Chapter 2

A goldfish? Denim’s life was being undone by an idiot girl and a stinking goldfish! He could hardly see straight or even hear past the blood rushing through his ears.

Even Governor Besting Card, his longtime rival, found the charges brought against Denim to be just as absurd as Denim did. “So what the girl kept a goldfish instead of eating it. She most likely fed it out of her own rations,”

“Assuming she hadn’t been stealing rations to support the beast, right underneath Denim’s nose.” Governess Lexem Hold interjected with a sharp eye-roll.

Besting snorted and shook his head, “Whatever she used to raise the thing has nothing to do with Denim Rays. There are two-hundred and twenty-five clerks beneath him who she could have been getting favors from as well.” He turned his gaze to Denim and smiled mockingly, fully enjoying his rival’s poor position but nevertheless defending him. In his mind, he’d won their war, one he believed he should never have had to fight with a man nearly ten years his junior.  “As we can all see, and smell, the young man is paying his debt for allowing the Joba girl to steal the three-hundred rations. The ship, however, was a personal loss and is his to eat, the same way she ate the fish. There is no case here.”

“Ah, but if the ship has crashed upon Disius 9, the result of impact could be disastrous! And all because Denim Rays decided to eat table scraps instead of the meal set before him.” The derision in Lexem’s voice, the tightness of her mouth left no room for misunderstanding her meaning. Denim had spurned her for the last time. Bitterness put the scent of his blood in her nostrils.

Balling her fist she continued with her rant. “His debauched appetite could cause the hunger of another! If that ship has crashed with that fool girl it could cause far more issues than any…of…us…are,” Lexem’s words trailed off into silence as the sudden touch and pressure of Besting’s hand on her arm increased and the cold hard stares of the others at the table met with hers.

Clearing her throat she leaned back silently in her chair, snatching her arm from Besting’s grasp. Denim frowned at the exchange. He knew what Besting’s forwardness in touching Lexem meant for her. Their joining of houses would be announced very soon, as Besting had always desired. His only obstacle was Denim Rays, the heir to the Congressional seat, the title that Lexem had desired.

As it stood, Besting was happy to have Lexem, Denim was happy to be free of her family and his trying to push a union. Lexem would remain a Governess but with an Ambassadorial Badge, a title she had mentioned was beneath her. Basically, all parties were happy with the future arrangement with the exception of Lexem and Meekus Claudius who was a fan of the prospective union. That was one good thing that had come out of the fiasco with Charis Joba, freedom from Lexem Hold. Still, Denim wished Besting and Lexem silt and a dark storm during their unfortunate wedding festival.