Chapter 11
A Man Around the Palace
Jenna thanked Temptic at least thirty times before she let him sign off when they got back to Octavia Prime. He was planning on staying at the space station with the orbital security team, so he was dropping their pod from orbit.
Back at home, Jenna started by introducing Ryatt to everyone on the floating palaces, starting in her palace and moving to Excelyn’s and then Celestina’s.
Excelyn looked at him and then Jenna pleasantly, but like nothing was outside the norm. She was pleased Crimp now had someone to trade off duties with.
Celestina looked him up and down like she was five seconds off slipping him some money to see what was under his shirt. She probably would have done so if Josh had not strolled by after a swim and diverted her attention with water rolling down his impressive physique.
Afterward, Jenna showed Ryatt the bedroom set aside for a bodyguard in the servants’ wing that was to be his.
His posture and expression had changed to a more professional demeanor since he made his promise that he would control his rampant flirting. His movements had tightened up, and the sleazy smile was off his face. Instead, he looked alert and composed. The very picture of someone Jenna could trust.
He walked around his new room, familiarizing himself with his surroundings.
Jenna leaned against the wall and examined him.
He touched the mattress made just for one before he said briskly, “Now that you’ve introduced me to everyone, shall we go have a look at your personal escape pod? Has anyone had a look at it since the night you were ejected inside it?”
Jenna shook her head in the negative and led Ryatt into her bedroom with the pocket door where the extra pod was stored. Sardius had not explained at the time, but a pod with a bed inside it was a luxury item. Neither Excelyn nor Celestina had one. He had spent a startling amount of his security budget on it. Jenna supposed he had no fear about spending money, even on stupid things like her barefoot sandals. Since he knew where Vinia had stashed hordes of money, he knew where they could get more if they ran low on capital.
Stepping inside the room, Ryatt saw that the whole place had been gutted. The walls were ripped apart, the furniture was wrecked and the bed and canopy were covered in plastic wrap.
“What happened here?” he asked seriously.
“Didn’t you get the story from the news outlets? It’s not classified information. The AAMC candidates did some damage before the police removed them from the palace.”
“They did all this?” Ryatt asked with a sour expression.
“No. When we assessed the damage, we decided a larger renovation was in order. This has been Vash’s latest project. I help too when I haven’t got as much to do. I was hoping you could give him a hand when you’re unoccupied.”
Vash wasn’t in the room at the moment. Jenna had introduced Vash to him in the dining room, but for the time being, Jenna and Ryatt were alone.
Jenna showed him the closet where her pod was stowed and he began opening the panels to make sure it was still in good working order.
He opened the panels starting at one side and making his way over to the others. Each panel had something different in it. One stored battery packs and another one stored electric oars as a backup system in case her rutter was shot off. There were several intended for cargo and emergency supplies. It was only a coincidence that he opened the panel where Misha had stored Jenna’s stash of extra crowns first.
The crowns were not there anymore.
Ever since the night she’d been attacked by the AAMC, Jenna had thought it was best not to store all the crowns in the same place at once. Once someone was crowned, the only way to remove their right to work as a diplomat was to kill them. If the AAMC had been able to crown their own people, Jenna would not have been able to rescind the appointments. She kept only one crown with her. Otherwise, the rest were stored outside the palace. That way, even if someone stole the one she had on her, it only got them one vote. That was hardly the end of the world.
Besides, there were more than seven crowns in the box her grandmother had left her. There needed to be a minimum of eight diplomats in order for them to legally vote and only eight of them could reside in the palaces at once, but there could be more crowned. As a matter of fact, it was safer for everyone if more were crowned. Such a thing would make the program sturdier if one of the working diplomats couldn’t perform their duties for some reason.
Ryatt had looked in that compartment first, but he was looking in all the compartments. The order in which he looked probably didn’t mean anything.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Ryatt said as he tightened a few of the screws in the oar, “why is Vash doing this work instead of a contractor?”
“I didn’t know who we could hire to do the job. I’m super suspicious of anyone associated with AAMC since the attack and humans need to do this job, not Octavians. That was the worst night of my life. I have never been so scared. I was hoping that I might be able to get you to help me feel less scared.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” he asked curiously.
“Well, by doing guard duty when we have visitors and by helping Vash with the brickwork so I can return to my room sooner.”
“Wait,” he raised a hand. “You’re obviously not sleeping here. Where are you sleeping?”
“I… uh… sleep in the servants’ wing next to Smoothie.”
“How did you manage the trip to Spikay Two if you’re living this fearfully in your own home?” he asked incredulously.
“It might seem stupid to you, but I chased you down that rabbit hole thinking that I’d maybe meet Sardius if I did. The night the AAMC attacked me was the same night that Sardius went dark. At the last moment, he meant to cut our communications, but he didn’t. He only muted me.”
The blood ran out of Ryatt’s face. “You heard the prison riot?”
“Hmm,” Jenna hummed. “I was alone in the dark underwater listening to the screaming and the dying until the device broke. You’re the only person I’ve told that to. Most of the people here don’t know or don’t talk about the reality of PAs and they don’t know where Sardius was, or why he’s not still working here. You know Sardius and I could really use someone to talk to.”
Ryatt reached out a hand toward Jenna, but she moved out of his reach. “Later. We can talk about it later. You need to be measured for clothes with Misha. I’ll walk you over.”
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He put his hands behind his head as he followed her. “You don’t like me wearing holograms?”
“I’m sure it’s very convenient for quick costume changes if you’re trying to blend into a crowd, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t wear them here. Sometimes the sunlight interrupts the hologram and a lot of your bare skin is visible. It’s not professional,” she said stiffly as she paused in front of Misha’s workroom.
What she said there was not even a tenth of what she thought. His bones held that perfect muscle look all the time. He didn’t need to flex. His muscles were under his bones. She already knew from the times he’d held her and kissed her that touching his arm was like touching another man’s jaw—all bone.
He looked at her gravely without commenting before calling to Misha and entering her workroom.
Jenna left them and made her way to the control panel.
“I don’t know why you have to ruin it for the rest of us,” Ixy whined in her ear. “If you don’t want to look at him, don’t look. When you were on Spikay Two, I could only see what I could see from your earpiece. Ever since he got here and I got to see him through all the palace cameras. Ivy and I have been watching him everywhere. He’s magic. Why do you gotta ruin the fun?” Ixy exclaimed with mild emotional anguish.
“What fun?”
“I’ve been intentionally disrupting his holographs,” she admitted with a squeal.
“Why?”
“I’m in an all-women’s prison!” she snorted as though that was explanation enough.
“He’ll still shower,” Jenna replied snarkily.
“By the way, my lady,” Ixy said, elevating her tone. “You’ve been doing much better with what we talked about.”
When Ixy and Conrad joined the team, Jenna needed to have a private conversation with Ixy about the showers. Jenna wanted to be able to shower without giving Conrad a peep show. Ixy had been coaching her as to where to stand in the room, where to hold towels, and how to manage her body so she didn’t have to worry about anyone getting a free show.
“I wanted to ask you,” Ixy sniggered. “How did you manage all that with Sardius?”
“I didn’t. At first, I didn’t know he could see me, and then he and I had a bonding experience where I was naked for days. He would have seen some pretty terrible things during that time. I had to crap completely naked while leaning against a palm tree and he had to talk me through it.”
“How, in the name of all that is holy, did that happen?” Ixy exclaimed.
“I was shipwrecked and I was saved by being placed buck naked in a reptile farm tank,” Jenna laughed at the absurdity. “After that, it didn’t seem to matter what he saw.”
“Okay, first thing, never tell anyone that story again… and I mean, like ever. You get me, farm girl?”
Jenna couldn’t stop laughing. “They tried to feed me worms.”
“I’ll feed you worms if you don’t wipe that story from your memory,” Ixy threatened. “You’re seriously telling that story after all your fine talk to Ryatt about being a dignitary? It’s a miracle you care if Conrad sees you naked.”
Jenna slowed her breathing and wiped a little moisture from her eye. “I like Conrad. I don’t want to fill his brain with what I look like naked. I want him to think I’m respectable.”
“How do you think I got so many guys to let me have the controls to their spaceships?” Ixy suddenly asked.
“How?”
“By looking respectable no matter what I’m wearing. Which means, you could still be respectable even if you are completely naked.” Ixy let that sink in. Then she abruptly said, “Gotta go. Misha has Ryatt’s shirt and pants off.”
Jenna heard Ixy sign off.
She gave Ixy exactly four minutes to ogle Ryatt before interrupting. “Is he quite finished?”
“Yeah, Misha had some clothes she could tailor for him. He’s back in his holograms for now, but he’ll be dressed by tonight. Boo! There’s really nothing like a proper boneman to get ya going?”
“Are they popular?”
“I dunno. I just like him cause that’s what I am. There’s no place like home. That, and other types of men are weirdly squishy.”
Jenna rolled her eyes at the camera pointed at her and said, “Aside from all that, I need to find a few very proper Adamis doctors in our system that are interested in becoming diplomats.”
“How do you want to whittle them down?”
“We should start by finding ones that have been particularly noisy about Octavian rights and compare that list against the lists of doctors who have been nominated to be diplomats. See if they overlap. Once we have a list, we can send each of them an inquiry letter asking them if they’re interested in being selected. Maybe we can get a few to interview.”
Jenna’s afternoon went on like that as she read articles about various doctors. When night came, she drank her dinner shake with Excelyn in the Stone Palace courtyard.
“Not eating dinner with your staff tonight? Seems a little negligent after hiring someone new. Shouldn’t you be there to welcome Ryatt?”
“Honestly,” Jenna said with a sigh. “Until he gets some real clothes, I can’t stand to look at him.”
Excelyn laughed. “He wasn’t wearing real clothes? I guess that makes sense. His race is closer to an Octavian genetically than yours or mine. Clothes are probably a nuisance for him. I wanted to ask you. How did you feel comfortable enough to hire him? You’ve been on edge since the AAMC kerfuffle.”
“Oh… A big fat collection of reasons. Sardius recommended him. Crimp needed someone to alternate with. I find him unspeakably attractive.”
“What? You’re just going to tack that on at the end?” Excelyn laughed.
“I hate it. I hate that feeling like a worm flopping around in my belly. That feeling has never led to anything good,” Jenna admitted huskily.
Excelyn looked Jenna up and down as if to compare her words to everything else the doctor knew about her. “You don’t seem like the type of woman who’s been broken-hearted. I’d peg you as the type who has had your romantic conquests but never found any one man who was enough to keep up with you. Have there been men in your past?”
Jenna shook her head. “Not anything serious, even though I have an ex-husband and a fiance. I guess for the most part, you’re right. I just don’t know where the lines are between workplace sexual misconduct and what is perfectly all right.”
“If you marry him, there’s no conflict. Your marriage to Sardius never went through. You could take Ryatt as your third husband.”
“I could take him?” Jenna responded incredulously. Then she huffed out a laugh. “On my planet, women don’t take men. We have to wait for them to decide something about us. Ask us to dance, ask us for our phone number, ask us to marry them.”
Excelyn yawned. “Your planet sounds stupid. I asked both my husbands to marry me. Not at the same time, because I only had one at a time. Most Adamis still do it that way—one at a time. It works better, but they’re not diplomats that can end up in strange places for years on end. When you’re separated by oceans of stars for eons you live like an Octavian, in the arms of whoever you end up in the arms of.”
“Would you ever get remarried?”
“No. I don’t need a husband in the same way I don’t need one of my hands cut off. I’ve already been married twice and I feel good about not doing it again, but if I’d never done it, I’d find someone to pair up with.”
“What do you think of Ryatt? Your expression earlier was quite guarded.”
“I had Ivy give me all the information Ixy had on him and I agree that he’s a fine hire. We have to hire somebody and you hate the AAMC guys and exAAMC guys are almost all there is when it comes to bodyguards. Ryatt’s a prizefighter. It should be fine. Although I was thinking you should send him out to a firing range to see what his aim is like.”
“That sounds like a fun day. I’d like to shoot something too.”
“You should absolutely shoot something if that helps you relieve some tension. I hate seeing you like this. You were much calmer when Sardius was doing whatever he did to calm you down,” Excelyn said like a true friend.
“Sardius isn’t dead,” she finally worked up the nerve to say. “I spoke to him.”
“That’s great news,” Excelyn congratulated her. When she saw Jenna’s face, she recalculated and changed her tone to one of condolence. “I see. He couldn’t come with you.”
“I don’t even know why. He arranged for me to hear his voice, for him to tell me that he was alright, and that was it. He cut the comm and… I don’t know what he’s doing or why he can’t come back. I know he wants to work with me, I just don’t know why he can’t.”
“Just let it sit,” Excelyn advised sagely. “I’m sure it will all make sense, eventually.”
Jenna finished her drink and her talk with Excelyn before returning her cup to the kitchen, thanking Smoothie for the meal, and retiring to her room.