The two towheaded children dashed between the furniture, dodging comfy looking breen chairs, climbing over the long lounges and couches that were spread throughout the wide, open room. They laughed and called to one another, playfully taunting and teasing as they traded positions on who was being chased and who was doing the chasing.
“Thomas! Eliza!” Meredith called as she walked into the room. “There you two are! I have been calling on the intercom for ten minutes now! Lunch is ready!”
“Yes, Mother,” the siblings replied.
“We’ll be right there,” Thomas said, the older at six years.
“I want juice!” Eliza stated, her hands on her five year old hips. “Lots of juice!’
“Come eat lunch and you’ll—” Meredith started then stopped when she turned and saw the state of the intercom console on the wall.
Wires and polybreen plastic littered the floor, having fallen from the gaping hole in the wall where all of the components should have been.
“What happened here?” Meredith asked, her voice low and menacing. “I expect an answer this very second!”
Eliza looked from her mother to the hole in the wall to her older brother, then burst out crying. Meredith rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her son.
“Explain,” she demanded.
“We were just playing,” Thomas said. “I told her not to throw it, but she did and then I ducked and it hit the intercom and then it broke and all the pieces feel to the ground and we didn’t say anything because we wanted to keep playing and then we forgot and now you’re here yelling at us and Eliza is crying and I have to go pee.”
Meredith struggled not to smile. She kept her lips firmly pressed together until she had it under control.
“And what did your sister throw at you that could break hard polybreen?”
Thomas glanced over towards the corner of the large room and Meredith followed his gaze.
“Oh, Thomas! No! Do you have any idea how angry your father will be over this?”
“Angry over what?” Alexis asked as he walked into the room, his breen environmental suit covered in dirt and pollen. “What did my little devils do this time?”
“Alexis,” Meredith frowned. “Look at you. You are tracking that in everywhere.”
“It’s the prime, dear,” Alexis smiled. “This is where we get to be dirty and nasty and not worry about decorum.”
“I could give a grendt’s ass about decorum,” Meredith said. The children snickered at her use of “ass”, but she held up a finger and they quieted instantly. “I care about having you track mud all over the compound. As you have said, this is the prime, and not only do we have to deal with dirty and nasty, we have to clean it up ourselves.”
“You have four servants, the children each have one, I have six, and that doesn’t even count the kitchen staff or maintenance crews,” Alexis frowned. “You shouldn’t be cleaning anything up yourself.”
“Easy for you to say,” Meredith scowled. “You’re used to this place. On the Thraen Prime estate, the compound is kept spotless at all times. Just because we were planetside never meant we sacrificed comfort or hygiene. You and I need to sit down and talk about some changes that need to be made.”
“You’ve never complained before,” Alexis replied, eyeing his wife. “What’s different this time?”
“Nothing,” Meredith said. “This is the third time we’ve come down from the station since we’ve been married and it is time to civilize this place.”
“Ugh. Civilize?” Alexis the younger said as he walked into the room and stood next to his father.
At twenty years old, he was a couple of inches taller than his father, but not quite as broad. The same fair looks, but with a dangerous twinkle of mischief in his eyes, Minor Alexis had been turning heads for years. Rumors quickly spread of his less than discrete exploits amongst the miners’ daughters on the lease holdings on Thraen Prime. There were also a few rumors that said exploits may have been made up to hide certain dalliances that the nobility and gentry preferred not to speak of.
“Civilizing the prime would be like trying to pump air into space,” Minor Alexis laughed. “You can try all you like, but you’ll never get anywhere.”
“You are supposed to be on a cutter to The Way Prime,” Alexis the senior growled. “You know how dangerous it is for the station to be left without a regent in place.”
“Cousin Stolt is up there running things,” Minor Alexis said. “Don’t you trust Cousin Stolt to handle the affairs of the crown while you are gone?”
Alexis and Meredith shared a quick glance that Minor Alexis didn’t catch.
“I trust you to handle the affairs of the crown,” Alexis responded. “That is why I appointed you regent and you were supposed to be on a shuttle rocketing up to Station Aelon! If you miss your window then it will be at least another week before you can leave!”
“Then it’s another week,” Minor Alexis shrugged. “I hate it up in the orbiting death trap, anyway. I much prefer the land down here with all the wide open spaces, huge breen fields, vast seas, and dark, scary mines.”
He leaned down and wiggled his fingers at his half-siblings, making them giggle. Then he stood and clapped his father on the shoulder.
“Plus, I want you to meet my dearest friend,” Minor Alexis said. “Gannot? Where are you, brother?”
“Sorry,” a young man said as he hurried into the room, a slice of pie in his hands and berry juice running down his chin. He wasn’t as tall as Minor Alexis, but he was obviously muscular and athletic. Dressed in a bright yellow tunic with trousers that seemed to be made of multi-colored patches instead of whole cloth, the young man obviously cared about his dress much more than he cared about his eating habits. “Found myself to be a little peckish and swung by the galley. Are these your parents?”
“They are,” Minor Alexis said, wiping the juice from Gannot’s chin and licking his finger. “This is my father, Master of Station Aelon, Alexis the First.”
“An honor, sire,” Gannot said, taking an exaggerated bow. “I have heard nothing but wonderful things about you.”
“Have you?” Alexis replied. “Because I have heard nothing about you.”
“Ally? Have you not informed your father of all the adventures we’ve had over the years?” Gannot asked, his face contorted with mock pain. “And to think I have called you brother for this long and it has meant nothing.”
“Oh, shush,” Minor Alexis said. He turned back to his father. “I’ve told you about Gannot. Remember when I crashed the skids on Thraen Prime last fall? That was me and Gannot. Oh, and the time I was caught playing a joke on the gatekeepers here in the compound? Us again.”
“Such an amazing joke that was going to be,” Gannot sighed. “We spent two weeks planning it. Had half the staff in on it.”
“Which is why we were found out,” Minor Alexis said. “Too many fingers in the pie.”
“I do love pie.” Gannot smiled, his teeth and lips dark purple. “Don’t you, sire?”
Alexis glared at the brash young man that stood before him, pie juice once again escaping his lips to find its way onto his chin. Minor Alexis started to reach for it, but Alexis the senior slapped the young man’s hand away.
“I do love pie, Gannot,” Alexis growled. “But I know the proper time and place to eat it.”
“Ouch,” Gannot laughed. “I know a reprimand when I hear one. Helios knows I’ve had enough of them in my short, fun-filled life.”
“A life that could end up much shorter if you are not careful, you Thraenish bas—”
“I’m Mistress Meredith,” Meredith said, interrupting and stepping between her husband and the brash youth. “Also, Minoress of Thraen. It is good to see another Thraenish face again. What sector of the station are you from?”
“Me, your highness?” Gannot asked as he took the mistress’s hand and kissed it gently. “Oh, I’m from the prime. Born and raised on the planet. My father is the steward assigned to the lease holdings. I’m sort of a hybrid, if you will. I’m Thraenish, but technically, while Aelon holds the leases on that part of Thraen Prime, I am also Aelish. A man with two stations.”
“Your father is Steward DuChaer?” Alexis asked, surprised by the revelation. “I would think you a miner’s son with the way you act.”
“Everything is much freer down here on the planet,” Gannot said, ignoring the insult. “You learn to go with it or get left behind. And when you can’t breathe the atmosphere, swim in the water, or descend into a Vape mine without special equipment, you come to understand that there are more important things to life than which teacup to use during lunch.”
“Yet, I have managed to navigate both worlds,” Meredith said, giving her husband a reproachful look. “Alexis, dear? How about you clean up for lunch and join us in the banquet hall?”
“I believe I am better needed—” Alexis began.
“I’ll escort Minor Alexis and young Gannot to the meal,” Meredith said. “It’ll give me time to get to know my fellow Thraen. Hurry along now.”
Alexis stared at her, but when she didn’t budge or even blink he realized that he didn’t stand a chance of arguing the point.
“Fine,” Alexis said. “I’ll be along shortly. Don’t wait for me. Feel free to begin eating.”
“Of course, dear,” Meredith said. “Come along children.”
Thomas and Eliza, glad that their mishap was completely forgotten, bolted from the room and sprinted down the passageway towards the banquet hall. Meredith held up an arm and looked at Gannot. The young man just smiled at her until Minor Alexis coughed and cleared his throat.
“Oh, yes, of course,” Gannot laughed. “Forgive me, your highness. My wild habits are hard to break. There are some women on this planet that would crack my nose and snap my arm for offering to escort them.”
“I am not one of those women,” Meredith said. “As you will learn while we get acquainted.”
“Alexis? A brief word?” Alexis said, his eyes locked onto his son and heir. He saw Meredith’s face start to cloud over and he bowed. “Very brief, my love, I promise.”
“Very well,” Meredith said, pointing towards the door. “Shall we, Gannot?”
“It’s my pleasure,” Gannot replied, giving Minor Alexis a wink as he escorted the mistress from the room.
“Father, I—” Minor Alexis started, but was quickly interrupted by a slap across the face.
“When I tell you to be on a shuttle, I expect you to be on a shuttle,” Alexis snarled low. “Is that understood?”
“Yes, Father,” Minor Alexis replied instantly. “It won’t happen again.”
“No, it will not,” Alexis said. “As soon as lunch is finished you will be on our fastest cutter to Way Prime. You’ll still have time to make the shuttle before the planet rotates and we lose our scheduled departure window. I am not asking the Thraenish to let you ride on theirs to Station Thraen and then take a shuttle from there to Aelon. Do you know how humiliating that would be?”
Minor Alexis prudently stayed silent.
“Eat your lunch, say goodbye to your...friend, and then get your ass on the cutter,” Alexis said, turning his back on his son as he walked from the room.
“Father!” Minor Alexis cried. “About Gannot…”
“What about him?” Alexis asked, whirling on his son. “What? Out with it!”
“I would request that he accompany me to the station,” Minor Alexis replied. “I don’t really know any of the stewards there except for Cousin Stolt and it would be good to have someone I trust around in case I need counsel.”
“Counsel? From that roughneck? I think not,” Alexis laughed cruelly.
“No, no, not in an official capacity,” Minor Alexis pushed. “Just as a sounding board. So I can think things through out loud.”
“Yes, well, I’m not sure I want his sort on Station Aelon,” Alexis said.
“His sort?” Minor Alexis asked. “What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure I know,” Alexis replied. “Nor do I want to.”
The two Alexises stared at each other, old eyes to young eyes, locked in a power play that had been repeated by fathers and sons for generations.
“Fine,” Alexis conceded. “The Thraen can accompany you. But he does not attend any official meetings and he is not there in any diplomatic capacity. He is your friend only and will be expected to behave himself and tame that prime streak in him. If I get one hint of impropriety, I will order the royal guard to shoot him out an airlock.”
“I’d expect nothing less, Father,” Minor Alexis bowed. “Thank you.”
“Fah,” Alexis grumbled and waved his son away. “Let me go get cleaned up as your mother has ordered.”
“Step-mother,” Minor Alexis corrected.
“Mother,” Alexis replied. “The woman married to me is your mother and she will be respected as such.”
“Of course,” Minor Alexis said. “Better get cleaned up then, before Mother gets upset.”
Alexis pursed his lips and shook his head, but said nothing else as he turned and strode down the passageway. Minor Alexis watched him go then burst out in a huge grin and hurried towards the banquet hall.
* * *
“Do you think he will be alright with that Thraen?” Alexis asked as he lay in bed with Meredith, a breen wax candle burning and flickering on the table beside them. “There is something about him I do not like. And did you see what he was wearing? What insane style is that?”
“You’re talking about the trousers, aren’t you?” Meredith asked.
“Yes, I’m talking about the bloody trousers!” Alexis snapped then took a deep breath. “Sorry.”
“The patched trousers are the latest trend in the court of Station Thraen,” Meredith said. “They may look silly, but apparently each patch is carefully placed so that the positions have some sort of meaning.”
“Meaning? What meaning?” Alexis asked.
“That I don’t know, my love,” Meredith said. “I’m an old woman now and not privy to the secrets of the youth.”
“Old woman, my ass,” Alexis laughed as he ran his hand up and down Meredith’s thigh. “You are barely older than thirty. I’m the old one in this marriage, not you.”
“Thirty is old,” Meredith sighed. “If you were to pass, Helios forbid, I would not be much of a catch. Not with much younger and firmer examples running about the stations. I’m afraid two children have ruined my firmness.”
“Oh, be quiet,” Alexis laughed as he rolled on top of her. “Any man would be lucky to have you, with your firmness.” He kissed her and then rolled back to his side of the bed.
“That’s it? A kiss?” Meredith asked, this time rolling on top of him. “We have been on the prime for six days now and we have yet to consummate this trip.”
“What about in the third floor closest the afternoon we arrived?” Alexis asked as he lay under his wife, his arms pinned by her hands. “I’d say that consummated things quite nicely.”
“That was for you, dear,” Meredith said. “I knew you wouldn’t rest until you’d gotten in me. Tonight, my love, tonight is for me.” Her hands found him and she smiled as she gave him a squeeze. “And that is for me, as well. You better be up to the task, dearest of loves, because I had a quick nap earlier and I’m rested and ready to get my turn.”
“Oh, the torture you put me through,” Alexis said as he leaned his head up and nipped at her lips.
Meredith laughed and bent down, her mouth parted and tongue wet. But they were interrupted by a loud knock at the door before they could go any further. Alexis sighed and Meredith swore as she rolled off him and he swung his legs from the bed, looking for his trousers.
“Hold on!” Alexis snapped as he stood and found his trousers peeking from under the bed.
He hop-footed into them as he made his way over to the royal bedchamber door. He winced slightly as the skin around his ever present wound stretched tight. He stopped in front of the door, took a deep breath, steadied his anger, and then yanked open the door.
“This better be good,” Alexis snapped.
“Sire,” a guard said. “We are getting reports of some disturbances on the lease holdings. A message was received by the communication system that Thraen troops have moved into the region and are demanding back taxes.”
“Back taxes?” Alexis asked, truly puzzled. “What in Helios’s name could they be thinking of? We pay no taxes on the lease holdings. That’s what the lease payments are for!”
“Yes, sire,” the guard said, bowing. “I am just relaying what I have been told.”
“Fine, right, yes,” Alexis growled. “I’ll be to the communications room shortly. Let me get dressed.”
“Yes, sire,” the guard said as he hurried away.
Alexis looked over his shoulder at his obviously disappointed wife.
“I’m so sorry,” he said as he walked over and found his tunic. “I’m sure it’s some general or commander trying to make a name for himself. I’ll get it sorted out and be back right away. No falling asleep. I promise to perform my husbandly duties immediately upon my return.”
“Yes, well, don’t be surprised if I get started without you,” Meredith smirked. “A mistress cannot be left waiting.”
“I’ll hurry,” Alexis grinned. “That is a promise.”
* * *
The paper in his hands shook as he tried to keep his boiling rage from spilling over. Alexis read the message for a fifth time before wadding the paper up and tossing it across the meeting room.
“What in Helios’s name is the man thinking?” Alexis shouted. “Taxing me? Taxing the Master of Station Aelon? It’s never been done! A master cannot tax another master!”
“He is not considering you a master, but a tenant just like any other lease holder,” Stolt said, having just arrived on the planet. “He does have the High Guardian’s approval. You can see by the official seal that—”
“Oh, fuck off, Stolt!” Alexis roared. “That whore of a gatekeeper puts his official seal on anything someone pays him enough for! He’d stamp my cock if I gave him enough credits! I could have the only cock in the system that is ordained by the High Guardian! Only the Dear Parent would have a more holy cock than mine!”
“Does Helios have a cock?” Meredith asked, smiling. “I never really thought about it before. Do you think it glows?”
“Not now, wife,” Alexis snapped. “This is not the time for jokes or lev—”
“Oh, shut up, Alexis,” Meredith said. “This is the time for jokes because this entire situation is one giant joke!”
“Excuse me, your highness, but I think it is more complicated than mere humor,” Stolt said. “Don’t you agree, gentlemen?”
The other men seated at the table looked from Stolt to Mistress Meredith then to the master, who was busy pacing back and forth, his anger blinding him to half of what was happening in the room.
“I believe the mistress may not grasp the scope of the dilemma,” a man said. Younger than Alexis and Stolt, the man kept his shoulders bunched and head down in order to seem subservient at all times.
The prime administrator, Jorben Tallaly was tasked with making sure all Aelish planetside operations ran smoothly and efficiently. That included the lease holdings on Thraen Prime. His body language gave the impression he knew he was not doing his duty.
“General Herlect is very serious about the payment of the taxes, sire,” Tallaly said, turning his attention to the master. “He does have sufficient forces to take and shut down our operations on Thraen Prime.”
“But he won’t do it,” Meredith said. “I know Staunchton better than anyone in this room. My cousin is a taint. Pure and simple. He’s always wanted claim to the Thraen crown, but being one step removed from it, he’s decided that he’ll kill and blow things up instead. The silly twerp has always been a sadist and a bully. He killed one of my trollen birds when I was a child, just to make me cry. Punch him in the nuts and he’ll crumple like any man.”
“We can hardly punch the commander of the Thraen Prime forces in the nuts,” Stolt said.
“Well, not sitting there like a lump, you can’t,” Meredith said. “You’d actually have to get up off your old, fat ass to do it.”
“Mer,” Alexis warned. “Please.”
“Oh, don’t Mer me,” Meredith responded as she stood up and looked the men in the eyes.
Besides Stolt and Tallaly, there was Steward Hylora, a thin man of indiscriminate age; Steward Prochan, a young man who had just taken his birthright after his father had fallen from a balcony one drunken night; and Steward Exchester, a man as round as he was tall.
“I may be Mistress of Station Aelon, but I am also Minoress of Station Thraen, don’t forget,” Meredith snapped. “You men sit here and wonder what Staunchton’s motivations are when you should be focusing on my brother’s. Paul is toying with our cousin, making him feel important and worth something other than a babysitter for a hunk of rock stuck on a planet worth nothing except for Vape and breen.”
“Uh, those two items are quite important, your highness,” Steward Exchester said. “Breen is a valuable commodity that can be made into—”
“Shut up, Exchester,” Alexis said. “My wife knows what breen is and she knows how important Vape is. What she’s trying to say is that Master Paul of Thraen wants something other than taxes and probably has not let his cousin know that yet. Am I right, dear?”
“You are, as always,” Meredith said. “My cousin thinks he’s collecting taxes when he’s actually just a distraction from the real goal.”
“Which is what, your highness?” Stolt asked.
“Marriage,” Meredith said, shocking even her husband with her answer. “I still have my sources in the Thraen court. Paul feels that the lease holdings on Thraen Prime are too important to be in constant negotiations. He wants a more permanent arrangement. I believe he’s willing to give them as part of a dowry, with the explicit precept that a Thraenish team mine the land and proceeds are sent to Station Aelon, not raw materials.”
She laughed at the looks on the men’s faces.
“Oh, close your mouths, you’ll collect honey wasps,” Meredith smiled. “My brother loves to scheme and figure out a way to skim off the top. He can’t do it to the Thraen stewards or he’ll risk an uprising, so that leaves Thraen Prime, specifically the land leased to Aelon. Are you seriously telling me you never saw this coming?”
“No, we did not,” Stolt replied. “But, whether true or not, it does bring up a topic I wanted to talk about.”
“Don’t we have enough topics to deal with?” Alexis growled.
“This touches on what the mistress has said,” Stolt replied. “It is in regards to the minor, your son.”
“I assume you mean Alexis and not Thomas,” Alexis replied.
“I do, sire,” Stolt nodded. “As you know I was with the young man for a week until you called me down here. I have to say I witnessed some rather, well, disturbing behavior.”
“He’s a spirited lad,” Alexis said as he stopped his pacing and took his seat next to his wife. “What trouble did he get into?”
“That list would be too long for the time we have available, sire,” Stolt said. “Let me just say that all troubles the minor may have placed himself in were always with the company of that young man, Gannot DuChaer.”
“Yes, they are fast friends,” Alexis sneered. “And it is not a friendship I condone. I’ll have the Thraen removed from the station as soon as I return there.”
“I’m afraid the damage may already be done, sire,” Stolt said. “The DuChaer boy has his hooks in Minor Alexis. And I do not believe the minor cares or is inclined to remove said hooks.”
“Sycophants come and go, Cousin,” Alexis smiled at the steward. “You of all people should know that.”
“Right you are, your highness,” Stolt replied. “It’s just that, well, I believe this is more than sycophancy. The two young men’s relationship may be more complicated than that.”
“More complicated?” Alexis asked. “What in Helios’s name are you babbling about?”
“Oh, knock it off, Alexis,” Meredith said. “Take the blinders from your eyes and admit that you know well and true what Stolt is saying. Alexis and that DuChaer boy are more than friends. They are lovers and you know exactly how dangerous that can be.”
“Lovers…” Alexis said, sighing deeply. “I may have suspected, but I wasn’t sure.”
“I’m not condemning the minor in any way,” Stolt said. “That is up to Helios to do, but the meeting of the stewards, not to mention the meeting of the passengers, will not stand for a queer master. I am above such judgment, but others are not.”
“You son needs to stop slapping blades or we’ll lose the station,” Meredith said, causing everyone, except Alexis to gasp. “Oh, don’t be prude or act like this is the first time two men have ever had a lustful relationship. Please, I’m from Thraen. Half the men there prefer cock to twat most days of the week.”
“Dear Helios,” Steward Prochan exclaimed. “Such language! And from a mistress!”
“Oh, grow up, Prochan,” Meredith said. “Everyone knows your own brother likes the rod. Don’t act all offended.”
“Mer, stop,” Alexis said softly, touching his wife’s arm. “They get the point.”
“But the point, sire, is that the minor’s proclivities put the station at risk,” Stolt said. “If Mistress Meredith is right, and I have no reason to doubt she is, then a marriage between stations may be just what the crown needs. The minor gets a wife, and shows the stations he’s not what he is suspected to be, and we get long term stability with our lease holdings on Thraen Prime.”
“We were supposed to have stability when I married Meredith!” Alexis snapped.
“Yes, well, that marriage was not of Master Paul’s choosing,” Stolt said. “It was your personal choice, sire.”
“At a significant cost to the crown, I know, I know,” Alexis sighed. “Master Paul will want terms that benefit Thraen and not Aelon. Who knows the amount of revenue that will be lost when he takes control? And why would we let him do that, anyway? If his daughter is to marry my son then he should be giving me the lease holdings as part of the dowry!”
“Precisely, sire,” Stolt said. “Don’t worry about the details of the transaction. I will make sure that, in the long run, Station Aelon comes out ahead and profits from the arrangement.”
“Transaction? Arrangement?” Meredith scowled. “You men have no idea what it’s like to be a woman in this age. Even one like me, born into royalty and privilege, is nothing more than a bargaining chip. My niece could be a prize shaow for all you care. And don’t forget that fact, gentlemen, that the woman you are negotiating for is my niece. She is my blood, more so than Minor Alexis.”
“Meredith!” Alexis snapped. “You forget your place!”
“And you forget your heart!” she snapped back. “Look to it, Alexis. Make sure that this decision I can see you are about to make will not crush two souls all for the price of a piece of land.”
“Only Helios need worry about the souls of royals,” Alexis replied. “We are here to do our duty, nothing more.”
“Nothing more…” Meredith repeated and trailed off. Then she slapped her hands on the table. “Well, I can see my counsel has been used up. I’ll let you men get to work on the trading of human beings. Just remember that you need a plan for when it all falls apart. I have been lucky with my marriage, but I doubt my niece will feel the same way. Good night.”
* * *
“I’m sorry for that,” Alexis said as he climbed into bed.
“Sorry for which?” Meredith replied as she scooted away from him and tucked the covers around her body, making it quite known she had no interest in royal affections. “I counted at least three offenses that should have me dragging your ass out of this bed and into the passageway.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Alexis laughed and reached for her, but was rebuffed by a nail rake to the forearm. “Ow!”
“What terms did you decide on?” Meredith asked.
“A quarter million credits for a dowry,” Alexis said. “As well as Station Aelon keeps the current lease holdings on Thraen Prime in perpetuity. With future options of expansion.”
“Future options?” Meredith asked, her interest piqued despite her irritation with her husband. “What future options?”
“Permanent title bestowed upon Alexis’s heirs,” Alexis smiled. “They will be of Thraenish blood, after all.”
“So despite what may happen between Alexis and my niece, their children will be the title holders?” Meredith laughed, reached over and grabbed Alexis’s arm, tugging him to her. “I forget just how smart you are sometimes.”
“Whether the rumors about my son are true or not, it won’t matter,” Alexis grinned as he felt his wife’s warm body press against his own. “If for whatever reason the marriage doesn’t work out, as long as there are heirs, then Station Aelon will always have a claim to the lease holdings on Thraen Prime.”
“If my brother agrees,” Meredith said as she climbed on top of Alexis.
“When I’m only asking for a quarter of a million credits as a dowry?” Alexis laughed. “If Paul doesn’t agree, his advisors will force him to. Your brother likes his lavish lifestyle and a proper dowry would hurt the treasury enough that he’d have to make some cutbacks on his daily feasts and barrels of wine.”
“Which the fat shaow would never do,” Meredith said. “Yet another reason I am glad I married a man of action and not sloth. Dear Helios, could you imagine what my life would be like with one of those layabout masters or stewards from the other stations? I’d probably have hips wider than a cutter and an ass as big as Thraen Prime itself.”
“Mmmmm, I might let you do that,” Alexis said, his hands gripping her hips then her ass. “More for me then.”
“I’d crush you with one thrust,” Meredith said, leaning over him and kissing his lips. “Because I certainly wouldn’t slow down or take it easy on you.”
“I would expect not,” Alexis said. “That wouldn’t be you at all.”
* * *
“You are forcing me to do something I am not ready for, Father,” Minor Alexis said as three attendants busied themselves about the young man, making sure his trousers were free of any dirt and his tunic was perfectly tucked about his torso. “I have so much more to do before I settle down and marry.”
“I was several years younger than you when I was married,” Alexis said, as he sat sipping gelberry wine and watched the attendants make the final alterations and adjustments to his son’s wedding outfit. “Getting married doesn’t mean your life ends. In many ways it actually starts.”
“So the occasional dalliance is permitted?” Minor Alexis grinned. “Did you ever stray from Mother?”
“From Eliza? Helios no,” Alexis said. “I’m not that type of husband. I was lucky with your mother and found a woman that I loved with all of my heart.”
“And my current mother?” Minor Alexis asked. “Has the royal eye perhaps realized the amount of eligible beauties that grace our station?”
“Again, I have been lucky,” Alexis said. “Meredith is the only woman for me. I can barely keep up, to be honest.”
“No need to explain,” Minor Alexis said. “Really, don’t. That’s something I don’t need to hear.”
“What about you, son?” Alexis asked. “Any beautiful young ladies catch your eye? Not that I would officially approve of any extramarital affairs, since that could undermine the marriage agreements and the crown, but I know a hot blooded youth like you must have his eye looking about.”
The three attendants tried to look as if they weren’t listening intently, but their faces fell far short of feigned indifference.
“There may be someone,” Minor Alexis answered. “But it wouldn’t be a union possible, whether officially or unofficially.”
“A commoner?” Alexis asked. “One of the passenger girls? Your late Uncle Derrick was known for his trolling the decks for a taste of passenger meat. He once worked his way through an entire sector, going from woman to woman, until I think half those decks knew his privates intimately.”
“Not a passenger,” Minor Alexis replied. “But not one of the station’s nobility, either.”
The three attendants shared a look, which Alexis caught instantly, causing him to set his glass down harder than he intended.
“Leave us,” he ordered and they scurried from the room without question.
Minor Alexis stood there on the wide, tailor’s stool and waited for what was to come.
“You know you are the heir to one of the most powerful stations in the system, right?” Alexis asked as he sat there, his fingers steepled, his eyes boring into his son. “Everything you do, every word you say, everything you wear, you eat, you drink, you sing—all of it is scrutinized down to the most insignificant detail. You do not lead a private life, son. Nor will you ever lead a private life. Image is what counts with us royals, almost more than actual substance.”
“Yes, I have been made aware of this my entire life, Father,” Minor Alexis replied. “Auntie Melinda drilled it into me before she left for The Way. As did Corbin, that old crippled souse. Always telling me that I wasn’t living up to my potential, that I needed to take more interest in affairs of station and less interest in racing skids across the prime or even the science of agriculture.” Minor Alexis changed his voice into a gruff, old drunk’s. “Alexis! Stop dreaming of tilling soil and playing farmer! You’re going to be master one day, so Helios damn act like it!”
“You sound just like him,” Alexis sighed. “I regretted sending him to the prime estate with you, but he was the only one I could trust.”
“Yes, that’s what he reminded of me also,” Minor Alexis said. “Not to knock the poor sod. I did learn how to fight with every type of blade invented, plus shoot a sling better than any Aelon master.”
“Is that so?” Alexis laughed. “Then why do you refuse to join in the tournaments the stewards host?”
“Boredom,” Minor Alexis said. “I’d either win outright, they’d let me win outright, or I’d lose and look like a fool. The last two aren’t acceptable to me, and the first one is an almost foregone conclusion. I know the outcomes and I don’t care for any of them. I’d rather sit and drink and watch the others fight for their supposed honor.”
“That isn’t a bad analysis,” Alexis responded. “I give you points for that.”
“Do you? How generous.”
“You know, I don’t have to be,” Alexis snapped. “I could just shove you out that door right now and make this ceremony happen today. I wouldn’t be the first upset royal parent that accelerated a wedding. It would be awkward for all involved, but then it would be done.”
“The minoress and her father just arrived today,” Minor Alexis said. “I would guess Master Paul doesn’t like to be hurried for any reason. You’d risk the agreement, and all the hard work Cousin Stolt has put into this, just to prove a point to me? I don’t think so.”
“No, I don’t think so either,” Alexis said. “But I always have the option. As long as I am master, I will be in charge of your future.”
“Then when you are gone, no one is in charge of my future except me,” Minor Alexis said.
“I’ll let you believe that,” Alexis smirked. “As an early wedding gift.”
“Again, how generous,” Minor Alexis said then looked down at his clothing. “Do you think we could call the attendants back in so I can get out of these blasted garments? While I do enjoy the prints, the cut is riding up my craw something awful.”
“Of course, son,” Alexis said. “We wouldn’t want your craw to be uncomfortable just before your wedding. An uncomfortable craw isn’t going to produce heirs. That’s a solid, royal fact.”
* * *
Meredith gripped her husband’s hand as he sat there in a huff. The entire great hall of Station Aelon was lined with The Burdened, a faction of The Way that Alexis was not exactly fond of, especially since some of their members had tried to kill him, and almost killed the very woman that gripped his hand like a vise.
“I should have put my foot down,” Alexis whispered. “Seeing those holy thugs just makes me want to grab a long blade and kill every one of them. I could do it, too. I still have what it takes to kill.”
“In here, yes,” Meredith said, tapping the master’s chest. “But I think the rest of your body would disagree. When was the last time you sparred with anyone from the royal guard?”
“I don’t know,” Alexis sulked. “It hasn’t been that long.”
“It’s been two years, love,” Meredith said, trying not to smirk. “You haven’t touched a blade, other than what’s between your legs, in two years. You’d be on your ass before you even got your blade out of its sheath.”
“Oh, I’d take a couple with me,” Alexis insisted. “A warrior never forgets how to fight.”
“No, they just forget they no longer can fight,” Meredith said. “So be quiet about it all. The Burdened aren’t going away, not until the High Guardian leaves the station. And the High Guardian isn’t leaving until after the ceremony.”
“Right after the ceremony,” Alexis said. “Since his holiness is needed elsewhere in the System. Would it kill the man to stay for the reception and feast? Maybe bless some of the nobility and gentry for me? The political capital generated from that would last me the rest of my reign.”
“So now you want him to stay?” Meredith said, beyond exasperated. “You are a tangle of contradictions, Master Alexis Teirmont. Good thing I like working out knots.”
“All rise for his Holiness, the Pontiff of the One True System and all systems under Helios’s watch, the only human being deemed worthy enough to protect the portal to the planet and gateway to the primes! All rise for the High Guardian!”
The entire hall stood and turned towards the entryway. Instead of wearing plain, drab robes as most of the gatekeepers wore, the man that walked through was dressed in brilliant colors of varying iridescence and shades. Spotlights placed strategically throughout the hall shone down from above, creating an almost blinding, dazzling effect of reflections from the pontiff’s attire.
As well as wearing the head to toe show robes, the High Guardian also wore a hat that was nearly as tall as he was. Attendants walked behind the man, staves in their hands; ready to push the hat back into place should it shift or start to fall. Clutched in the man’s hand was a staff of glass that swirled with contained Vape. All that attended the ceremony were wealthy enough to appreciate the cost of the staff. Containing Vape that was not compressed was not an easy task to accomplish and the artisan who made the staff must have charged a fortune.
Or donated it to The Way, as was usually the tradition.
“Be seated,” the High Guardian said once he had made his way to the front of the hall, climbed the dais, and turned to address the crowd. “Helios blesses you all and thanks you for your attendance to this most holy of ceremonies.”
The hall echoed with the sounds of shuffling feet and rustling clothing. Many a cloak and dress had been brought out of storage, more than likely expanded to fit the increased girths of the owners, and were still stiff from their cleaning. While official galas and banquets were common in the Aelon court, nothing so special had been held in Castle Quent for some time.
“Let the betrothed walk to me,” the High Guardian said, his voice more a reedy rasp than the commanding tenor one would expect from such a figure.
He was severely old, and rumored to have been undergoing treatments for various life threatening illnesses, but he still stood tall and clutched the Vape staff in a grip that showed he could deliver a blow or two if needed.
“If he dies here then Helios will never forgive me,” Alexis whispered to his wife, who in turn swatted his arm.
“Don’t even say such a thing, Alexis,” she hissed, causing more than a few eyes to turn her way.
Eyes such as her brother’s, who sat across the aisle from her, his wife Carmnella by his side. The Master of Station Thraen nodded to his younger sister then turned his attention back to the High Guardian. Knowing full well that Meredith held no real love for him, Paul had stepped onto Station Aelon with nothing but a formal attitude to the whole proceeding as if he were merely attending the signing of some new declaration and not his daughter’s wedding.
The High Guardian droned on for close to twenty minutes, espousing the greatness of Helios and why all beings owed their immortal souls to the Dear Parent. He paused for a moment, giving everyone the impression he was ready to move onto the actual nuptials, but it turned out he was only thirsty and once given a drink of water he continued on for another twenty minutes.
Alexis had to guess that the man read half of the Ledger before he finally clacked the end of his staff onto the dais and called out that the bride and groom be brought before him so he might bless them with Helios’s permission to marry.
“Alexis Teirmont, heir to the crown of Station Aelon, do you swear before Helios that you choose to marry this woman of your own free will?” the High Guardian asked.
Minor Alexis stood there for a split-second, a split-second that everyone in the great hall noticed instantly, then puffed out his chest, grabbed the young minoress’s hands, and said, “Yes. Before Helios, I swear it.”
There were more than a few loud exhalations throughout the hall.
“And do you, Bella Herlect, Minoress of Station Thraen, do swear before Helios that you choose to marry this man of your own free will?”
“Yes, before Helios, I swear it,” Minoress Bella replied immediately.
Alexis and Meredith looked on as the couple performed their duties and recited their memorized vows, most of which were straight from the Ledger, but some were surprisingly original. Both the master and mistress had to wonder if the young minoress had heard any of the rumors about her almost husband. If she had, she never showed any indication to either of them when they spoke briefly at the welcome dinner.
By the time the exchanging of the rings, crowns, scepters, cloaks, armbands, and belts had taken place, Alexis was close to falling asleep. Meredith kept nudging him, making sure he didn’t snort or snore as his eyes refused to stay open. The High Guardian frowned as he looked down to see the master’s head start to nod, but he didn’t increase his tempo one bit and continued the litany of royal ancestors from both stations that would now be joined as one with the union of the minor and minoress.
“With all of Helios’s love and trust, I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the High Guardian stated finally. He snapped his fingers and a long privacy screen was brought before the newlyweds, blocking them from the view of the entire hall. “You may now kiss.”
The hall waited, all completely silent to see if they could hear anything from the lips of the two royals, but the screen was quickly removed and by the looks on the minor’s and minoress’s faces, some had to wonder if they kissed at all.
The High Guardian stepped down from the dais and looked at Master Alexis then Master Paul.
“The Way thanks you for your generosity today, masters,” he said. “Your endowments will help fund many a holy endeavor. Bless your reigns forever.”
The masters bowed to the pontiff as he made his way down the aisle and back out of the great hall. As soon as he was gone then the newlyweds turned and looked at the assembled guests. Minor Alexis held out his hand and Minoress Bella took it willingly, if not completely enthusiastically. Music started up and the two walked down the aisle, heads held high, eyes forward until they too left the hall.
“Shall we?” Alexis said as he looked over at Master Paul.
“Please, Alexis, lead the way,” Paul responded. “I could certainly use a refreshment or two.”
“I could use the whole damn bar,” Meredith muttered.
“The same with me,” Alexis replied. “The same with me.”