Judged (2 page)

She left her hotel and walked the short distance to the courthouse. It was time to watch the family peck at each other. She could hardly wait. Being alone on an alien world with a lawsuit looming sucked.

Seated in her private box, she watched the Oefric judge call the assembled to order. She watched as each family member put forward his or her claim, stating that it was the will of Hecor.

Alice sat quietly during the two days of testimony, and when the judge turned to her, she jerked to attention. “Yes, your honour?”

“Please come before us and provide proof to back your claim.”

She got to her feet and walked to the centre of the courtroom, standing on the deposition icon. In her hand, she had the projector, and she raised it above her head between her cupped hands.

Hecor spoke from his deathbed and said, “I know my family doesn’t want this mating to stand, but Alice has filled holes in my soul that I have carried since my dearest wife passed away one hundred and twenty years ago.

“Alice has not asked for this, but if you strip her of title and property, the Nyal Imperium will sweep in. This arrangement is locked in the imperium courts, and they can and will restore Alice to her rightful place.”

Hecor ranted on for a while about making up his mind and putting his titles on the people that deserved them, but then, he fell asleep.

Alice lowered the recorder and turned off the sleeping image of her friend. The judge looked at her kindly. “Will you offer it into evidence?”

She nodded and regretfully gave it over to the bailiff. “I have a copy of it.”

The judge announced, “Since the imperium has been alerted, we will wait for their arrival before we begin again.”

Corion spoke to his attorney and the man sat up. “Your honour? If I may? The Duchess of Kalian must remain on Dyango, and to that end, her accounts must be frozen.”

The judge looked down and then nodded. “Granted.”

Alice froze. “How am I to live?”

The judge looked down at her. “Return to your home.”

“My home has been overtaken by those whose actions brought me here. I have nowhere to go and no means by which to live here.”

“Do you not have personal accounts?”

“The stipend he offered has been deposited there. My personal accounts are involved in this whole mess.”

The judge nodded. “See me in chambers after the dismissal. We will see what we can do.”

Alice paced outside the office until the receptionist said she could enter the chambers. The judge was doing office work, and he looked up as she arrived. “Good morning to you, Duchess Kalian.”

“Not particularly. So, do you have somewhere I can work?”

“What can you do?”

“I can drive. I can fly, and I can lift.”

“Lift?”

“I have worked farms before. I can do it now. Do you know somewhere where I can work for my upkeep until the imperium officers get here?”

The judge nodded and sat back. “You are a Terran?”

“I am.”

“My son has a farm of sorts on the outskirts of town, and he needs a housekeeper. Will you be able to manage it?”

Alice gave him a long look. “Is he about to die or something? I don’t need another locked inheritance.”

“It won’t be for long. The imperium has already dispatched a judge for this. It will be here by the end of the week. You just need to get out of the public eye for a while.”

“Give me directions and I will be there. I still have to wear Kalian mourning, but I can do what I need to do in this suit.”

The judge grinned and handed her a data chit that she plugged into her wristband. She got the address and inclined her head. “Can you warn him that I am coming?”

“I can and I will. You will know him because his features resemble mine.” He inclined his head in response and returned to his documents.

Sighing, Alice headed out, collected her bags from the hotel and checked out. With that taken care of, she headed off to the address given to her on her personal skimmer.

The farm was a vineyard. A man in the fields raised his head as she arrived.

She parked her skimmer—more of a scooter actually—and walked into the kitchen.

“Oh, my.” With easy moves, she started tidying up the counters, collecting the plates and pots into organized piles, and when she didn’t find a washer, she went to it in old school fashion.

It took her an hour to clean the kitchen, and from there, she checked his chiller. He had plenty of meat ready to go and a wide selection of vegetables.

She made up a stew and left it to its own devices on the oven while she worked through the living room. Images of the judge next to a young male told her she was in the correct home and that she hadn’t just burst in to tidy up a stranger’s place.

She found a selection of cleaning supplies but mainly used a damp cloth wrung out until the dust was gone. She located a few dishes that had escaped her first search, and she brought them into the kitchen. A strange man was standing in the centre of the space.

“Who are you, sir?” Politeness was ingrained.

“I was looking for Kadenz, but you look like a far better way to spend my time.”

Alice was on alert. She set the dishes on the counter next to the sink. It was unsurprising when the male came up behind her and pressed himself against her.

Remembering that he was probably an Oefric, she was going to have to make the first blow count. She found a fork in the pile of dishes, and without looking back, she stabbed it into his ass.

He yelped and staggered backward into the table.

She was not going to let him mess up the clean room. She grabbed him by the hair, forced his head to waist level and walked him out of the kitchen and into the yard. If he wanted to continue the fight, she would do it here.

She faced off against him and waited for the next attack.

He pulled the fork out of his ass and stared at the blood on it. “You stabbed me with a dirty fork.”

She waited. He shifted into another, more familiar, form and she winced. “You are the judge’s son.”

“I am. You are the Companion Duchess that everyone is speaking about.”

“Apparently. I am sorry, but I will not be manhandled like that.”

He chuckled. “Is there a particular technique you would approve?”

“Wait until we know each other better. Now, I am going to continue my cleaning. Do you have any dishes in your bedroom?”

He winced. “No, but I do tend to change rooms when the sheets get dirty. There is a bonus to having ten rooms.”

“Well, you will be down to nine. I am trading this for room and board.”

“Right. Well, fair is fair. You smell amazing by the way.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You smell sweaty. Now, I will continue my work and you can continue yours. Dinner is on the hob. I hope you like stew.”

“I love it. Right. Well, my name is Kadenz.” He extended his hand.

She looked at it and took the fork from him. “Alice.”

He inclined his head. “Thank you, Alice. Any improvement would be welcome.”

Alice fought the urge to curtsy, and instead, she slipped past him and back into the house. She called out, “Dinner will be ready in two hours.”

She heard a grunt and got back to her task. Room by room, she was able to work and to forget the loss of a good friend.

She found his laundry room and was relieved to see machines that she could manage. First, she picked her room and washed all the sheets and pillows. The bedding needed two rounds to get the wine stains out.

While the washer and dryer whirred away, she stripped the next two rooms and gave them the same treatment.

Clothing on the floor everywhere made her glad she was wearing gloves that were impervious to water or filth.

Getting her bedroom ready was her first priority, so she propped open the window and aired it out, wrestling the mattress off the bed and putting it out where the sun could work its magic.

Once it was out to where the light could break down the remaining oils, she checked on the stew, pulled together some flatbread and baked it on the back of a flat plate of clean and oiled metal.

It felt odd to be using old camping skills hundreds of star systems away from home, but she managed to bring something resembling a hearty meal into life.

This house had only the most basic of equipment, so she was making mental notes about what to find at the local markets if her host and employer would offer her funds.

She set everything to one side to warm and resumed her cleansing of his rooms. The first two were clean and ready when she heard his footsteps in the hall. She poked her head out of the third room and nodded to him.

He blinked and continued into his room.

A moment later, she heard a shower running.

Humming to herself, Alice continued cleaning until she heard footsteps in the hall. She looked up from sweeping to see a very different person than she had initially stabbed.

He nodded to her. “Clean up and join me for dinner. We have to discuss how this is going to work.”

She frowned. Her suit wicked sweat and kept dirt from sticking. She headed to the bathroom and snickered when she saw the smears of dirt on her cheeks and tufts of hair sticking up at odd angles.

Alice scrubbed until her skin was pink, smoothed down her hair and wiped the outside of the suit. As clean as she could get without removing her mourning clothing, she headed down to the kitchen.

On the large table, the pot was sitting between two settings and the bread was torn into chunks on a platter. Two glasses of chilled wine were waiting.

Kadenz smiled and helped her take her seat. “May we try again?”

She nodded and extended her hand. “Companion Alice Pinkerton…Horilian.”

He inclined his head and took her hand. “Kadenz Roarcroft, retired judge and current vintner.”

“On the run from my mate’s family.” She smiled and withdrew her hand.

She dished out stew for each of them and handed the bread over to him before taking her own. When they were ready, she began to eat.

He groaned in relief and dove in. After a few bites, he paused, shuddered and continued again with good appetite.

She touched his arm. “Are you trying to swallow it before tasting it?”

He shook his head. “It is good. I have been living with my own cooking for a while. This is far better than my own efforts.”

“I am glad. It is the one thing I can cook on any world I end up on.”

“Is that part of your duties as a Companion?”

She grinned, “Actually, yes. The comfort of my client is my priority at all times. That includes making food that they can eat after a formal meal is a little lackluster. I even have a kit on the shuttle just for this kind of thing. Bread is bread, no matter where I go.”

Kadenz scooped out more stew and continued eating.

“So, I was wondering if you could give me a credit chit so I could lay in supplies for my time here? I would pay myself but my accounts are frozen. I will be happy to reimburse you when I get access to my funds again.”

Kadenz snorted. “Let me guess, my father locked your assets?”

“At the Horilian family’s request.”

He got up, went to the living area and returned with a credit slip. “That should be enough for what you need.”

She nodded and slipped it into the forearm pocket on her suit. “Thank you. I will try to deal as best I can with the vendors in the market.”

Alice watched him finish off the stew and was glad that she had taken what she had planned to eat. Three older brothers had taught her that much. A man who worked all day ate until he couldn’t eat any more or there was nothing left. He fell into the first category, and she was going to take that into account.

Chicken fried steak with eggs for breakfast was not a normal concoction for her, but Alice managed to work it into a semblance of edibility.

Kadenz was delighted with her efforts and wiped the smeared flour from her cheek when they sat down to eat.

“I haven’t had a decent breakfast in quite a while.”

“Well, as housekeeper for a week or two, I figure that you need a bit of a feed. You have plenty of muscle but you are looking gaunt around the cheekbones.” Alice was frank.

“Have you seen many Oefric before?”

She chuckled. “A few. Your species tends to be wide shouldered, narrow in the waist and built for power. You have plenty of muscle but your soft tissues are depleted. I fed you protein for breakfast because if I am heading into town to do some shopping, I don’t know when I will be back for lunch. I didn’t want you to get hungry.”

“Thank you for your consideration. I will see you when you return.” He got up and left the kitchen, heading for the vineyard.

Alice got to her feet and hummed as she washed the dishes and put them out to drain. She dried her hands and double-checked that the chip was still there. When she confirmed it, she headed out to do her shopping.

Alice had travelled through the market on her way out of the city. It was easy enough to find her way back. By her estimate, it was around seven in the morning and the stalls were hopping with activity. She parked her skimmer and straightened her shoulders. This was going to be a challenge.

String bags were the first thing on her agenda and she bartered the woman down from twenty credits for ten bags to twelve. Alice had been up all night checking local pricing for the items that she needed and twelve was definitely fair.

She wandered through the market, sniffing and touching carefully to check ripeness before purchasing. She made small talk with the vendors who asked her about her suit. It was an excellent conversation starter.

All around her, women wore tunics and trousers or dresses. She was the only form-fitted female on the street, and it created its own audience. She ignored the men pausing to gawk at her and continued her shopping.

When her arms ached and she had enough food to last the week and beyond, she returned to her skimmer and hung the bags on the small hooks in place for that purpose.

“That is a lot of food for a woman your size.” The deep and masculine voice sounded behind her.