Chapter Eight

AAMC Might Stand for Something Else

“Why did you bring us bastards, Fallcet?”

“I didn’t.”

“You did,” Jenna said coldly. “This has never been an issue before. Not everyone loved Excelyn but they understood her, understood the reasons for her. Celestina and Philip were popular choices. Everyone loved them, and even though it was a couple of ticks lower on the public approval scale, everyone loved you too. These guys have made Celestina’s comment board cry. Why do we have to make her comment board cry? This guy, Rennett, is famous for being the general who bombed thousands of Adamis settlements because they didn’t evacuate fast enough for him. He shouldn’t even have a rank in the army, let alone be offered a position as a diplomat. And this guy...”

“I told you before,” Fallcet interrupted. “I didn’t choose these guys from the AAMC. They were sent over by Lou Denver.”

“Has anyone told you that Lou Denver is a dick bag? Why else would he have sent us such incredibly ill-advised candidates?”

“He’s best friends with my uncle.”

“Uh-huh,” Jenna drawled. “If you ever thought your uncle was on our side, surely you must see now that he’s not. He’s trying to stall us so we can’t get a quorum of eight.”

“He was supposed to help us. Maybe he didn’t know,” Fallcet feigned.

“Shut your whore mouth,” Jenna snapped. “If he didn’t know, he should have known. What? He didn’t research the people he was sending over for such important appointments? I shouldn’t have let Celestina interview them on camera. I should have sent them home as soon as I met them. Sheesh… When she’s finished, I’m gassing them, podding them, and shooting them into the stratosphere.”

“Jenna,” Fallcet said, tugging at her elbow to stop her from storming out. “We have to crown one of them.”

“Why?”

“Because I said we would.”

Jenna shook off his elbow grab. “Let’s be real for a second,” she said like she hadn’t been real when she used the words dick bags. “Do you think your contacts at the AAMC would kill you if you didn’t follow their instructions to the letter?”

Fallcet swallowed, his Adam’s apple moving uncomfortably.

“You do,” she said when he refused to answer. “If that’s the case, we have no choice. We’re going to have to kill them all and make it look like an accident.”

“They’ll know it wasn’t an accident.”

“I think you were an accident,” she shot back. “And that’s what they plan to do to us if they don’t find our behavior satisfactory. Poetic, isn’t it?”

He rubbed his temples. “I get it. The other two guys aren’t much better. Voguen de Masterton is a military defense attorney who has gotten scores of military criminals off the hook and Scion Xant is the son of an arms dealer. And everybody knows it.”

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“Aggression toward the Octavians is not what most Adamis want?” Jenna insisted. “Do you see that?”

“I’m a diplomat and I see it. I just don’t want to piss off the organization with the biggest guns, if you get my meaning.”

“Can you do a backdoor deal for me where you get AAMC people you would recommend to come instead?”

“I might be able to get some better choices for the next two, but in order to do that, we have to take one of these butchers or we’re dead. Interview them yourself and see which one of them you like best,” Fallcet offered weakly.

“For the record, I completely hate you,” Jenna said before storming away as she’d planned to do before. “Ryatt!” she called as she stomped away from the scene. She stood in the great hall of her palace, tapping her toe like she was part jackhammer.

He arrived, striding into the room with a fluidity of muscle that provoked such confidence, and she dropped all her problems at his feet. She told him everything and buried her face into his chest like she was crying into a brick wall.

Five minutes later, he was sitting on the sofa with her legs across his lap listening to her complaints.

When she was finished, he said what he thought. “Let’s think about this rationally. They all seem like crap on a stick, but maybe one of them isn’t. Maybe one of them would like to do something better than what they’ve done in the past. We should interview them softly and see how that goes, but I wouldn't bother with the lawyer if I were you. I'd put him on a pod immediately.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. He’s the type of person who has had ten thousand chances to do something different and hasn’t. I’d put my money on the kid of the weapon dealer. He’s young and he looks tractable. Even if he isn’t on our side now, we might be able to win him over and make him look at things differently.”

“Sardius, are you telling me to brainwash him?”

“Nah. I would never tell you to brainwash someone. I’ll do it,” he offered grandly.

Jenna smiled. “Just off the cuff like that?”

“Yes, I can do that off the cuff.”

Jenna smiled. From what she read about him, he had an army join him to fight the government because of a single picture of him. Jenna was curious to see how he would turn a kid against his father.

“Though the general, Rennett, might be a worthy candidate too,” Sardius continued. “He’s an idiot. He knows he’s an idiot. It may be that he would like to do something right to make up for some of the wrongs he’s done.”

“Ryatt, you’re amazing. You see gold where I see filth.”

He shook his head wearily and whispered in her ear, “I’m loath to use my talents for you or anyone. I have gotten an amazing number of people killed who believed in me… I’m very good at making people believe in me.”

“Yes, you are,” she said, leaning back comfortably and instructing him to rub her feet. At least that seemed to be allowed.

***

Jenna said goodbye to Voguen de Masterton on the dock.

“Is this like a reality TV show where people get voted off the island?” he said snarkily as his luggage was being stored.

“Yes. It is literally that, except the stakes are much higher than a date or a million dollars,” she said candidly.

“Before I go, can I tell you what I think of you?” he said, pulling his coat apart to show the smooth lines his abs cut in his vest.

“Sure, Voguen.”

He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. “I think you are ravishing and I only came here for the opportunity to meet you. Heaven knows why you and the other diplomats chose those imbeciles instead of me, but if you ever want to hook up, you have my number.” He touched her chin briefly.

Jenna looked at him. She did not find him attractive. To her, he resembled a rat, which wasn’t appealing, but it was also his greasy aura that made her feel like burning part of her hand off after he kissed it.

He wasn’t interested in her. He was doing the same thing Fallcet had done. If he could enter her palace as her first husband, he could keep an eye on her dealings, report back to the AAMC, influence her choices for future diplomats, and who knew what else?

“I’m flattered,” she lied. “For my own part, I think you make a better lawyer. Maybe I’ll need one one day. I hope you won’t be too busy to take the case.”

“There’s nothing that I wouldn’t drop for you,” he said, as he stepped into the pod.

Jenna waved to him while Ixy got recommendations from Vash on how to clean her hands.