Chapter One

Who Wants to be a Diplomat with these Working Conditions?

When Jenna’s eyes fluttered open, it was the middle of the night.  Her bedroom in the Crescent Bell Palace was fluctuating, like flames of artificial white light racing up the walls.  She rubbed her eyes and tried to clear her vision, but it would not clear.  

“Are you awake?” Conrad asked in her ear.  

It had been a while since Jenna had spoken to Conrad, but the sound of his voice was the second most welcome after Sardius.  

“I’m awake and I feel terrible,” she confessed, pulling the blankets closer around her.  She couldn’t get warm.

“Does your head hurt?” he asked through the earpiece.

“Yes.”

“That makes sense.  Firth put that jewel on your crown and you blacked out.  Do you remember that much?”

Jenna tried to nod, but her head felt so heavy.  Whether that feeling was from the jewel or not, she didn’t really know because the feeling of illness spread through her body like a disease.  “I remember.  What is it?  I can’t lift my head and even talking is awful.  Tell me what happened.”

Conrad sighed.  “I was asleep when it happened, but the story Firth is telling is that it is an upgrade to your current crown.”

“What is it supposed to do?”

“Well,” he began, “the crown by itself used to measure whether or not a person was a threat to Octavians.  The crown is still testing you, but the jewel is also testing everyone around you and also protecting you.  Anyone who approaches you with malice will be hurt.”

“How?” Jenna balked, trying to reach for the glass of water by her bed and being shockingly ineffective at it.  She swatted her hand at the glass of water stupidly, unable to lift it up.

“It creates a force field around you and from what Firth said, it is no joke.  It will cut off the hands of people who try to touch you.”

Jenna groaned.  “How is that going to do me any good?  I have to meet people who hate me all the time.”

“You can meet them,” Conrad clarified, “but they can’t touch you.  Firth said something about how ridiculous it is that you aren’t safe, even from your own people.  I guess some news got out earlier today about how Fallcet was crowned after you expelled him from Octavia Prime after his first visit.  Apparently, he kidnapped you and crowned himself?  Is that why his crowning was not on the social media channels?”

“Yeah.  That’s what happened, but is Fallcet is already gone?  I was going to expel him again,” Jenna remembered, wondering if she was glad she wouldn’t have to talk to him again.  Maybe she was glad.  Maybe she wanted to say one more thing to cap off their misadventure together.  Either way, she was curious if the opportunity was gone.

“Yes.  Rennett has been moved out of the Waterfall Palace and he’s staying with Dr. Arc Lawson until they can find a place his AAMC pension can pay for.  Rennett sends his thanks for offering to help him broker a deal with the AAMC, but he plans to make the arrangements himself.”

Jenna used every ounce of energy she had to pull her body into a sitting position.  It was hard, but once her head rested against the pillows pressed up against the headboard, she felt much better.  Then she tried reaching for the water again.  “Well, Rennett is handy if I ever want to talk to him again, so I guess it’s fine that we just sent him off.  It was nice of him not to demand more of me since my head feels like an anvil.  Is everything else good?”

Conrad chuckled.  “What’s your definition of good?”

Jenna felt a little hot around the collar.  She would not have had to explain what she meant to Ixy, who knew that all her spare thoughts were about Sardius.  “Have you heard anything about Sardius?” she clarified.

“No news.  However, if you’re interested, Phane has finished the first round of his medical treatments and was awake a few hours ago.”

“He’s okay?” Jenna asked cautiously.

“No.  He’s far from okay.  Granted, he’s freaking out and that’s making it worse, but no, he’s not okay.”

“Is he awake now?  Should I go visit him?”

“He is not awake.  Misha got tired of his nonsense and shot him up with a tranquilizer when she thought the official nurse, Antonetta, wasn’t looking.  It was a relief to both of them.  What a whiner!  He really expects the royal treatment here.”

“Misha was very interested in him from his pictures before she met him.  Do you think her crush endured his whining?” 

Conrad laughed before cutting the laugh short and stating plainly, “No.  It’s safe to say that any affection she had for him has died.”  Then Conrad said something Jenna never expected to hear him say.  “Would you mind,” he began softly, “if I connected to Misha’s communication system once and a while?”

“What does that mean?” Jenna questioned through the painful haze in her brain.  He could connect to anywhere in her palace if she needed him to relay a command.  Why was he asking permission…  “Do you have feelings for Misha?”

“Do you have any objection to my calling her?” he pressed without answering her question.

“None, except the worry that you’ll both fall butt over tea kettle in love with each other and that it can’t go anywhere because you’re in prison in a different dimension,” Jenna warned.

“Yes, but I know someone who was in that situation and it worked out for him,” Conrad reminded her dully.

“Fine.  Fine.  But I intend to ask her how it’s going in a week and if she thinks you’re a nuisance, you have to back off.  This is still a work environment.”

“Fine,” he agreed.  “I don’t want to annoy her.  I just thought it would be nice to talk to her once in a while.”

“Very reasonable.  Can you send Vash in here to give me a pain reliever?” Jenna asked, changing the subject.  “I want to go back to sleep, but I don’t know If I can with this headache.”

“He can come in.  He can bring you a pill, but for the time being, no one is allowed to touch you or even come near you.  He will place the pill on the table, but you will have to get it for yourself.  Firth and Favel aren’t sure that anyone can enter your force field, even if they’re your friend.”

“Ever?” Jenna wondered.  If no one could touch her then… What did that mean for the rest of her life?  What did that mean for Sardius?  “Surely friends can come in if I like them, right?”

“We don’t know that.  Firth says the Octavians used the jewels in the past and a lot of octopuses lost tentacles that way, but losing a limb is completely different for an Octavian than it is for a human.  Favel is pretty serious about the whole thing.  He had Vash move everyone’s chairs away from yours in every building.  You now have a pretty nameplate set at Excelyn’s palace and Celestina’s palace.  The one chair, that is away from everyone, that chair is for you.”

Jenna groaned.  “I guess they can’t remove the jewel then.”

“I don’t know if anyone has tried.  My bet?  They’re too scared that they’ll lose a tentacle.  Do you want to give it a try right now?  Since no one else can touch you, you’ve got to be the one to do it.”

Jenna put her hand up to her crown.  The first problem when she touched it was that it was basically hanging from the tip of a curved blade.  She couldn’t see what she was doing because the whole operation was over her head and she did not have the energy to get up to see what she was doing with the aid of a mirror.  

She gave up very quickly and asked Conrad again if Vash was coming to bring her a pain med.

Conrad said he had and Vash was on his way down the hall.

When Vash came in, he had her pill and a bottle of water on a cutting board with a handle.  He put it on the table furthest from her by her bed and left the whole thing on the table, obviously desperate to stay away from her.

Jenna rubbed the back of her neck painfully.  “This is going to take some getting used to.”

“Do you need anything else, Madam Diplomat?” Vash squeaked.

“No.  Go to bed,” she said generously, but she immediately regretted it when she couldn’t open the water bottle.