At Jenna’s next meeting with Excelyn and Celestina, there was a lot of laughing at Philip’s expense because it was his first meeting. Celestina insisted that he be crowned with a camera pointed at him, and Jenna pushed the point home. The TV guru needed a few days to prepare, but she was very excited with all the content they were thinking up.

Their priority list went as follows:

Crowning Philip. They were going to show all the gory shots of him getting the top of his head shaved, the same way they had with Celestine. Then they’d film the crowning ceremony. 

Afterward, they were planning a wedding special for Philip and Excelyn.

“I’ve had my secretary on the phone with Philip’s family to see if they’re willing to give interviews,” Celestina explained.

“How did that go?” Excelyn asked caustically.

“A few of them were reluctant, but there’s something about being interviewed for Interstellar TV that makes most people compliant. I had to promise to do a few of their interviews personally, but I’m into it. Besides, it’s not like there’s any diplomatic work to do with only three diplomats. Jenna, do you have anyone else on your mind?”

Jenna ground her teeth together unpleasantly. “I have just seen a news release that the six majors from the AAMC who ransacked my palace are being discharged from the military, as per my request.”

“Did they admit to wrongdoing in their press release?” Excelyn asked in surprise.

“Yeah. The officers weren’t put through a formal reprimand process when it first happened, so the higher-ups of the AAMC put them through one, found them guilty, and discharged all of them.”

“Did any of them admit that they were ordered to steal the crowns?” Excelyn persisted.

“No. If I were to guess, they knew when they signed up that if the plan went sideways, they couldn’t admit where the order came from. As it stands, Admiral Lou Denver has been in touch, telling me that they’ve met my demands and they want interviews to resume.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him that he could choose someone—a single person—to be interviewed and that person could come to my palace. I said I would consider crowning as many as three, but they had to be interviewed one at a time.”

“Did they have anyone lined up?” Celestine asked, getting curious.

“No. They said they’d get back to me. I plan to be the biggest pain in the arse that I can be. I plan to interview at least five candidates before I’m willing to choose one to be crowned, even if the first person checks all my boxes. They need to have a few people come and go from here without incident if they want to get on my good side.”

“Really?” Celestina was tapping her writing stylus against her lips. “I’ve had someone from the AAMC mentioned to me on several occasions. It seems the AAMC is pretty desperate to be included in these talks in any way that they can be.”

“Why are they contacting you? I’m the one who makes the decision,” Jenna questioned.

“They’re not asking me to have their boy crowned. They’re asking me to take him as my first husband.”

Jenna was a bit stunned. “What are you going to do?”

“Nothing for now. The AAMC can’t offer me any political posturing that I’m interested in. I want to marry a corporate powerhouse who already has a mistress, but he’d like to talk business with me, therefore would be interested in the arranged marriage. I’ve had my eye on Linc Baldwin. Once things are a little more settled, I plan to invite him down.”

“It’s good to see you’re so proactive about selling out,” Jenna commented.

“No. No.” Celestina waved away the snarky praise. “It’s my pleasure. Thank you for being willing to outright marry an Octavian. It takes all the pressure off the rest of us. After all, only one of us has to do it. Speaking of it, once we’re finished with Excelyn and Phillip’s marriage, we need to do a photoshoot with you and Favel. Josh is really excited to do it.”

Jenna nodded and checked their meeting agenda.

Suddenly, Celestina chirped up. “You’re not appreciating how special that is.”

Jenna looked back at Celestina with big dumb eyes. “Josh always seems to enjoy his work.”

“Yes, he does,” Celestina agreed. “But this is different. He is going to be the first person in ages to photograph a couple with an Octavian groom. He’s delighted. He has a huge list of photo ops he’s dying to try. He’s contacted clothing designers… fabulous clothing designers, Jenna! And asked them to send him their best offerings for you to wear for the shots. One of the bathing suits came by courier last night. It’s ravishing. And Josh wouldn’t even let me try it on. He’s gone one thousand percent serious. He says he never did anything groundbreaking before, even though he has done tons of groundbreaking things. He’s blocked off an entire week.”

“Can I block off an entire week?” Jenna wondered aloud. She wasn’t even sure if her schedule was flexible enough to give him that much time.

“You’ll have to,” Celestina replied without humor. “I’ll take on a few of your tasks if that will help.”

Jenna did a double take. There was definitely something she hadn’t appreciated about Josh before and that thing was not how serious he was about photography. It was how completely he had Celestina wrapped around his little finger.