Free Ever So Madly by J.R. Gray

was to look pretty, say my lines, and wave to the crowds who came to see the House of Akillie. I tried to draw in a breath to calm my nerves, but even that was impossible with the binding around my chest. Hadn’t this shit gone out of style five centuries ago? But silly fashion always sprang back into popularity. Nothing was ever new.
    I paced the room we waited in, my nerves worse than normal. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the public speaking.
    “Jocelynn,” Jacob called to me through the din. Had our positions been reversed he would be standing up here. But four and a half minutes had given him a free pass.
    My eyes scanned the faces for one closely resembling my own.
    “Jacob,” I hissed, beckoning him over. Dressed in a light gray suit with a double-breasted jacket and four bottom trousers, all complemented by the purple button down and tie that matched my dress, he looked striking, even more so than I did.
    He wore a coy grin, and I could see through the bodies milling about that he had another hand clasped in his own. I scowled at him, and he shrugged, not apologetically but remorsefully. He knew as much as I did the burden I carried being firstborn. I didn’t hold it against him. I held it against my mother. He darted away without a backward glance towing a man behind him. Jacob’s companion wasn’t a noble either. He looked like he was from one of the hard labor worlds. I shook my head and laughed. It was his favorite time of the year. All the delegates brought crews with them, giving my brother a wide variety to work his charm on.
    Too soon I stood on stage to the right of the Baron. He gave the welcoming speech, going on for far too long about the prosperity of the House of Akillie. He boasted of their wealth, and how new tech meant bright futures for all their worlds.
    “And your pockets,” I said under my breath. It was all a show. A show of Akillie’s wealth. How many planets were entrusted by the Emperor to his care, and that he was the most prosperous Barony in the known universes. There were six other Houses which the Emperor entrusted the running of the known galaxy to. The two wealthiest were my house, Akillie, and Jok, who of course was our biggest rival.
    The Emperor ruled over all, and for very little work took an exorbitant amount in taxes as well as tech and men for his personal guard. The scheme was brilliant in my mind. He got Akillie and Jok to hate each other by dividing the best planets between them and then shifted the more valuable ones back and forth depending on what he was given each year.
    The Jok’s higher math capabilities had made such a thing possible, along with countless other things we Akillies and our science founded society had no hopes of mastering without outside assistance. We worked our asses off for tech to be handed over to him, and he had the best of both houses. I was the only one who seemed to notice, and I never brought it up to the Baron. Such talk would be treasonous. I did my part and smiled as I would replace him when he was surely killed off by one of the other Barons. As many people stood around us as allies, there were many who hated us.
    My eyes landed on Madden. He was standing there, in the crowd, staring at me. The hurt showed in his posture. How long had he been there while my mind wandered? No one but the dignitaries came to these things. He was a student, and while he had full access there was no requirement to be here.
    He knew who I was. There was no easing him into it. No turning back now.

 
    Chapter Fifteen
     
    Madden
    Jocelynn wasn’t a noble. She was the noble, the heir. Arguably there wasn’t anyone set to inherit more status except the Emperor’s son. I stared, mouth agape. This was who I’d had in my bed the night before. My legs wouldn’t move from the spot. They were rooted in place as I watched her give the opening speech. It didn’t look like her, not entirely. It was her, but the face paint and stiff posture made it