Jacinda's Challenge (Imperial 3)

  Lata, on the other hand, had enjoyed being in the garden, had often helped Jacinda’s own mother in her garden when she would visit. She’d told Jacinda she found it peaceful here because she knew no one could bother her.

  Now the garden was a showplace, written of, spoken about, and envied by all who loved gardening. Once a cycle, Jotham opened the garden to students from Montreux who were in their last cycle of studying floriculture.

  Jacinda thought Lata would have liked that, to know that what she had imagined and created continued to influence generations of young minds. Walking along the path, Jacinda’s breath caught at what suddenly appeared before her. She was in the center of the garden, it was a well-manicured area walled in by flowers with a beautiful table set up, but that wasn’t what captured her attention. Her eyes started to fill as she approached. There, in the center, grew an amazing rose bush.

  “It’s called the Tausendjahriger Rosenstock.” Jotham walked up quietly behind her.

  “Yes, I know.” Jacinda tipped her head slightly to the side to acknowledge Jotham’s arrival, but her gaze never left the bush. For not only was it beautiful, but it was massive. Apparently, the soil of the House of Protection agreed with it.

  “You know of it?”

  “Yes,” Jacinda carefully reached out capturing a blooming rose between two fingers then leaned down to take its amazing scent deep into her lungs. It reminded her of her mother. “I’m so glad it thrives here.”

  “What do you mean here?” Jotham frowned at her. “You’ve seen this plant before? The Royal Gardener has never been able to discover where it came from. He could find no record of a plant that bloomed such a deep violet.”

  “Yes, I’ve seen it.” She turned to look at Jotham. “Lata didn’t tell you?”

  “No.”

  “It was a gift to Lata from my mother after the birth of Prince Barek.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “The original plant, the ‘mother’ if you will, has been in my family for hundreds of generations. Every woman receives a cutting from the ‘mother’ when she has a child. It is only when the caretaker of the ‘mother’ dies, does it pass on to the oldest daughter and the cycle repeats.

  “So how did Lata end up with it?”

  “Well if you mean ‘it’ as in this is the ‘mother,’ then you’d be wrong. This is what has grown from the cutting my mother gave Lata. The ‘mother’ now resides in my garden. As for why Lata received a cutting, that’s because my mother considered her a third daughter.”

  “Lata never told me.” Jotham looked at the plant with new eyes.

  “I’m surprised. She and I talked extensively about her plans for this garden and I know she contacted my mother with her questions. She wanted to imitate my mother’s garden. She always loved to walk in it when she came to visit.”

  “I don’t remember her being there that often.”

  “I believe it was mostly during her last two cycles at the Academy when you were serving in the Fleet. It allowed her to escape the constant scrutiny she found herself under.”

  “She never said a word.”

  “Yes, well Lata was like that, wasn’t she? She was always willing to help another, but rarely asking for any herself.”

  “Majesty.”

  Turning, Jotham found Chesney had entered the inner garden followed by servants carrying their lunch.

  “Are you ready for lunch, Majesty?”

  Jotham turned to Jacinda. “Madame Michelakakis?”

  “Yes, of course.” Jacinda allowed Jotham to lead her to the table then sat down in the chair he held out for her. “It smells wonderful.” She smiled at the servants as they placed several covered plates before them.

  “I hope you think so, I wasn’t sure what you might like so I had my chef prepare several dishes. So if you don’t like one, don’t feel obligated to eat it.”

  “That’s very kind of you, but rest assured I’ve never been a fussy eater. I’m sure I will like whatever has been prepared.”

  “I hope so, my Chef seemed to think you would enjoy a mustard dressing.”

  One of the servants removed the dome from the smaller plate, revealing a beautiful salad made up of delicate greens and thinly sliced vegetables.

  “I do, very much. How nice of Chef Safford to remember that.” Jacinda looked at his plate. “You seem to prefer the beryl cheese dressing.”

  “Yes, it’s always been a weakness of mine.” Jotham smiled at her then nodded to the servant to reveal the main course of perfectly cooked Zebu with a side of well-seasoned pratai bruite.

  “This looks wonderful.”

  “Good,” Jotham smiled then looked at the servants. “I will let you know when we are ready for dessert.”

  “Of course, Majesty.” After a series of bows, the servants left them alone.

  Jotham lifted his forc, knowing Jacinda would not begin to eat until he did. It was one of those protocols he found pointless when not eating at an official event. Taking a bite of his salad, he enjoyed the sharp, creamy flavor of the dressing. They ate in silence for several minutes each enjoying their meal.

  Jotham found he liked that about Jacinda, that she didn’t feel the need to make mindless small talk during the meal. How many meals had he had to endure where the woman… or man sitting beside him felt they needed to speak the entire time? How did they expect him to enjoy his meal if they kept asking him questions?

  He also liked how Jacinda made no attempt to curb her enjoyment of the meal. Already there wasn’t a single leaf of salad left on her plate and she was making a good dent in her Zebu. He’d seen so many women just push their food around their plate, in his presence, making it look as if they’d eaten when they hadn’t taken a bite. Did they really think they fooled him? That he would frown on them actually eating?

  “Is something wrong?”

  Jotham found himself flushing when Jacinda’s gaze captured his and he realized he’d been staring.

  “Do I have something stuck between my teeth?”

  “No,” Jotham quickly denied. “Of course not, I was just…”

  “Staring.”

  “I, yes, I guess I was. I’m sorry. I was just enjoying how much you were enjoying your food.”

  “What’s not to enjoy? Chef Safford is a genius with food.”

  “He is, but I’ve found that most women when eating with me rarely eat much.”

  “Really?” Jacinda’s eyes widened with shock. “Then they are truly missing out on a rare treat. I remember how I would hardly eat when there was an Assembly event at the Palace just so I was able to sample everything Safford offered.”

  Jotham tipped his head back and laughed enjoying Jacinda’s honesty. “You know I never realized just how much we had in common. There are times I do the same thing, especially when Safford is making his Fudge Torta.”

  “Oh don’t even mention that!”

  “You don’t like his Fudge Torta?” Jotham frowned.

  “No, I don’t. I love it!”

  “Good.”

  Jacinda wasn’t sure when Jotham had signaled for the servants that they were ready for dessert. The servants arrived quickly clearing the now empty dishes and placing a covered one before each of them. With a flourish, they removed the cover and Jacinda gasped as her gaze flew to Jotham.

  “Fudge Torta,” she whispered.

  “When Chef Safford discovered who I was having lunch with, he insisted that this was what we would be having for dessert.”

  “Bless him.” Without waiting for Jotham, Jacinda took a bite of her slice. “Oh, this is so good.”

  “It is,” Jotham agreed taking his own bite.

  “You know,” Jacinda leaned over slightly as if she were about to tell Jotham a royal secret. “There’s something I have to confess to you.”

  “And what would that be?” Jotham asked enjoying the teasing light in her eyes.

  “Stephan once tried to bribe Safford.”

  “He what?” Jotham lean
ed back in shock. What was she talking about? Never in his life would he believe Stephan Michelakakis would bribe anyone.

  “He tried to bribe Safford into giving up his Fudge Torta recipe.”

  “His recipe?” Jotham just stared at her.

  “Yes, you see my fortieth birthday was coming up and Stephan wanted to surprise me with it.”

  “Stephan knew how to bake?” Now Jotham was truly shocked.

  “Oh, ancestors no!” Jacinda waved a hand laughing. “The only time Stephan ever entered the kitchen was when he was raiding it for a midnight snack. No, he was going to have our housekeeper, Myesha, make it. Or he would have, but Safford refused to give up his ‘secret’ recipe.”

  “Really,” Jotham replied. “I find that hard to believe, especially for you. I was told Safford insisted on making the entire meal today personally.” He watched Jacinda begin to blush with pleasure.

  “He did? What a wonderful man he is.”

  “Yet he still didn’t give Stephan his recipe,” Jotham reminded her wondering why her warm words for his Chef bothered him.

  “No, he didn’t. Instead, he made the Torta himself and had it delivered to our home,” Jacinda smiled softly remembering. “You should have seen the kids’ reactions. Stephan and I had plans to go out that night. By the time we got back the kids were pretty much in a fudge coma.”

  “Ate that much, did they?”

  “Oh yeah, more than half of it gone by the time we got home.”

  “Safford sent you a large one?”

  “Yes, thank goodness, or I never would have gotten a second piece.”

  Later, after they’d both completely finished their Torta, Jotham and Jacinda decided a walk was in order.

  Jotham watched, his hands clasped loosely behind him, as Jacinda leaned over to smell a flower.

  “What are you thinking so hard about?” Jacinda turned to look at him and could see she had surprised him.

  “You.” The word was out before he could stop it.

  “Me? What about me?”

  “You are someone I thought I knew, yet every time we speak I learn something new, about you, about Lata, about my home.” He looked over her shoulder at the rose bush. “Our lives have always been intertwined and I didn’t even realize it.”

  “I think ‘intertwined’ is a bit strong.”

  “Do you? I wonder. Tell me again why I don’t remember you from the Academy?”

  “Because you only had eyes for Lata.” Jacinda smiled and began to walk again.

  “I had been at the Academy for two cycles before I met Lata. You were in the class ahead of me. Why did we never meet?”

  “Do you want the truth?”

  “Please.”

  “I avoided you.”

  “You avoided me! Why? What did I do?”

  “Nothing!” Jacinda quickly reassured him. “You didn’t do anything. It was because of who you were. What you represented.”

  “What did I represent?”

  “Everything I was trying to get away from. Politics. Being in the public eye. Having your every move scrutinized.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Jacinda sighed heavily. She really didn’t want to get into this. “You know who my parents were, don’t you?”

  “Your father was a powerful Assemblyman for the House of Healing. Some would go as far to say that in his time, he was more powerful than King Adon.”

  Jacinda just shrugged her shoulders. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard growing up. “Perhaps, but he learned a great deal from his father, who had also been an Assemblyman, along with my mother’s father. They served together.”

  “That I didn’t know.”

  “Yes, well, I’m sure you can understand the event their Union became. King Adon himself attended.”

  Jotham nodded his understanding. For a King to attend the Union of an Assemblyman was rare because it gave the appearance of favoritism. To attend one of an Assemblyman’s child… It would have reflected extremely well on both families.

  “It wasn’t long after their Union that Dad himself became an Assemblyman and Mom conceived me. From the time I could walk and talk I was in the public eye. I was schooled on what I could do and what I couldn’t. It’s the reason I decided to go to the Academy instead of a private school.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “The influence of the House of Healing isn’t as strong at the Academy as others are, say the House of Protection, especially for an Assemblyman’s daughter. At the Academy, I could discover who I was without worrying about how it reflected on my parents. To be seen with you, even when everyone knew nothing would ever come from it, well that would have erased all I was trying to achieve.”

  “And why could nothing have come from it?”

  “Because I was from the House of Healing. We both know that the heir to the throne, in any House, must wed someone from within that House.”

  “I see.” Jotham walked silently for a few minutes thinking. “But that never stopped you from befriending Lata.”

  “Of course not. That archaic law only applies to future rulers, the ‘commoners’ as your mother liked to refer to us, have been intermingling for generations.”

  “My mother actually called you a ‘commoner’?” Jotham couldn’t believe it.

  “Yes. She did not approve of one of her Assemblyman having a Union with someone not from the House of Protection.”

  “I’ve never understood why she felt that way. Or my father for that matter.”

  “Yes, well I know this is going to sound terrible and I don’t mean to make light of what you went through, but had you not become King, Stephan would have been forced to resign his seat in the Assembly.”

  “I think you are overstating that possibility.”

  “I’m not.” Jacinda turned hard eyes to Jotham. “I read the ‘official’ letter Stephan received from King Kado, informing him that he had to choose between serving the House of Protection or having a ‘common’ wife.”

  “I…” Jotham couldn’t believe what he was hearing but he in no way doubted Jacinda’s words. He could see his father doing such a thing and it would explain the shock in the eyes of so many when he’d declared that an Assemblyman could serve in his Assembly even if his wife was from a different House. “I’m sorry, Jacinda. I never knew he’d done that.”

  “It’s not your fault, Majesty, and after all these cycles I shouldn’t let it still bother me so.”

  “Please, Jacinda, I feel we have known each other too long to use titles. Call me Jotham.”

  “I… alright… Jotham.” Jacinda found herself stuttering slightly.

  “So tell me about your other children. Ethan and Stephanie, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, you have a good memory or should I be thanking Chesney for reminding you?” Jacinda was charmed when Jotham’s face flushed then felt ashamed of herself. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. There’s no possible way for you to remember the name of every child of every Assemblyman. Especially one who has been gone ten cycles now.”

  “Some are easier to remember than others, but that’s not always a good thing.”

  “You couldn’t possibly be referring to Shosha Pajari and the tantrum she threw at the Assemblymen’s picnic, would you?”

  “As a matter of fact I was. You remember that too?” Jotham’s eyes began to twinkle.

  “Of course, it was days before my hearing came back. Who would have thought not getting a second piece of cake could be so traumatic to a ten-cycle?”

  “Yes, well apparently her mother promised it to her if she was good.”

  “Ahh, the old bribery trick. So of course when she did receive her reward, she did the one thing Adelaide didn’t want her to.”

  “Yes.”

  “Ethan and his family live in Comorin. He now runs his father-in-law’s business and Kasmira restores artwork. They have two sons; Eliron and Roland.” Jacinda answered Jotham’s original question. “They’re eleve
n and eight now.”

  “I find it hard to believe you are a grandmother.” Jotham ran an assessing eye over her knowing neither of his grandmothers ever looked like her.

  “Thank you,” Jacinda blushed slightly at the compliment. “They are a joy. Stephanie is out with the Fleet. I’m hoping she’ll be home next month.”

  “She’s been out a while?”

  “Yes. Nearly two cycles, every time she was scheduled to come home something always interfered.”

  “What does she do?”

  “She works in security, that’s all she’ll ever tell me.” Jacinda saw the understanding in Jotham’s eyes. “So I don’t ask many questions going with the no news is good news philosophy.”

  “Sometimes that’s the best we can do when it comes to our children.”

  “Yes.”

  Jotham saw that Jacinda wanted to say something but was hesitating. “Say what you wish, Jacinda.”

  Jacinda tipped her head to the side slightly then nodded. “I just wanted to say how sorry I am over you losing Dadrian. I know I sent a note at the time but… it doesn’t seem adequate. I don’t know what I would do if I lost one of mine. To know that their future is gone. That everything they were destined to do and accomplish was taken away by something as minor as a loose runner on the stairs. And for you to have witnessed it… I am truly sorry, Jotham.”

  Jotham’s entire body tensed at Jacinda’s words.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Dadrian.

  His second son, Dadrian.

  His son that didn’t come from Lata.

  Jotham turned away from Jacinda, his chest heaving as he tried to stop those thoughts of betrayal. Not only his but Dadrian’s. Which one was worse? Jotham’s for allowing him to be conceived? Not that he remembered much of it, and in doing so betraying his Queen, his life mate, Lata. Or Dadrian’s for conspiring with the Regulians in an attempt to murder his brother?

  Jotham had always known Dadrian had problems, and he blamed himself for them. Because every time Jotham looked at Dadrian all he saw was his own weakness. Somehow Dadrian had always known that and Jotham believed that’s what drove him to give the Fleet’s location to the Regulians, so they could assassinate Barek and force Jotham to declare him the future King of the House of Protection.