Chapter 41: A Plan

The rest of the dinner was a lot more interesting. Five was reminded by something that she was still in the doghouse, so to speak. When she had finished her first plate, she crawled under the table to administer attention to me. The rest of the Numbered and I chatted while Five worked her magic under the table. It was a bit distracting, but I mostly just relaxed and tried to enjoy it. I was starting to become more comfortable with her antics. With all of my Numbered, actually, at least the ones I had met so far.

I still wasn't willing to tell them my secret. Maybe Nine when she got back, and Four. Or maybe Six, but not till after One gave me the go-ahead. But now that I had so many other concerns that the fear of them finding out who I really was started to take a back seat behind possible worldwide invasion or the court votes. As agreed, after the dinner was finished, we received a knock on our door, and some of the delegation from Oialas came in.

After some swift greetings, we walked back to the parlor to sit and converse with the three visitors. I hung back briefly next to One and leaned down to whisper into her ear, "What is Three's sister's name?"

She reached up with her hand to cup the back of my head and kissed my cheek as she whispered, "Call her Doja."

The soft-touch looked completely natural, and even my other number wouldn't be able to tell that information passed between us.

The eight of us sat in the sitting room. There was not enough space for everyone. As I sat in one of the large open armchairs, Five sat at my feet, and One perched on the arm of my chair, leaning against my shoulder where she could give me quick counsel. Five and Six sat on a loveseat made for two, and the delegation, led by Doja, sat on a couch. We all looked at each other, and the air was a little bit tense but in no way hostile.

I studied the faces of the two men that Doja had brought with her, but their stony expressions gave nothing away but their body language. Sitting on either side of Doja, the men had the demeanor of men resigned to death. I didn't think that they were actively being bodyguards, and they didn't seem to have any belief that they could save Doja if we moved against her. But they were clearly her subordinates, and I would assume that they wouldn't take part in the conversation.

After I sized everyone up, I gave Doja a soft smile.

"I thank you for the nomination," I said in the polite tone I had mastered and used with pretty much everyone besides my Numbered. The courtesy seemed to really work well for my persona. Doja gave me a smile.

"It's a pity we couldn't win," she said, her flashing white teeth prominent in the smile she spoke from. She sat with her spine ramrod straight and her hands in her lap, her neck just a little bit longer than average, showing off her exquisite jawbone.

I frowned in my agreement. "Yes, a pity. See, I don't actually want the position. I would have taken it long ago if I did."

No one seemed surprised by the statement.

"My Numbered tell me that you are just as uninterested as I am," Doja nodded solemnly. "If I could, I would, but I can't."

"This leaves us at a bit of an impasse," I said while rubbing my chin. I crossed my legs and leaned back before speaking again. "So, I do not believe that the others will be able to muster together a majority as long as it's obvious that we cannot get it ourselves."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

We sat there quietly for a little bit, thinking, before eventually Four cleared her throat. "If I can, Master?"

I nodded to her, apparently giving her permission to speak, and all attention turned to her. "I think that we will have to find a go-between. No other faction particularly likes us, but some have their own ambitions. Personally, I believe that the Nar might be amenable to a deal."

I frowned, thinking of the brashness of their leader. Four read my surprise and quickly explained. "As much as their leader might despise you, he also has the most ambition out of everyone and is by far the stupidest. I believe that he would be easy to manipulate."

A thoughtful silence fell over the room after Four's words.

"They might agree," One eventually said, not asking permission to speak, but no one said anything about that.

"I believe it would be a possibility worth looking into," I said. "We have to get enough leverage over them, but we need to sound it out first. Doja, would you be willing to set up a meeting?"

She nodded. "We'd be willing to work as a go-between. We are the closest thing to a neutral party, after all."

***

Doja and her guards left, and my Numbered and I got ready for a long night. Four and Five quickly left to continue scouting, and Six volunteered to take the first watch; they would rotate through. It was perfect timing as One needed to fill me in on a lot of things that I was missing. Besides, I hadn't had any time with her alone, especially since the ship voyage had left her so incapacitated.

She led me by the hand to my sleeping chamber with a smile on her face. Once we got in, she pushed me towards the bed, but I studied her hands on my chest.

"Woah, I have questions first," I said.

One looked disappointed but nodded.

"How come it never came up that I had four votes? That seems important."

"Oh," One shook her head, "it's not really. Honestly, I wasn't sure if they would send delegations or you would just speak for them. And surprise, they recognize you speaking for them. Honestly. But you seem to have known that without telling me. The previous you did, at least."

I frowned. I already knew there were lots of things I hadn't told One before I lost my memories, or whoever was controlling my body had. But now wasn't the time to tell her that. After this was all settled, I would get her opinion. I was fairly confident I could trust her with anything at this point.

I started going through my list with One, asking all sorts of small clarifications about my Numbered, the people I had met, and all the other parties involved with the court. I learned a lot of little details, but nothing majorly important.

Eventually, though, she grew impatient, and mid-sentence, she leaned forward and shut me up by delving her tongue as deep as she could into my mouth. As she retreated, I gave her an exasperated look, and she surprisingly blushed.

"Sorry," she apologized, and I reached forward to run my thumb across her cheek as I cupped her face.

I pulled her forward and kissed her tenderly. "It's okay. It's not important at the moment. I guess I've gotten enough."

"Yes. Unless you have... I think you're doing amazing. And I think we need to let Four and Nine in on this. After this whole thing is settled, we probably should just tell them that you have lost a lot of memories or something like that."

I nodded my agreement. "After this. Maybe Six, too."

One looked thoughtful. "Yes, she has been getting closer to you. It's almost as if she actually cares now."

She didn't give me a chance to respond before she crawled into my lap and pushed me over. I, though, wasn't willing to take the passive approach this time, and as she pushed, I grabbed her wrist, pulling me down and rotating her so she was pinned underneath me. Gathering both of her wrists up in one hand, I started trailing kisses down her neck as I pushed her dress off her shoulders.

"Oh, my One, what would I do without you?"