“Kazryth,” she whispered. “People will see.”
One side of his mouth lifted in a crooked smile. “We will scandal the Suralians.”
“Scandalize them.”
“Yes,” he said, and dipped his head toward hers.
She stopped him by laying a finger across his lips. “Not here.”
* * *
A Latin lover. Laura lifted her arms up and out in a languorous stretch. Dark, and oh so very passionate. One kiss had led to another, and ... oh yes, he was passionate.
She relaxed and settled back on Kazryth’s hips, gazing down at him. She shouldn’t call him a Latin lover; he looked more like a North American aboriginal. Lying on her sleeping mat, he stroked her arms with his fingertips, his eyes closed, his lips curved in a gentle smile. She leaned down to brush her lips over his. His arms went around her shoulders as he returned the kiss. Then he smiled more broadly and opened his eyes.
Her stomach clenched. There was so much warmth in his gaze it took her breath away. She ran a finger down his jawline, wondering how he had learned to make love like that. Then again, maybe it was the fruit of long experience. It was impossible to tell how old a Tolari was.
“Marianne told me that it’s rude to ask,” she said, “but ... how old are you?”
He chuckled. “I have 130 years.”
“That’s—”
He stared past her for a moment. “It is 263 Earth years.”
“Oh my!”
A mischievous glint sparkled in his eyes. “How old are you?”
She pursed her lips in mock-offense. “It’s not nice to ask a lady her age,” she scolded, unable to stop herself from giggling. “Sixty.” She felt suddenly shy. “You make me feel like a child.”
“You have twenty-nine Tolari years. You are but a child.”
She sputtered a little and screwed her face into a pretend scowl.
He laughed. “I tease you.” She giggled and rolled off him to snuggle against his shoulder. A contented purr rumbled through his chest. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Spend time with me.”
“I am spending time with you.” She nuzzled the soft skin of his neck.
He was silent a moment, seeming to think. “The meaning is different in your language. I mean that I want to … make time to know your mind as well as your heart, but … I cannot stay here. Will you come with me to Parania?”
“I love to travel.” She looked up at him. There was an unspoken plea in his eyes. “Oh, you mean – to stay?”
“Perhaps call it a visit. I want to spend more time with you, and ... it is the only way.”
“All the friends I have left are here.” She sighed. “I used to have so many friends.” Pangs of loss pierced her.
He turned onto his side to face her. “What happened?”
“Central Command happened,” she said, making a sour face. “My husband made a mistake and got himself killed, and then Central Command used me to try to abduct Marianne.”
He frowned. “Abduct?” he asked.
“Kidnap.”
“I do not know this word too.”
“Um,” she said, thinking. “Central Command tried to take Marianne away from Tolar against her will.”
His face cleared, but then he frowned. “It is dishonorable to ... kidnap ... the bond-partner of an ally.”
“We’re not all like that.”
“No.” The warm smile was back. He laid a hand along her face. “Your heart is...” He stopped, seeming to look for a word. “I must learn more of your language.”
“It’s not just my body you like?” she asked, turning into his hand to kiss the palm.
He laughed and pulled her against him. “No,” he said. “Your heart is … your heart is a garden. And I can feel that I help your grief.” He paused to gaze at her. “Spend time with me. Come to Parania.”
“But my friends—”
“Suralia is ally with Parania,” he said. “You can return, any time. You can talk with the Marann, any time. But I hope ... I hope you will find new friends in my province. I hope you will not be lonely, being with me.”
She hesitated. “Let me think about it? I need a little time.”
“Of course, my love.” He kissed her again.
Chapter Fifteen
“Where did Kazryth and Laura go?” Marianne asked, as she and the Sural wandered through the Paranian exhibits. “Laura was interested in one of the evening sessions. It’s starting.”
The Sural pulled his tablet from a pocket. As he gazed at it, his mouth twitched. “They are in Laura’s quarters,” he replied, replacing it in his robe. “It would be ... inopportune ... to interrupt them.”
Marianne blushed. “Well,” she said. Then she frowned. “Do you know everything that happens in this place?”
His answering smile was crooked. “I am the Sural.”
Her lips pursed as if she’d bitten a lemon. “Well,” she said. “At least you don’t have to check your tablet to find out who I’m sleeping with.”
He stifled a snort. “They are not sleeping.”
She coughed, her face growing hotter. “Maybe you shouldn’t let on to Laura that you know when she’s ... um ... with someone,” she added. “Women like her just don’t talk about that sort of thing.”
“Neither do you.”
“Sometimes I do!”
“Not often. You would be lying to say you are frank about intimate matters.”
She grumbled. “Anyway, she’d be horrified if she knew that we knew what she’s doing right now. For the past fifty years or so, the aristocracy has been looking and acting like Old Regency England all over again – lots of uninhibited behavior behind closed doors, but pretend it never happens and no matter what, don’t ever talk about it. She knows she’s watched, but it’s better if she’s blissfully unaware of the level of scrutiny in this place.”
He chuckled. “Very well, beloved.”
* * *
“I am hungry, my love,” Kazryth said. “Do you want food?”
“Mm,” Laura replied, rolling and stretching. “A little.”
He sat up and admired her. “Come,” he said, as he stood and headed for the bathing area. “Join me.”
He ran some water, beckoning to her. She came over and splashed at him, making a game of it. When they were clean enough to satisfy his sensibilities, he caught her in a sound kiss.
“You are happy,” he said.
He looked so pleased, a glad smile on his face, his eyes shining, that she sighed and put her arms around his neck. “Yes, I think I am,” she said. “It feels strange, so soon after losing John.”
He gave her another kiss, more tender this time, before drying off to don the fresh robe the servants had laid out for him. She followed him into her sitting room and watched, fascinated, as a servant brushed and knotted his long hair. It fell below his knees.
“Don’t you people ever cut your hair?” she asked.
He straightened, eyes wide in surprise. “Cut my hair? Why?”
“To keep it out of the way.”
“It does not impede me,” he said as the servant finished her work and left. He jumped, somersaulting over Laura’s head. “You see? It is ‘out of the way.’”
Laura stared at him, wide-eyed. He vaulted over her head again and twisted to land facing her, grinning. “You enjoy my skill?”
She nodded, glad the ceiling was high enough for his acrobatics. “No wonder you’re so lean.”
“All the ruling caste must learn this skill, and all their guards too,” he told her. “But come,” he added, offering her his arm. “I am hungry, and you have eaten little today. There will be food in the refectory.”
The refectory proved to be deserted, which suited Laura; being alone with Kazryth was more to her liking. Trenchers of food sat on the long tables next to the kitchens. She pulled her food scanner out of a pocket and double-checked what she took, though by now she was all too familiar with the small list of items that were safe for her
to eat.
“You are scanning the food?” Kazryth asked, after they settled themselves at the high table and began eating.
“Yes,” she answered. “Most of the food here is poisonous to me.”
“Poisonous?” he asked, brows knitted and dark eyes full of concern. “How many of our foods can you eat?”
“Some fruits, some grains. It’s not much. The Sural’s apothecaries make supplements for me so I can stay healthy.”
“I must speak with them,” he murmured, almost to himself. “I do not want you to take harm if you come to Parania.”
“Oh.” She looked down at her food with a frown, thinking hard. Then she looked up again. “Does Parania have different foods than Suralia?”
“Yes, we have much variety. Parania is warm all year, and we grow more food than we need.”
Her frown deepened. There were more foods, so ... maybe there were more that she could eat. After — two months? — of eating the same ten foods, it would be nice to have something different, even if it set her mouth on fire. Marianne had told her the grain in Suralia was full of the same stuff that made Earth’s hot peppers spicy. She expected it was the same in Parania.
“There you are!” Marianne’s voice came from the doorway. She and the Sural strolled in, each taking some tea before seating themselves at the high table. Marianne’s eyes twinkled with mischief over her tea mug. “You missed the evening art session you were planning to attend.”
Annoyance welled up; she didn’t feel like being teased. Being with Kazryth made her happier than she’d hoped she could ever be again after losing John. “I forgot,” she said, a deliberate lie. Kazryth went still beside her, his eyebrows flying up.
The Sural touched Marianne’s wrist. She cleared her throat, and the look in her eyes turned sheepish. “So. What are your plans for tomorrow?”
Spend the day with Kazryth, she thought. And the next day as well. And maybe the next day if his duties in Parania weren’t urgent, but then ... but then he would be gone, and she’d be missing him as well as John. No, she decided. It wasn’t going to be that way. Nothing but the fear of being friendless kept her in Suralia.
“I’ve decided something,” she said. “Kazryth and I want to spend a little more time getting to know each other, but he can’t stay here, so,” she took a breath, “I’m going to Parania with him. I think it’s only fair to tell you first.” She took another, deeper breath and turned to the Sural. “I know you Tolari rulers don’t like to share your precious secrets, but please tell Kazryth whatever he needs to know so I won’t get sick or poisoned.”
The Sural raised an eyebrow and gave her an appraising look. After a moment, he gave Kazryth the same appraisal. “Very well,” he replied, nodding. “I will see to it.”
“Thank you.”
Kazryth squeezed her hand, his face aglow. She smiled back. His happiness was contagious.
“Laura,” Marianne said, looking taken aback and sounding a little pained. “This is so sudden. Are you sure? How long are you going to be there?”
Laura glanced at Kazryth, then back at Marianne. “I don’t know. The invitation is open-ended. But it’s not like I can’t come back, is it?”
“You are always welcome in Suralia and in my stronghold,” the Sural said.
“Well then,” she said. “That’s settled.” She turned her attention back to her food.
Kazryth chuckled. “My love,” he murmured, “I must speak with the Sural.”
Her mouth full, she made a shooing motion with her fingers and nodded. The Sural cocked an eyebrow at her Tolari prince.
“A delicate matter, dear one,” Kazryth added. “Perhaps your study?”
Laura swallowed. “I’ll be upstairs when I finish. Probably.”
* * *
This should be interesting, Marianne thought, as the Sural beckoned to her and to the Paranian heir, leading the way to his closed study off the audience room – the one where he couldn’t be interrupted without good reason. Seating himself at his desk, he motioned to the chairs opposite. “Speak,” he said.
Kazryth took a seat, his face impassive. “When I arrived here yesterday, I sensed ... shock and ill-will,” he said. “May I conclude that the Parania my mother has offended you?”
Marianne shot a look at the Sural, who merely raised an eyebrow. “No,” he said. “But to explain, I will need to disclose information the Parania clearly does not want you to know.”
Kazryth paused, seeming to ponder that possibility. “In truth, I have been ruling in her name for a number of years. Of late … I am uncertain she has the capacity to determine if you give me information she has withheld from me.”
The Sural stared at him. Marianne looked from one to the other, wondering what her bond-partner would choose to reveal. “Before you were born,” he said, finally, “your mother and my father were entwined.”
Kazryth’s eyes widened. “I know the man who fathered me was not Paranian and that his genetic profile was therefore not in our archives. The Parania my mother has never revealed his identity to me. You are saying he was your father?”
“Yes. Your physical resemblance to my father goes beyond mere coincidence. You even sound like him and move like him – and you are also a poet, like him. I have little doubt that Kazryn fathered you.”
Kazryth’s brows shot up. “His name was Kazryn?”
“Your mother appears to have named you for him.”
Kazryth leaned back in his chair, staring out the windows behind the Sural, rubbing his chin. Marianne blinked. The gesture mirrored the one the Sural used when deep in thought.
“You understand our shock?” the Sural asked. “It nearly killed the oldest of my close advisors to see you. Thinking the Parania to be in good health, we could only speculate that her motives were less than friendly. She has had, after all, 130 years to inform me that she conceived a child of my father ... and failed to do so.”
“I cannot see how Kazryn could have fathered me,” Kazryth said, shaking his head. “The Paran my grandfather killed him and was killed by you in turn. Then my mother assumed the leadership of our province and was summoned to the Jorann. They cannot have met.”
“Ah. She did not tell you she came to Suralia as ambassador for Parania the day prior to your grandfather’s attack. That night, she shared her blanket with my father.”
“Before the attack?”
“Indeed. After I defeated the Paran, she offered me her life, though I could not know she was increasing. She risked her life – and yours – that I would spare her. But with her father dead on the dais in the audience room, she threw herself on Kazryn’s body and wept. I could not bear to execute her and end Parania’s bloodline, after witnessing that.” He fell silent, his fingers steepled in front of him, studying Kazryth.
The Paranian was silent. After a time, he said, “My mother has been dying from my earliest memory. I now understand why. You have honored me, Suralia.” He stood and moved in front of the Sural’s desk. “Mother has little time left, and I will soon rule Parania in my own right. I intend to strengthen our ties to Suralia, if you will have it.” He slowly opened both palms and extended his right arm.
The Sural stood and clasped Kazryth’s forearm with a warm smile. “I look forward to negotiating with your heir,” he said. “I have heard she is quite astute.”
Marianne’s eyes filled. Brothers. A lump grew in her throat as the Sural nodded a dismissal, and Kazryth left – seeking out Laura, no doubt.
“Does something trouble you, beloved?” the Sural asked, moving around his desk toward her.
“No,” she said, embarrassed by the upwelling of emotion. “That was just so beautiful. You’re brothers.” She said the word, slowly, in a dozen languages of Earth.
He grunted a little. “A human concept.”
“It’s a biological concept.”
He stifled another grunt and offered her his arm. “Do you have your library tablet with you? I have in mind to copy it.”
Kazryth searched the top floor of the stronghold after finding the refectory empty. Laura was nowhere to be seen among those wandering through the art. He lingered over a few of the more beautiful of the modern Suralian paintings, then shook himself and headed for her quarters.
He slowed his pace as he approached the door to her suite, an idea forming in his mind. He had read that humans, sense-blind as they were, announced themselves to each other by tapping on doors. Would Laura be pleased if he declared his presence in that manner?
He wouldn’t know unless he tried.
With a gesture, he stopped the camouflaged guard from opening the door for him and gave the smooth wood an experimental rap with his knuckles. A surge of surprise burst from within the room, bringing a smile to his lips unbidden. It had been a good idea. The door flew open to reveal an astonished Laura, eyes as wide as moons, brows lifted high, lips parted.
“Kazryth!” she blurted.
He bowed.
“No one knocks on this planet,” she said, moving aside to let him enter. “Everyone just barges in.”
“I am pleased to be first,” he replied, as he went past into her sitting room. When she had closed the door, he caught her up in his arms and spun her around.
She shrieked and giggled, throwing her arms around his neck.
“Do you truly wish to come with me?” he asked. He ran his hands through her hair and leaned his forehead against hers. “You said nothing before you told the Sural and the Marann. Are you certain?”
She buried her face in his shoulder, nodding. “You knew I was lying when I said I forgot about the workshop, didn’t you?”
“I did wonder.”
“I thought Marianne was getting ready to tease me, and I didn’t want to be teased about you. But then I realized if I don’t go with you, I was going to miss you, and was going to be even harder to face each day here alone. Waking up alone. Eating every meal with the Sural. Sometimes it’s hard to see the man who killed my husband, every day.”
“My heart—” He searched his memory for the human expression. “I am very sorry for your loss.”
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