Firefly Light

Chapter 26

It was Saturday night and the last session of the talks hadn't been very long, so she was able to go out with Seth and relax. They went dancing with Edmund and Val, and everyone had a really good time. She loved to dance, had taken classes and taught Seth a lot of the old dance steps. They made a handsome, well-coordinated couple on the floor and this was something they very much enjoyed together. They had even won several dance contests as a team.

The evening got late and Edmund and Valerie excused themselves. They were going back to his room and would see Kei when she got back. Seth said he was ready to go also and asked her to go for a walk. Both couples left the pub at the same time and went in different directions.

Keika and Seth walked for a while, finally ending up in the main park. He led her to a small stand of woods, a place they knew well. They lay down in a grassy area and started to kiss. The evening had been a good one and Keika had enjoyed herself. Seth's lips were warm and tasted sweet...there were times when she thought that maybe she was wrong, maybe she could love him. They cuddled and made out for a while, but suddenly she found that one of his hands was on her breast and the other was moving up the inner part of her thigh under her dress.

"No." she said as she sat up and grabbed both of the wayward hands with her own and moved them back to neutral locations. "We have talked about this Seth. I am not ready for this yet and I've told you so. Please respect my wishes." He jerked back his hands out of her grasp, his face getting red. "Are you my girlfriend or not?! All of the other girls...." "Yes, I'm your girlfriend and I don't give a damn about what the other girls do!" "Well I do!" he retorted, "...and you make me look like a fool." He got up and walked off. Keika called after him, but was not going to chase him down. After a few steps she finally heard him say, "I'm sorry, I'll see you tomorrow...good night." She didn't reply, remained sitting on the grass and let him go.

Once he had disappeared into the darkness she lay back down and looked at the stars for a while, daydreaming about the type of guy she would really like to meet. The young blue eyed Captain in the valley came to her mind again, as he did so often. She wondered what had happened to him. Probably married and with a child by now. She hoped so, hoped he was happy. There was something about him that seemed......so right. If only fairy tales really did some true. She sighed.

After a bit she got up and walked back to the Royal Otania. Along the way many thoughts passed through her mind. Yes, at age sixteen and a half she was still a virgin. Plenty of other girls her age were still virgins, it wasn't like it was weird or something, but....she knew a number of other girls that were sexually active with their boyfriends. She was just as interested in sex as the next teenager, just as curious, but she wasn't just any teenager.

Cynthia's reputation was not much higher than trash. She was well known to be quite promiscuous and this came as a huge embarrassment to her father. Keika refused to do that to her father, plus, although she wanting to experience sex, she wanted it to be with someone who meant something to her, someone she loved if possible. It was supposed to be a special act. She wanted for it to be with someone special. Seth had tried many times, but it just had never felt right with him.

Keika made it back to her room and lay down on the bed in the darkness. She felt so blue. She could hear Edmund and Valerie in his room talking and laughing, with a lot of periods of silence. If things kept going this way she would probably be the only virgin left, she thought glumly. Edmund certainly hadn't been one for a while, and they were so madly in love, sooo....... They were talking in low voices, (Keika was intentionally not eavesdropping) and then Edmund's door opened and a moment later, closed. There was a knock at her door.

She turned on the light and opened the door. Valerie flew into the room and gave Keika a big hug and kiss on the cheek. She closed the door and said, very low, but mimicking as if she were screaming, "He's mine! He's mine! I have him!" Keika had never seen her act so silly. She pantomimed as if she were holding him to her, kissing him, fell on the bed and rolled off into the floor, both of them laughed. Val lay in the floor and looked up at Keika and said quietly, "He's mine, Keika. I love him. I love your brother.....and he loves me....he loves me. He said that today, it was like he had really seen me...looked at me... for the first time...because I made him look. I think he suppressed his emotions because he didn't think them appropriate. This has been the most incredible day of my life. I am so happy, Kei. I didn't know I could be so happy. Didn't know anyone could be so happy." She jumped up off the floor, grabbed Keika's hand and they both sat down on the bed. "Kei, he asked me to marry him already! He went and talked to my father between the conference sessions and got his permission and blessing first. Isn't that sweet! We will go out this week to look at rings. I am so excited!!"

"Val, that is wonderful!" said Keika, "I am so happy for both of you. Your plan certainly worked." and she winked at Valerie. Val stared back at her with mouth agape for a moment, "What plan?....you mean that performance I put on at noon on the steps in front? Are you crazy? Do you really think I planned on walking up to Edmund Otani and demanding his love now or never...and in public?" She shook her head, "It just happened, sister. I sort of snapped. Part of me was panicking, thinking that I was going to chase him away instead and it really would be never. I saw my chance and just lost control. Forgive me, I always choose the offense...don't I...even in matters of love." She smiled blissfully, "Yeah, it wasn't a plan, but the objective is in my hands...I'll take it."

"And some day you will be our Queen," noted Keika. Valerie dropped her head and put her hands over her eyes, "No, no, that is the part I don't want...Valerie Vair the Queen? You must be joking. I can't do that. Your mother was the Queen and I haven't seen anything remotely like her since. I can't live without Edmund, but how do I get out of the other part?" Keika shook her head, "You can't, Val. One comes with the other. You'll be fine. Father is a healthy man and will not be giving up the throne any time soon. You will grow into the part, we will help you and things will be fine, I promise. You rarely hear it, but one of Edmund's titles is the Duke of Hamilton, which is the title the heir carries. When you marry my brother, you will become the Duchess of Hamilton. You will then be royalty....and my sister!"

Valerie covered her eyes again, "The Duchess of Hamilton?.....royalty? Me? Oh my God, why did I have to have such expensive taste in men?" she wailed. Keika laughed and hugged her, but there was another unexpected knock at the door. She looked at the clock on her wall. It was nearly 2:00 AM, who could this be and why were they at her door?

The door was unlocked. "Come in," she said. It was her father. His face looked grim. "I was working late and saw the light under your door. I just got an emergency message from the hospital....Your prisoner is dead." "WHAT!?" she exclaimed, "Dead? How?" He shook his head, "They don't know. The doctor that was treating him said that he went into a coma shortly after arriving there. They went to work on him and did the best they could, but he went downhill rapidly and died about forty five minutes ago. Our medical care abilities are still pretty limited compared to what they had before the plague. The doctors could only guess that he died from toxic shock or sepsis, due to infections of his wounds."

"I don't believe that," Keika stated firmly, "I cleaned and dressed those wounds myself. He showed no signs of infection before I turned him over to the hospital." The king nodded, "I believe you, honey, but the man is dead. I don't know what to tell you. It is unfortunate, but we will have to proceed without the potential information he might have been able to provide us." She growled, "The Baron did this somehow." Joseph shrugged his shoulders, "How would that be possible, Kei? We were with his party the entire time they were exposed to the prisoner and they did nothing that could have caused this. His secretary is the only one who actually made physical contact and she barely touched him. She doesn't look very dangerous and I doubt that her touch kills. I don't really trust him either, but we have no proof, and what evidence we do have supports his claims."

She shook her head again. This had all gone wrong somehow, but she had no idea how to find and reveal the truth she knew was out there...at least not yet.