Starcrossed - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,87
Zenai priests are willing to listen to their confessions,” she said for all to hear. “I’m prepared to let bygones be bygones, if—” she paused significantly, “—we can all agree that bioweapons will never be used again. I know the human government is prepared to sign a treaty to that effect, and I would hope you will, too. There has been enough suffering.”
A cheer went up throughout the Council chamber and on comm feeds the galaxy over. It certainly sounded to Tigh as if his lady had won over some of her most argumentative detractors. How long it would last, he wasn’t sure, but it was definitely a good start.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Over the next days, as the recording of Gruber’s end circulated to the farthest reaches of the empire, it seemed to strike a chord with even the worst of skeptics. To have the father of the virus show his confusion over being wrong about jit’suku DNA mixing so well with human was really something. It seemed a lot of the people who had refused to accept that Ginny truly was the prophesied Velkir had objected on the basis that a human couldn’t fill that role.
The fact that Gruber had ranted about Ginny’s jit’suku DNA somehow made it easier for those skeptics to believe. It was one thing to be told the facts by people who supported the new regime. It was another, apparently, to have the father of the virus confirm it.
Faced with prophecy and the undeniable presence of the Goddess, not once, but twice, working through the women, the skeptics and supporters of the old regime had no choice. They either slunk away, taking a backseat and letting the new galactic order take hold, or they allied themselves with Tigh and Ginny.
The warrior priests of the Zenai were kept very busy with hearing confessions and redirecting those who had gone astray. The concept of confession wasn’t really part of the Zenai way, but Jurdan had agreed with Ginny’s desire to have the priests evaluate each of the former enemies, to judge whether or not the repentance was real. Acting as judges of character and reform were well within the purview of the warrior priesthood, so in the end, it all worked out.
Having the Zenai work with the former transgressors also kept a buffer between those bad actors and the emperor. Tigh feared that, if he’d had to sit in judgment on any of the warriors who had helped abduct Ginny, he wouldn’t be able to be lenient. Yet, leniency was what Ginny desired, as long as the men truly repented.
Much better to have actual priests take care of making that judgment. Tigh could not be objective where the safety of his beloved was concerned.
As the days progressed, another topic became foremost in his mind. He’d proposed to Ginny, and she’d accepted, but they had yet to have the formal ceremony. The wedding of an emperor to his empress wasn’t something that could be undertaken quickly, and the dowager empress was heavily involved in the planning.
She roped Ginny’s family, and the ladies of Ginny’s crew, into helping with the preparations. Tigh feared the party was going to be something that the jit’suku empire had never before experienced. It seemed there were many human traditions they wanted to include, and the dowager empress was inclined to indulge them—as long as they included all the necessary jit’suku traditions, as well.
The wedding, from all accounts, was going to be a true mix of their two cultures.
Ginny kept tabs on her crew over the next days. She also visited Sally daily, to check on her progress. She was still too ill to move to her own room but was being kept entertained by Tolo, who was, likewise, still taking up a bed in the infirmary. Both of them had been laid low by the drug Gruber’s men had used to knock them all out.
Ginny sensed a little spark between Sally and Tolo. They weren’t admitting to anything, just yet, but Ginny had high hopes for a budding romance between the two. It felt like, now that she’d found a man to share her life with, she wanted all her friends to be as happy as she was.
The dowager empress had befriended Ginny’s mother and aunt, and she was taking them around to the orphanages and medical centers. Once Ginny got wind of it, she realized her family was going to settle in well. Her mother and aunt were already working with the dowager to