The Nine Realms of the Uti I: Warrior Prince

by Kaitlyn O’Connor

  And stunned by the thing that had brought him to Lauren’s homeland.

  And his gut was still twisted in knots from his fear that she would die—that she might still die when he had done all that he could to save her.

  A knot formed in his throat that he refused to acknowledge, couldn’t swallow past for several moments. Finally, unable to find his voice, he merely nodded.

  “We’re moving her to her place. You’re her guest. You should come. You’ll be able to keep an eye on her.”

  Rama nodded again. He had no intention of letting her out of his sight.

  They drew a great many stares as they moved out of the building and into the sunlight. Rama did his best to ignore them, but it was impossible to block it out completely, even with his anxiety for Lauren’s welfare at the forefront of his mind.

  This was what it had been like for Lauren, he thought.

  She had been the stranger in his kingdom who had been stared at—with curiosity and animosity and, he knew, fear, as well.

  Well, he knew his people feared her.

  They had called her a witch and he had no doubt that had made Lauren fearful. She was too clever not to know that it was a dangerous thing for people to believe about her.

  He just had not realized until he had arrived in her land how very brave she was that she had willingly come to him when her world was so very different from his. To be alone and surrounded by strangers who were completely different took more courage than he had imagined.

  ‘Her place’ it transpired was about the same size as his bedroom. It was crowded once the walking bed had made its way inside and he and the medic followed.

  “We gave her something to make her sleep while her body heals itself. You should probably take advantage of the break and get some sleep yourself. You look like you need it.”

  Rama nodded, but he had no intention of sleeping until he knew Lauren was alright.

  Unfortunately, he ran out of willpower and steam almost the moment he sat down on Lauren’s bed. Late afternoon sunlight was streaming into the room when he opened his eyes again.

  But his consternation vanished when he discovered that Lauren was awake and watching him.

  He sat up, scrubbing his hands over his face to banish the dregs of sleep.

  “You saved me.”

  He lowered his hands to study her and grimaced. “I did nothing but bring you home.”

  “I would’ve died if you hadn’t. I didn’t have the strength to use the pad myself or I would have.”

  He looked down at his hands. “I am more sorry than I can say that you were attacked in my home.”

  Lauren swallowed with an effort. “It was meant for you. If I hadn’t helped myself I wouldn’t have been poisoned. I’m glad I’m alive, but … if it had happened the other way around I don’t know that I could’ve dragged you up those stairs to the pad and gotten you here. Mind you, I would have tried my very best ….”

  The images that speech gave rise to were amusing even under the circumstances. “I confess, I cannot imagine that you could carry me—without one of those things, at any rate.”

  Lauren looked down at the ‘table’ she was lying on and shrugged. “It’s a … machine. This one is made to carry things.”

  Rama nodded but, truthfully, he was not particularly interested. “You are better? I mean I can see that you feel better, but the poison?”

  Frowning, Lauren spoke in her language—apparently to the thing she was lying on. It responded in the same tongue. And he realized it was the ‘headless’ thing he had seen so long ago.

  Lauren addressed him after a moment. “According to my medical chart, yes. I’ll still be feeling some of the after effects for a while, but I’m past danger.”

  Nodding, Rama pushed himself up. He reached for her hand. Lifting it, he kissed the back. “I must go. I have … things that require my attention.”

  Lauren struggled with a sudden urge to cry, forcing a smile she feared looked as heartsick as it felt. “Of course. You should eat something before you go, though? Please? It’s the least I can do. And you look so tired … still.”

  He scrubbed a hand over the stubble on his cheeks, grinning at her wryly. “I must look like hell. You are the second person to tell me that.”

  Lauren couldn’t help the snicker that escaped her. “You do not!” she protested. “You are the most beautiful man I’ve met in my life. You just look … sexier when you look rugged.”

  Rama blushed so hard she had to fight the urge to kiss him.

  Then again, she had only to sit up to realize that she wasn’t nearly as well as she’d felt while she was lying down. A wave of dizziness instantly assailed her.

  “But I know you can’t be comfortable. If you’d like to wash up, the bath is just there. There are sensors to control the water—so it isn’t nearly as nice as what you’re used to,” she said apologetically. “I’ll fix you something to eat while you get cleaned up.”

  Rama hesitated, but the truth was he was wrung out. If he met up with an enemy before he met up with his men there would not be much of a contest. He didn’t think the bath would help as much as the food, but it would certainly help the smell, he thought with self-depreciating amusement.

  Except he had no change of clothing.

  Lauren took them to ‘freshen’ them while he bathed.

  He glared at her and ordered her back to bed. “I am completely capable of taking care of myself,” he growled.

  Lauren smiled at him with an effort. “Don’t say that! It takes all the fun out of taking care of you. I like to feel needed, too.”

  He sent her a strange look, but the door closed behind him as soon as he stepped through and, shrugging, he stepped into the only thing that looked like it might be for bathing. Water came on immediately, startling the hell out of him. And then went off the moment he reached for soap.

  He debated whether it was even wise to soap up under the circumstances but finally decided he could wipe it off with a towel if he couldn’t get the water to come on again.

  Thankfully, as soon as he set the soapy cloth down, the water came on again, rinsed the soap away and then went off again.

  “My bath is far better,” he muttered as he got out. At least he could soak until the soreness left his muscles!

  And it was a more comfortable fit, as well. He barely had room to turn around in Lauren’s bathing chamber.

  He didn’t see a towel for drying but the moment he stepped out of the cubicle, warm air blasted him dry—well, mostly dry.

  When he finally figured out how to get the door open—walk toward it until he was in danger of flattening himself against it—he discovered that Lauren had made food and cleaned his clothing and returned to the bed—this time her bed. The walking thing was gone, he saw to his relief.

  The food was strange to him, but hot and filling and he had certainly eaten far worse.

  Lauren seemed content to sip on some sort of hot liquid.

  He frowned his disapproval, but he kept his opinion to himself.

  When he’d finished the plate of food she’d left for him on a small table, he crossed the tiny room and settled his rump on the edge of her bed. “I must go,” he murmured, taking her hand in his.

  Lauren nodded. “I know.” She chewed her lip, wrestling with the urge to tell him she didn’t want him to go.

  He lifted her hand to his lips. “I will return for you,” he said gruffly.

  Lauren felt as if she’d been punched in the chest. “You will?” she gasped breathlessly.

  He scanned her face with his gaze. “Tell me you do not want that, that you mean to stay with your master, and I will stay away.”

  Lauren gaped at him, completely unable to translate ‘master’ for many moments, struggling with ‘the prime directive’ which stated that they were not to interfere with the natives of other worlds.

  She couldn’t. She just couldn’t do it. A hard knot of misery formed in her throat. “I … I … can’t …
.”

  His face hardened for a moment, but then the anger eased and determination took its place. “I will do what I must. You are mine and you know that as well as I do.”

  Lauren didn’t know if she was more thrilled or horrified by the statement, but by the time he had finished kissing her stupid she couldn’t find words to express how thrilled she was that he felt those things.

  He paused at her door and turned to look back at her.

  Lauren managed to pull herself together. “Rama?”

  He lifted his brows questioningly.

  She swallowed, struggling with the urge and finally gave up. “I love you. Be careful.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Greetings, Sire! I am Alf. I have been sent to escort you to where ever you wish to go.”

  Rama halted in his tracks, staring at the thing that had greeted him the moment he had stepped out of Lauren’s tiny little home. He had seen the creature before, or one much like it, but not as close and it had certainly not spoken to him.

  It was armored, but from what he could see of it, the torso was much like the Uti in size and shape—two arms, two hands, a head and torso. Below that, where there should have been hips and legs, the being had … well it was made more like a table with a wheel attached to each of its four legs.

  It did not look … natural.

  He looked around, unconvinced that it was speaking directly to him. “You are speaking to me?”

  The head tilted forward and back in what might have been a nod or might have been intended as a bow. “Yes, Sire. I was sent to help you find your way around since you are not familiar with the colony.”

  Rama hesitated, struggling with resentment when it occurred to him that he was a watchdog, but he could hardly quibble, he realized, when he had had Lauren followed at any time she left his quarters and watched.

  Well, he could and did, but his sense of fair play tamped his resentment.

  That and the fact that it occurred to him that he actually did not know how to leave. He had arrived in a flash of light and he had no desire to leave the same way.

  Beyond that, he did not feel that his business was so urgent that he should wait to speak for Lauren. “Very well. I wish to speak to your king.”

  The creature stared at him, making several whirring, squeaking noises, but no voice emerged and Rama had just decided something was wrong with it when it finally responded. “We do not have a king in the colony. We have a governor who has been elected to manage the workings of the colony. Would you like to speak to Governor Lyle Brunswick? What business is this in regards to?”

  Rama was outraged. He was a king. He was not accustomed to begging an audience and having to explain himself.

  “I detect anger in your expression.”

  Rama narrowed his eyes at the creature. “You are very perceptive,” he growled.

  “I beg pardon if I seemed disrespectful, Sire,” Alf said in much the same singsong voice he used for everything he said—with little inflection to suggest that he was the least bit regretful. Before Rama could take exception to that, however, he spoke again. “Governor Brunswick has expressed a desire to speak with you, as well. He has directed me to walk you to the State building where he will meet with you.”

  Rama was somewhat appeased, reminding himself that he had always thought the star people were strange—polite enough on the surface. At times exquisitely polite in a way that made them seem just the opposite. At times simply confused at the reaction they got when they were, apparently, unintentionally insulting.

  He found Lauren’s strangeness charming and amusing.

  He did not feel the same way or even close about their strangeness.

  “The State building was erected at the center of this first colony city of Zeus,” Alf explained, following the narrow strip of stone to a wider one that ran parallel to a stone road.

  Rama paused at the road and glanced back at Lauren’s home.

  That was when he discovered that it was virtually identical to the homes on either side and in both directions as far as he could see. He glanced back and forth, trying to find an identifying mark of some sort and finally realized that there were strange markings beside her door that were unique. He stared hard at the symbols, trying to memorize them.

  “One thirty four,” Alf said.

  “What?”

  “Her house number. One thirty four. Each has a number. Of course, it isn’t actually one thirty four in the sense that there are that many on this street—which, by the way, is Uti Way—but that is how you will find her again. She lives at one thirty four Uti Way and she works at the lab at the med center—when she is able to work. And not on assignment … elsewhere.”

  Rama stared at the thing. “What are you?”

  “I am Alf.”

  Rama had the sense that the damned creature was hedging. It did not appear too stupid to understand the question. He tried again. “You are not from the same tribe as Lauren.”

  “No. I am not.” Alf paused. “I have been informed that the governor has arrived at the State house and is waiting. I have informed him that we are still ten minutes away. But it will be more than that if we do not start to walk.”

  The governor looked nothing like Alf—nor Lauren. His skin was very dark, but he did not have the blue tint that the Darklings’ skin had.

  He smiled broadly, extending a hand. “I’m Governor Brunswick, Sire. What can I do for you?”

  Rama stared down at the hand. It was extended so that it was halfway between palm up and palm down. Open. He frowned and finally mimicked the gesture. The man clasped his hand and squeezed it. Then his smile vanished and he assumed a serious expression. “I am informed that Lauren is recovering. It was … deeply disturbing to hear that she had been poisoned. This was … an accident?”

  Rama’s face hardened. “It was no accident. But you may be certain that the would-be assassin and any accomplices will be dealt with promptly and permanently—if that is not done already.”

  The governor looked uncomfortable, but he gestured toward a chair. “Then we may assume that you are willing to talk to us regarding an alliance?”

  “You may certainly assume that,” Rama responded when he had sat in the chair. “I have come to negotiate an agreement regarding Lauren.”

  The governor’s brows rose almost to his hairline. “What sort of agreement?” he asked, clearly confused.

  Rama was very rarely uncomfortable, but he had never negotiated a mating alliance for himself. He dismissed it. There was always a first time with everything and the gods willing, this would also be the last. “In the short time that she was with us, I have come to hold Lauren in the highest regard. I believe a mating alliance between my house and yours will be the best way to form a strong and lasting bond.”

  Lyle Brunswick stared at him, trying to absorb what he had just been told. He thought for a handful of moments that, perhaps, he had misunderstood. He accounted himself fluent in the native dialects, but then he had no practical experience with the usage since this was the first time he had ever spoken to a native in conversation. “Ah … you are suggesting a desire to enter into a contract for the purpose of producing a family?”

  Rama nodded, feeling his pulse leap at the suggestion.

  He realized he had not really thought beyond the fear of losing Lauren forever, but it was no sooner voiced than he realized that was exactly what he meant.

  He would settle for a political alliance as his advisors had been trying to convince him to do for many years, but the truth was that he wanted to make a family with Lauren.

  “That is exactly my desire. What would you ask in return?”

  Brunswick went back to staring at him blankly while he struggled to recall the mating practices of the Uti tribes and tried to decide the most delicate way to handle negotiations for an agreement that he was in no position to make.

  The last question stopped him in his tracks, however.

  It was an offer of tit for
tat.

  A favor he could not legally extend for something he needed pretty badly. “Ah. Well, this would be something that will directly impact Dr. McCall and we will have to wait until she is … uh … closer to well to initiate talks. However ….” He hesitated, feeling a spurt of terror that he was walking on thin ice and might be making a serious political mistake. “Well, it is our custom,” he continued after a moment, “to … uh … run blood tests before we consider whether a union will work or not. If you would just allow the staff at the med center to take a little blood for testing …?”

  Rama was taken aback. “Take blood?”

  “For testing. We could make certain that you two were compatible for producing a family.” Brunswick could feel sweat forming on his brow, but he was too excited about the prospect that had landed in their laps to stop to reconsider.

  “How much?”

  Brunswick blinked at him, struggling with the question—because his mind instantly leapt to price, not quantity.

  And of course, it was priceless to them. He had antibodies for the disease. Just one contribution from King Rama would be enough to make a vaccine and save their people—theoretically, at least. They had been having some difficulties with the genetic differences between the races.

  “It is only a sample,” he answered finally. “It will not be enough to cause you any serious problems. And then, since we are soon to the allies, I could furnish you with an armed escort to return to your realm. Unless, of course, you would prefer the particle transport?”

  “Particle transport? This is how I came?”

  “Yes. Very fast.”

  “Then no. I have no desire to travel that way again.” He paused, inclined to turn down the other offer, as well, but it would certainly not be safe to travel without an armed escort under the circumstances. To say nothing of the fact that he had no beast to transport him. “I will go to the medic and give blood and then I will accept your offer of an escort with thanks.”

  * * * *

  The beast they gave Rama to ride was the stuff of nightmares.