Jin-Bennu Read online

  “Ah. Unfortunate but a frequent occurrence lately with the Zacaedy destroying our satellites and comm buoys.” Thalia’s gaze drifted to Bennu. He hadn’t left. A tight-lipped smile curved her mouth before she said, “Thank you for escorting her to us, Alpha Jin-Bennu. Privacy would be appreciated now.”

  Bennu’s silver-blue gaze shifted to Veryn and lingered. She didn’t need to be psychic to read the question in his eyes or the respect he was affording her.

  “I’ll be fine, thank you, Jin-Bennu.”

  “As you wish. Please call upon me if you require anything, Dr. Barclay.”

  “Thank you.”

  The ambassador waited until the door shut behind him before she turned to Veryn, her cheeks flushed pink. “Oh my, they really don’t exaggerate the tales of those folk, do they? I’ve never been so close to a Lexar before. Ambassador Gantu usually handles anything related to their people.”

  Veryn managed not to smirk or snicker at the idea of the older woman getting all hot and bothered. She really couldn’t blame her. Bennu got her all worked up too, and he hadn’t done more than touch her back.

  “What’s this about? Catherine didn’t say anything in her message beyond the fact that someone was arriving.”

  “Ah, yes, well, I know you received word about your father and older brother. I was saddened that you couldn’t join us at the funeral.”

  The pain came like a punch to the gut, guilt and sadness twisting her insides. Losing the remainder of her family in a senseless accident had come as a shock months ago, worsened by the fact that she wasn’t there to say goodbye.

  “I—”

  “Oh no, dear, that wasn’t a chastisement,” Thalia clarified in a docile tone. “This far out, you never would have made it in time, and we understand the necessity of your work.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  Thalia gestured her toward one of the comfortable chairs arranged near the large viewport. The counselors remained quiet and unobtrusive, all five moving aside to grant her and the ambassador some modicum of privacy. Veryn took a seat, perching on the edge of the cushion, too anxious to relax. Thalia sat directly across from her.

  “Your father was a strong contender for the throne,” Thalia said. “Surely you were aware.”

  “I knew he was a candidate, yes.”

  “The candidate, my dear. Catherine trusted he would keep the UNE strong in these troubling times.”

  Her alarm rose. “What does this have to do with me?”

  “As you know, Queen Catherine has endured numerous medical issues since her near-assassination years ago. She has decided to undergo a drastic neural procedure and there is... a small chance the results may be unfavorable. An emergency session of Parliament convened and accepted her nomination for an heir. It is you, my dear. As of this moment, you are Princess Veryn, Duchess of York.”

  “What?” Her voice rose two octaves in pitch and two decibels in volume.

  “You’ve been officially named heir.”

  Panic thundered behind Veryn’s ribs. “No. No, no, no. This can’t be right. I’m not— I wasn’t—” She pushed her hands through her blonde hair. “I’m not the right person.”

  Thalia leaned forward and took Veryn’s cold hands between her palms, a gentle smile almost immediately reassuring her. “Catherine believes in you, dear. And everyone else agrees.”

  “What does this mean? Are you taking me away now?”

  “No, we understand you have a wedding, of sorts, to attend. We’re here to bestow everything properly then you’ll be allowed some time to finish up your personal business before the HMY Britannia arrives on Aaru to take you back into UNE space.”

  “Don’t I have a say in this? You can’t expect me to uproot my life—”

  “Haven’t you many times before in service of the UNE, love?” Thalia’s thin lips curved into a tight smile. “The United Nations of Earth needs you. You’ve trained for this.”

  “I never trained for this.”

  Princess. Princess of several dozen Earth colonies. Princess of billions. Her mind spun, and so did the room. She didn’t realize her nose was bleeding until the ambassador offered her a linen handkerchief.

  “My dear. Your entire life has been training to fulfill this moment. We merely thought there would be more time. Your father—”

  “Cared about nothing but the UNE,” she spat out, interrupting Thalia this time. Fury rose within her and sweltered in her chest. “Our family was a... a hindrance to his political career! Advancement meant more to him than us.”

  “That isn’t entirely true. He loved you very much. But I did not come to discuss your family, nor do I have the right.”

  “You sure as hell don’t,” Veryn snapped. She rose and stalked away, moving closer to the window to stare at the stars. “I don’t want this.”

  The other delegates murmured amongst themselves. Ambassador Thalia stepped closer and lowered her voice. “Please, Veryn, I ask you to take some time to think this through. If you do not accept, the only other candidate the council will back is Vittorio Vega.”

  The name rang familiar, but it took her a moment to cycle through the information in her head. A face came to mind, a confident man with dark hair and eyes and a reputation for getting what he wanted. “He’s a tycoon.”

  “With political clout thanks to having his hands in too many business ventures. You know his stance on... touchy subjects.”

  Cybernetics and bioengineering. Veryn knew all too well the steps Mr. Vega wanted humanity to take. He’d never been incriminated in the debacle with colonists going missing and being subjected to barbaric experiments, but there were some who believed he’d been one of the financiers behind it.

  They simply never found proof.

  “Parliament will find another candidate or....”

  Or what? Queen Catherine could delay a necessary procedure until another suitable heir stepped forward.

  “There has to be someone. She’s the queen! She can choose who she wants to assume the throne.”

  All her life, she’d known Catherine as the doting aunt who found more time to nurture and love her than the man who fathered her. Veryn spent much of her childhood at the palace, sitting in on politics, as her father flew by shuttle from one location to the next, either campaigning or doing secret work for the UNE. Even after she followed in his footsteps, Veryn told herself she’d never subject a child to the neglect she suffered at his hands, seeing him once or twice a year, missing most major holidays.

  “You know she can’t. The council still has to approve everything. Besides, you have a reputation—a rapport—with the Lexar already. They trust you and respect you. That is something we desperately need in a leader and why the council backed your nomination.”

  “I don’t have a choice, do I?”

  “You do, but you need to consider everything you’d be allowing by saying no.”

  In other words, her answer would dictate whether or not humanity was dragged into an era of barbaric experiments in the name of advancement.

  “I—” Didn’t want it. But she couldn’t make herself turn the ambassador down. Couldn’t let her aunt down. “I accept.”

  “Very good. Then join us at the table, dear. We have lots of paperwork to go through.”

  Bennu hadn’t lingered after escorting Veryn to her meeting. Seconds after the door shut on the private assembly, he received an unusual summons to Tal-Amun’s private chamber. Strange. The exarch typically administered orders from the bridge.

  Amun ushered him to a chair, passed a cold mug of tenemet into his hand, and told him a chilling tale he would have dismissed from any other Lexar. He couldn’t believe the words coming from his leader and closest friend.

  For many years, their kind guided, nurtured, and protected their smaller human cousins without the expectation of benefitting in return. To discover his fellow Lexar would brutally foil such an arrangement took him by surprise.

  “Our only guess at this mo
ment is that they hope to shatter our alliance. We need someone on the inside with a mind too powerful for their psionics to breach. I’d send anyone else if I could, but you are among the best—no, you are the best in this fleet, Bennu.”

  “How soon will I leave?”

  “Within a fortnight, once arrangements are made for you to infiltrate this... sect.”

  “Right after the bonding ceremony.”

  “Yes. I hate to send you off so soon, but that was the longest I could delay. You’ll need time to prepare anyway.”

  “And having me leave the ship under unusual circumstances would only raise suspicions.”

  “Exactly.” Amun smiled faintly. “See why I need my best man on this?”

  Bennu drummed his fingers against his leg, his gaze distant as he considered the assignment his Exarch had given. Dangerous. If caught, he’d surely be killed. But if he succeeded, then they’d finally have solid information on the rebel sect that had been such a thorn in their side.

  “All right. What will be my cover?”

  “A potential visit to your family followed by a holiday somewhere distant. We’re not currently in the middle of large-scale conflict.”

  “But we will be.”

  “Yes. Will,” Amun pointed out. “What better time is there for a final moment of rest and relaxation than before the completion of our mass production of the chemical agent? You’ll take a leave for a half solar cycle, long enough to decompress.”

  Empress Tal-Jin Maat planned to launch a siege including the largest number of Lexar ships to ever go to war. Decades ago, during the conflict between their people and humankind, a single ship had been enough to devastate the majority of the fleet. Such was not the case when it came to the tenacious insects who bred as quickly as they were incinerated.

  “These rebels have chosen a poor time to challenge the empire’s authority. Why now?”

  “That’s what you need to find out, my friend. I can only make guesses.”

  “Even so, what are your theories?”

  “War means chaos. A perfect time to start more trouble when all our focus is elsewhere. They can move more freely, I feel like. They’re getting bold.”

  “As expected, a tactical and logical assessment.” Bennu smiled. “I agree, but there has to be more.”

  “Obviously. And if you can get in with them, learn names and plans, then we can weed them all out. This is not the Lexar way.”

  “Our history would suggest otherwise,” Bennu corrected.

  Amun scowled. “Old ways, long put behind us.”

  “Not as far as we would like.”

  The Lexar had once been a brutal race of barbarians as hellbent on conquest of one another as the humans. But they learned from their mistakes and adopted peaceful methods of resolution to their problems. Empress Tal-Jin Maat’s ancestors united the many clans and individual kingdoms under a single goal.

  Bennu could only surmise these rebels wanted to pitch the galaxy into war for their own benefit.

  “Amun, what makes you think they will believe I share their vision, when I stand at your bonding ceremony alongside a human?”

  “That is for you to sell, no matter what you must do or say, my friend, even if you must blaspheme my union. It will not be easy, but I trust no one else for this.”

  “I will do my best to honor that trust.”

  “I know you will.” Amun raised his mug in a silent toast. “Now, on to lighter matters. Regarding the ceremony, have you met with Veryn to coordinate your attire?”

  “Not yet. She is sequestered with the delegation.” Why? he wondered. Amun had spoken nothing of their purpose aboard the Exemplar, but Bennu certainly planned to find out once the meeting was adjourned.

  Amun stared at him, dark brows notching together. “You’ve had days to speak with her. They arrived an hour ago.”

  “We have time. I asked once, and she said she needed to wait for Nia to decide on a dress.”

  “Ah.” The exarch chuckled and rubbed his whiskered chin. “Yes, she wished for a wedding dress. Ours will be an interesting ceremony, a blend of human and Lexar customs.”

  “Well, that’s what you get for desiring one.” Bennu laughed and rose from his seat. “The mighty Exarch Tal-Amun, felled by a human woman.”

  “Watch it, my friend. One day, you’ll enjoy the same fate.”

  “Unlikely.”

  “You say that now, but imagine the happiness I would have forsaken if I did not pursue Nia.”

  “Your Nia is a once in a lifetime gift from the gods, Amun. Of course you should feel that way.” Jin-Bennu had searched colonies across the galaxy for his ideal mate. If one came to him, she most certainly wouldn’t be a fragile and delicate human.

  The gods wouldn’t be that cruel.

  2

  It was all so surreal. Several dozen signatures and suddenly she was next in line for the throne. Veryn collapsed on her bed once she freed herself from the delegation and hadn’t moved since.

  “Nia Basson is at the door,” the AI reported. “Shall I tell her you are not to be disturbed, Princess Veryn?”

  She winced. “Please don’t call me that.”

  “It is your title as stated in the galactic database of the UNE.”

  Damn, they move fast. She doubted the ink barely dried before they entered updates to her status as heir apparent.

  “Just Veryn will do fine, thank you.”

  “As you wish. Your guest?”

  “Let her in.”

  The cabin door slid open. Nia strode inside, took one look at her, and joined her on the bed.

  “I guess I should take my ‘congratulations’ and shove it, huh?”

  “I certainly appreciate you not showing up with flowers, candies, and wine.”

  “That bad?” Nia asked.

  Veryn sighed and rolled onto her side, propping her head on one hand. “You’re not pissed?”

  “For what?”

  “Failing to share the news with you about my familial relations.”

  “C’mon, Ryn. No one can be expected to rattle off every relative to their friends. Do you know who my grandparents are? My cousins?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I caught hell for it when I joined the Royal Navy,” Veryn admitted. “The very moment I found an occupation that redacted a portion of my background, I went for it.”

  “Hence your job at our research facility. It all makes sense now. I thought your appointment was unusual, but....”

  “You ignored it, because I could kick ass.”

  Nia grinned. “Well, yeah.”

  “A lot of good all that fucking training did. Three years, you guys got to work in peace, and I was one of the first taken out.”

  “Do you ever wonder about that?”

  “How do you mean?”

  Nia frowned. “Could they have been informed about the facility and staff? Or do you think it was simply really bad luck that you were hurt first?”

  “That’s impossible to know now. I mean, I guess it could be possible. We know the Zacaedy have humans working alongside them, but it would have to be someone aware of my background.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” Nia said. “You still kick ass, and no one blames you for getting hurt.”

  “I guess.”

  Silence fell over the two of them as the image on the holoscreen continued to play, flashing lights and realistic mists that seeped out of the elaborate display.

  “Ibi-Naru is moving you to the diplomatic stateroom.”

  “I know. She messaged me over the comm to say a guest cabin is no place for royalty.”

  “Want help packing?”

  “No. I told her I didn’t want to move.”

  “And?”

  “She’s insisting. This is me. Rebelling. What’s the point, when I’ll only be here for a short while?”

  Nia chuckled again. “You’ll be closer to me, ya know.”

  “Then Dusty wi
ll be all alone over here.”

  Nia rolled her eyes again and hopped off the bed then offered a hand. “C’mon, let me help. Dusty will be fine, considering he’s always over in the lab with Ibi-Ludim anyway. Besides, it’s not like he can’t walk over to where we are.”

  “Ibi-Ludim is so sweet to humor all of Dusty’s questions.”

  “Oh yeah,” Nia said. “He’s sweet all right.” Her friend’s sly look teemed with as much suggestion as her tone of voice.

  “You’re not implying....”

  “Girl, I’m not implying anything. I’m saying those two are definitely into each other. I walked in once to check the tissue samples from the larvae we harvested from that one mothership, right? I don’t think anything was happening, but their faces were so red.”

  “Huh. I never picked up on that. Damn.” Funny how she missed it. Maybe because, when it came to her friends, she tried her best to never pry into their thoughts and emotions.

  “Well, don’t tell him I clued you in or I’ll never hear the end of it. You know how shy Dusty is. Now, come on. The sooner we pack this room up, little as you have, the sooner I can show you the dress I picked, and we can get down to picking yours. Then you can show Bennu, and he can get his stuff handled.”

  “Why do we have to match again?”

  “If this was a human wedding, the groomsmen would wear matching cummerbunds.”

  “True. You’re right.”

  They made short time of packing, as Veryn owned very little and acquired few possessions in the year since they left the facility on Killandor 2. Most of their personal belongings taken to the research planet had been destroyed in the assault by the insectile race warring against the galaxy.

  That hurt, losing a few precious memories from her childhood. Thankfully, most keepsakes from her mother were still at the manor in New Hampton on Albion.

  Her new room was more like a suite, complete with a sitting room and a soaking tub with her own oversized viewport. Her few belongings barely filled up the place. It just made her life seem so much emptier.

  Thankfully, Nia provided all the distraction she needed, dragging her over to a holopanel to open up a virtual dressing room. She had three dresses saved and went through each one.