Solomon's Sieve by Victoria Danann

gaze for a moment longer than necessary, then cocked his head slightly, gave her a suddenly wicked smile, knocked on the counter with his middle knuckle and turned toward the door where the trainee was waiting patiently.
    “Let’s take that tour, shall we? Mr. Chorzak, is it?”
    ‘Yes, sir. Everyone calls me Spaz.”
    Sol looked down at him. “Not really.”
    Spaz grinned. “Yes, sir. Really.”
    “Well we may have to do something about that. Even my knights-to-be deserve more respect.”
    “It’s alright, sir. I don’t mind.”
    “Well. I do. So far as I’m concerned, you’re Mr. Chorzak.”
    “Yes, sir.” Kellan Chorzak offered a small, shy smile. He really didn’t mind being called Spaz. He knew it was done good-naturedly and almost affectionately. Still, the idea of being ‘respected’ had its own appeal, particularly when that respect was coming from the new head of J.U.
     
     
    Farnsworth had been working in that office for twenty years, since she was twenty-four years old. The first decade and a half, she received her fair share of attention, and flirting, from the knights who drifted in and out. They were used to being admired by the female sex and they typically came with a certain swaggered poise that said they knew they were looking good.
    She couldn’t pinpoint when the flirting had stopped, but one day she realized that nobody had tried to impress her with a smile or a bedroom voice in, well, years. So naturally having one of the young knights, or, er, administrators, regard her with something other than professional courtesy was a little bit noteworthy and a lot flattering.
    All morning her thoughts returned to the encounter with the new Sovereign. Her instincts had told her he’d been deliberately charming, but her intellect contended that he couldn’t possibly be genuinely interested in her. And, even if the Earth tilted on its axis and he was interested in her in that way, she wasn’t ready to try to move past a love affair with a man like Solomon Nemamiah and didn’t know if she ever would. A woman just never gets over a man like that. Ever.
     
    The second time Sol almost gave himself away because of an inappropriate emotional response was the stop on Chorzak’s tour at The Chamber. Sol stepped inside trying to pretend to see it for the first time, but his breath caught in his throat when he saw the portrait hanging on the west wall.
    Chorzak had been prattling away when he noticed that Sol had stopped. He turned to see what had grabbed the attention of Big Boss.
    “That’s a picture of the last Sovereign.”
    “Oh?” Sol said simply as he started moving toward it.
    “Yeah. Everybody around here thought he was the sh…, um, thought he was the best.”
    Sol smirked down at Chorzak. “Did they now?”
    “Yep. I’m afraid you got big shoes to fill, sir.”
    “Watch the impertinence, Mr. Chorzak.”
    Spaz stood up a little straighter. “Yes, sir.”
    Sol kept going until he was close enough to read the plaque.
     
    In honor of
    Solomon Neuhm Neme miah
    Jefferson Unit Sovereign
    and Distinguished Knight
    The Order of the Black Swan
     
    “The Lady Laiken… She’s our martial arts teacher? She had the portrait done by the same guy who paints the heroes. I guess she’s the one that decided what the words should say.”
    “The one who decided.”
    “Sir?”
    “She isn’t the one that decided. She’s the one who decided.”
    “Yes, sir.”
     
     
    Thinking through how he would handle things if he was new to J.U. and had never held the job of Sovereign before, Sol decided he would want to brain pick the people who had done the job previously. So he called a meeting with Storm and Glen for the dinner hours that very night. Exercising one of his brand new privileges, he had the club lounge closed and had Crisp deliver dinner for three where they could dine and talk privately away from curious, prying eyes and ears.
    At several points in the conversation he pressed his lips