She was beautiful.

Lee Xia, the Zhou Chairwoman, had been opposed to having a Prophet bodyguard at first. Jasper, however, had jumped at the assignment. He was born and raised on Prosper, and pursued joining the Prophets after reading about their exploits in the Zhou’s public reports. Also, after his best friend joined. Even though they were supposedly meddlers and purveyors of anti-Prosper philosophy, the Sevens Prophets were the ones who could protect people. And that’s what Jasper wanted to do.

Being assigned to protect the leader of Prosper, with the power of a Gold Prophet’s blade, was the greatest mission Jasper could have asked for. What he hadn’t expected, however, was how stunning Chairwoman Xia would be, sitting behind her desk in her Zhou office, scowling at Jasper.

“I hardly think this is necessary,” Xia said, looking up only a moment from a bureaucratic policy docket she was reviewing. It was a new code to lessen the No-Transfer laws, a modification since her last one had been voted down in the Zhou.

Jasper found his throat suddenly dry.

“Nothing to say?” Xia asked, brushing a strand of black hair that had come loose from her bun. She wore a silk gown over her narrow frame. She was tall, with a pointed face and shoulders. But she had a strength in her, her arms more like thin bars of titanium than petite muscles.

Jasper swallowed and said, “It was deemed necessary. The Sevens Prophets—”

“Have no business on Prosper.”

“Perhaps. But the Prophets want peace. And there are those actively seeking conflict between Prosper and its colonies.”

“Call them by their proper names, Prophet. The Gaozu Hegemony and the Changyu Confederation.”

“The fact that you even acknowledge them as such is the reason I am here, Chairwoman,” Jasper noted. He wore more formal garb then, slacks and a high-collared shirt. His sword, however, was always in its simple leather sheath.

“Fine then,” Xia said, and set down her pen. “If you are to be my bodyguard, you can start by fetching my tea.”

“That’s not what a bodyguard does.”

“It’s what my bodyguard does. On the table over there.”

Xia motioned to an enameled, carved table at the far side of her office. Jasper complied, mixing green leaves in the quick-boil kettle and pouring the brew into a small, handle-less cup.

When he brought the tea to her, Xia smiled at Jasper and blinked a moment. “It would be inhospitable of me not to offer you any,” she said.

“No thank you,” Jasper replied.

“I should correct myself. As my bodyguard, you will not only pour me tea, you will drink it with me. Understood?”

“Understood.” Jasper poured himself a cup and sat in the silk-padded chair in front of Xia’s desk.

“There, that’s better,” Xia said.

Jasper sipped his tea and shared a smile with the chairwoman.

Over the next several months, Jasper would bring the chairwoman tea, sipping his own cup as he kept a constant vigil for any threats. He stood out of sight when she spoke to the Zhou, the council chambers not wanting him visible to disrupt their sensibilities. He’d join her at public events, standing always just behind or beside her, out of the camera and public eye, but with her never out of his.

He learned that she was from Teal Autonomous System. That wondrous planet had been free of direct rule by Prosper, even though it was aligned with the home planet through its administration by the Xia family. This gave it a unique opportunity. Arts flourished. Universities grew like weeds. It had industry so vibrant and unique it was cautioned that it would one day overtake Prosper itself.

In the quiet moments in Xia’s Zhou office, the window showing a dark city outside, the stubborn chairwoman refusing to turn on more lights than were needed to read whatever document she was reviewing, Jasper would set a steaming teacup in front of her. Xia wouldn’t say anything, wouldn’t even look up. But she always drank the tea, and Jasper always sat in front of her with a cup of his own, sipping the bitter beverage only a meter apart.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

On the day she made an appearance at a peace rally, Jasper brought a thermos with him, strapped to his belt with two cups in his pocket. Several hundred students had come together under the leadership of the Auras family to protest the No-Transfer laws.

Xia had come to give a speech and show her support, as she was still trying to modify or repeal the laws in the Zhou. But she also wanted to encourage the students to be peaceful, to not use violence in their protests.

A platform had been constructed, metal and wood standing before the throng of students sitting in the streets at the edge of the Zhou building. The Great Zhou was restricted, so the students had to make their protest in Victory Square, a park at the edge of the government sector. They’d made a good show of it, however, and were actually feasting on a variety of foods while singing their songs of protest.

Jasper stood behind the white-curtained platform, eyes scanning the crowd. He didn’t pay attention to the words of Xia’s speech. She stood before a pedestal with a microphone in her hand, declaring with simple, calm language her support for the protesters and requesting patience from all sides.

There were tall buildings all around, glass-paneled skyscrapers packed together in the densely populated city. It was impossible to go anywhere in Prosperity where there weren’t such buildings, but Victory Square was particularly crowded. Jasper had urged Xia to do the speech remotely, with a recorded message or streamed video, but Xia insisted she be present.

“After all, that’s why I have you, so I can go wherever I like without fear,” she had said.

The police and Zhou Guard had accompanied her and were monitoring the area, but Jasper knew it was impossible to completely eliminate all threats. That’s why his eyes were always on the protestors, looking at faces, trying to spot anyone who might show just the right combination of hatred and fear, the look of a would-be assassin.

He didn’t remember the speech, but he remembered Xia saying, “…what once were colonies are now equals in this galaxy…” as a man reached into his coat pocket. Sweat drenched the brow of the short, stocky figure. He was quick.

The short man drew his gun before Jasper could move, and just before he leveled it at Xia, Jasper sent a shockwave of energy at the Chairwoman’s back. Xia fell forward, slamming her head into the pedestal as she collapsed to the ground. But the assassin’s blast missed her, burning a hole in the curtains.

Jasper leapt in front of the Chairwoman as the crowd screamed, dispersing. The gunman fired again, but Jasper reached Xia’s side. Abandoning precise shooting, the assassin fired his little pistol on full auto, spraying the platform with blasts. Jasper’s golden sword whirled, deflecting most of the blasts harmlessly into the air. Jasper felt a burning sensation in his shoulder as a blast struck him, and a different kind of burning sensation as a blast struck the thermos at his side, the hot tea spilling onto his leg.

The Zhou Guards tackled the gunman a second later, dragging him screaming to the ground.

Jasper took one moment to look for other threats before kneeling beside Xia. A gash bled from her forehead, so he placed his hands on her face.

The Chairwoman blinked her eyes open, dazed but unhurt as Jasper healed her gashed forehead and wiped the blood off her skin.

“I’m fine,” Xia said.

“Understood,” Jasper replied.

The Zhou Guard rushed Xia to a transport and back to the Zhou before she could stop them. She wanted to continue the speech, but neither her words nor Jasper’s could keep them from escorting her to a bunker. Only after the assassin had been questioned and locked in prison did the guards allow Xia to return to her office.

With the sun set on a dark day, Xia had left her office early and gone to her apartments. Finely furnished with sculptures and scrolls, Teal City artwork adorning the walls, Xia’s apartments were small but comfortable. Jasper had escorted her to her apartments many times, but the Chairwoman considered the rooms her sanctuary, and refused to let Jasper inside unless absolutely necessary.

The Chairwoman had only been in her apartments a few minutes when Jasper knocked on the door.

Xia opened it, about to insist, again, that Jasper didn’t need to inspect her bedroom for assassins, when she saw that Jasper had two cups of tea in his hands.

“We missed our tea today,” Jasper said, presenting a cup to Xia.

“Yes, we did,” Xia replied, and took a cup. She sipped it a moment, unable to hide a smile behind her tea.

“Would you be willing to sit with me?”

“Why?” Xia asked.

“Tea is best when shared at a table, not standing in a doorway,” Jasper reasoned.

“Yes, but you must not say a word about security or safety. Just tea, understood?”

“Understood.”

Xia opened the door and Jasper entered. They sat at an ornate, rectangular table. It had dragons carved in the sides, an ancient piece of woodwork covered in a white silk cloth.

They sat at the table and sipped their tea.

Jasper finished his tea and set the cup on the table. He stared at Xia a moment, eyes on the place where he’d wounded her. He reached out and placed his thumb on her forehead, holding her head in his palm.

They locked eyes.

Her skin was soft beneath his thumb, and she leaned her head into his hand. As she did, Jasper put his fingers on her cheek and kissed her.

They were lovers for a month before the second assassin came. They spent long hours in her apartments. Many times, Xia would insist they go to Teal Autonomous System to get away from the Zhou and Prosper politics. In those stone walkways, the sound of water all around, Jasper found utter peace as Xia spoke with pride about the system’s growing influence in the galaxy.

But the assassin didn’t come to Teal City. The attack was in Xia’s apartments on Prosper, in the morning. Jasper didn’t know what happened, had no recollection of someone entering the apartments. All he knew was that he went to sleep with her smiling and wrapped in his arms, and when he woke up she was still.