Page 56 of The Sovereign: Part One
“So, until Joss was eighteen, he’d been trained as a combatant?”
“He didn’t frame it that way.”
“I’m sure he didn’t.The Citadel can’t be aware.They wouldn’t have allowed Joss inside the gate had they known.No wonder he’s been so guarded.And knowing you’re both in Hyperion Proper, with firm plans to be Oathbonded to someone else… it was a risk for him to tell you anything at all.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I murmured.The words felt too small.For two years, I’d believed Joss’s silence was indifference.A choice, not a necessity.But if The Citadel had known, if they had even suspected, he wouldn’t have just been banished.At best, Joss would have been treated as a threat and captured.The risk he took in telling me anything at all was greater than I had ever considered.And yet, for the first time, I saw it for what it was—not cruelty, not rejection, but survival.
“I’m not surprised… that he decided to trust you.”Maxim’s expression relaxed.“How did you meet him?”he asked, his voice almost tentative, as if he was treading carefully on ground he didn’t yet understand.
Thinking back to how it all began with Joss felt strangely distant, and putting it into words for Maxim felt even more unnatural.It seemed like a lifetime ago, but the memory of those days still had a way of catching me off guard.
“It was three years ago.Lourdes’s cousin’s birthday, a party high up in the hills of Empyrean Crest,” I said, shrugging slightly.“A display of extravagance only the Vanguard could achieve.Joss seemed to want to avoid attention, but there was something about him.Something that stood out from the Sovereign you’d usually find at those types of Vanguard Soirées.He was nothing like the spoiled and the insufferable, the entitled and the self-absorbed.He was trying to hide it, but he was in awe of the house, the sculptures, the food.It was like he was using his eyes for the first time.”
Maxim nodded as if he understood, but a question was already forming behind his eyes.“What drew you to him?”
I hesitated.That part of my past was complicated, layered in ways I hadn’t even fully unpacked myself.But Maxim had a way of listening without pressure or expectation.Still, a twinge of nervousness crept in.How absurd.It wasn’t as if he’d leave me after hearing the answer.In theory, he couldn’t.But Maxim wasn’t like the others, he wasn’t immune to apprehension… or hurt.
He’d just learned that I’d seen Joss only days before our Courting Commencement Date.And though he’d said nothing, I knew it lingered.In the old world, that kind of omission could drive someone to walk away.And that’s exactly why I owed Maxim the truth… because he never would.
Chapter Fourteen
“There was this… intensity about him.”The words felt heavy, sticking to my tongue like resin.“He was mysterious.He was in awe of everything around him, even if he tried to hide it.I was able to see Hyperion Proper through his eyes.It was like experiencing my own world for the first time.”
Curiosity had always been my weakness.Not just the need to know, but the need tounderstand.What others thought.Why they felt.How their experiences shaped the way they saw the world.Joss never accepted Hyperion at face value; he asked questions no one else thought to ask.And I followed, fascinated by the way he saw cracks in perfection, wonder in structure, softness in systems meant to be sterile.Hyperion wasn’t new to me, but through him, it felt… unfiltered.
“That,” I said, “and he was the first man I’d dated who didn’t treat me like I was temporary.Not some Sovereign accessory to try on and discard.”
Maxim didn’t inquire further; instead, he waited for me to continue.He was curious about more than Joss.He wanted to know how loving him had shaped me, and whether it meant anything for us now.A pang of guilt settled in as I spoke, knowing how it must feel for Maxim to hear me lay bare the reasons I had once given my heart to someone else.Yet he listened without judgment, already processing his emotions with far more grace than he had at the café.
“We dated exclusively for almost two years,” I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them.“He would invite me to events, and I’d agree.Over time, if one of us had an occasion or needed to dine outside of work, it became understood that we would do it together.I often wondered when it would be the right moment to end it, when it would become too serious, knowing we were both meant for someone else.But there was never a clear moment.We didn’t argue, we didn’t have heavy expectations of each other.It was just… easy.But then, he told me he loved me.”
Maxim didn’t react immediately.His gaze never left mine, though, and I could sense that he was piecing things together.
“Did you say it back?”
I shook my head.
“Did you love him?”
I nodded, slowly.
I could see that he was sitting with my answer, but it had hurt him.
“My Veritas year was approaching, and I had to make a decision.So, I ended it.”
“Joss asked you to go to The Vale with him.Had you been there before?”he asked.
“No.To be honest, he spoke of it as if he hated it.Now that he’s asked me to go back with him, though, I know it was protection.”
“To protect the knowledge of his siblings?His training?”
“I think it’s more than that.Last week, I was called into a meeting with Chiron Sorran and Artemis Jhendai.They were asking questions about Joss and The Vale.I couldn’t put my finger on it then, and I can’t now, but something didn’t feel right.I asked Lev about it.”
“Did he answer?”
I swallowed.“He did.The Vale seems to need protection from The Citadel.I don’t know what they’re planning, but there is a terrorist organization called The Ruhat who set off explosions near the wall not long ago.The Citadel blames The Vale.Joss mentioned a few things when he asked me to go back, like Hyperion Proper wasn’t what he thought, that he’d observed something behind-the-scenes.His return seemed… urgent.”
“Is it possible that Joss knows something about The Ruhat?”
