Chapter 4

The day was spent with the six of us in my suite, close quarters to be sure, but with the little blonde pixies sitting between Clarise and Gwyneth on the sofa and Georgia in my office chair, which had been disconnected from the floor anchors and pulled over by my side table near the recliner, we were able to discuss many things, which mostly consisted of all things related to the future.

I told the princess CCIG had informed us of the plot to kidnap her, who it was evidently coming from, and that her mother was involved.

“Oh my. You all profess and practice complete honesty, and no one is laughing, so I’m not going to even bother asking if this is real. May I ask what a CCIG is, my lord? It sounds very official and powerful.”

“Concord Cojourn Intelligence Group, Gwyn. They are the foremost intelligence agency in the known universe. Don’t ask us, or them, if they are. Ask anyone they have uncovered, tracked, found, arrested, detained, exposed, etc., etc., ad nauseam. They know more about more than you can imagine. We don’t brag about having the most technologically advanced society for nothing. We’re pretty sure it’s true, and CCIG is a great part of that. No one has come along to dispute it.”

“Well goody then. I’m glad they exist, and I’m glad they work for you, Charles. That ‘prince’, as he calls himself, is a worthless heathen and an unrefined slob. Rowland is cocky, and proud, and not worthy of the royal position he fills. His father hasn’t done much to further his education as an up and coming, caring, responsible monarch, either. While I am grateful for Prince Walton’s gift of my girls to me when I was but a child, he has not done much else to further the Goodland enclave. My own father has mentioned as much.

“Mother wants me with him, Rowland, since there is quote royal blood unquote involved, but as much as I, and this is said jokingly now, abhor the thought of Chancellor Charles the Third touching me intimately, I would die before I would let Rowland put his paws on me. The real reason she would rather I was with Rowland, I am sure, is because of Clarise and your relationship with her. She detests the thought of me being in a loving relationship with a woman and is going to great lengths to prevent it. In any case, the fact that my mother is involved will just kill Father. This will really hurt him, so Charles, please be careful how you approach this.”

“I will, doll, but he will find out eventually that she’s involved and knows of the plot. Maybe she’ll come clean before my ingenious plan comes to fruition, but we’ll see. I trust very few people, Princess, and I can honestly say that after your mother wanted me to dump the most important person in the universe, to me anyway, I don’t include her in that small group. As a matter of fact, my betrothed, I trust you more than her, and I don’t even know you yet.”

“You don’t need to know me to trust me, my lord. I love the one you love, your love, if you will, so I will do nothing, ever, to hurt you or deceive you. Ever. Speaking of honesty, were you aware, sir, that my lovelies are intimate with me at times? I guess we should have discussed that before, but just so you know, I wouldn’t want you walking in on us and being surprised, or worse yet, find it revolting.”

“Trust me, Princess, finding you and them in the throes of passion will not be a revolting experience for me. Much the opposite, I’m sure.” The girls bowed their heads and giggled, Clarise laughed knowingly, and Georgia just shook her head. “I wouldn’t want them to change all their habits just because you and I are to be wed.” More giggles followed. “You did say you were talking jokingly about not wanting me to manhandle your fragile being?”

“Yes, quite so, I think I’m looking forward to some of that, and thank you, my lord, for accepting the girls and I playing together as a possibility. It has been going on for some time, and I don’t think they want to stop necessarily, but we will see what the future holds.”

We then discussed living arrangements at my home in Concordia. Georgia was very familiar with most of it, as she had lived in a wing of the Chancellor’s Residence off and on for just short of two years now. Any time a trip was planned and Clarise needed her for an excursion, she would spend the night, or day as the case may have been, in order that they could embark on the journey together from the residence.

“What is it like there, Miss Georgia? Is it like the King’s Palace in Fairland, Miss?”

“No, Mina. Not at all. It’s not adorned in gold and statues of Charles’ ancestors as is the palace of King Jaren’s predecessors. It’s a home, albeit a large home. There is a room, called the library, where the pictures of the past Chancellors, most of the Chase family, hang on the walls, but it’s not an exorbitant display. Charles considers himself a leader and a servant of the people, not a king. The Chancellery, according to the Chase family, is not a royal, monarchical position, but rather that of a leader, or of a supervisory nature. They consider themselves citizens of the Cojourn society and of Concord itself, as opposed to some royalty that sit on thrones and pound the ground with their orbs mounted on golden scepters, demanding the heads of their detractors. No, it’s different. I’m not demeaning your King Jaren, ladies. He’s not like that, but there are some real royal jerks out there, and we’ve met a few.

“Now, your sleeping quarters will astound you. I don’t know about the palace where you were living, but the guest rooms in the Chancellor’s Residence are quite nice. The beds are amazing. Each guest suite has its own dressing room and very well-appointed bathroom. The residence staff normally serves dinner, and other meals at the request of the Chancellor or Lady Clarise, and I imagine now your mistress could request that as well. It’s like living at home, the rest of the time. I understand you all did not have that type of a home life as youngsters, and I’m sorry about that, but we’ll show you how to live like normal old people in no time, right Lady Clarise?”

“Absolutely. They’ll have fun, shop, make sandwiches, eat them, watch others make sandwiches and eat them, and all the other fun stuff people do.” The girls giggled at Clarise’s humorous revelation. “I may even show them how to skinny dip in the pool now that I know they are personally familiar with their Mistress. Even I didn’t know for sure about that. I had my suspicions, but now that I know, we can be a little more open in our personal lives. The Chancellor and I spend a lot of time around the pool, without benefit of cover, both before the staff comes in and after they leave. We’ve been known to send them away for the day, as a matter of fact, and if only a certain one or two we know very well are on duty, we may just partake anyway.

“Do any of you have questions?” Clarise asked, ending her spiel.

“Yes,” asked Gwyneth, “what is a sandwich?” The room broke out in laughter. The princess was having fun with us at that point, and I was glad. This was going to be easier than I thought. My only concern now was taking it slow so we could all grow together and be successful in protecting her from whatever this threat was we had been warned about. Seeing her kidnapped under my nose would certainly get it out of joint, and someone, or some group, would get hurt.

The rest of our day was spent relaxing. I spent quite a bit of it on the bridge talking to the spacecraft commander about any preparations the fleets were taking to replenish and recover from our battles in the Plassen system. We won the war handily and sent the four armed, four eyed interlopers running, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end unless they are smarter than they look. Any further incursions would be just as deadly. They had to know that through attrition if nothing else, we would wear them down to nothing then just finish them off with a lightning bolt of military superiority, metaphorically speaking.

I read several briefs and plans, then when I was satisfied that the wing and fleet commanders had everything in hand, I returned to my quarters to catch up on news of the Cojourn and their friends and neighbors.

We had elections coming up soon. Senators on our own planet of Concord, Outer Solon, and Magnus Major, as well as Plassen and Greater Freeland, would all be coming up for election soon. I don’t involve myself with local elections, like those for representatives for each of the member society’s own governments unless we, meaning the leaders of the Alliance, hear of ill doing and fraud and the like. One of the tenets of the charter for the Alliance is free elections without fraud or intimidation. It is probably a crime no matter where you are, but within the Alliance, it’s a very serious matter and not tolerated. They are able to weed out problems when polls show exorbitant leads, but elections are lost. There are ways to prove ill doing. The CCIG has found and exposed it several times, and they won’t stop as long as election problems exist.

After a late dinner, saved for us by the dining hall staff so that we could dine together at the command table without interruption or inconveniencing others, we had an after-dinner drink and meandered back to the suite. Gwyn dropped her minions off with a kiss and a hug and followed the other three of us to my suite. It was becoming more and more obvious they were not mistreated slave labor, who were worked to death and fed nothing but bread, porridge, and water.