Matthieu took Lady Sarah Strauss to the Imperial Opera on Friday, but he didn’t bed her. He took Lady Karen Winger to a state dinner on Saturday, and they ended up in his suite.
She looked around curiously. “The suite’s lovely, but you don’t seem to have many personal possessions.”
Matthieu opened a bottle of wine. “Yes. After the bombing of the old Palace, they never seemed very important to me.”
He handed her a glass. “I was six when it happened. Father and Renee took us back a few days later to look over the destruction, and I found a piece of one of my toy tin soldiers. It was a powerful lesson about how transitory possessions can be.” He settled himself comfortably on one of his couches.
Karen sat beside him. “I remember the vids. Even then I didn’t realize how devastating it must have been, because what they mostly showed were views of a third of the building gone and only a close-up shot of the rubble of the boundary walls.
“It was only when I went to my first ball four years ago that I understood how incredible the damage must have been. Those huge walls and the length of the Palace itself made me realize the Valente and Winger mansions were miniscule in comparison. I wonder why they built the Palace so huge back then?”
“It was before they built the Capitol building for the Ducal Assembly. King Xander would have all fifty dukes and their families stay at the Palace for a number of weeks, sometimes 16, sometimes only 12, depending on how much business they needed to cover.”
“What about this palace? Why build it so huge?” Karen’s eyes were wide.
“Several reasons.” Matthieu drew his arm down over her shoulders. “The main reason is because there are so many Sinclairs now. Grandmother wanted to be sure there was enough room for everyone in case they all had to be evacuated here for an unknown length of time.
“Otherwise, it really helps having so much room for visiting dignitaries, like the Panaganican and Merced delegations at dinner tonight. Since they’ll be wrestling each other for votes at the Galactic Assembly, it helps to house them so far apart from each other.”
“Why were there so many people there tonight?”
“They’re all witnesses and principals in the disputes flying between them. Every single one of them expects to bear witness at the Galactic Assembly, at least once if not more than once. It could take weeks, and it would’ve been a real hardship on their economies for them to try to find other housing in the Urban District.
“Therefore Father decided they deserved every consideration, although he did insist each delegation have the exact same number of people. Renee has been driven to distraction, making sure they each have the same number of servants, the same number of ground cars, everything as equal as she could possibly make it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had the cooks weighing the food to the gram,” Matthieu jested.
As Karen laughed, he tried to figure out whose laugh sounded like that. It was one of the reasons he was attracted to her. Her voice was unique, but there was something about that laugh…. In addition, she did seem interested in his own personal internal life, not just the details of how he lived. She asked him for his insights and opinions on topics, not people or nonsense like fashions. He really liked that a lot.
They spoke about some less-significant topics before he got around to kissing her. Soon enough, they were on the bed. Matthieu was making sweet, sensuous love to her when she grabbed his ass. “More. Oh God, harder.” Since he had been so long without a bedmate, he was quite pleased at her enthusiasm. He gave it to her harder, and harder still, as her voice rose and rose until it was almost a shriek.
It occurred to him at that moment that her laughter, and even her shouts, were so much like his mother’s. Driven by lust to finish, Matthieu listened to her vocalizations with a desolate despair in his heart.
He remembered his parents shouting and wondered how often he had heard them make love as a baby. But his insatiable hunger, of flesh and spirit and that deep, psychological connection of sound, conspired to make him give it to her several minutes longer than her own climax required.
He was glad she didn’t insist on talking as they rested. His mind was churning with a thousand formless thoughts, his heart with a thousand nameless emotions. It was still quite early yet, so he snuggled up to her, nuzzling and fondling her as she stretched in catlike pleasure.
He found himself on his side, suckling her nipple drowsily as she lay on her side and drew her leg to rest across his body. He suckled her for a long time, head cradled in her arms, before he realized how infantile that was, which reminded him of that previous realization.
So he pushed her on her back and began to stimulate her manually, kissing and suckling all the while, just to listen to her shouts. It wasn’t quite as sickening, since he wasn’t penetrating her, but Matthieu grew increasingly despondent that he couldn’t seem to help himself.
The incestuous thoughts wouldn’t go away, but it was like he was growing addicted to her vocalizations, unutterably grateful when she climaxed again. He kept one arm behind her neck but otherwise lay back to try to sleep his preoccupation away.
In the middle of the night, he woke to find her giving him oral sex. Melody had never done so, though that one night Helena had done so for a while before climbing on top to ride him. Matthieu decided to see whether Karen would follow it through.
She did. As he groaned with release, he was mired in the thought that Melody, who ostensibly loved him, had never given him such exquisite pleasure, while Karen, who was experienced but didn’t really know him, would do so willingly.
He didn’t think he could have regular sex with her again, not without driving himself crazy. And given her previous enthusiasm, he was unsure if oral and manual stimulation would be enough for her.
Long after Karen had fallen asleep, he did, too, as two tears tracked down his face.
◊ ◊ ◊
During breakfast on his glassed-in balcony overlooking the Eastern Courtyard, Karen asked, “What are you up to this week?”
“I’ll find out today. Sundays are Family Days,” Matthieu explained. “We all check in on each other and figure out what duties we have to attend during the week. What do you have planned?”
“Not much. I take two courses at University, communications and biology. The biology course is very interesting.” Karen grinned. “I love the labs.”
“Oh? What do you do in the labs?” He listened politely, though her explanations sounded vague to him, all tasks and no substance, as if she didn’t really understand what she did there, nor why. If she was trying to impress him with her intelligence, he wondered if she was wasting her time taking a course that meant so little to her she couldn’t remember the most important lessons.
Perhaps he was too accustomed to hearing so many science-minded Imperial Family members describe their goals or outcomes instead of their procedures. Still, Karen was pleasant company and seemed to have some kind of goal in life, if only to pass her courses, so by the time the servants were porting off the dishes, he decided to see if he could stand to sleep with her again.
Theo popped up in the doorway to the balcony. “Oh! Sorry.” He began backing out the door. “I saw the servants porting away the breakfast dishes; I’ll come back later.”
“Quite all right, Theo. I was about to escort Karen to a ground car.” Matthieu rose from the table. “Neither of your classes happen to be on Tuesday nights, do they?”
“No.” He arranged to take Karen out to dinner on Tuesday as he and Theo walked her to the discreet entrance.
“So, how was your date?” Theo couldn’t hide his big grin as they walked back to the lift.
“Fine. Did you have a date with Rosanne?” Matthieu pushed the Up button.
“Yep. She’s divine; I wonder if I’m falling in love.” Theo raved about her as they made their way to Grandmother and Grandfather’s fourth-floor apartment, where they encountered a disturbing scene.
Aimee was explaining to Kayla and Lynette, “She gets that way sometimes. Just don’t talk about it.” Renee and Grandmother were on one of the sofas; Renee held Grandmother as she cried, while Desiree sat behind Grandmother to stroke her hair.
“Why, though?” Kayla jittered. “What’s wrong?”
“We aren’t allowed to know. All we know is that if she doesn’t talk to you or starts to cry, just let her be,” Aimee instructed.
Matthieu and Theo, who knew about Grandmother’s occasional episodes of aphasia and complete frustration over her inability to express herself at those times, each went to bend and kiss her on the forehead. Theo asked, “Where’s Grandfather?”
“In the stables with Zhaiden and Phillip,” Renee said quietly. “Annette’s watching over the youngest children.”
As Matthieu and Theo planned to grab their coats and go see the men, Grace entered the suite with a small, flute-like instrument. She sat on a distant arm chair and began to play an enchanting, sweet melody. Grandmother stopped crying to listen; soon she was relaxing in Renee’s arms with a small smile on her face.
Lynette murmured, “Teresita said she was good, but she is really good. Almost good enough for an orchestra, though I’ve never seen that kind of instrument before. I wonder why she hasn’t played for us before?”
“We’ll have to ask,” Theo said. Kayla, Aimee, and Lynette all nodded. Grace began a lively, playful tune, causing Grandmother to laugh softly.
Matthieu and Theo left, stopped by their suites for cool-weather riding jackets, and headed to the stables. Saddling their own horses as the grooms saddled horses for their Sentinel agents, Matthieu asked the latter to track down the older Imperial men. They headed for the game fish pond.
The three most important men in the Empire were seated together on one of the benches in the early November sun with sacks at their feet, tossing occasional handfuls of fish food out to watch the fish swarm for their meals. As Sentinels held all the horses at a distance, Matthieu and Theo went to help them, for facing this small lake, along with the splashing of the hungry fish, made it impossible for monitors from the distant trees to pick up anything anyone would say.
Uncle Phillip finished his discussion of all the work he had been doing with ministers that week, since he was ramping up to be Prime Minister. As the two young men briefed the older ones on their recent activities, all the while taking turns throwing the pellets of food out as far as they could, Matthieu asked permission to teach the youngsters the code-words and action codes. Theo also thought to ask if they could divulge the Empress’s sporadic disability to the students.
Grandfather decided, “The Bradleys must be out of the room when you explain all the codes. They can be present when you describe Felice’s disability. Her medications have made her fairly stable these past ten years, but when she does have an episode, they tend to be profound and long-lasting.”
“I guess we never noticed much because we’re all so busy,” Theo mused. “She does well enough at meals.”
“Though she does skip some meals,” Matthieu reminded him. “I guess ‘resting in her quarters’ doesn’t always mean sleep.”
“Precisely.” Father tossed another few pellets to the fish and turned to his sons. “I wish there were some way I could thank you two properly for all your help.”
“We have everything we want and need already. Just knowing we’re integral to everyone’s lives is satisfaction beyond compare,” Matthieu said in a pleasant voice.
“As well as the flexibility you give us to structure our activities. We know our true duties will fall upon our shoulders entirely too soon.” He looked at Grandfather, who gave him a wistful smile.
“Hear, hear,” Theo agreed. “I’m so grateful the Bradleys work for us now. If you would like to do anything for anyone, do it for them.”
“We shall,” Grandfather assured him.
◊ ◊ ◊
Matthieu gave his next Imperial seminar on Monday afternoon. He made sure to tell the Bradleys they would be discussing Sentinel codes and wouldn’t be allowed to be present. He told the youngsters to put away their palm pads, but he invited all their Sentinels into the salon once again.
“Code-words are really pretty easy, all told. Sentinel equipment picks up speech, of course, and the devices are very sensitive in some important ways.
“There are two main things about code-words. First, they all have a Z or an X in them, and second, you can use them in regular conversations, but you should try to avoid it whenever possible, or you’ll drive Sentinel Command mad with all the bleeping as they get notified that a certain word has been used.”
As the youngsters giggled, he reminded them, “Remember, they know everything about you, they report to our parents, and they’re here to protect our lives, so don’t ever piss them off.” Although they giggled a smidgen louder at his cursing, they quickly settled down to the serious nature of the discussion.
“If you happen to explain to someone outside the family about having to use a code-word, you may do so in very general terms, and only about one word. Remember the other day when I mentioned I used the word ‘bizarre’ while the Bradleys were in the room? Since it’s an unusual word in the first place, and since it does describe the kind of thing Sentinels look for, namely unusual situations, it was okay for me to generally mention it was a code-word. I made sure not to explain why it was chosen, which is part of being discreet.” He made sure all the teens nodded their understanding.
“Most words with a Z in them have neutral meanings. You can talk about a drink being fizzy, or the booze used to prepare it, or going to a jazz club, or how hazy or fuzzy something is. What you should do, though, is think of other ways to say it so you don’t use code-words unless you mean to. So you talk about alcohol, or a sparkling softee, or how blurry some image is, how cloudy the sky is, or how soft some item is.
“Some words like ‘frozen’ or ‘dozen’ are so common Sentinel ignores them routinely, just like words with Z sounds that aren’t spelled with a Z, like ‘easy’ and ‘reason’. Their computers don’t even flag those last two words, because they don’t have a Z. The important thing is that, if you do have to use one of those words to mean something important when you’re outside the privacy of your suites, you should give it some emphasis.
“Let’s say Kayla is at a party and someone offers her an alcoholic beverage, but she doesn’t feel comfortable taking it for some reason. Of course, you should always try to get your beverages yourself or from a Sentinel or watchman, but this is a small party at a duke’s mansion, and a friend of a friend she isn’t sure she trusts is handing it to her.
“What Kayla can do is look at the drink and ask, with just a little emphasis in her voice, ‘Is there some kind of booze in that?’ or ‘Is that a fizzy drink?’ Her Sentinels, who’ll probably be close enough to hear her, will attend more sharply to the situation. Her senior Sentinel will attend to her and whoever she’s interacting with, and her junior Sentinel will place all his attention on the overall situation, leaving the big decisions to his senior.
“If Kayla gives them some other reason to intervene, say by looking directly at her senior Sentinel, he will come over and run a scanner over the drink or at least ask her for instructions. What you must always try to do is, whenever using a code-word, as soon as possible give the Sentinels or Imperial Family member a cue or clue why you’re doing so,” Matthieu emphasized.
“Let’s say you’re in a situation where someone gives you a blanket. If you don’t feel secure, for any reason whatsoever, you could say, ‘I don’t like fuzzy blankets; they make me feel too hot,’ or perhaps even, ‘They make me feel like I’m smothering’. You could even look at the blanket and say, ‘What a jazzy or snazzy blanket! I wonder what kind of material it’s made of,’ which might indicate to your Sentinels you suspect someone has put a dangerous chemical on the blanket.
“If you said, ‘I have a gauzy blanket on my bed; I like it because it gives me more freedom of movement,’ you will be telling the Sentinels you would prefer to move out of the situation. Does everyone have a good idea what I mean?” All the students nodded, rapt.
“Now, the main Z code-words for danger are ‘bizarre’, ‘dizzy’, ‘crazy’, ‘frenzy’, and ‘sizzle’. If you use the word ‘bizarre’, you’re generally saying, ‘possible danger’. That incident I told you about, I said ‘bizarre’ before explaining that it was ‘nothing really important’, though I did use a small but significant amount of emphasis on the words ‘really important’.”
He repeated what he had said to Christian, using the same amount of emphasis to demonstrate. “To use the code-word for danger in public or in a written communication, you must always give a clue why you’re using it, so that person can look at the whole situation with new eyes. Otherwise, use the words, ‘weird’, ‘odd’, ‘unique’, anything else but the word ‘bizarre’.
“The word ‘dizzy’ can obviously be used for a health situation. Be sure to use it even if it isn’t one of your symptoms, in case you suspect someone has done something to you or your physical problem isn’t just from a normal accident. But in general circumstances, you could also possibly say, ‘It makes me dizzy to think that…’ and give Sentinels or each other a clue as to the suspicions you have. That’s a really flexible word.
“You’ll notice most of us use the words ‘nutty’ or ‘mad’ to describe anything from a mildly intense situation to complete insanity that doesn’t indicate danger to you. Therefore, when you use the word ‘crazy’, always follow it up with some kind of clue as to what your Sentinels need to do.
“‘You’re crazy; I’m not going to bed you,’ would say to them, ‘This person is pressuring me’. If you said, ‘You’re crazy; I’m not going to tell you,’ the harmful person is trying to get you to divulge secrets.
“The words ‘frenzy’ and ‘sizzle’ means extreme danger, a situation so unstable and hot that you need to be rescued immediately.” Matthieu looked around for comprehension. “Do you have any questions so far?”
“No. It’s all so logical, and the rules are so easy to follow, I can’t imagine how we could mess them up. Even if we accidentally use them in conversation, our Sentinels will be paying attention to us enough to figure out whether it was important or not, and the only really strong words to remember are ‘crazy’, ‘frenzy’, and ‘sizzle’.” Grace looked around. “Don’t you agree?” They all did, several expressing relief that it was so easy.
“Now, to the X words.” Matthieu grinned. “There’s a mythical Sentinel named Xavier; it’s spelled with an X but pronounced like a Z. You can assign him any rank you like when you mention him. To say something like ‘Major Xavier should know’ would mean Sentinel Command needs to look closely at a situation you think is pretty important; to ask someone if Admiral Xavier has attended to a situation means Sentinels have to get on it immediately.
“If you say Private Xavier might know, you’re asking a Sentinel to get you the information at the next possible opportunity, but without disturbing the conversation or activity you’re performing. Use whatever rank according to the importance of the situation.
“The X words with value are the ones that start with the sound, ‘eggs’. Notice how that gives the X a Z sound? A lot of those words are neutral, though, so if you have to catch a Sentinel’s attention, you should say, ‘For example,’ with that extra bit of emphasis, instead of, ‘For example’ or no emphasis at all.
“If you say, ‘Exactly!’ you are getting someone’s attention to discover the truth of a situation or focus on the information you just approved of as important. Otherwise you can say things like, ‘Precisely!’, ‘You got that right!’, ‘Isn’t that the truth!’ or ‘Indeed!’
“Think about those words, and these others. Example, exactly, examine, exist, exam, and even exaggerate. They all have to do with information, and that’s what the X words are all about. Even the word ‘exit’ means you want or need to know what possible escape routes are available.
“The codes ‘exile’, ‘exempt’, and ‘exhibit’ are verbs that tell Sentinels something specific to do. ‘He should be exiled’ means ‘Get rid of this fellow’. ‘That should be exempt’ would be ‘Get rid of this problem or issue’, usually because you have better things to do or something is standing in your way. ‘I wish there were some other way to exhibit this information’ means ‘Tell at least one of my family members immediately’. Those words are kind of awkward to use, though. It’s usually easiest to simply tell one of your Sentinels that Colonel Xavier should know the answers.
“If you will notice, we use the ‘eggs’ sound for ‘exhibit’, but the word ‘exhibition’ has a regular X sound and is much more commonly used, so Sentinels won’t take much note of it, but they will ‘exhibit’. Instead of ‘exhibit’ you can use words like ‘show’ or ‘demonstrate’.
“But if you were in a public conversation at a ball and said, ‘So-and-so exhibits an unusual fondness or proclivity for…’ and name some qualities you think Sentinels should be aware of, they’ll tell everyone in the family they can access right away to look for those qualities, not just in the person you name, but in the people around them, too.”
Almost everyone’s eyes were unfocused at that point, so Matthieu decided that was enough. “Just be aware those three words are pretty powerful, and otherwise avoid them. Since they’re rather odd words, it’s pretty easy. Otherwise, practice with your Sentinels, ask their help, even set up with them ahead of time what words you might need to use if you feel uncomfortable about a situation you’re entering.”
Matthieu reached to take a drink of his softee, but he was surprised when Theo stood up and proceeded to have each cousin or sib tell him some important part of the lesson as a review. He sat down for a while to listen.
The Bradleys must love having Theo as a co-teacher. He was thorough, patient, and re-explained anything about which they showed the slightest confusion, even amplifying that all the derivations of the code-words were just as effective. When he was finished, Matthieu stood up again.
“Now, there are at least forty code-phrases, and they all invoke terror and immediate activity in Sentinels. They are commands, and you aren’t allowed to use them unless you’re in an extreme situation and the most senior Imperial Family member in command. You should, however, be aware they exist, because they alert every Sentinel on the planet to report to their commanding officers for assignment.
“When that happens, your personal Sentinel agents attending you at that moment are immediately put on double-shifts, or even triple-shifts if the situation is that desperate, so your other Sentinels can help Sentinel Command with the extra activities needed for those commands.
“The first command is ‘Ring the bell’, which means an invasion is imminent, and we’ll all get dragged to Sentinel Command. The second is ‘Light the fire’, which means an Imperial Family member has gone missing, and we must always use that person’s code number to tell Sentinel who to look for. The third is ‘Shear the sheep’, which means evacuate the building. The fourth is ‘Pick the corn’. That means Sentinels are to pick you up and take you straight to Sentinel Command, against your will and naked to the world if they must.
“There are so many others, but those are the main four; you can learn about the rest of them from your Sentinels. You’ll recognize them because they’re only three or four words long, and they express activities we Imperial Family members wouldn’t perform ourselves.
“‘Show the flop’, for example. Do you know what that means in real life?” Matthieu explained how it was used by card players for a specific betting game, revealing a set of cards every player had to use.
“When one of us says, ‘show the flop’, it means all Sentinels in the immediate vicinity are to rush to secure the scene and call in specialists to perform chemical interrogations upon every single person, to reveal the truth if a desperate situation requires it. ‘Hoe the row’ means they are to weed through a situation and plant new information to deceive other people, symbolically planting the plants or seeds of a more pleasant truth we can afford to let people know.”
At their surprised looks, Matthieu nodded seriously. “Yes, I know it doesn’t seem very likely you’ll ever need that, but sometimes Sentinels are called upon to do not-so-nice things. Truth is important, but sometimes you need to dig it out and cover it up. I was just talking to some dukes the other day about how Sentinels have had to cover up so many things like assassination attempts and thwarted terrorist strikes, just so we don’t have copycats trying it against us all the time.”
As the youths began to murmur, he decided they had had enough for the day. “Let me review once again. Code words contain X and Z, and you should try to give a reason for using them.
“The ones for danger are ‘sizzle’, ‘frenzy’, ‘crazy’, ‘bizarre’, and ‘dizzy’, in order of importance. Sentinel Xavier can get you any information, don’t use ‘exile’, ‘exhibit’, or ‘exempt’ in a situation unless it’s really serious, and otherwise be aware that if you hear three-phrase codes coming from a Sentinel wrist phone, you may be rushed to Sentinel Command so all the Sentinels can attend the serious situation that’s occurring.
“Also remember, you aren’t allowed to talk about codes in front of your non-Imperial parent.”
“Can’t we trust our parents?” Roman asked.
Matthieu looked at them frankly. “You can trust them with everything but this. They will know the code numbers that refer to each of us, so when they hear a code number and a phrase, they’ll know something is afoot with that person.
“But although they’ve all been married for years and are as deep into most of our family secrets as can be, remember my own father ended up divorcing my mother. You can assume your parents are as completely trustworthy as your Sentinels, but Grandfather insists we have some exclusions, and this is one of them. Your non-Imperial parent understands.”
The pity and dread which that reference to Colette Markarov invoked in them made Matthieu want to weep, but he stared at them sternly, determined to impress upon them that being Imperial meant dealing with harsh realities.
Turning to Major Chamorro, he asked for the Bradleys to be brought to the room. When they entered, he gave everyone a short talk on Grandmother’s disabilities.
“That’s one reason she could really use ladies-in-waiting right now,” he told the girls. “Grace was playing music for her, which really soothed her. Perhaps you can all find ways to help her when she can’t express herself verbally.”
He turned to Bernard and Rowena. “Although people know in general that Grandmother isn’t in the best of health, don’t mention the nature of her illness to anyone.”
“We most certainly will not,” Rowena assured them all. “We only speak about our appointment in general terms, and only speak about individual students to praise their accomplishments.”
With that, it was time for dinner. Grandmother was there and had come out of her episode, so everyone hung on her words.
Matthieu and Theo asked Grace the details of when and why she learned to play music, which led to some merriment when she finally said, “I only began playing the flageolet because Mother mentioned how fluid dynamics also applied to air flow. She used the opportunity to teach me about resonance and wave theory, too.”
She looked embarrassed at the gentle teasing by her cousins, but she straightened in pride when she noticed Matthieu smiling at her.
◊ ◊ ◊
After dinner, Matthieu was gratified to see almost all the cousins had come to work out in the gym. He took some time to watch them between knife-throws. As a result, as he and Theo headed toward their suites, he asked Theo, “I saw everyone performing dirty tricks. What’s with that?”
“We decided to eliminate levels. If the girls are strong enough to perform a dirty trick, they should learn it. Everyone must wait until they’re sixteen for knives, though.”
“You’re right. Whose idea was that?”
“Grace’s. She’s pretty fierce when it comes to fighting. She’s given her Sentinels a lot of bruises; I think they have bets on when she’ll break her first bone, either hers or theirs. I think it’s because Aunt Anne still suffers some problems from that attack on the Stargate Fleet.” Theo brooded.
“What’s on your mind, Theo?”
“Rosanne. Come over after your shower, and we’ll talk.” Theo gave him a significant stare.
When Theo called Enter, Matthieu went to get himself a softee, flinging himself on the same couch where Theo sat staring out the window. “So, what’s on your mind?”
Theo turned to him. “What qualities do we need in a wife?”
As Matthieu pondered the question, he explained. “I noticed you didn’t bed the first two ladies in your path, at the party and that date you took on Friday. Since you had just come off an assignment, I figured you would be pretty eager. So that made me really wonder about your standards.
“Then today you spoke about Colette and how the Imperial codes weren’t even for the spouses. So I began thinking about Rosanne and how she would react to that knowledge if I were to marry her. I think she would be pretty offended.”
He sipped his own drink. “And when we were working out, I also thought about how Rosita is the only Imperial wife who knows how to fight.”
“Besides Grandmother,” Matthieu reminded him. “What are the qualities the older generation decided upon?
“Grandmother was a quiet scientist, which Grandfather appreciated because every other lady he had ever dated was a socialite. Father married Renee, a health professional who knew how to keep secrets. Phillip married Annette, who had to keep professional health secrets, too.”
“Denise never had to keep secrets, but Brian said she did so anyway, which is why she now works at Sentinel Command. Rosita always did. Angelica, well, there’s no wonder why Stefan fell for her.” Theo chuckled as Matthieu grinned. Despite being plump, Stefan’s wife was phenomenally gorgeous with an amazing hourglass figure, streaming black hair, and vivid violet eyes; she could also play music and sing like an angel.
“Roberta and Leah? They keep secrets as a matter of course, but it’s not like they were trained to them.
“Still, let’s consider what we know now. We need ladies who are socially adept but not socialites, who keep secrets, and who are either naturally brilliant or have educations. What else?”
“Beauty isn’t a necessity for me. The first time I heard someone refer to Leah as the Imperial Hound, I almost took his head off,” Theo growled. Matthieu made a curious noise.
“It was at school that time when I was eight. Remember when I wouldn’t tell you why I got disciplined for fighting? I forbade my Sentinels to tell anyone, and though I’ve heard that other people say that about her, no one has said such a thing in my presence again.”
“I’ve never heard that one, so I’m glad you made the official Imperial response in public,” Matthieu joked. Theo did laugh a bit but fell back into his obvious preoccupation.
“Father did say he fell for Mother because she was so beautiful and charming. But she was a socialite, too. She was just so good at manipulation that she put the other socialites to shame, or so Uncle Phillip told me once.”
“What else did he say?” Theo never talked about Colette and even tended to refer to Renee by her name, only occasionally calling her ‘mother’ when he wanted to be particularly expressive.
“He said he had a long talk with her brother Robert about her once after the divorce. Colette figured out when she was a deb she should stay away from Father because she intended to be a virgin until she wed, and Father was known for bedding just about any female who crossed his path.
“She had heard Grandfather Markarov and his cronies talk about Zhaiden’s need to ‘sow his wild oats’ before he settled down, because it was certain he would never be allowed to engender an Imperial bastard on anyone. So she avoided meeting him at balls and concentrated on building her own circle of friends, mostly learning to play mind games with each other, seeing who could get other people to do their bidding to prove how powerful they were socially.”
As Theo frowned, Matthieu added, “Robert also told Phillip she specifically picked that ball to deliberately meet Father, because he had been dating one lady for two months and had just broken up with her. She figured Father was looking for a relationship at that point.
“It was only then that Robert figure out Colette had been planning to snare him for at least four years. It also didn’t hurt that Grandfather Markarov had just succeeded as duke earlier that year.”
“God. Some training, to spend four years manipulating people and avoiding Father with the intent to capture him when she finally did get a chance. I think I’m going to be sick.” Theo did look sick. “Rosanne lining up all her friends and relatives to bed us is starting to look pretty manipulative.”
Matthieu was stricken by that. “You’re right. What else has she been doing that’s put you to soul-searching?”
“Gossip. And I think I caught her in a lie, from a conversation I had at Northbridge today, but I don’t really want to discuss it, and I don’t really intend to pursue it.”
Theo leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees with his head down for a while. He finally pierced Matthieu with his gaze. “What are we going to do?”
“I say we have fun. We’ll get around to finding real ladies soon enough. It’s not like the Empire desperately needs us to produce Imperial Heirs, like they did with Grandfather. We’ve got plenty of time. If Rosanne pleases you in bed, and she doesn’t lie to you any more, I’d say it wouldn’t hurt to keep her around for a while.”
As Theo nodded, Matthieu wondered anew if he should take Karen to bed again. He was still uncomfortable with the thought, so he changed the subject. “Let’s go see what Father’s up to tonight.”