Diana snapped out of the deep meditation, her eyes wide. She couldn’t believe what she’d seen.
Cassius was innocent. He too was in danger. And that mean she was in the strange position of needed to protect him.
His innocence meant it was also now more difficult than ever to put off their marriage.
‘Diana.’
She sat up and looked at Cassius. Now that she knew he wasn’t evil, hadn’t worked to kill Angonians, she felt a certain sympathy for him. It must have been difficult, to live for so many years without knowing exactly what your future held. If the Pontifex had chosen her heir earlier, when it became clear she would have no children of her own, then perhaps Cassius wouldn’t have become so wrapped up in his hate of Gareth.
Then a memory seared her mind and Diana shuddered. One part of her refused to believe what she’d seen in Cassius’s mind, but she knew that a person couldn’t manufacture memories. So that meant Cassius really did see what he’d seen, and Gareth was capable of inflicting that sort of harm on a young girl.
And for a moment there, Diana had wondered if maybe he was the man to convince her to the path of commitment.
She shuddered. It was clear she’d made a lucky escape from the King of Angonia.
‘Diana.’
She shook her head and smiled at Cassius. ‘My apologies. My mind is so full.’
‘As is mine.’ He came over and sat next to her, and picked up her hand. ‘Darling Diana, I feel so close to you now. I know that our marriage will be a success.’
There had to be another way out of it, Diana thought as he squeezed her hand. But what?
The counsellors escorted Cassius back to the Tatryn embassy to rest and recover from the intense two days. Diana wished she too could rest, but first she needed to see the Prince of Rica.
She knelt before him and bowed. ‘Your Highness.’
‘Diana. The King of Angonia and I await your news.’
‘Diana. I am glad to see that you are safe.’
That honey whiskey voice that had once so inflamed her now sounded like dirty darkness to her ears. How could she have been so blind as to his true nature? How could Cassie not know?
‘Your Highness. Your Majesty. I come with startling news. Cassius of Tatryn is innocent.’
‘What?’ The explosion of sound from Gareth was shocking.
‘I saw it, Your Majesty. I saw him conversing with a man and so I went to hear it. Their conversation was so earnest, so deep, that I was sure he would be another conspirator and we’d have the proof we needed to mindscan Cassius. Instead, I watched him take over Cassius’s mind and change memories. Yes, Cassius knew Crag Zimmer, but that conversation wasn’t originally about Angonia. It was about a business deal between two companies — one Tatryn, one Haityn — that would greatly benefit both countries. But the words were twisted, to make it sound the way it did. Also, this man confessed to Cassius he’d done the same thing to Zimmer. The man was angry that as the Pontifex’s chief financial adviser, Cassius had kept him from a lucrative business deal and this was his punishment. To link Cassius with these attacks and destroy forever his hopes of being Pontifex.’
‘Are you sure?’ The liquid in the Prince’s pipes gurgled with indignation. ‘What of what you saw yesterday, of the conversation with the Pontifex?’
Diana frowned. ‘I don’t remember that conversation.’
‘You don’t?’
‘No. Oh, wait. Oh, dear.’ Her eyes widened, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. ‘It was a dream, brought on by the deep meditation. I’m sorry.’
‘A dream?’ Disbelief laced every syllable in Gareth’s voice.
‘Yes, a dream,’ Diana snapped. How dare a scumbag like him distrust her? ‘I was so confused yesterday, I mistook it for a real memory. But now I’ve seen the truth. Cassius isn’t at fault. It’s this man who is playing with his memories.’
‘Did you get his name?’ the prince asked.
‘No. But I can describe him to Kernan and he can get his squad onto it. I know he’s Tatrynian, from the accent.’
‘What do you think, Gareth?’
A pause. ‘You are sure of this, Diana?’
‘Absolutely. I looked deep into Cassius. He hid nothing from me. It’s the truth.’
‘Then I’m even more worried than I was before.’
‘Why?’ the Prince said. ‘Surely this is a good thing, to know the throne of Tatryn isn’t involved.’
‘This doesn’t necessarily prove the Pontifex isn’t,’ Gareth said. ‘But my concern is that this may mean the capaz de pensa are becoming active again.’
The prince scoffed. ‘They no longer exist. The planetarium wiped them out more than a hundred years ago.’
‘Excuse me, but what is the capaz de pensa?’ Diana said.
‘Nothing for you to worry about,’ the prince said. ‘The stress of this situation is getting to the King of Angonia and he is speaking strangely. Thank you, Diana. You may leave.’
On the one hand, she wanted to know more. On the other hand, no longer having to hear Gareth’s voice was a blessing. So she stood, bowed and walked as quickly as she could from the room without actually running.
Once she was back in the RBMC headquarters proper, she turned to Cassie. The Heir’s office was just near the elevator, so she could react quickly to the Prince’s summons.
‘Well? How did it go?’ Cassandra put down her table.
Diana slumped down into the chair across the desk from her sister. ‘Terribly. Cassius is innocent. He’s being set-up.’
‘Bummer. You all seemed so sure.’
‘We were. How the hell am I supposed to get out of the marriage now?’
‘Can you make him cry off in some way?’
‘I doubt it. He’s obsessed with me. All he could think about during the connection was us having sex.’
‘We’ll think of something.’ Cassandra patted Diana’s hand. ‘I’ve got one more thing to finish up here, then I’ll come home and we’ll put our heads together and come up with something.’
Diana nodded, weariness washing over her. That one more thing to finish would probably take Cass a couple of hours, knowing her. Time enough for Diana to go have a nap.
She stood and turned to leave, but stopped. ‘Cass, what do you know of the capaz de pensa?’
To her astonishment, Cassandra shivered. ‘Bad ass, Di. Tatryn developed this squad of super fighters, with-off-the scale mental acuity. They used it to infiltrate Angonian security and almost got to the King and thus take over the planetarium and Jorda, but were caught just in time. Technically, they’re illegal, but I was trained to recognise and deal with them. All security are, because you can’t be too careful with people like them. Why do you ask?’
‘Someone has tampered with Cassius’s mind, and the King of Angonia thought it might be capaz de pensa.’
‘Damn. Now I feel sympathy for Cassius.’
‘Can it be fixed?’
‘I don’t know. I’ll talk to Kernan.’
‘Thanks.’ She didn’t like Cassius, didn’t want to marry him, but that didn’t mean she could just ignore what had been done to him.
Diana went home and pulled off her clothing. Deciding not to bother getting dressed, she climbed between the sheets. Moments later, sleep claimed her and for a while, she could forget all the trouble in her life.
***
Gareth disconnected and stared sightlessly at the empty room. Something about this didn’t ring true to him. When Diana had spoken last night about the conversation she’d seen Cassius have with the Pontifex, she had sounded so sure.
And today in the planetarium, without any invitation to do so, the Pontifex had come forward and said it was her understanding that her heir had been implicated in the plot against Angonia. She’d spoken of Crag Zimmer and told a tale of a madman who had a grudge against the royal family of Tatryn and was setting Cassius up.
The Pontifex’s actions matched exactly with what Diana had said she would do. But now, Diana was saying it was all a dream on her part, a false memory, with no accuracy at all.
So what did the Pontifex’s actions today mean? Gareth hadn’t told any of the planetarium members about Crag Zimmer’s mindscan, and he doubted any of the few people who knew would have told the Pontifex. How did the other ruler know about it, if the conversation Diana had believed in yesterday hadn’t happened?
However, the same belief he’d heard in Diana’s voice yesterday he’d heard today, in her pronouncement of Cassius’s innocence. Was that true, that Cassius’s memories had been mangled? Were the capaz de pensa starting to rise again?
Peace save Jorda if they were.
The planetarium needed to know if the dreaded force was coming back and that meant Cassius needed to be mindscanned. Only, without charges being laid, it could only happen with his permission and Gareth very much doubted he would give it.
The only other option — find the man Diana had seen Cassius talking to in his memories. He summoned Kernan and paced up and down his office until the other man arrived.
‘What do you know of the capaz de pensa?’ he said as soon as Kernan entered the office.
Kernan sat down and steepled his fingers before his chest. ‘The capaz de pensa started as a wing of the Tatryn security forces. The most mentally acute, trained interrogation experts. Someone somewhere — no one has worked out who the originator of the idea was — decided that they could be used as the focal point of an attack that would destroy the Angonian crown and make Tatryn the greatest country on Jorda. So the training got intense, and the capaz learnt how to do things that no one had done before. Not just how to enter and read an unwilling mind, but how to tamper with the memories they found there and to implant suggestions that appeared as perfectly normal to the victim. There were rumours that some even knew how to kill with just their mind, but that was never substantiated. Do you know the history of what they did, and what happened next?’
Gareth nodded. ‘Infiltrated Angonian security, used the suggestions and tampering of people’s minds to work their way up toward the top of Angonian security, were almost at the point of gaining access to the royal guard and thus the royal family when one of them slipped up and tried to control the wrong person. They were reported and the whole plot unravelled. The capaz were banned by the planetarium, with the full support of Tatryn it should be noted, and anyone following the capaz’s teachings or getting the tattoo would be instantly imprisoned in a balcite-lined room, with no more mental contact with another human being.’
‘It’s always been the belief of other security forces that the capaz de pensa weren’t disbanded; they just went underground. Nowadays, it’s considered they have no connection to Tatryn security forces at all, but no one doubts that they still exist in some capacity. That’s why pretty much every important institution and company on the planet had instigated a regime of mind checks on employees, to hopefully catch the capaz if they decide to act again.’
‘Do you think they will?’
‘It depends on their motivation. No one I know of has ever spoken to a capaz, so we don’t know if they still follow the Tatryn line and are vehemently anti-Angonia, of if their existence is now motivated by other factors. They could, for example, be running all the big businesses on Jorda. Perhaps if we looked closely enough, we’d find capaz acting as advisers to every ruler in the planetarium. Or perhaps they’re now scholars, dedicated to learning all they can about the power of the mind but not willing to use it to hurt others.’
‘There’s an awful lot we don’t know.’ Gareth sat at his desk.
‘Why are you asking about capaz de pensa?’
Gareth quickly explained about Cassius. ‘I need you to get in touch with Diana, get a description of this man and find him. For the sake of Jorda, we need to know exactly what has happened to Cassius.’
‘Let’s hope it’s not the capaz, because this signifies that they’re back to the old way of thinking.’
Kernan left and Gareth went over to look out the window at Angonia. Would the threat never end?
His communicator vibrated and Gareth answered. It was Cassandra.
‘Did you hear about Cassius?’
‘I did. I still find it hard to believe he is innocent.’
‘It’s a major bummer. Di and I were banking on his guilt as being the way to talk the Prince out of their wedding. Now that Cassius is innocent, the marriage is full steam ahead.’
The idea that Diana would marry Cassius and thus be lost to Gareth forever hurt, more than he’d anticipated it would. Gareth’s heart contracted, his stomach shrivelled and pain seared his nerves.
He wanted Diana, he knew that. He liked her. He respected her. Was it possible that he loved her?
He pictured a life without Diana, and it appeared long and lonely. Then he pictured one with her and it was filled with laughter and loving.
‘We can’t let that happen,’ he said.
‘Well, you could do something about that,’ Cassandra said. ‘Shame you didn’t manage to impregnate her; that would solve everything.’
Gareth pictured Diana’s body swollen with his child and shuddered. ‘Next time, I’ll try harder.’
‘Make that next time quick. Get her back into your bed. Make Cassius not want her. Better still, go ahead and marry her.’
‘Diana won’t want to marry me.’
‘Then convince her. Put some effort into it. She’s worth it, you know.’
‘You’re singing a different tune to what you have in the past.’
‘I know. A year ago, I would have told you to run for the hills. But Di and I have both changed and I see her more clearly now. She’s worthy of you. Now you have to prove you’re worthy of her. Save her from the marriage from hell, Gareth. You know you want to.’
Cassandra rung off. Gareth put the communicator back on his belt, leant against the window and considered the possibility of getting Diana back in his arms. It needed to be a reason that the Prince of Rica would support, because he wouldn’t want Diana travelling. It needed to be something that Diana herself couldn’t say no to. It needed to be something that enabled him to have time with her, alone, to talk, to touch, to make her see his love.
Then he hit on it. That morning, he and his advisers had planned a memorial for the victims of the flightport bombing. Diana should be the Rican representative — the Prince would agree that was suitable. And Diana would stay in the palace, and at night they’d get together and then in the moonlight, he’d bathe her in his love.
He’d have to invite everyone else as well, to make it look authentic. Cassius would probably come. Getting Diana to himself was going to take work.
Well, he’d figure that out. He called Melina in and asked her to draft an invitation to all the countries of Jorda to send a representative to the memorial.
‘Certainly, Your Majesty,’ she said. ‘Also, tomorrow is when you’re due to have your meeting with the students from Angonia University. Do you want me to postpone that?’
Gareth blinked. ‘Did Diana ever have her meeting with them?’
‘No, Sire. She left before that could happen.’
A wonderful idea occurred to him. ‘No, we shall have the meeting. But it’s going to have a video hook-up to Rica. Did anyone here buy a piece from the Castina Collection?’
‘I did.’ Melina blushed. ‘Actually, Miss Wiltmore left me slides and pamphlets and such. I’m to help her sell some of them.’
‘Excellent. I’ll inform Diana that she will still be able to do the market research she wanted. Thank you, Melina.’
When she was gone, he opened up his tablet and started to write a letter to Diana.
He stared at the blank screen for some time, wondering what to say, then decided to pour his heart out.
Diana.
I’m writing to beg you to come to Angonia. Talk to me. See that I truly do trust you. I want to help you escape the marriage from Cassius.
You probably think I have no right to care for you, to want your happiness and safety after how I treated you. I’ve come to regret that more than I can say. I’d already put it behind me and wanted to cleave to you when I found you at the flightport. Despite what you believed at the time, my feelings were not just a reaction to those circumstances and have not changed.
I now know that it was not you who told the press about us. I’m so sorry I ever thought you capable of doing that. I understand now just how trustworthy you are, that I can have absolute faith in you. I can share anything with you, be myself with you, knowing that you will never betray me.
You are a gift, Diana. A gift that I was foolish to let slip through my fingers. I don’t want to lose you. I want you in my life, now and forever.
As proof of my belief in you, tomorrow afternoon I have arranged for several students from Angonia University to be here at the palace. Melina will be showing what you left with her and I am arranging for you to connect via video to talk to the students. I want Rica Designs to be a success, because you want it to be a success.
I love you.
Gareth
He read it. Read it again. Erased the last sentence, then put it back. His finger hovered over the send button for an eternity, and then he pressed it. It was gone. He’d given his heart out to Diana.
Now, he had to hope she would prove willing to receive it.
***
Diana woke, feeling a little refreshed but within seconds, all the memories crashed down on her and her muscles tensed again.
Cassius was innocent. A strange master group of mentalists was possibly after the Angonian throne. And unless she came up with something to convince the Prince, she was going to have to marry Cassius.
Diana wandered out of her bedroom and down to the lounge room. No sign of Cass, despite the fact Diana had slept for more than an hour. As expected, her workaholic sister would be a while.
Diana’s tablet was on the coffee table so she switched it on to idly check her messages and then read some of the gossip columns and see what was happening. Not that she wanted to join that crowd again. Even if she didn’t have a marriage impending, she seemed to have lost her taste for partying.
A message from Gareth Palmerton caught her eye and Diana took a deep, shuddering breath. How could she have been so wrong about him?
Her finger hovered — should she read it, or should she delete it? She decided for the sake of everything that was happening at the moment, she needed to know what was going on in the Angonian King’s mind.
Diana read the message with increasing horror. The last line completely floored her.
Gareth loved her?
Diana closed her eyes, her heart hammering in her chest. Her stomach roiled. That disgusting, dirty creep of a man loved her and wanted to be with her. Forever.
No way was that going to happen.
She deleted the message. He didn’t deserve a response. She scrolled through the rest of her messages — party invites, pleas for gossip from close and far acquaintances, requests for some time together from two of her lovers. Not Samon.
Diana ignored them all — she didn’t need to be caught up in such frivolity. Her future, and possibly the safety of the entire planet, was at stake.
Looking at the gossip pages paled as an idea, and instead she started to research the capaz de pensa. Most of it was historical stuff and she read with horror the ease with which they’d infiltrated Angonia and almost taken control of the King. Was that what they planned to do with Gareth?
Her eyes widened. What if they had already? What if they had implanted in him the need to abuse girls and young women? What if that was why a man who could be so charming and wonderful, who’d managed to shower her with such pleasure, could also be a monster?
She shook her head. Stop it, Di. People are what they are. Evil slugs are capable of being great in bed. It doesn’t stop them from being evil slugs.
There were a couple of sites dedicated to rumoured activities of the capaz de pensa in modern times. She searched but couldn’t find any suggestion that the capaz de pensa were linked to the bombings in Angonia. She did note that all the suspected activity was in Tatryn. Either only the very best capaz left their native land and so were able to avoid detection elsewhere in Jorda, or the capaz de pensa were still safely ensconced in Tatryn.
Did the Pontifex know? Diana remembered the dream she’d had and a flush rose on her cheeks. It had seemed so real at the time, a memory she was truly seeing in Cassius’s mind, but of course it couldn’t be. That she’d told the Prince and Gareth, and then had to withdraw it, was embarrassing.
Still, Diana felt there was one core of truth in her dream, based on something she must have seen in Cassius — the Pontifex wanted Gareth dead. The capaz de pensa would be the perfect tool to accomplish that. Not that it would be a bad thing.
The door slid open, and Cassandra came in. ‘Sorry, that took longer than expected.’
‘What a surprise,’ Diana said. ‘In punishment for your tardiness, you can make me a drink.’
‘Yes, Your Majesty. Or should I say, Your Excellency.’ Cassandra bowed and went over to the bar.
‘You know, that’s one reason to actually marry Cassius. I’ll outrank you.’
‘No. You’ll just be the spouse of a prince. I’ll be the real deal.’
‘Ah, but the spouse of the ruler of the second biggest country in Jorda.’
Cassandra looked over her shoulder. ‘Please don’t buy into that shit. Rica is as worthwhile as any country on Jorda, despite being the smallest. More, perhaps, because every economy down there would die if it weren’t for balcite.’
‘You make a good point.’
Cassandra brought over their drinks and sat next to her sister. They chinked their glasses together and took a sip. Diana sighed as the cool, crisp refreshment of the wine slid down her throat.
‘Just what I needed.’
‘For now. What you really need is a way to get out of this marriage.’ Cassandra curled her legs under her to sit sideways on the couch, facing Diana. ‘I spoke to the Prince. With Cassius proven innocent, he’s now convinced that the marriage should take place. With my friendship with Gareth and your alliance with Tatryn, he believes Rica will be in a powerful position.’
‘Power, power, power. There’s more to life than that, you know.’
‘If I didn’t, I’d be on the Prince’s side. So, we can’t use politics to dissuade the prince, and we can no longer use the idea that Cassius might be a threat to the planetarium. There’s got to be something else we can use to convince the Prince it’s a bad idea.’
‘What does he care about most?’ Diana said. ‘That’s where a person’s weak spot is.’
‘Not dying. The people of Rica. The company and its profits ensuring the ongoing security and wealth of the people of Rica.’
Diana blinked. ‘I wonder if Rica Designs could be something we can play off.’
‘Maybe.’ Cassandra tapped her chin. ‘When you’re married, you won’t be able to run it any more. It’s been announced, work has begun, so if it doesn’t go ahead, the company will look flaky. And even modest calculations show it making a profit in just three years, he’s got to like that. Not to mention the great reputation the company will get, particularly amongst the rich of Jorda. It could then be used as a way to get more tourists and boost Rica’s coffers even more. Yes, we might be able to do something with that. I do have another idea as well.’
‘Great.’ Diana started to feel comforted. While not every idea Cassandra came up with would be workable, at least there would be fun in considering them, and she would be doing something to regain control of her life.
‘You should marry Gareth.’
Diana spat the mouthful of wine she’d just taken across the couch and onto Cassandra’s lap.
‘Yuck! Di, what is wrong with you?’
Diana shook her head. ‘No way will I even begin to consider the idea of marrying Gareth Palmerton. He’s a sleazy, disgusting worm.’
Cassandra blinked. ‘Well, that’s a change of tune. Care to explain?’
Diana put her drink down and put her hand on Cassandra’s. This was going to hurt Cass a lot. ‘Cassie, you need to stay away from Gareth. We all do. In fact, I think we need to report him to the planetarium. He deserves at least what Grendon got for bashing you. More.’
Diana felt stillness take over her sister’s body and hated that she’d brought up the horrible memories of that attack.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Cass, Gareth likes hurting women. Young women. Teenagers, barely legal for sex. He gets his kicks from torturing them.’
Cassandra sucking in air through her teeth. ‘No.’
Diana squeezed Cassandra’s hand. ‘Cassie, I’ve seen it. Well, I saw the memory in Cassius’s mind; he’s seen it.’
‘No. No, Gareth wouldn’t do that. He’s not that type of person.’
‘You wouldn’t have said Grendon was that type of person either.’
‘Grendon was a pathetic, slimy little worm. Gareth is one of the best men on the planet.’ Then Cassandra’s eyes widened and she clutched Diana’s hands. ‘He didn’t hurt you, did he?’
‘He got rough with me, once. Squeezed my arms.’
‘He did what?’ Cassandra’s voice rose to a screech.
‘Nothing like what Grendon did to you, but he did hurt me. And Cass, Cassius’s memory is so sharp. He saw Gareth, in his bedroom, with the girl. He saw what he was doing. I know it was actually Gareth’s bedroom, because Cassius remembered it exactly as it was.’
Cassandra shook her head, viciously. ‘It must have been implanted there, by the capaz de pensa, like the other memories.’
‘How would the capaz know Gareth’s bedroom?’
‘I don’t know, but I know this isn’t true. It can’t be.’
‘It is. Cassie, I’m sorry. I know Gareth has been your friend since you were young. But there’s no doubting what Cassius saw.’
Cassandra pulled her hands away and sprang to her feet. ‘Yes, there is. I’m going to prove it. I’m going to show you that Cassius’s memory is a lie. Gareth would never do that. Never.’ Cassandra ran out of the room.
Diana leant back on the lounge with a sigh. A part of her hoped Cassandra was right, and that she’d find the proof that Cassius somehow had it wrong. But Diana feared that all her twin would find was proof of Gareth’s perfidy, and then life on Jorda would change forever.
Because Cassandra would not let Gareth get away with it. She would not stop until Gareth had been destroyed.