Gracie glances behind her and glares at Anu, then Gennio, who is watching her sheepishly. “OMG, he’s still downstairs with Blayne! They are arguing with Palace security to allow Blayne in with his hoverboard!”
“Blayne is here too! And—what?” I say, suddenly feeling my pulse racing with stress.
“That’s what I said too, exactly!” Gracie raises her voice again with animated outrage. “They said Blayne could not bring his hoverboard onto Palace grounds! Something about it being unauthorized!”
“But—but that’s crazy!” I say, turning to the two boys in the room. “How is he supposed to get around? You guys remember he can’t walk, right?”
“Yes, I know, My Imperial Lady,” Gennio says mildly. “But unfortunately those are the rules here in the building complex and on these grounds. No hoverboards are allowed on Palace premises unless they are used by specially cleared, authorized personnel, due to security reasons. You probably noticed there are no hoverboards anywhere in the park or gardens outside—that’s because they can be used for criminal or illegal acts of sabotage or terror against the Imperator or the Imperial Crown Prince and the Family Kassiopei—”
Gracie raises her eyebrows at Gennio’s honorific use of my title. “Don’t you ‘My Imperial Lady’ my sister! She’s being serious too! I know you guys like to get all weird with the corny jokes here, especially this troll—” and she points at Anu—“But right now neither one of us is in the mood, okay? So cut it out! And let Blayne come up here already! Do something!”
It occurs to me, Gracie thinks Gennio is being sarcastic toward me. . . . She has no idea.
Okay, I really need to explain the situation to her, right now, before things get out of hand.
And, where in the world is Aeson?
“Gennio, Anu,” I say. “Can you please call downstairs and let them know it’s okay to let Blayne up here? Please?”
“Okay, My Imperial Lady, but that goes completely against security rules,” Anu mumbles. “Let me check with the Imperial Lord first.”
“Really? What an a-hole. Stop that! Just listen to her for a minute, okay?” Gracie frowns hard at Anu and now his use of my honorific title.
“Whatever . . .” Anu gives her a completely serious, humorless glare in turn.
Meanwhile I point to the Imperial Crown Prince’s bedroom. “Is he still in there? Did he come outside and leave to go somewhere?”
“He’s up,” Gennio tells me. “But I think he might be swimming laps, as he often does in the morning.
“Oh. . . .” I recall the beautiful indoor pool in one of the grand rooms of these Quarters. And immediately I picture Aeson, sleek and bronze-skinned, wearing nothing but swimming shorts, gliding cleanly through the water in that pool. . . .
As if he can read my thoughts—heaven forbid!—Anu makes a frustrated noise, exhaling loudly.
“Want me to call him, Anu?” Gennio says.
“No, I got it.” And then Anu picks up a small wrist device from the desk and pushes a button on it. After a few seconds of staring at it, he says, “No answer. He must be in the pool.”
“Great!” Gracie says, rolling her eyes. “That’s it, Gee Two. Let’s just go downstairs and try to convince them ourselves. Since Blayne works for the CP also, we can just tell them that he’s already authorized—”
“Okay, Gracie, yes, we’ll do that in a moment, but first, I need to . . . um . . . tell you something,” I say as calmly as possible, and start to pull my sister aside. “Let’s go talk in that other room for a sec—”
But before I can say another word, suddenly there is more loud noise outside the private entrance. The door opens, and in comes Gordie, carrying his own luggage, and looking very much his usual self, except for a puzzled frown. He’s dressed in the Civilian grey uniform and blue armband, and his glasses are smudged, while his light hair is in the short buzz-cut that he’s been favoring for the past two years. My younger brother looks a little taller and less scrawny, kind of like he’s filled out in the shoulders too.
“Oh! Gordie!” I exclaim, letting go of Gracie momentarily and turning to look at my little brother with a nervous smile.
Gordie’s expression lightens up a bit and he immediately sets down his bags on the ground, next to Gracie’s tossed luggage. “Hey, Gee Two! I made it, yeah. But this gravity sucks.” He glances around, noticing Gennio and Anu. “Hey,” he tells them with a mellow nod. And then returns his attention to me, as I cut the distance between us and pull him into a hug.
“Aw, Gee Three, so good to see you, I missed you!”
“Yeah, hey, good to see you too!” he mutters, allowing me to maul him, then extricates himself from my clingy big sister hug. Gordie is not a hugger, and I normally remember that, but right now I need to hug the crap out of this boy, who’s, after all, my family.
“Hey, you know, Blayne Dubois came with us but he’s still downstairs,” Gordie says. “But it’s okay, they’re going to let him up here. We were all talking with the security guards at the airfield, and then they followed us into the building, and more guards came out. And then this fancy looking girl showed up and vouched for him, so they’re just verifying his ID token—”
“Oh, thank God!” Gracie exclaims, approaching us.
Gordie nods and turns back to me. “Yeah, and okay, this chick—” he continues. “She was nice and everything but kind of seriously strange. I dunno, maybe it’s just an Atlantean thing. But—she asked my name and then called me her brother-in-law. Okay, weird, huh? I’m like, yeah, cousin, whatever, just let us through, man.”
“Oh, Gordie!” I say with a big grin. “That girl must have been the Imperial Princess Manala! I am so glad she is taking care of Blayne!”
“Oh, yeah?” Gordie says, raising one brow. “That was a princess? Damn. . . .”
I laugh at his sheepish expression, because it’s just so Gordie.
“So what were you going to tell me?” Gracie says, poking my sleeve.
“Yeah,” Gordie mumbles. “What’s going on here, Gee Two? Everything okay? They said we had to come, first thing, and that you wanted to see us. They even landed us right here in the Palace airfield.”
“Okay—” I gulp, take a deep breath, and look at my siblings. Then I glance nervously at Anu and Gennio, who purposefully turn away, pretending to be busy on their computers.
“Let’s go in my room,” I mutter, and pull Gracie and Gordie after me, heading for the bedroom.
“Your room?” Gracie says as I open the door.
My bedroom is all pristine now, and Aranit the maid is putting away some miniature toiletries and cleaning makeup brushes on a side table. The moment she sees me, she bows neatly, and then continues her work.
Gracie stares at her with growing confusion, and Gordie’s one eyebrow goes up.
“Aranit,” I say in a rather breathless voice. “I’m sorry, but would you please step outside for a minute, I need some privacy.”
“Yes, My Imperial Lady,” she says, with another dignified bow.
“What?” Gracie says, her mouth parting, as the maid walks past us into the workroom and closes the door.
I am alone with my siblings at last.
“Okay, what was that?” Gracie says, widening her eyes at me. “Gee Two, what the hell is going on? Did she—she just bow to you and call you some kind of lady for real?”
“Yeah, what the hell?” Gordie mutters. I see his frown is back.
“Okay, look,” I say, while my head starts to spin. Suddenly I am all lightheaded with terror of what I’m about to say, followed by a terror of their reactions. “I—I—this is going to be very weird to explain, but—”
“What?” Gracie’s face looks ready to burst. “Explain what?”
I close my eyes, flutter my eyelids, because I think I am about to pass out. “Okay—I’m engaged—engaged to be married to Aeson Kassiopei,” I say very quickly. “I am officially his Bride and Imperial Consort.”
“What?” This time, both
Gracie and Gordie exclaim. Gracie’s hand comes up to her mouth while Gordie looks like someone slammed him with a two-by-four.
“Yes, it’s nuts, I know!” I continue breathlessly. “But he basically chose me as his Bride on the same evening we arrived! Remember that Imperial Court thing I told you about? Well, that’s where it happened. He—Aeson just kind of sprung it on me—”
“Oh. My. God.” Gracie is holding her head with both hands. Her jaw is hanging open.
“What the effing hell?” Gordie says in a dull voice. “I don’t get it. You what? How did it—”
“Gwenevere Lark!” Gracie shouts at me suddenly. “What in the world? When did you guys—I mean, when did this all happen? I mean, I know you kind of liked this Command Pilot a.k.a. Prince Charming guy, and yeah, I was pretty much certain that he liked you, but—but? He asked you to marry him? When? Oh my God! Did he even ask you out on a date first?”
“Not really.”
“Damn . . .” Gordie says.
“But this is just impossible!” Gracie says. “You’re like a Queen now! Or something?”
“Not yet,” I say. “But yeah, I guess at some point I will be . . . the Imperatris of Atlantida.”
And then it strikes me really, really hard, and I put my own hand up to my mouth and let out a crazed giggle, followed by a sickening stab of panic, followed by a buildup of pressure in the back of my throat, and water rising in my eyes. . . .
Like a drowning fool, all at once joyful and terrified, and surrounded by family, I begin to cry.
Chapter 11
Gracie and Gordie stare at me for about ten seconds as I wipe my tear-stained mess of a face and sniffle like a complete idiot. And then my sister steps up and takes me in a great big hug. With her arms around me I melt into an even bigger mess and the sobs start coming loud and ragged.
Yeah, I am completely out of control.
“Oh, Gwenie, come on!” Gracie mutters, expertly rubbing my back like a proper older friend and not just my baby sister. “It’s okay, Gee Two, it’s gonna be okay. . . .”
I allow myself about ten more seconds of this, and then take in one deep shuddering breath and just stop.
“I’m okay,” I say. “Really, I am. Sorry about that.”
“This is just crazy, of course it’s okay for you to not be okay!” Gracie says emotionally. “I can’t really believe what’s happened!”
“I still don’t get it,” Gordie mutters. “How did you end up dating the CP?”
“We weren’t dating. It was very sudden,” I say, wiping my face and calming my breathing.
“And I thought—wasn’t he kind of being a prick to you or something?”
“No, Gordie, he wasn’t. Not for many, many months. He’s actually a great guy.” My words sound defensive, but so be it. “There was a ton of misunderstanding related to that shuttle sabotage incident, plus lots of personal tension at first, and we were acting cold to each other and putting up a front. . . . Not to mention, there was Logan. Also, I think—I think Aeson was keeping his distance because he had to, because of his high rank, and he was my commanding officer. You know, he basically chose me against his father’s will.”
“His father, the Imperator. . . . Wow,” Gracie says.
I nod. At this point I decide not to mention the ugly details of the horrible fate as a lab specimen I narrowly avoided thanks to Aeson choosing me. . . . That can be divulged later.
“Hmm, so he went rogue for you,” Gordie mutters, rubbing the bridge of his nose underneath his glasses. “I guess that’s good, means he’s serious about you.”
Wow, when did my little brother become so wise? Gordie, analyzing a relationship?
And then I remember and exclaim, “Oh and the best news is, now that I’m connected to him officially, they are going to rescue Mom and Dad and George back on Earth!”
“What? Oh my God!” Gracie squeals and claps her hands together.
“Oh! Yeah!” Gordie says. “Seriously? Holy crap!”
Next thing I know, Gracie is hugging me again, this time making happy noises, and I feel Gordie’s hand on my back and shoulder.
“Yes!” I laugh, sniffling away the remainder of my tears. “That’s one of the perks of being related to the Imperial Kassiopei.”
“OMG, OMG, OMG!” Gracie repeats wildly. “Mom and Dad and George, and you’re gonna be a princess, and you’re getting married, and oh, wow, OMG!”
And Gordie? He just stands there and laughs—and I mean, he is laughing to himself in typical amused-at-his-own-joke Gordie fashion.
While things have taken a happy turn here in my bedroom, I hear more noise and other familiar voices in the workroom.
Gracie perks up. “Is that Blayne? Oh, let’s go tell him! This is so amazingly awesome!”
I hastily try to clean up my face with a napkin. But my sister is already rushing outside, while Gordie just gives me a goofy grin of his, and says, “This is cool, Gee Two, very cool. Way to go!”
In the workroom, there’s Anu and Gennio talking to Blayne and Manala.
Blayne Dubois is near the entrance, in his white parade uniform with yellow armband, on his hoverboard, keeping the board barely inclined and nearly upright with only his lower body as he hovers in one of the LM Forms in which he’s now such an expert, at the same time as he holds both his heavy bags. LM, or Limited Mobility, is his Fleet Combat Specialty, and after all those months of training one-on-one with Aeson, and additional practice with me, Blayne can make it look effortless. You almost forget that the boy has no use of his lower legs and had been confined to a wheelchair back on Earth. Here in the Atlantean Fleet, Blayne is a highly competent, experienced Cadet, who can kick some serious butt. Not to mention, he’s saved my sister Gracie’s life during Qualification and now they are sort of—ahem dating ahem—very good friends.
I see Blayne glance my way, tossing his longish dark hair that still tends to fall over his blue eyes—only less often, now that he stopped hiding his face so much and wears that confident, sarcastic expression.
“Hey, Lark!” he says to me across the room, puts down his luggage with a heavy thud, and then sings a short clean tone to maneuver his hoverboard toward us. “So I made it through local customs, thanks to Imperial Lady Manala. Apparently my board’s considered a WMD around here. Who knew?”
Manala, who’s perched near the desk with the two Imperial Aides, widens her eyes. “What is a W-M-D?”
Anu makes a rude snort, while Gennio gives him a frown.
“Dubois!” I say with enthusiasm, trying to ignore the others, for the moment. “Oh, so good to see you, mister!”
“Blayne! Oh, you have to hear the news, Blayne!” Gracie interrupts me and heads toward him.
“Gracie, wait, please!” I try, but Gracie gets to him first.
Poor Manala meanwhile glances with a slightly nervous look from me to Blayne to Gracie to Gordie, and then back to the two guys at the desk. . . . She must be completely overwhelmed—all these strangers in Aeson’s office!
And for that matter, where is Aeson?
“Gwen is getting married!” Gracie exclaims. “And you’ll never guess to who—”
“Let me guess—is it the Imperial Crown Prince Aeson Kassiopei?” Blayne says without batting an eye.
“What?” Gracie punches him in the arm. “How did you—”
“The Imperial Princess.” He points at Manala calmly. “Everything has been explained while riding the elevator on the way here. Stunning news, and congratulations are in order, to Lark Senior.”
“Thanks, Dubois—and thank you, Manala,” I say kindly, turning to the girl who still has a somewhat alarmed, vulnerable expression. I mean it too—I had no idea how much more stressful this “explanation” to my family and friends was going to become, with each new iteration.
“Gwen,” she blurts suddenly. “I do hope that was all right of me to speak. You are not upset with me from yesterday, for telling Aeson about—”
“Oh no, of cou
rse not! Everything is okay!” I interrupt in a hurry before she repeats our private conversation details before a whole room of new people.
I look around the workroom that’s suddenly packed with people, and point Blayne to the sofa. “Grab a seat, Blayne, please, and rest your legs. . . .”
“Thanks, I’m good for now,” he tells me with a barely held-back smile. “Though, if I have to bow to you now, not sure if there’s a Court Protocol-approved LM Form for that.”
“Oh my God, you don’t need to bow to me!” I exclaim.
“Yes, he does . . .” Anu mutters from his seat.
In that moment the outside private entrance door opens again, and two more people enter, carrying bags and breathing a little fast with exertion in this uncustomary heavy gravity—two girls whom I have not seen in ages—Dawn Williams and Hasmik Tigranian.
Oh my lord in heaven!
My jaw drops and I stare at the newcomers, my friends back from Qualification, whom I haven’t seen in person for over a year, and only had a few brief video chats when we were on our respective ark-ships.
Dawn is a tall slender girl with long dark hair gathered in a ponytail that reaches down to her waist, light brown skin that speaks of her Native American heritage, and dark eyes. She is wearing a Civilian grey uniform and a yellow armband. Next to her is Hasmik, an Armenian girl who is also slim but considerably shorter, and has shoulder-length brown hair. She wears a similar Civilian uniform and yellow armband, and a huge warm smile that lights up her face.
“Gwen-janik!” Hasmik says loudly, and moves toward me, opening her arms in a hug.
“Gwen!” Dawn’s normally composed face breaks, and she is also smiling widely at me, and coming in for an embrace.
“Hasmik! Dawn! You guys are here!” I cry, and rush toward them.
What comes next is a messy wonderful three-way hug, and we are all speaking in unison, while Hasmik starts shaking and wiping tears with the back of her hand and still leaning in against me.
“I can’t believe it! You really are here!” I say, smiling like crazy at them.