?”
“I lived in Hollydoon.”
It’s all she needs to say. My family was still living in Glenamuir, just a few miles away, when Hollydoon was subjected to one of the most vicious attacks Faxon’s forces ever carried out against a village.
“Oh, man.” Now I’m the one feeling sympathy—even pity. “So you were there when…?”
She nods, her expression suddenly bleak. “I was one of the few that fought back—and was lucky to escape with nothing worse than a broken arm. When two girls a little older than me tried to resist, the bullochts raped one and killed the other. They also destroyed Hollydoon’s main grain silo and half the aquaponics equipment. We were short of food for months. Most people were afraid to speak out after that, but some of us—like my parents and me—joined the Resistance.”
“And you never got caught?”
“I didn’t. But about a month before Faxon was toppled, someone tipped his people off and they snatched my mum i
n the night. She’s…still not quite the same. But hey, enough about me.” She forces a brighter tone. “Tell me what it’s like having such important parents, your mum on the Council, your dad one of the Sovereign’s top advisors. You must get all the inside scoop practically before it happens, huh?”
Not at all what I want to talk about, but she’s obviously as eager to change the subject as I was earlier.
“Not as much as you’d think. Mum makes my sister and me leave whenever there’s a Council meeting—one reason I’m here tonight. Now that M’s back, they have them at our house nearly every Saturday night.”
“You mean there’s a meeting happening there right now, tonight?”
I nod. “Molly and Dad are at a movie.”
“Wait, your dad doesn’t sit in on the meetings? I’d have thought—”
“He does sometimes, but he’s, um, not exactly advising M these days, after— Well, she’s got her reasons,” I conclude evasively. No reason Kira needs to know about the role Dad played in erasing Rigel’s memory back in Nuath, not when he’s so sorry about it now.
She gives a little snort. “I guess M’s not big on gratitude, huh? To you or your dad.”
I first noticed last night that every time she mentioned M there was a definite edge to her tone. I figured it was because of M embarrassing her parents Thursday night, but now I wonder if there’s more to it. She clearly thinks I should be pissed at M, too. Not hard to guess why.
“Look, I know most people think M more or less kicked me to the curb as soon as she had a chance to get back with Rigel, but it wasn’t really like that. They were together before I ever got to Jewel. Neither of them knew anything about the Royal Consort tradition, so… Anyway, she and I were never as much of a couple as it looked, even if everyone thought we should be. I decided on my own to back off once I realized she’d be happier with him.” It seems important for Kira to understand that part.
“Because of that bond they supposedly have?”
“Yeah. Took a while before I was willing to admit it’s real, but…yeah.”
For a long moment Kira just looks at me, a tiny crease between her brows. Then, abruptly, she stands up. “Look, I really should get back. I promised my parents I wouldn’t be out too late. They still get worried pretty easily.”
I stand up, too, and throw a twenty on the table, more than enough to cover the sodas and fries we had. “Mind if I walk with you partway? I, uh, live in that direction, too.”
She quirks an eyebrow at me, then gives a little shrug. “If you want.”
I can’t quite call the look she gives me as we leave flirtatious, but it’s the friendliest one she’s given me yet. I’ll take it.
20
Play-action fake
As Sean and I leave the Lighthouse Cafe and start walking down Diamond Street, I wonder how I can get more information out of him. That bit he let drop earlier, about the Sovereign’s relatives blabbing about Echtrans to the Duchas, is definitely something I can report to Allister and Lennox, but I want more.
“I still think it’s cool that the Echtran Council meets at your house every week,” I comment before we’ve gone a block. “Even if you don’t get to listen in on the actual meetings, you must hear lots of interesting stuff from your mum. Stuff not everyone knows.”
“Sometimes,” he admits. “She did give Molly and me a heads-up about all you newcomers coming to Jewel—I think we found out the same night M did. And there was the whole Grentl thing last week. They actually let Mol and me be there for some of it, since we already knew— I mean—”
The way he breaks off, like he’s said too much, immediately gets my antennae quivering.
“Oh, so you and your sister knew about the alien threat before that big announcement last week?” Yep, Sean definitely has info I want! “How long before?”
He slants a look down at me—he seems taller than ever walking next to me—and gnaws his lower lip uncertainly. “A while,” he finally answers evasively. “Not this latest threat. M only found out about that a couple days before the announcement. But that the aliens were still in touch and might pose a risk to Nuath. We couldn’t tell anybody, though. They swore us to secrecy, they were so afraid people would panic. Until that announcement last week, the only ones who knew were the Council and a handful of people in Nuath.”
Did Allister and Lennox know? Allister used to be on the Council…
“Was the Council okay with her releasing that statement, then? Or was it something she decided to do on her own?” Seems like the kind of thing she’d do, without thinking ahead to the consequences. “Was it really worth it to freak everybody out when that whole alien attack thing fizzled anyway?”
“It didn’t exactly fizzle. If M and Rigel hadn’t stopped it, it would have been every bit as bad as our Scientists predicted.”
I’m skeptical. “Yeah, I saw last night’s MARSTAR bulletin. I figured she made the Council send it out to get people off Rigel’s back.”
He blinks. “Huh. That would explain why Mum was so…” he mutters almost to himself, then shakes his head. “Whether she did or not, it basically described what happened. You wouldn’t believe how relieved the Council and everybody was Friday night. What M and Rigel did was totally a last-ditch effort and the Scientists admitted the odds of them succeeding or even surviving weren’t good.”
I mull over that for a moment and decide it’s not anything Allister or Lennox will want to hear, since it casts the Sovereign in a good light. But I’m curious about what Sean almost said about his mother, like she didn’t want that statement to go out. I need to get further past his defenses so he’ll tell me more.
“I have to admit, I’ve never had a particularly high opinion of Royals,” I confide when we’re out of earshot of a group of Duchas heading the opposite way. “I always had the impression they’re more interested in consolidating their power than the good of our people. But you seem…different. Like you really care.”
As I hoped, he looks surprised and a little flattered. “I’ve always cared about the good of our people, more than just about anything,” he assures me earnestly. “So do my parents—you know what they did for the Resistance. I won’t deny there are Royals who are more into power than they should be, but I promise we’re not all like that.”
I give a little shrug and smile up at him, though I can’t quite bring myself to flutter my eyelashes. “I’m starting to realize that. I guess it’s never good to generalize.”
“I think we all do until we know better.” That warm smile again, the one I can’t let affect me. “It probably helps that I was essentially raised as an Ag, never got treated like a Royal until we left Mars. It’s why I was at your last game—I grew up supporting the Ag team like nearly everyone in Glenamuir.”
Though I knew he and his parents lived in Glenamuir for years, it had never occurred to me they had to act like Ags all that time. The experience probably did color Sean’s attitudes—though from what I saw of him after that game, he reverted to form once the danger from Faxon had passed.
“Must’ve been nice to go back to Nuath and not have to hide who you were anymore.”
“I dunno. I was really looking forward to seeing Glenamuir again, and all my friends there, but…they acted kind of weird around me, especially at first. I guess because I was there with M, playing the whole “future Consort” role. Later, though, I got past that and started catching up with the guys I used to hang with. That was nice.”
I frown up at him. “But you spent most of your time there with other Royals, didn’t you? I thought—”
“For official stuff, yeah, but not socially. I never met any Royals my age while I was there.”
“Then those guys you went to that game with, and to Sheelah’s, those were Ags?”
He nods. “My old friends from Glenamuir, plus a couple others. You saw me at Sheelah’s? We saw your team come in, but you left before I could ask you all to join us to celebrate. Wish now I’d been quicker,” he
adds with a grin.
“You…” I blink up at him. “We had, um, reserved that same party room, but the owner told us your group demanded it and he didn’t dare tell you no. We ended up settling for the little fish and chips place next door.”
Sean groans. “Oh, man, that sucks. It was Floyd—he insisted on the best room, pretending to be important because I was with them. The owner never said a word to us about your team having it reserved. He acted all honored, probably thought the whole group of us were Royals. Floyd did sort of imply that. I’m super sorry. I didn’t know.”
He looks so genuinely regretful I have to believe him. Yet another preconception about Sean crumbles, along with my determination not to like him.
“I guess you’re forgiven, since you didn’t know.”
“Thanks. Uh, this is where I turn off. Unless you want me to walk you the rest of the way home?”
I’m tempted to say I do, to give me more time to worm info out of him, but I don’t want to risk him reading too much into it. “No, that’s okay. I…had fun tonight. Thanks.”
“So did I.” His smile is warmer than ever, sparking an answering warmth in my midsection that I ruthlessly squelch. “Maybe we can do something together again soon? It’s…nice to talk about stuff I can’t talk about with anybody else except my own family and— Anyway, it’s nice.”
“I, ah, I’d like that,” I make myself say, fighting an instinctive urge to run—whether from Sean or my own feelings, I’m not sure. “Er, good night.”
“G’night, Kira.” He reaches out with one hand, like he’s about to touch my arm. But then doesn’t, just grins, turn away and starts walking up Opal Street.
I swallow, irresistibly reminded of Brady and those two times he touched me, touches that almost felt like kisses. Just as well Sean changed his mind just now. My feelings are confused enough as it is.
Mum and Dad are still up when I get back, though Adina’s not.
“Did you have a nice time?” Mum asks the moment I walk in. “Adina said she thought Sean O’Gara might also be at the Lighthouse Cafe tonight?”
