If she was able to give him offspring, that would be the ultimate blessing from the Goddess. Then the thought ruptured his happiness. What if her body was too fragile to endure an Olodian birth? Many of his own kind did not fare well in pregnancy. Cordin’s mother had died in childbirth, after all.
Tordin’s only solace was that Kyra was not in her heat, where she could conceive. He could smell that she wasn’t. That was another thing they would have to discuss. This mating had moved faster than he’d planned, and there was a lot to discuss between them.
Tordin tried to keep his dampened mood from seeping into her and quickly thought of their happy future together. He loved the joyful vibrations she gave off, and they were because of him. He hated to release her but did when he felt her shallow breaths, knowing she needed to breathe deeply.
She lay there, smiling and looking at the ceiling as she said, “And here I thought you had the hots for Phoebe.”
Tordin was confused for a moment until he remembered what ‘hots’ meant. He wanted to assure his love that had never been the case. “No beloved, I never had feelings for her except as a being who needed my help. My heart has belonged to you since before we met, and it will always belong only to you.”
“How so?”
“Mating is for life,” he said hoping not to frighten her with this bit of news. He knew he’d purposely neglected to tell her that part. That hadn’t been his usual way of honor, but he wanted her like nothing he’d ever wanted before.
“No, I mean how did you know before you met me?”
“I was drawn to your vessel. I couldn’t make myself leave before I’d helped. Even though it was against our mandates, and my father had already given me a mission, I knew I had to help. I knew there was someone or something on board drawing me to it. That someone was you. Now that you’re my mate, I am joined to you and only you. No other can touch me or make me feel like I do for you. It is impossible now that we are mated. I’m completely synced and locked into loving you alone.”
He watched as utter joy erupted through her. What he’d said brought the moment to a beautiful crescendo. Kyra radiated light and love as she said, “Aw, Tordin, you make me so very happy, knowing that. You are my gift. It’s as if all the things I missed and all the things I needed are in you. You are my answer to prayers. I just hope I can live up to what you need in a mate. I don’t have much to offer right now, but I’m willing to learn and become whatever I need to, to support and help you.”
Her words were so sincere and pure. She was perfect the way she was.
“No, Kyra, don’t change a thing. You are more than perfect the way you are. You are exactly what I need. So much so that I need to explain what is happening with the mission and see if you will help me figure out what to do next. We have much to discuss about us, but at the moment, I need my mate to help me with this mission. Will you?”
She sat up so fast it startled him.
“Wait, you’re the commander of this huge fleet, and you’re asking me to help you? I’m floored and honored at the same time. You trust my judgment enough to ask me?”
She leaned over and kissed him with excitement.
He didn’t know what he’d done to elicit that type of response, so “yes” was all he said and waited.
She said, “Tell me what’s going on, and we can work through it together. Is that good with you?”
He knew she was going to be his help. Instead of trying to take over, she wanted them to work on it together. With a huge smile he said, “I’d be happy to.”
They talked through the intricacies of the mission, what his brother might be up to, how Tordin’s actions might impact his father’s position, the planet Nenndi and what the IGA might do.
After looking at everything from different angles, strategizing and planning, Kyra finally said, “I think you should contact your father. Lay everything out for him and allow him to give his input. Something tells me he will help and make things easier on you.”
Tordin kissed her and felt good about their plan. He’d contact his father and go from there.
* * *
The problem with Cordin…
* * *
“And that’s where we are at this point. I would like your blessing if at all possible, father?” Tordin asked after laying out everything that had happened since his most recent communication.
“Well, I can tell you the last thing I expected was that you’d find your mate en route to Nenndi.”
Tordin waited, half-expecting his father to lecture him on his honor and duty. He knew, with clarity, he was fully prepared to give up his mission to another if his father refused his mate.
His father continued to speak.
“But…You’ve never asked for anything and yet you do so much for me and the realm. I’ll not be the one to deny you any happiness you can have. This explains the stirrings I’ve sensed from the Goddess. She is definitely at work in all this. I have always trusted your wisdom and logic, my son. And I’ll not change now. I give my blessing to your mating and will do what I can to help smooth things out with the IGA.”
“Thank you, father. As I said before, Cordin has been extremely quiet. We are two cycles away from Nenndi. Has he reported his location and time of arrival to you?”
“He has arrived, and that is all I know at this time.”
Tordin heard the pain in his father’s voice stemming from Cordin’s blatant refusal to behave decently, to repent of his past indiscretions. Since they were so close in age, Cordin and Tordin were treated as if they were doubles. Cordin was the one with disregard for rules, mandates and accountability. He expected to ascend to the throne at the end of his father’s reign.
The Emperor knew the blame lay with him. After Cordin’s mother died in childbirth, the Emperor gave him everything he could ever hope for. Mostly out of guilt, the Emperor never disciplined him, allowing Cordin to do as he pleased. He grew up feeling entitled both because of his great tragedy and because his father was the Emperor.
Tordin had no such misguided impressions of himself. The half-brothers could not be farther apart in deed and character. Tordin had no aspiration to lead and preferred to be out with his warriors on missions around his father’s realm. He loved the freedom of getting away from the IGA and all the intricacies of dealing with the governing body. He was a Warrior Lord, not a governing head who sat in meetings and fiddled with mountains of trivial requests from the various planets in the realm. The thought if it made him shudder. Tordin did not want that, and he gladly helped his father keep peace so the Emperor could concentrate on the important quality-of-life issues for many beings.
Recently Cordin’s transgressions had come to the attention of the IGA. The Emperor, tired of his son’s antics, no longer tried to hide or make amends for them and allowed the IGA to learn of them. When he was sanctioned and pulled from a council, Cordin’s wrath was felt far and wide. He’d done cruel things to a small, under-protected community of beings on a planet that didn’t receive much attention. When the Emperor found out, Tordin was called back to Olodia from a peace-keeping mission to discuss Cordin’s latest antics with his father. Without protest or even comment, Tordin went to the planet and righted his brother’s wrongs. This was the story of their existence. Tordin cleaned up after Cordin. But that had to change now that he had Kyra to consider. How would she take the news that he was actually the crown prince to the throne, and not Cordin?
Tordin had been shocked to learn that his father never planned for Cordin to take over. Instead, both his father and the IGA had always planned for him to be the next Emperor. They kept this information from Cordin, and he went about his life thinking he was the next in line to the throne.
When he’d been sanctioned and kicked off a prominent and powerful IGA council, Cordin finally began to feel the threat of not being able to do as he pleased. Thinking he was still in contention for the throne, he offered to show his remorse and repentance to prove himself worthy to govern as Emperor i
n the future. He concocted a campaign to show his father and the IGA how much he’d changed and grown into his responsibilities. The only issue was that he did it before his father knew what he was up to.
Now Tordin raced to another faraway planet to keep his brother from making matters worse.
He knew how much Cordin wanted his council seat back. Tordin also knew his brother couldn’t do things the right way and would find a way to shortcut the process. The problem was that his shortcuts never worked out as planned, leaving Tordin and his father to fix and clean up Cordin’s path of destruction.
Cordin’s decision to go to the distant planet of Nenndi couldn’t have come at a worse time. Nenndi was on the verge of planetary war. Cordin wanted to use his nonexistent diplomacy to stop the war and to show the IGA his leadership abilities.
Tordin certainly didn’t want the throne, but he would do whatever he could to stop his brother ascending to it. To allow his brother to take over would end in galactic anarchy. In addition to being spoiled, entitled, and lacking the training and character to be a true leader, Cordin’s heart was blackened with greed and lust for power. He would do nothing that didn’t directly benefit him. Cordin left sorrow and long-lasting damage in his wake.
Too many times Tordin had to go behind his brother to right his ethical wrongs, and Cordin acted like he was none the wiser. If he ever found out he was never in consideration to ascend the throne, there was no imagining what he might do. Thus the Emperor had entrusted Tordin with that information in confidence. Now he had asked Tordin to intercept his brother by getting to Nenndi first to make sure he didn’t make matters worse.
Based on his father’s update, not only was Cordin already there, but he was certain to present himself as the Emperor’s representative. Tordin normally would have cringed at all the things that could go wrong when Cordin was at work; now he felt detached and somewhat passive about it. He wanted to make sure he helped his father, but he couldn’t muster up the urgency to fix another of Cordin’s messes. He had a mate to attend to and many other things to do to keep his father’s galaxy safe. His desire was to help his father stay on the throne for as long as possible. Emperor Gordin could do this for a few more millennia if he didn’t have Cordin’s antics to deal with.
Tordin’s thoughts drifted to how to stop his brother’s path of destruction without taking him to a black hole and leaving him there. His father’s voice cut through his musings.
“Son, I know you must be in bliss with your mate, but I need to point out that if Cordin makes a mess of this Nenndi situation, the IGA has informed me that this time, I will be sanctioned. Since he is my son, I am responsible for his actions. The last issue was the last straw, and I put my position on the throne on the line to keep him from banishment. He doesn’t know this, but if he makes the war on Nenndi worse, then I will lose the throne.”
“What? Father, you didn’t!” Tordin said, not caring that his voice rose. His father had gone too far with this, all for the benefit of a son who was thankless and unworthy of his father’s sacrifice. “I can’t go there with any guarantee that I can keep the planet from war or that he hasn’t already made matters worse. You know how Cordin is. Trouble finds him. This is too much to do without knowing the major entities on the verge of war. I’m going in blind, and this is a situation set up to fail.”
“I know, my son. It’s as if it was orchestrated to have a no-win outcome. In hindsight, I should have allowed the IGA to banish Cordin. I have lived to see the day I regret all my actions in rearing him to adulthood. He is not the male he needs to be.”
“What happens if you lose the throne? Will they expect me to ascend immediately?”
“My throne will become the first IGA run realm if you refuse it.”
“Oh no, father. You know I don’t want that, nor do I want to have to take on the throne—at least not now,” he said. Tordin’s fingers raked an angry trail through his hair as he resisted the urge to pull at it. Then he said, “So if I don’t fix yet another of Cordin’s potential epic messes, I have to ascend to the throne or allow the IGA to take it away from our family?”
The Emperor sighed and said, “Yes, my dear son, that is correct. I have failed you over and over again, taking you for granted. I used you to parent Cordin, when I should have done it. I have dishonored you. I apologize and ask forgiveness.”
“There’s no need. We both have a responsibility to keep our family’s little monster from wreaking havoc on the galaxies. I’ll do what I can to keep you on the throne.”
“Again son, I apologize. I know you want to spend time with your mate, and once this is over with, I will give you all the time you want to spend with her. I know she must be a lovely woman. Terrains have always fascinated me. I think that may be where you got your own interest in them.”
“Yes, she’s everything that I could have wanted and more. But at the moment she and I have a mission to attend to.” Then Tordin spoke words he never thought he’d say with any seriousness. “Father, she is also my unction and has agreed to help me with this mission.”
“Well, that makes everything better! The Goddess has given you an unction and a mate. That is rare and means great things, my son! You are sure to make a great change and victory, I’m certain of it,” the Emperor said, happiness tinting his voice for the first time. “It is all working together. You will succeed.”
“I have to. The other options cannot bode well for anyone.”
“Now you see why I must ask you to do what you can to make this situation turn out for the good. I know you do not wish to be Emperor, but if something were to happen, I want you on the throne. I do not want it to fall into IGA’s control, nor do I want Cordin manipulating any loopholes to sit on the throne, either. Do you understand my wishes?”
“Yes, father, I do.”
“Good. I will send you a copy of them with the official signatures, expressing my will, should anything happen to me.”
“Yes, father, I understand. Thank you for the blessing, and I will do what I must to make this turn out for the best.”
They ended the communication, and Tordin had to sit in silent anger for a moment. He didn’t like the way his life was being disrupted to save his father’s throne. He had to stop his brother from making matters worse in a delicate planetary situation that could spread into a galactic war at any moment, if his brother was involved.
Talk about a way to start off a mating.
13
“This is Nenndi?” Kyra asked as the green planet came into view from the observation window of Tordin’s private office.
She tried hard not to despise the planet that was taking Tordin away from her. She admired his loyalty to his father but not when it took him away from their mating bliss. Her desire to keep him close was selfish, but she was new at being honorable and majestic like her mate. Kyra reasoned she had time to grow into that more mature viewpoint, sharing him with the many worlds his father governed. Just not today.
“It seems mighty small to be causing so much havoc,” she said, eying it with a hint of distaste.
“Yes, but it’s also one of the largest exporters of what you know as crystal and precious gems. It might be small, but it’s a big player in export and trade. If its control falls into the wrong hands, innumerable things would happen. It could cause our entire galaxy to fall into war and civil unrest. Cordin is no fool; he knows a win in this situation could help his case tremendously.”
“I see. So they export stuff like diamonds?”
“Yes, but they also export power. The crystals that grow here are some of the most potent for amplifying power. They export them to our galaxy and beyond. They are the top producer, and we have to keep this resource safe.”
“Hmm. This is way more serious than you let on before, Tordin,” she said, starting to worry for his safety even more. “How long before you leave?”
“Soon. We have to get permission to land or run the risk of them thinking we’re invading. Malm is contac
ting the different provinces to acquire a location to land. Once we do, I’ll go down and gain as much information as possible on what is going on and what havoc my brother has possibly wrought,” Tordin said, hugging Kyra from behind as they looked at the planet in chaos.
They’d spent the better half of the previous evening talking about what this mission meant for the safety and on-going peace of the galaxy as a whole. He’d made light of how important the green planet was. She knew he had to go, but she didn’t have to like it.
“Listen to me,” she said as seriously as she could, “I need you to be careful and come back to me. You got that?”
He pulled her in a bit tighter as he said, “I’ll take more precaution than ever before. And I won’t do anything that keeps me from you any longer than necessary. Promise. I don’t want to be away from you for a moment.”
“Good, you know that’s what I needed to hear.” She turned in his arms to look up at him. Playing with the amazingly durable yet elegant fabric of his shirt she asked, “When do you break the surface?”
“Listen to you sounding technical. I like it. We’ll go as soon as Malm gets the location and permission to land.”
“You know… I could come with you as a show of non-aggression. If they see you arriving with your mate, they should know you mean no harm and have no intent to fight them, only to help.”
She wrapped her arms around his narrow waist, watching as he fought the immediate ‘no’ from escaping his mouth.
After another few moments of concentration he said, “Allow me to go down and gauge the activity. Once we know what we’re heading into, if it proves best, I’ll send for you to join me on the surface. Remember, I’m only going because it is the right thing to do. If Cordin does manage to make things worse, you now know why and how it could start a domino effect of violence throughout the galaxy. I’m ultimately doing this for us, our freedom and peace.”
Rescued By Tordin: Olodian Alien Warrior Romance Page 15
