After her meeting with Mirr, Jenna went straight to sleep in the Paris room.  When she woke up, she turned on the screen to see a display of the room service menu.  Smoothie had sent her shakes to drink and painkillers to swallow, but Jenna wanted to ask the chefs to make her something that was not on the menu, just to take her unhappiness out on someone.  She sat there for a while, glaring at the menu, until she finally turned off the screen in an angry huff and drank what Smoothie had sent for her.

She wanted to be a pain in the ass, but she also didn’t want to eat anything.  She just wasn’t feeling well enough to think of anything to eat except the painkillers and a liquid to wash them down.

Taking stock of the situation, the media had not been told about her new jewel in a way that was more than that she had a testing session with her diplomats, two of them did not pass the test, lost their crowns, and were expelled from the floating palaces.  On that occasion, Jenna had been given a jewel by the Hipposyphis.  That was all they knew.

She had to keep the purpose of the jewel a secret for her own safety, but how?  

Already, quite a few people knew that the jewel removed her need for bodyguards.  If it was revealed exactly what it did, Jenna bet that a few people in the AAMC would notice the similarities between her headpiece and the force fields that kept their scouts off the very best planets.  How long could she keep it a secret?  Once the purpose of the jewel was made known, what would happen?

Jenna could guess that the Adamis already had scientists working on the problem.  That made Rold’s visit even more terrifying.  He was deeply connected to hostile people within the AAMC.  If they connected the dots, would they figure out another way to abduct her?  Thinking back to their conversation and his impending visit, it was quite possible that he knew what her problem was already and that was the true reason he was coming to Octavia Prime. 

In the form of protection, the Octavians had placed a bullseye on her head.  

Jenna swung her legs out of bed and started pacing.  She needed to work off some of her nervous energy.  If she felt afraid the jewel would take more of her energy to power her own personal force field.  She needed to stop feeling afraid.  She needed to feel gutsy, like beating someone up. 

Suddenly, she longed for Sardius more than she had ever longed for another person in her entire life.  She wanted him more than she wanted her grandfather.  If Sardius were with her… True, he wouldn’t be able to touch her, but they had lived through times like that before when he had been in prison and he could use the power of his voice to tell her what to do.  Run laps!  Punch the air!  Stand on her head.

She was doing the last one when Favel glooped out of the fountain and came over to her.  “Are you okay?” his upside-down face asked.

Jenna dropped herself down to her feet and righted her perspective.  “I’m pissed off.”

“Yes, I knew you would be,” he said regretfully,  “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to the meeting.  Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to talk about it.  If I were, wouldn’t we have had our meeting yesterday above ground?  Maybe at my palace?  Maybe not a hundred meters underwater in the heart of the deep blue sea?”

“Okay, we can’t talk about it,” he said, keeping his distance from her.  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Jenna rolled her eyes and gave him a displeased look that was more than an answer.  

He couldn’t do a thing.  If Favel had any power to spare her from her fate, he surely would have had the jewel removed from her crown already.  The fact that he hadn’t been able to stop their plan meant that she had reached the edge of Favel’s power.  Maybe she needed to marry another Octavian.  She was so popular with the Octavians, surely there was someone who wanted to be married to her who had the power to get the jewel off her crown.  

Maybe there was.  

Maybe there wasn’t.

Jenna crossed the room in an angry huff and pulled her earpiece out of the plant pot she had deposited it in the night before.  She shoved it into her ear and started shouting.  “Ixy?  Are you awake?”

Ixy yawned.  “Are you talking to me?”

“Yes.  Sorry about last night.  I had to have a super confidential meeting where they gave me nothing but bad news.”

“Oh?  I just wondered if I was still your assistant after you dropped me in a flower pot,” Ixy said, her voice loaded with snark.

Jenna sighed.  “I don’t blame you for being frustrated, Ixy.  I’m frustrated too.  You’re in jail.  I’m in jail.  Favel is in jail.  Sardius is in jail.  Everyone is in jail.  Everyone’s stuck and nobody is getting out.”

It sounded like Ixy sat up in her chair.  “Was it really that bad?”

“It was pretty bad. Except unlike you actual jailbirds, I didn’t do anything worthy of punishment, but I’m going to be punished anyway.  Punished badly.”  Jenna’s voice was tight and accusing.  

“Is everything going to be okay?” Ixy asked in a little voice.

“Maybe,” Jenna said dismissively.  “There’s only one thing that can be done now.  We have to find more people to put in jail.  We’ll put crowns on their heads and they’ll think they’re being given some kind of honor.  It will be amazing.”

“We’re going to search for more candidates right now?” Ixy asked.

“Yes.”

“But I have some news,” Ixy said, completely interrupting Jenna’s train of thought.  

“Give it to me,” Jenna said, wishing desperately that it was good news.

“I would have told you last night, but you took your earpiece out,” she started.

Jenna cut her off. “I’m sorry, Ixy.  I’m hella not in the mood for games.  Tell me the news, or start sending me resumes.”

“Don Leo’s ship was sighted in the Xypher Zone.”

“What?” Jenna gasped.  

Sardius was on that ship.

“It arrived and it was only here for ninety seconds before it was zapped off to a different dimension.  It went to the Boneman system.”

Jenna sighed. “With any luck, that beautiful son of a bitch really did kill everyone on board.  But there’s no news about whether or not Sardius was successful?”

“I’m afraid not,” Ixy answered, just as pissy as Jenna.  “We’re looking for information now.  Do you want me to stop that to get you that list of resumes?”

Jenna took a cleansing breath and remembered that taking her terrible mood out on Ixy, though more satisfying than taking it out on anybody else, would not help her.  Ixy could withhold critical information if she chose.  She was not a good punching bag.  

“Forget the resumes. Chase Sardius down,” she said, her voice several pitches more friendly.  “Find out how many of his limbs were sawed off.”

“Exactly,” Ixy said before clicking off.  

“That was news about Sardius?” Favel asked, his parrot voice sounding weak and helpless.

Jenna gave him a sad smile.  “Not much news.  Just that Don Leo’s ship has been spotted.  Listen, Favel, I think I’m done with our honeymoon.  I have to go home so that I can get back to work so that I don’t go crazy.”

“Are you going crazy?” he asked carefully.

“Maybe not crazy.  I’m afraid and the fear makes my forcefield stronger and me weaker,” she admitted.  “I need to be in a place where I feel more secure.  What your people are asking for is a bit too much.  If I don’t get control of this stone and learn to feel more comfortable when I’m threatened so severely, this gem is going to ruin not just my ability to do my job, but my ability to live.”

“What are you saying?” Favel asked, suddenly looking feverish and turning a shade of brown she’d never seen before.

“I’m saying that there is nothing the Octavians can give me that can compensate me for what they’ve done to me.  For now, I have to get back to my job, but if I can’t get a grip, I’m not going to last at this.”

Jenna didn’t know what she was saying when she said that to Favel.  She was trapped.  She couldn’t take off her crown unless she betrayed the Octavians (and it fell off naturally) or she killed herself.  

She continued softly.  “I would be fine with everything if only this gem would stop draining my energy and making me sick.”

“I’ll look into it,” Favel said fiercely, suddenly getting a bit of his old pep back.  “I’ll figure it out.”

“Thank you,” she said softly with her eyes cast down.

“For now, we’ll tell the media that you are sick and you need to get home to our palace and that’s why we needed to cut our honeymoon short.  I’ll work it out with Celestina.  And I’ll figure out how to make it so that you aren’t so sick.  I’ll do it.”

Jenna wanted to believe him.  Desperately.

But she felt desperate all the time now.