Materfamilias

by Wendie Nordgren

  Sparrow reached into the box and took one. Then, Xavier quickly carried her away, but several pairs of male eyes hungrily watched her departure.

  “Okay, Cormac. I forgive you. Will you take that to my ladies? Unlike a certain someone, I’ll share.” Taking Yukihyo’s arm, I said, “She ate them all. How long before we get to Aurilius?”

  I heard angry grumblings from a few males. Dario interceded. In a frightening tone, which he never used with me, he announced, “You will not interfere. She will have everything my child demands of her, and we will go wherever we must to meet her needs. If you or anyone else gets in our way, your ships and crews will be dust.” His voice vibrated with quiet rage. It got me excited.

  “Oh, Dario,” I called sweetly.

  Dutifully, he followed.

  A few moments later in my sitting room and around a mouthful of fudge, Terre asked, “Can we leave, now? Mother and I need a break from one another. It has become far too challenging not to be short-tempered with her.” Phillip held her feet on his lap and rubbed each of her toes.

  Eli said, “The Empress will be ready for departure in the morning.”

  I asked, “How are we going to keep the children occupied? They have so many activities here that I barely see them.”

  Yukihyo said, “You aren’t tricking anyone. You are looking forward to having them all to yourself and not having to share them with their grandmothers.”

  “Chirp! Chirp!” Thunderdrop agreed with him.

  Cormac was sitting between Terre and Tracy and was having the box of fudge on his lap ravaged. Since Sparrow wasn’t in sight, I assumed Xavier had taken her off to their bedroom. They had narrowed down their search for a house but hadn’t yet made up their minds.

  Nico said, “Ridley has agreed to come with us to continue Niklos’ lessons.”

  “Did Neema just get tired of them?”

  “She joins when something new is taught, but she masters everything so quickly that she gets bored,” Pierce said. “Don’t worry. We have activities planned for each day.”

  Pulling out my vid-screen, I made calls to Quaid and Gram. During my conversations, Dario’s device signaled. He looked at it, got angry, and went outside on the patio to talk. Fitz joined him.

  “What’s that about?” I asked.

  Drex said, “Watch the news.”

  I powered on the wall-mounted vid-screen. “Well, shit.”

  The Warrior and Materfamilias Castes were in uproars. The Warrior Caste was all riled up and arguing against the wisdom of allowing the Emperor’s only child and his grandson, heir to the Empire, to traverse the universes while an unidentified threat remained. War was still a possibility. For us to leave at such a time was reckless. Their logic was sound. However, they didn’t realize that Sparrow, my Omnes Videntes, and I were going on a mission to uncover the threat of war. Once we exposed the threat, Papa would set the Warrior Caste loose upon it.

  The Materfamilias Caste shared indignity over a different issue concerning me, my expulsion. They were outraged that I had been expelled from the Inquisitors’ Training Academy for being with child. Apparently, aside from tormenting instructors with pranks in defense of me, a few of the boys had tattled to their mothers. Even for their youth, they were wise. A man was never too old to get into trouble with his mother.

  Thunderdrop sat on my thighs and blinked at my stomach.

  I turned to Drex. “Is that why Dario is so angry?”

  Thunderdrop started making his purring sound and rubbed the top of his head against my stomach. Distractedly, I rubbed his leg joints.

  “They have vowed to keep you safe by preventing your passage from Parvac space. Of course, it’s for your own well-being,” Nico said with heavy sarcasm.

  Tracy rolled her eyes. Then, they focused on Zared. I hadn’t realized he had left until he entered my sitting room carrying a jar of olives. I scowled at my friend. She had already eaten every other olive in the Palace, along with the ones Kaoti had stashed on my ship that her husband had gone on a mission to find for her. It was like she could smell them through the glass jar.

  Zared said, “I hid these in a shuttle compartment and forgot about them.”

  “My hero,” I said.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Early the next morning, the sky was mostly pink, and there was a chill in the air. We had said our goodbyes the night before during the dinner party Momma had thrown for us. She had tried and failed to convince me to leave my children at home with her. I just couldn’t do it. I would be miserable without my children. Maybe, it was my Laconian heritage at work. Momma would have to amuse herself with Papa and polite society in our absence. Kane had declined my invitation. He needed to remain to command his fleet in case of an emergency. Also remaining on Parvac was Galina. Her instructors at the Academy had not granted her permission to travel with us. They hadn’t granted my new husband permission to join us, either. As far as they knew, I no longer had a team, and Clark had a group assignment to complete, so I had given him a night to remember me by. Afraid of suffering my fate, Galina didn’t argue with the decision. Instead, she was sending vids and pictures with us to deliver to her grandmother, the Lady Galatea.

  I sighed and kicked my shoes off once I had stepped onto the Imperial Deck of the Empress. My husbands had discussed the issue and had decided to travel only in my ship. Arriving in Laconian space flanked by warships would cause undo alarm, regardless of our intentions. For us to visit in a single ship would demonstrate our trust and goodwill. Nico and Dario chuckled in amusement. The two of them could lay waste to a planet with a single ship. Nico had already demonstrated his destructive capabilities on a moon.

  The moment finally came when Captain Ricimer took us up. Neema and I clapped. “Yay!” I said while Neema spun in circles for me. Something about lifting up into the stars always filled me with joy.

  Niklos, Peter, Poppy, and Thunderdrop were more concerned with the new toy transports and fancy play track that Nico had bought them.

  However, the minutes ticked by and the stars outside remained still. Dario had suspiciously vanished into a lift a short while ago. Narrowing my eyes, I thought of the Warrior Caste and assumed the reason my ship wasn’t moving had something to do with them. Not wanting to upset my ladies, I didn’t activate my viewer. Instead, I did as Dario had done. I headed for the lift. My white, fluttery dress danced around my ankles as I walked. Neema darted straight for me. She wore a pretty dress of light-purple and pink.

  Taking my hand, she said, “Mommy, I want to go with you.”

  Impressed with her sentence structure, I decided to allow it. “Any little princess capable of asking so politely, is in my opinion a big enough girl to come with Mommy.”

  Neema said, “Me. You ‘sposed to say, ‘come with me.’ Neema learned it. No. I learned it.” Her little face was adorably serious.

  “You’re right.”

  She nodded.

  Together, we exited the lift for the bridge. Captain Ricimer was arguing with several captains on the main viewer. They had formed a blockade with their warships to keep us stationary. Seeing us, Captain Ricimer and the bridge crew came to attention and saluted us.

  I didn’t bother to say at ease. We had gotten beyond those types of things onboard my ship. Instead, I got straight to the point. Releasing Neema’s hand so she could look around, I asked, “Why aren’t we on our way to Aurilius? There are five pregnant females aboard who are craving olives which we no longer have. It was difficult enough when it was only ice bear that we lacked. As it is, we will be forced to suffer with these cravings for at least a week, depending on our speed, before we finally arrive on Aurilius. Go!”

  “Yeah, go!” Neema yelled from where she stood in front of the viewer. “Watch,” she ordered the captains. In her princess dress of light-purple and pink, she went through the forms she had learned from Ridley. Then, she spun in circles for them.

  Captain Ricimer said, “Princess Probus, I am eager to obey your orders
. However, our departure is being prevented.”

  I stared into the eyes of each of the captains and said, “Move.”

  “Yes, Princess Probus,” they said as one. The warships moved, but they moved together as one. They kept their formation perfectly. They had obeyed. Each and every one of them had moved their ships.

  Dario stood glaring at them. “They have behaved in this manner for the last hour, obeying every order, while at the same time defiantly disobeying.”

  “I thought you promised to turn them to dust, their ships and crews. Did you change your mind?” I asked. I moved to sit in the captain’s chair. Neema saw and ran to me, climbing up onto my lap. Our bare feet dangled, not reaching the floor. I smiled sweetly at the captains. In a far more serious tone of voice, I ordered, “Activate shields. I’m taking us through.” I pointed at the viewer. “You can move, or I can go through you, but you aren’t controlling me, my ship, or my crew.”

  An angry captain said, “You are in a delicate condition, as are your ladies. Your husbands should have the intelligence to protect you from your own poor choices. I had thought better of Inquisitor Licinius.”

  I covered Neema’s ears. “Go fuck yourself but go do it somewhere out of my way. The only male from whom I take orders is our Emperor. Furthermore, if you were thinking rationally, you would understand the importance of a visit to my husband’s family on Epopeus. Perhaps, that is the reason why Drex isn’t opposed. Would you like to ask him in person? I’m sure Drex and Eli wouldn’t mind visiting with each of you in private. I can send them over in fighter ships if you’d like.”

  The captains continued to appear stubborn. Dario and Captain Ricimer were furious, and I was annoyed.

  “What I choose to do is none of your business. I do not answer to any of you, nor do I recognize your authority over my Imperial person. Frankly, your behavior is insulting.”

  I took control of my ship. Slowly moving her forward, I flew straight toward the ships that were obstructing our flight plan. I checked to make sure that the shields were at full power. Smiling, I increased speed. Realizing I had no intention of changing course or slowing my speed, the captains quickly maneuvered themselves out of my way. However, two of them weren’t quick enough to keep our shields from striking together. The drain on my ship’s power was negligible. I significantly increased our speed and then returned control of the ship to Captain Ricimer. He didn’t seem capable of wiping the grin off his face.

  Neema lifted her hands up above her head and said, “All fixed. We go color, now. Come on, Mommy.” Her grammar lesson hadn’t lasted through the excitement.

  Sliding from my lap, she took my hand and tugged me over to the lift. Dario saluted me, but the look in his eyes told me he wanted to do a lot more than that to me. My cheeks heated. Yukihyo had snuck onto the bridge and stood beside the lift with his arms crossed over his chest and a smile on his sexy mouth. Neema ran to him and lifted her arms to be picked up.

  Once they were eye-to-eye, she said, “Daddy, I help Mommy fly the ship. We boomed against other ships!” She shrugged. “They not move.” She shook her head. “They not mind Mommy fast like me.”

  I sucked my cheeks in and made fish-lips at her to make her laugh.

  Yukihyo said, “They will learn and mind Mommy next time. Travelling on a direct heading from Parvac to Aurilius shouldn’t take too long with our photonic film.”

  “I may have drained our power cells a bit when our shields scraped.”

  “Whatever effect there might be will be minimal.”

  I moved in close against his side, leaving no space between us.

  Neema said, “We got you, Daddy.”

  “You most certainly do.” He kissed each of us on our foreheads.

  In my sitting room, Eli, Drex, Fitz, and Nico had been watching the events as they had unfolded on the bridge. Now, they watched the ships. Three warships were actively preventing the other ships from pursuing us.

  “Which captains are assisting us?” I asked.

  Eli said, “Vice Admiral Kane Valen, Captain Carus, and Inquisitor Gordian.”

  Putting my hand on my hip, I said, “Well, imagine that.”

  Copying me, Neema said, “Well, magine that.”

  Yukihyo tickled her tummy.

  Tracy asked, “Now, what?”

  Jazon said, “Now, we relax for a few days and enjoy the trip. It’s only us and the crew aboard. There is nothing about which to worry. On the planets we visit, I will take you to collect samples, specimens, and data until your heart is content.”

  Tracy smiled, closed her eyes, and relaxed against Jazon.

  Their conversation about sea creatures made me hungry. “Fitz?”

  “Yes, Teagan?”

  “Will you make me something?”

  Grinning, he put his arms around me. “What would you like?”

  “Can you make the blackened fish the way Finn does and his fruit dip and chips?”

  With a wink of an eye and a kiss to my cheek, Fitz strutted off to the kitchen.

  Tracy said, “You ate less than two hours ago.”

  “So? It’s your fault. You made me hungry.”

  “How?” her black hair swayed with her question, and her large black eyes dared me to prove it.

  “It was all of the talk about specimens.”

  “Then, it wasn’t my fault at all. Jazon is the one who brought it up, not me.”

  I was distracted from admonishing Jazon by Peter. He had a big smile on his face, eyes sparkling with happiness, and he was crawling straight for me. Picking him up and giving him kisses all over his face, I carried him over to where Neema sat on the floor and played with her dolls. I sat beside her with Peter on my lap.

  “Mommy, I want all these girls changed.”

  I got to work removing doll clothes. Then, I helped Neema dress them in different outfits.

  “Here, Drop. You wear this.” Neema tried to push a doll shoe onto one of his claws.

  “Chitter.” He shook his leg to free himself of it.

  Stopping her attempts, she looked from one of his eyes to the next. “Sorry,” she said.

  I wondered what had happened between them to so greatly improve their relationship.

  Peter gurgled at them and laughed. He trilled at Thunderdrop, who chirped back at him. I suspected the two of them communicated with each other better than I assumed. Poppy crawled over to me and put a doll on my lap. Getting to her feet, she wobbled to Violet, picked up a doll dress, and brought it to me.

  “Oh, that’s pretty. Do you want her changed?”

  Smiling at me, she nodded and sat in front of me. Peter handed Poppy a ball. Then, while I changed her doll’s dress, the two of them passed the ball back and forth to each other. They didn’t roll it. They laughed and smiled while handing it to each other. They had hundreds of credits worth of toys spread out around them but were completely amused with a ball. Once I had Poppy’s doll dressed to her satisfaction, I checked on Fitz’s progress.

  Terre had beaten me to him. “Hey, he’s mine. You’ve got your own fisherman.” I jerked my thumb over at Phillip. He and Niklos were reading a book.

  “Ladies, there is no need to fight over me. However, if the two of you insist on fighting, do Phillip and me a favor and do it topless.”

  “Fitz!”

  Laughing, he carried plates to the table. Being extremely intelligent, he had cooked a lot. After Terre, Tracy, Sparrow, Violet, and I had finished stuffing ourselves, we were tired and soon found ourselves surrounded by grinning males.

  “Naptime,” Phillip announced.

  Neema took my hand. “Come on, Mommy. Nik, Peter, and Drop, come here.”

  Dutifully, all three boys walked, crawled, and climbed after us. I changed into a gown and chuckled at the four of them as they climbed the steps at the foot of my bed and then made themselves comfortable. With Neema on one side, Niklos on the other, Peter on my chest, and Thunderdrop curled up on Nico’s pillow, we fell asleep.


  When the five of us woke up, we went to the kitchen for cool drinks, and I got two of them situated at the table with their sippy cups. Chef took over with feeding Thunderdrop. Taking a few steps back, I tried to see if I had seen what I had thought I had. Sure enough, I saw Quaid on the wall-mounted vid-screen. Seeing me, he smiled. Stars, the man was gorgeous when he smiled.

  “Lord Bosh, forgive my appearance. We were napping.” I walked into the sitting room with Peter on my hip.

  Drex said, “He knows. I recorded you while you were sleeping and sent it to both Commander Bosh and Admiral Farowyn.”

  I didn’t bother to fuss at the husband who was obsessed with spying on me.

  Quaid said, “I have good news. I have been granted leave and will be able to vacation with you during your visit to the Laconian Sector. The Hadrian will be awaiting your arrival on Aurilius.”

  I jumped up and down in excitement which sent Quaid’s attention to my boobs. Peter grabbed my hair and laughed. “Yay! I’ll see if we can go faster.”

  “Teagan, we are going as fast as is advisable,” Dario said. He held his hands out to Peter. “Let’s change that diaper.”

  Peter nodded and said, “Yes.”

  “Good boy. You are smart,” Dario told him as he kissed his cheek.

  “He’s going to be a good daddy,” I said as I watched them enter the nursery.

  “Yep. Rio good daddy,” Neema said as she clambered onto Yukihyo’s lap. “You the best, though.” She held his face between her hands and gave his cheek a kiss.

  “The next child you carry will be mine,” Quaid promised.

  “Don’t be so sure of yourself,” Zared said.

  I raised my hand. “Hold on. Let me get through this pregnancy. I’m going to be the mother of five children. Five.”

  Chuckling, Fitz wrapped me in his arms. “You are not to worry. You will have all of the help that you will accept.”

  Dario and Peter came back from the diaper change with an army of stuffed animals. Dario said, “Mother and Empress Neema are interviewing additional nurses recommended by Pierce and Lorca.”