Chapter Twenty Six

Beating Heads and Tails

Once Jenna was dolled up, she finally looked proper with her hair, dress, and makeup looking right. Her blonde hair was done up in an elegant bun and her makeup was a perfect mix of pastel colors and sharp black lines.

Jenna announced, “I’d love to start by talking to Rold, but I think a meeting with Scion is more pertinent. I’ll head over to the Rainmaker Palace now.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Sardius asked, tapping her jewel so that it swung between the black beak of her crown. He was referring to the fact that he hadn’t secured any DNA from Scion, Harlee, or any of the security personnel in the Rainmaker Palace.

“I’m not concerned. I want my force field in place while I’m there. You know, for my safety,” she bumped him.

Ixy announced them, but no one heard them enter Scion’s palace. Apparently, everyone was too busy watching the boxing match. There were far more people than should have been there. Sardius’ security guards who had been assigned to the palaces were standing in a circle around Scion’s boxing ring in the great hall. Jenna spotted Iker, Vash, Philip, and Josh between the guards wearing Sardius’ custom uniform.

“Gang’s all here,” Sardius clucked as he pushed people out of the way to make space for Jenna.

The guys parted like the Red Sea when they saw Jenna and Sardius coming through. Once a path to the boxing ring opened up, it was obvious why everyone was there and why it was such a big deal.

Scion was boxing Harlee. The guard acting as the ref called for a time-out when he saw Sardius.

Celestina was there too and she rushed over the moment she saw Jenna. “You made it back, then? Terrific. Isn’t Sardius standing too close to you?” she observed instantly.

“He broke the code, but don’t get too excited just yet. It’s still safest if I maintain my bubble. What’s happening?”

“Scion is fighting Harlee. He says he doesn’t want to marry her. She says he’s got to. They decided to have an all-out boxing match to determine who gets what they want. If Harlee wins, he has to marry her. If Scion wins, she has to go home empty-handed. They’re letting me film it. Isn’t that awesome?”

“I can’t be in the footage,” Jenna said calmly. “I want to watch, but I can’t be in the footage. I’ll be ready to do public appearances for you soon, but I’m not quite there yet. Can I be cut from it?”

“Sure,” Celestina said, looking around. “That’s easy.” She pointed above her head and shouted, “Hey, you guys, on the balcony. Come down here! Jenna and Sardius get that spot.”

It wasn’t much of a balcony. It was part of a corridor on the upper floor that overlooked the hall. Apparently, Celestina could order people around in that way because the guards instantly came down the stairs and gave Jenna enough room to occupy the space without skinning anyone.

From that position, Jenna looked down at the boxing ring. Harlee was stretching. Her hair was done up in three tight braids. She was muscular and light but from a lower weight class than Scion. She didn’t look very bloody, so Jenna guessed they had just gotten started.

Scion looked unhappy. His eyebrows were a dark line on his face. He stretched and shook, but if Jenna had to guess, he did not want to box Harlee. He hated the whole situation. He had a very sensitive male ego and he didn’t want her to beat him and he didn’t want to punch a woman. It was a very bad day for him and nothing much had even happened yet. It probably also didn’t help that everyone was watching with such interest. He’d rather keep his business to himself. If Celestina filmed it, the whole universe might see the fight eventually. Obviously, he’d agreed to the cameras, but when it came to it, he was uncomfortable.

“Who do you like?” Jenna asked Sardius.

He glanced at her. “I don’t like either one of them. If he goes easy on her, he’ll lose. She wants what she wants badly. Who knows why she wants that? I wouldn’t want to fight someone to earn an alliance. Testing the strength of your allies by pretending to be their enemy is a bad idea. If you beat them, you haven’t secured a strong partner. If they beat you, they don’t need you except as cannon fodder. Scion should be unmerciful and beat her quickly if he wants his freedom.”

“Do you want to tell him that?” Jenna asked.

Sardius clicked his tongue. “I’m sure he has more on his mind than what I just deduced. Let’s watch.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

They rang the bell and the fighting started up again. Indeed, Harlee was a float-like-a-butterfly, sting-like-a-bee kind of woman. Scion let her hit him three times for every hit he gave her. He was blocking her, but he let her try to hit him three times before he tried once. She dodged. She was getting mad. He seemed like he was playing with her, but he wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t even smiling.

“What’s he playing at?” Jenna asked, leaning against the rail and watching the fight from above.

“He wants to show her he’s such a superior fighter that even when she throws everything she has at him, it’s not enough,” Sardius explained. “I guess that’s what couples have to do if they’re in competition with each other.”

The fight continued that way—three hits to one. Neither side was victorious. They ended the first round.

On the floor, Celestina was making signals to Jenna.

Jenna didn’t understand what she was trying to say and motioned for her to come up.

Celestina rushed up the stairs with more energy than Jenna had ever seen her exhibit. Celestina never ran. She sat pleasantly on cushions and sipped things or interviewed people. Watching her move like that was strange.

“This is all my fault,” the blonde said, straightening her shoulder-length hair with her fingers.

“Why?”

“I met Vissy.”

Jenna scanned her brain. After some exertion, she remembered who Vissy was. She was the daughter of an Octavian doctor from one of the moons. Scion was thinking of marrying her as a third wife. She was a social media princess.

Celestina went on. “Ixy suggested I contact her while you were out and ask her a few questions.”

“How did that go?” Jenna asked.

“Well, Ixy’s idea was that I should see if I thought she would make a good third wife for Scion and if she would be up to making content about the work we do and our lives. Well, I watched a ton of her content before I got in touch. Well, I liked her. I thought we should crown her and forget about whatever Scion had in mind.”

Jenna gawked. “You’re awesome. It’s wonderful that you were thinking about finding new diplomats while I was gone. Did you ask her?”

“Certainly not,” Celestina refuted hotly. “But I was speaking to Scion about what he thought and Harlee overheard us. He may have said some things…” Celestina trailed off.

“What sort of things?” Jenna asked, taking a step away from Celestina instead of a step toward her.

Celestina balked but steeled herself and explained. “Things like how he thought Harlee was part of whatever plot caused you to disappear. I was worried about you when you were gone, but you managed to disappear along with Sardius, and the last time that happened, it ended up being no big deal. I thought the same thing would happen again. You’re all right, aren’t you?” Celestina asked like it was a second thought.

“I’m fine. We can talk about it some other time,” Jenna said, brushing off her harrowing experience as quickly as Celestina did. Fussing about it at that very moment wouldn’t help anyone.

Celestina went on. “He blamed Harlee for your disappearance and if he married her, she’d just cause trouble for him as a diplomat. It was all that stuff Sardius and Crimp said when he was here being interviewed the first time. That he would be the thing that let the AAMC inside because he’d be too stupid to defend his position and our program. Do you remember what you said, Sardius?”

He nodded.

Jenna shrugged her shoulders. “So, Harlee doesn’t want to take responsibility for whatever the ship that delivered her did and she’s fighting him to prove that she’s not a weak link and she deserves to marry him.”

“Yeah, that sums it up,” Celestina huffed.

“Okay,” Jenna said, turning her attention back to the boxing ring. They were about to start fighting again. “I’ll look at the information you’ve gathered about Vissy. If we crown her, she can have the Waterfall Palace that Rennett left. I have an idea of who I’d like to give the Dahlia Palace to.”

“Really? Who?” Celestina wondered.

“Not now. They’re about to start fighting again.”

Sardius leaned over the railing and with two fingers in his mouth he whistled at Scion.

Scion looked up and saw Sardius. “You’re here?” the young diplomat shouted. Apparently, he wasn’t aware they’d come in, he was so wrapped up in his own problems.

“I’m here,” Sardius replied. “With Jenna.” Then he looked at Harlee, bouncing and preparing herself for the next round. Then with a motion of his finger across his throat, he gave Scion a message.

Scion nodded.

Jenna and Celestina turned to Sardius.

“What did you just tell him?” Jenna asked. “After you said you didn’t want to influence it?”

“That was before I knew that the reason he didn’t want to marry her had to do with you and me and that portal. He’s completely right not to let her back if stuff like that happens when she gets dropped off. I’m not saying he can’t marry her in the future if he wants, but as it stands, even if he married her tomorrow, I’d ship her off-world and I wouldn’t let her back unless I was transporting her.” He looked back at Jenna and Celestina levelly. “I get to make that call because I’m Chief of Security. Don’t look at me like that. I get to decide who stays and who goes.”

Jenna turned to Celestina with a flutter of her hand. “So, after our photoshoot turned out so well, I was thinking that Josh was actually the one in charge here on the floating palaces, but when Sardius says that, I think maybe it’s him. Is Sardius the one in charge?”

Celestina laughed, but in that instant, her attention was turned to the boxing ring below them.

Scion had just KOed Harlee in a barrage of hard hits. She was on the mat like she was dead.

Scion left the ring and did not look back.

“Yeah,” Celestina said with a wry chuckle. “Sardius is the one in charge.” No one was going against him.