Jeana turned to the Archon. "Is Melissa pregnant yet?" Katrina Steiner shook her head. "No, you are not pregnant yet." They laughed together, but the Archon's smile turned pensive. "Your look, your manner, your laugh. There are times when I think you and Melissa conspired to switch places and fool all of us."
Jeana shook her head. "No, Archon. Your daughter has been with her husband since we left Terra after the wedding."
Katrina looked fondly at Jeana. "I had a message from Morgan Kell today. He says the Kell Hounds have been ordered off Lyons and will be proceeding to Ryde. If I read between the lines correctly, he thought you would be interested in this information. He also said to tell you, 'The Sanglamore Sash has kept Dan quite safe.' "
Jeana felt her heart leap. Please, God, let it continue to do so.She looked up at the Archon, then blushed. "I gave Dan Allard the sash I got when I passed my final 'Mech test at Sanglamore ..."
Katrina Steiner nodded knowingly. "I noticed you were quite taken with him during the festivities before the wedding. I know we're not really mother and daughter, but I also realize you've got no one to talk to about such matters. If you wish .. ."
Jeana smiled. My father was right to help you escape Alessandro Steiner's trap so many years ago. You actually do care about your people."It is difficult." She pressed her lips together into a think-line. "I wanted very much to tell Dan who I was and what I did, but I could not violate security like that. If people knew your daughter was in the Federated Suns, your political enemies could accuse you of selling out the Commonwealth to Hanse Davion."
Jeana looked up into the Archon's steel-gray eyes. "What makes Dan so remarkable is that he did not press me on the subject. He just wanted to know if I was happy, and if so, he said that was enough for him. I know it's crazy because we've had so little time together, but it seems like I've known him all my life."
"You love him very much, don't you?" Katrina asked softly.
Jeana nodded. "I remember the first reception on Terra. It seems like we danced forever. He was so gentle, yet so strong." Jeana covered her mouth to smother a giggle. "Archon, I don't know if you've noticed, but all Mech Warriors from the Federated Suns wear ceremonial spurs on their boots. They're just small things, with no rowls, and are said to recall the old days when cavalry troops moved quickly and hit hard—just like 'Mech regiments."
The Archon laughed. "Silly superstition. Just like a Sanglamore Sash, right?"
Jeana blushed. "Touche, Highness. Anyway, while Dan and I were dancing, the hem of my gown caught on a spur during a turn. I began to stumble, but Dan managed to lift me up and continue the dance without so much as losing a beat of the music. Then he spent the next minute or two apologizing for his clumsiness in getting his spur caught. Not often you find strength, agility, intelligence, and consideration wrapped up in so handsome a package."
The Archon nodded. "And in a Mech Warrior, even more rare." Katrina stared off over Jeana's shoulder. "It does not surprise me that Morgan selected him to join the Kell Hounds."
Jeana noticed a change in the Archon's voice. "What's wrong? Forgive my presumption, but you seem apprehensive."
Katrina Steiner raised an eyebrow. "You have my daughter's perceptiveness as well as her face. I am worried . . . about Morgan. He left the monastery on Zaniah when he learned Yorinaga Kurita had returned from exile and killed his brother, Patrick. I think Morgan's preoccupation with Yorinaga may be clouding his judgment."
Jeana chewed her lower lip. "It almost sounds as though Morgan is engaging in a vendetta like a Leutnant fresh out of Sanglamore or Nagelring."
Katrina rose and moved to the doors leading out to the balcony overlooking the Triad's garden. "I've known Morgan Kell for twenty-three years. Morgan was there with me and my future husband, Arthur Luvon, when your father whisked the three of us to safety. Morgan, Arthur, and I traveled a long way and saw many things in the year we spent running from Alessandro Steiner's assassins.
"I learned a great deal about Morgan in that time. He might have been considered reckless and daring, but he was never one who wanted to engage in personal competition with an enemy. Morgan was more the type to fight as hard as he could, then offer the winner or loser his hand in friendship and respect. You're a Mech Warrior just as I was. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
Jeana rose from her chair and walked over to the Archon. She slipped her arm around the other woman's shoulder and gave her a hug. "Yes, I've seen Mech Warriors like that, and I've the utmost respect for them. Still, Morgan changed after Mallory's World back in 3016. He quit the regiment he and Patrick created, scattered all but a battalion of the Kell Hounds, and then retreated to a monastery for eleven years. That's not at all like the Morgan you describe."
Katrina nodded wearily. "I think that's what scares me so. If Morgan were merely acting like a kid, trying to prove how tough he is at his age, I'd sponsor him in the games on Solaris. The problem is that Morgan's not acting like a kid. Everything—his return, reforming the regiment—seems directed at a final confrontation with Yorinaga Kurita." Katrina looked at Jeana with tears beginning to well in her eyes. "I think Morgan knows exactly what he's doing, and I think it will kill him."
Jeana hugged Katrina more tightly. "No one wants to see a friend heading toward disaster and not be able to do something about it."
The Archon shook her head. "I guess I'm just being too selfish. Morgan and Patrick used to remind me so much of Arthur that I could see his spirit living on in them. The Kell Hounds, the name of their unit, was the name Arthur used to call the two of them as kids. They used the name in his memory." Katrina swallowed hard. "If I lose Morgan, then I'll have nothing left of my husband."
"But you always have your daughter, Highness. Think how proud your husband would have been of Melissa, and how he would have applauded her marriage to Hanse Davion."
Katrina drew a handkerchief from her pocket and dried her tears. "Thank you for reminding me of that and for enduring so much in your role as Melissa. You serve the Commonwealth well."
Jeana bowed deeply. "You honor me more than you know."
Katrina took Jeana's hand. "You may not be my daughter, but I don't think I could have spoken as openly even to her. Thank you even more for your friendship, Jeana."
A quick knock at the door preceded its opening by half a second. A tall, black-haired young woman poked in her head with a smile. "Mel, do you still want to go . . . Oh, Archon, forgive me. I.. ."
Katrina smiled warmly. "It's all right, Misha. Melissa and I were just chatting about the difficulties of being parted from one you love."
"Speaking of which, my friend," Jeana said teasingly, "have you heard from your Captain Redburn?"
Misha swung the door shut behind her, then crossed and sat on the bed. "I received a holodisk from him that's two months old. The Federated Suns military censors let most of the message get through. He sounds healthy enough. He's in a new 'Mech—I gather from vague references that it's a captured Liao Centurion ..."
Jeana sat down next to Melissa Steiner's closest friend and took Misha's right hand into her own. "What happened to his old 'Mech?"
Misha shrugged. "I'm not sure, but sifting through the press releases and stories coming from the Liao front, I gather he lost it on St. Andre in the first wave of assaults. I've seen hints about a training battalion that has proved to be very effective as a strike force. Putting that together with some things Andy said before the war started, that must be his unit."
Katrina narrowed her eyes. "I think I may recommend that Simon Johnson of the Lyran Intelligence Corps put you to work breaking down Kurita intelligence, or maybe seeing what you can glean from the information we make public. I daresay Quintus Allard would be alarmed to hear what you've deducted about the Davion war effort."