Starbound: A Starstruck Novel (24 page)

The Captain reluctantly nods, but Gordon just smirks and slants a look my way. “I’m betting your Consort didn’t know about this.”
 

“This does seem unfair to him in the extreme.” Captain Liam looks at me, too, his expression sympathetic. Now I feel my own face getting hot.

“Sean knows,” M tells them before I can figure out what to say. “He’s always known, from the moment I met him. He doesn’t like it, but he definitely knows.”

The Captain frowns at me thoughtfully. “Now I understand your reaction to discovering that the Princess’s Bodyguard would share her quarters. Still—” He turns back to M— “as Captain of the
Quintessence,
I can’t in conscience allow a situation to continue aboard my ship that could jeopardize the future of Nuath. Your Bodyguard is hereby relieved and is not to approach you for any reason during the remainder of the voyage. Jana here will serve as his replacement until we reach Mars, where it will be up to others to decide how to proceed.”

Though she looks stricken, M manages a tiny nod. “I can’t blame
you,
Captain. But I won’t allow you or anyone to punish Rigel for something that wasn’t his fault—or, at least, no more his fault than mine.”
 

“He won’t be punished,” the Captain says. “Not by me. A bed will be found for him in Steerage and he is to stay there except for meals.” Then, to Rigel, “Jana will escort you down immediately. Your belongings will be brought to you shortly.”

Rigel looks at M questioningly and she looks back, almost like they’re exchanging thoughts with their eyes, then he nods. “You’re sure my replacement is capable?”

“Quite capable. Though Jana’s primary duties aboard the
Quintessence
have been to monitor the sensors, she is also my chief security officer and has both the training and experience necessary to keep the Sovereign safe.”

With another jerky nod, Rigel allows Jana to escort him out of the room.

As soon as they’re gone, the Captain turns to Gordon. “Unfortunately, I don’t have the authority to discipline someone of your rank, but I strongly suggest you remain in your quarters until we land. Then someone who
does
have that authority can deal with you. Now, get out of my sight.”
 

Though he looks stunned someone would dare talk to him like that, Gordon doesn’t argue. With a final, angry glance at M, he leaves without another word.

My dad frowns after him until the door closes. “I’m sorry you were put in such an untenable position, Captain. If you have no objection, we’ll leave as well. I’d like to speak with the Sovereign and my children privately.”

“Of course.” Captain Liam looks stressed and tired and like he’s more than ready for all this to be over. “Good night.” He gives M sort of a sketchy version of the proper bow and we all head across the hall to her quarters.
 

M palms the door open—she still hasn’t looked at me, except that once in the Commons—and we go in. When the door shuts, Dad looks at M, then Molly, then me. Then back at M.
 

“Do you have an explanation for what we saw?” he asks, but not accusingly, like I would have. He just asks it.

I can tell M is almost on the verge of tears, but she takes a deep breath and gives a little shrug. “That first night, after we boarded the ship, well, it had been so long… None of us had noticed the cameras yet, so the minute Molly was out of the room, I just couldn’t resist kissing Rigel. I know it was dumb, but we’re both so much stronger when we can…touch each other. Because of our bond. We…I needed that. I’m sorry.”

“Molly?” Dad says. “Part of your duties—”

“I know.” Molly looks embarrassed. “I told them that. I didn’t see—”

“It wasn’t Molly’s fault at all, Mr. O’Gara,” M breaks in quickly. “I promise.”

Dad looks at her for a long moment but I can’t tell what he’s thinking. “Suppose you tell me about that second bit we saw. When was that?”

M swallows visibly. “Last night, after dinner. I know it looked bad, but we just really, really needed to talk, and not in front of the cameras or Molly or anybody.”

“Talk. About what?” Dad looks almost as skeptical as I feel.
 

“I—” M darts a glance at me, then at Molly. “I’d rather not say.”

He raises an eyebrow. “
All
you did was talk? How long was Rigel in your room?”

Now she goes pink again and I feel my gut clench. “We, um, might have kissed some, too. But it was
mostly
talking, I swear! He wasn’t in there long, maybe half an hour.”

My dad heaves a tired-sounding sigh. “There will be no way to keep this quiet once we reach Mars, as everyone on the ship witnessed that video. Word will likely spread within hours of our arrival, which means we need to focus on damage control now, before we land, if we are still to get you Acclaimed.”
 

“Can’t we just tell everybody the truth?” M looks up at him pleadingly. “It would be so much easier.”

Oh, sure, and make me a colony-wide laughingstock!
 

But Dad’s already shaking his head. “No. The traditionalists, your greatest supporters, could turn against you, and we can’t afford that. Better to— Never mind. These decisions can wait for morning. We’re all rather stressed right now and I need time to think things through.”

He says good night to M and Molly and motions me to leave with him. I hesitate, wanting to talk to M myself, ask her again if all she and Rigel really did in her bedroom was talk and kiss, but I guess there’s no point. If she lied to my dad, she’ll lie to me. It’s not like I can shake the truth out of her—or like I would, even if I could, no matter how she hurt and betrayed me.
 

I look at her, trying to communicate all that with my eyes the way Rigel seems to be able to do, but she barely glances at me before turning away. Again.

Dad insists his breakfast meeting with M be private, so even though I barely slept all night, I head down to the Commons as soon as he leaves. Before I even reach the recombinators, Brenna comes over, looking smug.

“Didn’t I tell you it was more than a rumor, about the Princess and her Bodyguard? Didn’t I?” A few people nearby look interested in our conversation and I remember again how much Brenna likes to gossip.

I shrug. “I really can’t talk about it. Sorry.”
 

“Rigel won’t, either. He went straight to bed when that scary security woman escorted him down to Steerage last night. Rowena tried to talk to him this morning, but he’s in a pretty foul mood.” She glances over her shoulder. I look too, and see Rigel at a table alone, his back to the room.
 

“Excuse me.” I get the default breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, then take my tray over to Rigel’s table, where he’s pushing food around on his plate.

“Go away,” he snarls, not even looking up.

I ignore him and plunk my tray and my self down across from him. “Want to tell me
your
version of what happened in M’s bedroom?”

He glares at me. “No. I don’t.”
 

“So it’s every bit as bad as people are saying, huh?”

Rigel makes a convulsive little jerk like he wants to stab me with his fork. “You mean what your
girlfriend
is saying? You do know she’s the one who tipped off Gordon about the vid feed after eavesdropping on us yesterday, right?”

I didn’t, but all I say is, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Right.” Rigel snorts. “Maybe if you’d tried harder to convince
her
of that, she wouldn’t have been so eager to spread stories about M.”

“Which you two conveniently proved were true.” Whether Brenna was involved isn’t the point. “You know no one will believe nothing happened behind that closed door.” Even I don’t believe it, much as I wish I could. Ever since Trina’s nasty trick with her phone, I’ve had nightmares about what M and Rigel might have done, might still be doing, in secret.
 

“We kissed. And talked. That’s all. But it’s enough for them to use as ammunition against M.”

“Against M? Sounds like
you’re
the one they—”

“You don’t get it, do you?” He plants both fists on the table, his eyes narrowing to slits. “There are people, Royals, who want power for themselves and M is in the way. It was probably one of them who sent those guys after her back in Ireland, to keep her from going to Mars at all. Maybe they want me out of the way so they can get to her more easily, or maybe they just want some scandal to keep her from getting Acclaimed, but either way it’s about politics, you can bet your life on it. I’m just a detail. One that screwed up, so now I can’t even protect her.”

I frown at him as that sinks in. “But she still has a Bodyguard, that woman from ship’s security.”
 

“For two days. Once we get to Mars, they’ll probably put one of their own people in, somebody who won’t even care about keeping M safe, who might even want to—”

“No!” That draws even more attention than we already had. I lower my voice. “I won’t let that happen. No way. I may not be her official Bodyguard, but I sure as hell won’t let anybody hurt her.”

He looks at me for like ten seconds, then surprises me by relaxing a little. “Thanks. That helps a little. She thinks she can fix things, make them put me back in as Bodyguard, but…” His face twists with what looks like pain. “If my screwup gets her hurt, I’ll…I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Much as I’m enjoying watching Rigel beat himself up, I say, “The important thing is to keep her safe, right? Even if you don’t much like me being the one doing it. Believe me, I know how that feels.”
 

His mouth spasms into something he might think is a smile, but it’s definitely not. “Yeah. I guess you do. Anyway…thanks.”
 

He leaves and I start eating my cold eggs. I’m nearly done before it occurs to me to wonder when M had a chance to tell him about her plan to “fix” things.

cosc damaste
(kosk DAHM-uh-stay)
: damage control

Molly was super apologetic when she woke me the next morning to say her dad was on his way up to meet with me. I stifled my groan so I wouldn’t make her feel worse, but I couldn’t hide my swollen nose and crusty eyes. She didn’t comment, just started laying out clothes for me.
 

I’d cried myself to sleep after wallowing in every possible worst-case scenario and a horrible black pit of self-loathing. Why, why,
why
hadn’t I listened to the Council’s warnings? Of
course
my every move was being watched, just like they predicted. Those cameras shouldn’t have been a surprise at all. But instead of being extra careful, I’d flouted tradition the first chance I got, at that dinner, alienating my few Royal allies.

My detractors were right and my supporters were deluded. How could I possibly be fit to lead Nuath if I was making such stupid mistakes before I even got there? I’d never be Acclaimed now, which meant I’d ruined everything, and the Grentl would probably nuke Mars
and
Earth and it would all be my fault.

Another cry in a long, hot shower might have made me feel better, but I had to settle for a twenty-second ionic one instead. It got me just as clean, making my skin tingle and my hair lift around my head, but it definitely wasn’t conducive to wallowing. The sink had water, so I splashed some on my face. Then, staring at my slightly-less-puffy face in the mirror, I took a cold, hard look at my options.
 

Giving up wasn’t one of them, not with the stakes this high. No matter how badly I’d screwed up, I was still the only person who could respond to the Grentl, which meant I somehow had to get to the Royal Palace.
 

To do that, I’d have to act as responsibly, as regally, as possible from now on, which meant exerting a lot more self-control than I had so far. No snarky digs at Royals, no whining about rules. Maybe I shouldn’t even try to get Rigel reinstated as my Bodyguard…except I’d promised him last night that I would.
 

No matter what, I had to keep moving forward, at least until I could answer the Grentl and avert whatever threat they posed. Only then could I afford to worry about what the future would hold for Rigel and me. Because if I failed, there might not be any future at all.
 

Mr. O and breakfast were both waiting when I emerged into the living room. He waited for Jana to taste my food and Molly to serve it to me, then asked them to leave. “I have private business to discuss with the Princess. You can both eat in the Commons while we talk, or take some of this—” he gestured at the table— “across the hall to the officers’ quarters.”
 

Once they were gone he turned to me, looking almost as tired and stressed as he had last night. “I’ve been working out a strategy to mitigate the damage done last night, since it’s still imperative to get you Acclaimed as quickly as possible.”

Before he could continue, I leaned forward, using all the “push” I could. “Are you
sure
the best thing wouldn’t be to announce the truth about Rigel and me? About the
graell
? If everyone on Mars is going to find out about that video anyway—”

“I told you last night why we can’t do that. Perhaps someday, after you’re Acclaimed, after the people have a degree of confidence in you as a leader. But now, when your opponents’ main weapons are your youth and inexperience? It would play right into their hands, give them enough ammunition to derail your Acclamation entirely. However, if we can convince people that Rigel was at fault, that you were misled by gratitude—”

“What?” I rocked back in my chair, horrified. “No! No way are you making Rigel a scapegoat when it was more my fault than his.”

“I knew you wouldn’t like the idea, but consider how much is at stake. I learned during my Resistance days that sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. As a leader, you—”

“Forget it,” I snapped. “No leader worth her salt would let someone else take the blame for her own screwups. You sound like Allister. Remember what he tried to do to Rigel? And how Rigel almost died?”