53. The New Year

New Toledo, Vidako

Imperium Stellarum

December 25, 2847

Cassie woke, for the first time in her life, with a sleeping man’s arm wrapped around her, and his body pressed against her back. She could feel the soft puff of Arc’s breath tickling at the back of her neck, and his hand gently cupping her bare belly. Carefully, so as not to wake him, she rolled to face Arc, so that they were nearly nose to nose, and watched him sleep.

He wasn’t the first boy she’d ever kissed, but he was the first one who’d ever looked at her and seen Cassie, before the princess imperial. At first, she’d just been grateful to have one person that she knew, with one-hundred percept certainty, wasn’t angling for some kind of political advantage. And then, of course, she’d found that he was smart, and kind, and that while you might not expect it to look at him, Arc would never let someone he cared about be hurt while he could do something to stop it.

And this, this was wonderful. She breathed in through her nose, and there was something about even the smell of him that was right—so different from a dorm room of girls. His arm was still draped over her, hand idly hanging against her back, and she felt like she’d never slept so well in her life. The absolute last thing she wanted to do was to get out of bed—though there was also the competing urge to scream from the palace balcony that he was hers, that she had a man, and she felt like there’d been some secret conspiracy to keep hidden from her just how good it felt to wake up next to someone you –

Cassie stopped herself from thinking the word, because if she thought it, she might not be able to keep herself from saying it. Four months. Was four months enough time to decide whether or not you loved someone? Right then and there, curled up in the blankets with him, she thought that it might be. But she also knew what her mother would say, and Jessica, and her brother and father.

It’s good that someone is awake, Lyra grumbled. I’ve only had Iceni to talk to all night—which I suppose is better than nothing.

Cassie decided that she would not be thinking about what conversations their AIs had when neither of them was paying attention. Gently, she reached out and traced her fingers along Arc’s face. His shoulders shifted, and he turned his face into the pillow, and made a sleepy noise. Then, his eyes fluttered open.

“Good morning,” Cassie whispered. “I know it’s not your holiday, but—merry Christmas.”

“It’s yours, though,” Arc said. “So I hope it’s a good one. Are you alright? Second thoughts?”

“No,” Cassie said. “No second thoughts at all. You?”

“Not in a million years.” He leaned in to kiss her, and after a moment they broke apart again.

“I think we should brush our teeth first,” Cassie said, and laughed. “And maybe have a shower.” A sudden idea occurred to her. “You know, I bet these are big enough for two people.”

𝝮

It was only after Arc had snuck across the hall, back to his own suite, to change into a fresh set of clothes, that Jessica slipped into Cassie’s room. It wasn’t a surprise; she’d known this conversation was coming, sooner or later. She was just wiggling into a dress of deep, pine green that she’d ordered special for Christmas morning, and didn’t turn away from the vanity mirror when her bodyguard closed the door to the hallway behind her.

“You look particularly pleased with yourself this morning,” Jessica observed. She leaned against one wall, dressed in the uniform of the imperial guards. Between the military cut and how short her auburn hair was, at the moment, the impression was somewhat androgynous. “Are you happy?”

“Yes,” Cassie declared without a moment’s hesitation. “Yes, I am.” She couldn’t help but break out laughing. “I don’t know how I’m going to go back to sleeping alone in those dorms. Not after a few weeks of this.”

“Don’t fall too head over heels,” the older woman grumbled. “You know some men lose interest after –

“Not Arc,” Cassie interrupted her with absolute certainty. “He won’t. You’ve gotten to know him at least a little bit, Jessica, haven’t you? You know he isn’t like that.”

“I suppose.” Jessica gave a huff. “The Montalbans have just about finished their family time, and breakfast is being set out in the dining room. I think once you’re both dressed you can head there without interrupting anything. Just be aware that the Itzia’s present is somewhat –”

“What?” Cassie asked.

“Rambunctious.”

𝝮

Itzia Montalban’s Christmas gift from her parents was, it turned out, a light-gray cat with dark spots, tufted ears, and long shocks of fur that hung down like sideburns from the side of its face.

“I named him Carámbano,” Itzia declared, the cat hugged tightly to her chest as she showed him off to Cassie. “It means ‘icicle.”

Carámbano hung limply from her arms, looking decidedly grumpy, and let out a soft mewing sound.

“Put him down on the floor while we’re at the table, mi hija,” Duchess Nicté chided her daughter.

Reluctantly, Itzia set the cat down, and he settled himself on the floor at her feet. Cassie was surprised that he didn’t immediately sprint off and hide.

“Thoroughly genetically engineered,” Duke Alvarez explained, as servants began setting out dishes up and down the length of the table. There was fresh fruit of all kinds, which was not a surprise given how warm the planet was. Platters of toast with a half dozen varieties of jam and thick dishes of butter; churros for dipping in hot chocolate; eggs cooked over potatoes and sliced ham; pastries drizzled with frosting; and freshly brewed coffee.

“The original iberian lynx went extinct in the wild in the mid twenty-first century,” he continued. “Right at the beginning of when we started experimenting with reviving species that had vanished from existence. Enough were preserved in zoos and nature preserves that we never lost the DNA entirely, and about a hundred years back one of the mega-corps began experimenting with turning them into a line of luxury companions. Their bonding instincts are heightened, and the urge to hunt is redirected into an urge to rip the nose off anyone who threatens their owner.”

“I’ve seen pictures of what they can do with those claws,” Marcus remarked. “Males like that can get up to sixteen kilograms. He’ll be gentle as a baby with her, and a nasty little bodyguard if she ever needs it.”

In fact, Biosynth Corporation’s exotic line uses some of those images in their promotional materials, Lyra observed. As a sort of proof of capability. I could show you a few, if you’re curious…

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

No, Cassie thought, sternly.

“Can we make an attempt, at least, to keep breakfast polite?” the duchess complained, and that seemed to settle everyone down.

After everyone had a chance to eat, Cassie and Arc accompanied the family back to the cathedral for another service, and that involved being seen—and recorded. Cassie did her best to put up with it, and to smile for the cameras and wave, but she would have preferred to simply stay back at the duke’s palace with Arc and squirrel themselves away back in her rooms.

As her father and mother had warned, questions about the Na’xir began to come, and Cassie heard the first as they were leaving the church. It would have been nice if the local media had waited until after the holiday was over, but she supposed they couldn’t be so lucky.

“Princess Cascada,” a man with a neatly oiled mustache called out, thrusting a microphone past the line of police who held a path from the cathedral’s doors to the duke’s waiting car. “What can you tell us about the war against the Swarm?”

She almost, almost said ‘no comment’ and walked away. But one of the duties of the imperial family was to calm the public, to comfort people when they were frightened. And it wouldn’t cost her more than a few moments of time. She was holding onto Arc’s arm, and he walked with her when she turned and approached the man with the camera. Jessica was there, visible, all of a sudden, right beside her, and a half dozen more microphones joined the first.

“I’ve been briefed by my father on the ongoing fleet operations in the former LeShaii systems,” Cassie said, speaking slowly and clearly. “There is obviously quite a bit that I can’t say, for reasons of operational security. But I will tell you that the senate, fleet command, and the imperial family are taking every measure we can to safeguard the people of the Imperium.”

“What do you say to the rumors that Admiral Wai’s entire fleet has been lost?” a woman with ringlets of dark hair asked.

“First of all, Admiral Wai took a carrier battle group, not an entire fleet,” Cassie said. “Which I believe is a matter of public record. Second of all, he has the imperial family’s full confidence.”