Octavia Girl

Chapter 13

Two People Hiding in the Dark

After rigorously screening the doctor candidates, Jenna landed on someone she thought was the perfect candidate for the fourth crown. He was a traditionally practicing Octavaian doctor. His name was Philip Russell and he was all glitz and teeth. Glitz because he was young (only about forty) and a very pretty specimen of an Adamis man, with dark eyes, dark skin, and hair that curled in perfect waves behind his ears. Teeth because he was a fierce advocate in teaching Octavian first aid to Adamis and Octavians alike.

Jenna showed his profile to Excelyn and Celestina during one of their meetings.

Celestina grinned like a cat when she saw him. “I’m all aboard. Can you imagine the great footage we could get with that guy? It’s obvious he’s had a love affair with a camera and that is a hundred percent what we need.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Jenna confessed.

Then she turned to gauge Excelyn’s response. She knew Excelyn was unlikely to like him. He was on the other side of the medical spectrum, but his conventional wisdom would win points with many different groups throughout the galaxy.

“Does he look like the bogeyman to you?” Jenna asked.

Excelyn’s eyes were deadpan as she replied. “I know him.”

“And?”

“And I was thinking that if you have your heart set on him, it might be a good idea for me to personally ask him if he is willing to do this.”

“Why?” Jenna wondered. “Aren’t you archenemies with traditionally practicing doctors?”

“Yes,” she said lightly. “Even so, I don’t disagree with his appointment. If you have to have a doctor like that, he’s as good as any. He’s well-meaning, well-groomed, well-educated… everything you’re looking for. I just think it would be better for all of us if I personally invited him to stay.”

“In the Sand Palace?” Jenna prompted. That was the palace they always used for guests.

“No. He can stay with me in the Stone Palace.”

Jenna glanced at Celestina, who glanced back, but before any conclusion could be drawn by the two other diplomats, Excelyn continued. “Look, it’s not just for me. Celestina has an entourage of filming people coming to stay… permanently—”

Celestina interrupted. “They’re not going to be living in my palace. I bought a line of properties in a seaside villa. They are not going to be living with me.”

“Will Josh stay with you?” Excelyn asked.

“Naturally. He’s been my live-in lover for over five years and as soon as I nail down who I would like my first husband to be, I’ll happily marry Josh as my third,” she said with a lady-like wink. “Besides, if I have a say in it, Josh is never going anywhere. I’d have him here in this meeting if he didn’t need to have a shower.”

“Does he like that much togetherness?” Jenna questioned.

Celestina lolled her head back. “I only ever ask him to stay. It’s not like I tie him down.”

“In any case,” Excelyn said, returning the conversation to the subject at hand. “She’ll be busy getting them all settled and Jenna, you need to finish renovating your bedroom. If you won’t hire contractors, can you please tie your hair up in a scarf and help Vash finish? Last I heard, you were sleeping in the servants’ wing on a hide-a-bed.”

Jenna cringed. “Fine. You want to go get this guy? Go get him. Bring him back and say whatever you need to say to him. After I have a decent interview, I’ll crown him.”

“Can you imagine how great that black crown is going to look in his thick, dark hair? We really needed a win like that,” the TV mogle observed.

Excelyn gave Celestina a stabbing glare, like it didn’t matter how pretty his hair was, he was still a serpent and Celestina was a hundred years behind if she didn’t see that.

Jenna went over the timeline with Excelyn before getting up and heading back across the bridge.

***

After the meeting, Jenna did as she promised she would. She tied her hair up, put on some of her old clothes that had been brought over from her old apartment on Earth, and went into her bedroom to mix mortar with Vash. Ryatt joined them. It turned out he was good at stirring stuff that was almost cement.

Jenna played music from her playlist, got creative with the way the brick was laid, worked until her back was sore, joked around with Vash and Ryatt, and basically had a day where she was almost a normal girl.

She was better than a normal girl. She was a popular girl.

Vash treated her like her opinion was important and did everything he was asked.

“Why are you being so good, Vash? I thought you didn’t want to do things outside your job description.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” he started, surprisingly discussing the chip on his shoulder. “I’m not praising you, but it was very cool of you not to insist that I make nice with the AAMC officers. The whole time they were with us, it wasn’t your plan that I should confront them, but that I should run. The AAMC has such long arms, before that night, I always thought that I wasn’t safe. Wherever I went, wherever I worked, they would find me. In my future, there would be another night of violence and hate like the one where my military career ended before it began. Even though I was the victim, I was still a disgrace. You know that’s why they were coming to my room that night? To disgrace me and haze me all over again.”

“When you ran,” Jenna asked, “where did you hide?”

“I was in a secret passageway in complete darkness. There was a light above me, but I didn’t dare turn it on because I was worried that light might shine around the door frame and they’d find me.”

“Were you scared?”

“No!” Vash huffed with a smile on his face. “No. I was completely relieved. I was close enough that I could hear what was happening in the hallway even though I couldn’t get involved. Smoothie was kicking their asses with the butts of their own rifles. There was nothing to be afraid of.”

Hearing what Vash said sucked all the breath out of Jenna’s lungs. At the exact moment he described, she had also been in a dark space listening to a fight that she couldn’t engage in. What she experienced had traumatized her, made her bedfellow fear, and turned her world upside down. How could the same night have been so different for two allies?

Vash didn’t notice Jenna’s reaction and continued, “After I left the AAMC, I worked in hospitals because that’s what you do on Octavia Prime, the least AAMC-controlled planet in the universe. I knew they’d come to your palace at some point, which was why I gave you all those dumb rules. I took this job because, though I knew they’d be around, I thought they’d be at arm’s length. Jenna, you cannot believe how you set me free by being kind to me on that day. Ever since the incident, I feel like everything has changed. I didn’t get to rise in the ranks of the AAMC, but the ghost of that failure doesn’t haunt me anymore. What we’re doing here is good enough for me. Not only that,” he said, speaking quietly so Ryatt wouldn’t hear, “but finding Vinia’s secret fortune has been crazy. What an adventure! Am I right?”

Jenna nodded.

Ryatt had slowed his work as he listened to the parts of Vash’s story that were loud enough for him to hear.

After they finished the day’s work, Jenna had a shower, drank her dinner shake, and braided her hair so she’d have good waves in the morning.

She was about to get into bed when she decided to have a last-minute chat with her PA. It was late, and she didn’t usually check in with her PA late at night, but she wanted to make sure that everything was good before she tried to call Sardius.

“Ixy?”

“It’s Conrad,” came the down-tempo voice.

“I was just about to go to bed when I thought I should check in with you. Is there anything I should know about?”

“Well, Excelyn and Crimp kidnapped that doctor—Philip. They have him zip-tied to a chair in her living room.”

“What?” Jenna gawked in disbelief.

“That is what you get when you hire a PA who likes watching things crash. Ixy is watching Ivy’s feed and she’s laughing her face off. When you were doing your research on Philip, she held back half his personal info and you didn’t notice.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t notice either until I saw what was so interesting to Ixy and Ivy just now. Besides, I’ve only been logged in for ten minutes and I wasn’t going to tell you when you were in the shower. What could you do before you got dressed?”

“Fine,” Jenna conceded. “What hilarious detail did she leave out?”

“Philip is Excelyn’s ex-husband.”

“How can that be? She’s over forty years older than him.”

“I’m not telling you why the universe is the way it is. I’m only telling you that she married him fifteen years ago and they were married for eleven years. He was her second husband and it was she who dumped him. Apparently, he was a mess about it. He has only wanted to get back together with her. As part of their divorce settlement, he asked to have dinner with her once a year as his way of staying in her life. Their yearly date was tonight.”

“And she kidnapped him?” Jenna groaned. “Why did she have to kidnap him? It sounds like he would have come with her if she’d asked.” Jenna stopped, her mind whirring in all directions. “This must mean that their talks went badly.”

“Maybe.”

“Can you find out what’s going on inside Excelyn’s living room right now, little hacker?”

“Are you kidding me? Ixy and Ivy are on the other end of that and they’re laughing their asses off. Nothing I try is going to work.”

“Is the bridge between our palaces still up?”

“Yup.”

“Well then.” Jenna jumped to her feet. “I think I’ve got a man or two hanging around that can handle this.”