"I have something for you," Jupiter whispered into Caine's skin. The sound that he made as she pressed kiss after kiss up his spine and between his wings was non-committal. She smiled against him, throwing one arm over his waist as she lifted herself up to rest on her elbow.

"It's in the nightstand drawer."

He answered with another moan, this one with a little more curiosity than dazed post-sex euphoria.

"You got me something?"

"MmmmHmmm," she nuzzled the curve of his neck where it joins his shoulder, and breathed in deeply. He always smelled so good.

He pulled himself into a sitting position as he reached to open the drawer. Jupiter, a little put out at the loss of contact, made up for it by snuggling into his side and placing her head in his lap. Caine pressed his hand into her hair and threaded his fingers through its length. She waited.

The envelope that he pulled from the drawer was made of real paper, though Jupiter knew that a sheave with the same information was still tucked away in the drawer. Caine pulled his hand away and she could hear the crinkling of paper as he unfolded it.

When she felt him stiffen beneath her she knew that the time for languid lounging had passed. He wasn't going to take her gift without a full conversation.

"Your Majesty, what is this?" His voice was tentative and filled with mixed emotions. For once she wished he'd just be happy with something instead of worrying about the ramifications of every little step she made.

"What does it look like?"

"It looks like… my contract." Jupiter sat up and pulled the sheet around her.

"It's hard, dealing with the Legion. They're a tough nut to crack, but I managed to get it and their promise, in writing, that you could rejoin under your own contract with them. They can't sell it or move you or anything." His face was hard to read, like a mask that he sometimes put up when he didn't know how to deal with an emotion properly.

"How… how did you… Your Majesty, this isn't done." His brows had drawn together as he spoke, concern for her evident there.

"This isn't about me. This is about you. I'm giving you your freedom, Caine. No one can make you do anything you don't want to." He still looked like he was going to turn her down, give it back, so she continued.

"This is a royal gift, you can't turn it away or take it back."

"I don't know what to say."

"Thank you would be nice," Jupiter leaned toward him and pressed her lips against his.

"Your Majesty," he returned her kiss with a heated one of his own. His tongue invaded her mouth and they danced with each other. Fingers skimmed along skin and soon she was in his lap, papers scattered on the floor and he was touching her everywhere. Showing her his thankfulness in the only way he knew how.

Later that morning Stinger was having a very similar, but different, reaction.

"You can't just keep going around the Gyre buying up contracts and selling them to their Splices."

"I can, and I will. This isn't about money, it's about Freedom." Jupiter really couldn't understand how a gift like this could cause such a reaction from the both of them. "I'm giving people their freedom to control their own lives!"

Stinger seemed to have understood her distress because he sat down at her kitchen table opposite her. "Your Majesty, this is an amazing thing that you've done for me, and I appreciate it more than you can imagine, but Splices are as much of a way of life here as ReGenEx. It's a huge industry that is filled with people willing to do what they can to make sure it stays that way. I'm just concerned about this becoming something too big."

His face was etched with concern, though she could see happiness and pride shining in the depths of his flashing eyes.

"Well," she said as she got up to go over to the stove, "I've got to keep you on your toes somehow." She fished a pan out of the cupboard and went to get some eggs from the fridge. "Who wants breakfast?"

The news that the Recurrence of Seraphi Abrasax, Queen Jupiter Jones had purchased the contract of her consort, one Caine Wise, and gifted him control of it spread like wild fire. Jupiter herself was surprised at how the information got out. She had taken pains to hide it from both Caine and Stinger until it was finalized, which she'd assumed would mean that it would stay hidden from everyone else.

But, as Kiva had told her, there were spies everywhere. Especially on Orous.

"I knew this was a bad idea," Stinger said to the room in general. They were all congregated in the living room of Jupiter's alcazar, which was just a large farmhouse with five bedrooms just down the street from Stinger's. Somehow Cara, a birdlike Splice with brown coloring and a beak like mouth, had figured out how to get space television on their TV set.

On the screen was a candid shot of her and Caine standing outside a restaurant. They were leaning in close, their mouths inches apart, Caine's wings poised to come between them and prying eyes. Two of her Skyjacker Honor Guard stood close by, nearly cropped out of the image. An anchorman, this one a full human with some cybernetic enhancements, was droning on in the background.

"Her Majesty Jupiter Jones of House Abrasax, who has been the highlight of the gossip and news columns for her stance on Harvesting and her choice of consort has upped her game in the Splice Rights campaign. Though not officially affiliated, she has been upheld by the Splice Advocates as the picture of everything that they stand for. Today we received news that not only has she purchased her consorts contract and gifted it to him with all the power behind the First Estate, but she has been changing the status quo on how Splices are treated in other parts of her life. All of the Splices in Her Majesty's employ have been sold their own contracts for a pittance and it seems that the trend is catching. Just yesterday another Entitled, Duchess…"

The set clicked off.

"This is going to be a bad day. I can feel it." Stinger said. Caine lifted a reassuring hand to Jupiter's and she squeezed his fingers.

"It's not that bad." This time even Caine shot her a look. "Ok, so it's not great, security wise, but it's wonderful otherwise."

Kiza saved her by calling everyone to dinner. Kiza and Jupiter carried the conversation across the table talking about movies and music and television. Caine sat silently beside her, eating his food with gusto. Kiza was an amazing cook.

Jupiter was in the backyard when Caine came to find her. She'd started a fire. She felt his presence but didn't turn, instead he came up behind her slipping his arms, then his wings around her.

"What are you thinking, Your Majesty?"

"Hmmm… nothing. Just thinking." Jupiter leaned into him. Let herself fall into his embrace, her head on his shoulder, and lifted her arms to hold his close to her. "It's been a year, you know. Tomorrow."

He chuckled and squeezed her tighter and they stood like that for a long moment, thinking about the past year. There had been some massive changes to Jupiter's life. She'd moved out of her family home on the pretense that she was moving in with her boyfriend, Caine. Which wasn't exactly a lie, Caine lived with her in every sense of the word, so did nine other Skyjackers, and Cara, and Kiza and Stinger half the time… She'd also told them that she'd gotten a new job as an au pair for a couple who lived in the city.

She had made major headway, and even some Allies, in the fight against Harvests and in the development of a new agent to replace ReGenEx. And she'd begun her own personal campaign to give freedom to all of the Splices that she'd known and come into contact with.

Now others were doing the same thing, following suit. This was what was worrying Caine and Stinger, the idea of a backlash from her going against the Status Quo as far as Splices were concerned. What if someone felt threatened by her? She shoved it out of her mind. It was worth it, to give people their lives back.

"Do you regret it?" She'd almost forgotten that he was there, except for the warmth radiating from him and his arms around hers. Jupiter turned in his embrace, his wings had gone back to spread wide at some point, and looked up into his face.

"Not one second of it."

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead before letting her go. "What would Her Majesty like to do?"

"Let's just sit-" Faster than she could react Caine was tucking her back behind his person, his shield up. Two Skyjackers fell from the sky to land on either side of them as bullets or plasma beams or lasers or whatever it was scorched a path in their direction. Mahsma landed on her right; a big tall bearded Lion Splice with wicked looking claws at the end of his fingers. On her left was Jane, a female Splice of some kind that Jupiter didn't know and wasn't keen on asking. She was mostly blue, with fur all over her body. The three of them formed a walled barrier in front of her.

Jupiter took off toward the house and Stinger, leaving them to it. Stinger came out of the back door just as she reached it. "Tear down my house they'll have to come and see me." Jupiter said to herself. Wisely he headed off into the wheat fields.

Inside Jupiter was met with yet another of her two Skyjackers, Zleda and Mickey, a male and female species of alien that she wasn't sure of and, again, felt it was too rude to ask. She just figured that eventually they'd tell her if they wanted her to know. They had dark nearly black skin and dark red eyes, fangs and long white hair. They were nearly identical except for the subtle change in face shape and accessories that they wore.

She heard the thrill of the rest of her Squad joining the battle and knew that they were doing their best to keep her safe. Zelda and Mickey ushered her and Kiza into the bathroom at the bottom of the stairs. It had no windows and was an easily defensible spot. It was also where you were supposed to go during hurricanes and tornados.