Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

."
    "I loved you from the first moment I met you. I just looked at you, and knew you were the one. The woman I'd been waiting all my life to meet. The only woman I ever wanted to give my heart to."
    "Oh Jesus, Douglas; are you saying . . . you never loved anyone before me? Surely there must have been other women in your life before me? I mean; you were a Paragon, a Prince . . . the Empire's most eligible bachelor. I saw you on the gossip shows, with girls on your arm . . ."
    "Oh yes," he said, looking at the floor between his feet so he wouldn't have to look at her. "There were always girls. Pretty girls, even beautiful girls. It's amazing how attractive being the only heir to the Imperial Throne can make a man. Some mothers did everything but smuggle their daughters into my bedchamber.
    And there have always been women desperate to bed a Paragon. Any Paragon. They even chased after Lewis, bless his ugly face, though he was always more . . . particular than me. I never had to go to bed alone, unless I wanted to. Some of them I even liked. But none of them ever meant anything. I never loved any of them; because I could never be sure any of them loved me. Loved the man, and not the Paragon, the Prince. You must know what I'm talking about. You're a star. A diva. Have you ever been in love, Jes?"
    "Oh darling, I'm famous for it," said Jesamine, fighting hard to keep her voice light and easy. "Six marriages, twice as many official partners, and more lovers than I feel comfortable remembering. I never had to deny myself anything, so I never did. And it can get really lonely on the road, traveling from one theater to the next ... I was a real tart in my younger days, falling in love with every pretty face or nice tight little arse that came along ... I was fond of them all, at the time, but... I can't honestly say any of them ever meant anything to me. None of them ever mattered. There's never been anyone in my life as important to me as me." She laughed, just a little shakily. "God, that makes me sound so shallow.
    Douglas; you're a very impressive man. I'm just a star; you're a legend. You deserve someone better than me."
    "I don't think I could stand to meet anyone more impressive than you," Douglas said dryly. He finally lifted his eyes to meet hers, and each of them saw compassion in the other. Douglas sighed, quietly. "I guess we're stuck with each other, Jes. We're going to be King and Queen. We should be proud."
    "Yes, we should. It's a great honor."
    "It doesn't matter that you don't love me."
    "Oh Douglas . . ."
    "Why Lewis, Jes? Why him?"
    "Oh hell, I don't know. Perhaps because . . . he's so unimpressed with who and what I am. Because he's brave and honorable. Because ... you always want what you know you can't have. It doesn't matter. It's
    over. Time to move on."
    "I have to be able to trust you, Jes."
    "You can, Douglas."
    "Lewis is a fine man."
    "Yes, he is."
    "I was always proud to call him my friend. But I think everything will be better, once he's gone." Douglas rose to his feet, crossed over to the dressing room table, picked up the Crown and put it on his head. He looked briefly into the mirror, his face calm and empty, and then he turned his back on what he saw. He walked over to the door, opened it, and then paused there to look back at Jesamine. "I'm giving up my only real friend to marry you, Jes. Don't ever let me regret it."
    Lewis Deathstalker sat alone in the only chair in his empty apartment, staring straight ahead of him, not really thinking about anything, waiting for it to be dinnertime, so he could eat a meal he didn't want. The room was silent, still, with nothing to look at or distract him. Even the walls were bare. The few belongings he'd brought with him were mostly still packed in a crate in the next room along with the mattress that served as a bed. Lewis stared at an empty wall, not thinking, only feeling. When he'd eaten as much of his dinner as he could, he'd drop the disposable plates into the atomizer, go back to his chair, and sit and wait for it to be late enough for him to go to bed, so he could escape into sleep, and leave his life behind for a while.
    How could everything have gone so wrong, so quickly?
    He didn't have much to do as Champion anymore. Douglas had seen to that. Anne had called, in the King's name, to tell Lewis his presence as Champion was no longer required at the House, and it seemed all his other duties had been suspended. So all that was left was to sit