What if after one night with her he became insatiable? What if, once tasting of her, he could never be satisfied with another? Someday he would need to take a wife—a Vaturian wife who would be queen. Right now he seemed to be in the unenviable position of either betraying the female whom he hoped would save his race or the female who would someday be his queen. There were no easy answers.
He tenderly caressed her cheek, weighing the best answer for all of them. “I will try.” It would take no trying. He already found her the most appealing of any females he’d known. She was beautiful and exotic, and she challenged him. She held him accountable and seemed to see through any of his attempts to placate her. He simply could not let her know any of this. “I am afraid that is the best answer I can give you now.”
“I don’t suppose I can really ask more than that, but it just feels like there are an awful lot of obstacles between us, Antares. So no matter how badly you want this to work, it simply might not.”
He stepped back and took her hand, the nearness becoming too much temptation. He squeezed her hand gently, wanting to give her some reassurance. “I think we will be fine.”
“Antares!”
He looked over his shoulder to see the approach of a large, stocky man holding several strange implements. Recognition triggered a swell of great joy, eradicating the fear and insecurity he had reveled in only moments before.
“Wold! Bugger, how have you been?”
The men greeted in a hearty embrace. The sun had darkened Wold’s skin, and there were new wrinkles around his eyes since Antares had last seen him.
“Honestly, not well.” He held out the implements—a rounded blade, a short, blunt square with a handle, and a pick. “I cannot figure out this trade. I know how important it is, but damn, it is kicking my ass!”
Antares had sent word asking Wold to make his best attempt at creating much-needed tools for their new society, but he had not heard word back, and this was not the news he’d hoped for. He turned to include Naveenah in the conversation, extending a hand to her, signaling she should come closer.
“Naveenah, this is Wold. I grew up living next door to him. He is a good man who has taken on the disagreeable task of learning a new trade. One that is very important to our new way of life.”
“One I’m failing at miserably.”
Antares viewed the tools Wold had. They didn’t look as though they would be very useful, but he did not want to discourage his friend from continuing his mission.
“Honestly, Antares, I’ve read every ancient book in the building of archaic history and viewed all the film I could find, but I’m afraid I’m not taking to this blacksmithing very well.”
“You are my greatest hope for success, Wold. I know your abilities and have always had great confidence in you.” He clasped Wold on the shoulder, hoping he would not decide to give up.
“I will keep trying. I’m just informing you that you might want to find someone else. I’m not sure I can come through for you on this.”
“I have faith in you, my friend.”
Wold bowed his head to both Antares and Naveenah then took his leave.
“That is the most difficult part so far.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, wondering what he would do if Wold could not figure out how to create the tools they would need. He truly was the best hope of all the people he had been able to consider, and if he could master it, then he could teach it to others and soon their world would be well on their way to rebuilding.
“Which part is that?”
He turned to Naveenah, surprised at how sincerely interested she looked.
“Before the war, before the Vraigor, Vaturia had become a people of convenience. The legends tell us there were machines that did everything and Vaturia was known for her great trade empire. The entire population turned their backs on the ancient ways and moved into the cities and got whatever they needed, literally, with the push of a button. Now, with our technology destroyed, we are having to learn ancient techniques to survive, and it does not always come easy.”
They began to walk toward the main entrance of the castle, Antares still mulling over the problem of tools.
“I do not envy you. What you’ve taken on, not just to lead your people forward, but to entirely change direction, the magnitude of that task must be unimaginable.”
“It has not been easy, and though I did win the civil war and the right to rule, there are still rebel forces who want the old Vaturia back, who feel that with no technology, our planet is obsolete and life simply not worth living, they want replicators and weapons and good God, I’m not even certain yet how to restore power. Finding people I can trust, people I can share my vision and my passion and that I know will support me, has been excruciating. You know we still have so many people that are unsure and even more that have backed me, only for a time, waiting to see what I will do.”
She put her hands to his cheeks, gazing at him with a tenderness that was very nearly his undoing. “I have sorely misjudged you.”
He did not have the capacity to withstand her being so soft and generous with him. He smiled and pulled away.
“Come. I will show you what we’re building here.”
He led her by the hand into the castle courtyard. There was activity everywhere. Logs were being raised by enormous chains, stones were being replaced with mortar, and voices cried out direction and acknowledgement. It was a bustling courtyard, indeed. It excited him to see his people focused and working together for a better Vaturia.
“This castle predates any records we have found so far. It was strange. Of all the things the Vraigor destroyed, they left our records and our libraries intact. Still, we could not find any records of this castle.”
“There are so many people here. More than I’ve seen at any one time.”
Antares looked around, trying to see things the way she would— through fresh eyes. There were perhaps three hundred people total working on the rebuild and about a third of that in the courtyard at the moment. He tried to decide what and how much to share with her about the people. He told himself again how important she was to their future and deemed honesty the only alternative.
“Many of our people remain in hiding. They do not trust yet that our ordeal is over, though I have tried getting the word out and have sent my loyal warriors to each end of the planet to find people, not only to get an accurate accounting of our population, but so we can assure our citizens that all will be well and get a better understanding of the true needs. I am trying to find work for the people. I do not know how they are surviving. We have no artificial way to prepare foods, and though a few farms have sprung up over the last decade, there is truly not enough food to feed all of our population. I have recently discovered some ideal farmland, however, just east of here. I hope to put Kai, one of my most loyal, in charge of organizing our farming community. Someday, I want to give everyone land and let them eke out a living from it, but implementing all of my plans and ideas goes painfully slow.”
She said little over the afternoon as he showed her the different rooms and spoke of all his plans for the future. He hoped she would understand her role in it all and that he could inspire her to desire that role. As they mounted to leave, he explained they had one other stop to make, as he needed to touch base with Kai and Hador before they set out on their task on the morn.
Antares debated whether or not to leave Naveenah at the hotel before riding to see the men, but he wanted her to meet them, and the time to detour to the hotel first would be great. He hoped he wouldn’t overtire her, though. It had been a very long and emotional day. They slowed the horses to a walk as soon as they entered the city gates to keep them safe from the debris.
Naveenah glanced about her and sighed. “Forgive me if I am cold when I say this, but doesn’t the sight of this burned-out, half-demolished place make you crazy?”
He looked around at what had once stood as the foremost city of all of Vaturia. Though he had neve
r seen this place in her glory, he had seen pictures. As a boy he craved information about the planet he lived on, her government, her accomplishments, her architecture and technology. Sadly, before he ever knew of it, it had all been destroyed.
“It does.”
He hadn’t meant to be quite so honest with her. With most people he kept up his front of control and vision, but in the moment, he was feeling overburdened and doubt was attempting to snake in and strangle his dreams. Maybe it was the sight of all the planet had lost. The knowledge of the death and destruction that was too hard to ignore as you made your way through the city. Maybe it was just Naveenah. She brought something to him he had not felt since he was a very small boy, and even then, he wasn’t certain if he’d felt it or imagined it, but she brought him a sense of safety and protection. With her, he was beginning to feel as though he could bare his soul in its entirety.
“I’m sorry.”
Her soft words brought him out of his reverie, and he smiled for her, reaching across the space between their horses, and brushed her cheek.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. You have done nothing wrong, yet I have imposed on you so greatly.”
She turned her head away from him, and for a time they rode in the near silence of the city broken only by the ambient sound of a society decaying, the occasional crack and rumble of buildings falling to pieces. He’d taken on so much, sometimes he wondered if he’d really be able to make the kind of difference he wanted.
As they rode past the Zerospheres, he took the moment to share some of their history with her, hoping she’d find something in it to stir her compassion, or curiosity at the very least.
“These structures were the first of their kind in our star system. They stand four thousand feet from base to tip and were a miracle of technology and architecture no one had ever seen before. Our planet was verging on suffocating itself. We were overpopulated, had overfished the rivers, over farmed the animals, and poisoned the soil. Each Zerosphere was imagined to be an entirely self-contained city.”
She looked at him with open wonder etched across the features of her face that were becoming more dear to him by the second. It thrilled him that she seemed to be taking it all in, so he continued.
“For a very long time they worked. And as you can see, there were six in this city. There are five others on the planet, but all are empty now. Destroyed.”
Her brow furrowed, and he waited as he could clearly see her forming her question.
“I don’t think I understand what exactly has happened here. I know you were at war when we were brought, but…I know bits and pieces from overhearing things, but…”
He reached out and pulled sharp on her horse’s reins, pulling the animal out of the way of the large slice of broken pavement they were about to walk into.
“Are you all right?”
He was worried he had jarred her.
“Fine.”
She was back to one-word answers, and he felt as if he’d lost the connection with her.
He routed them around a section of the old transportation system where several of the cars whose hum had been nearly deafening as they buzzed along the track overhead were pulled off the track and dangled four stories to the ground before them.
“The occupation of the Vraigor lasted a hundred and fifty years and destroyed everything the people of Vaturia had built, invented, discovered or created. I was born at the end of this time, and I grew up watching my father battle for his world. When the occupation ended, everything stood in ruin. There were no rulers left as our society had been a monarchy, but the Vraigor had killed everyone of the royal bloodline. It was decided a council would be elected and we would rebuild.”
Pain wrenched his gut as he thought of what occurred next.
“My father had been on the council, but was killed within three years of its founding.”
She looked at him again with that sweet mix of pain and empathy that comforted him.
“It was a long time ago.” For some reason he felt the need to comfort her. “After that, Nikolai came to care for me. I was only ten at the time, and I soon got very sick from the toxins in the air and ground. Many people got sick. Most died, but Nikolai brought me special herbs and said prayers. I believe that he saved my life.”
He had never shared that with anyone before and marveled at how comfortable he felt talking with her. He felt so completely at peace in her company he thought he could tell her anything.
“However, let us get back to the point. The council had become corrupt, ignoring the needs of the people. They alienated all neighboring planets who tried to help us in the aftermath and kept to themselves all of the remaining wealth on the planet. They were evil men, Naveenah, and yes, I was young and bullheaded and believed I could fix everything…”
He paused and pulled on the reins, stopping his horse. She did the same. What he was about to tell her, though she might already know…he needed her to understand this above all else.
“What is it?”
He studied her, waiting for his courage to rise. He reached out and took her hand, because this was the first of many decisions that had impacted her life.
“I staged a coup, started a civil war, and in the end was responsible for the death of nearly every council member. The sense of life lost, not just the council, but the wonderful warriors I fought beside, the innocents in their homes, and the females I had brought here from your planet and Cassaria weigh heavily on my mind. There are moments I fear I will lose my mind as I hear their voices in my soul, but I have to keep my vision clear. I cannot fail these people after all they have gone through. You must see now why our need is so great.”
He held his breath, awaiting her response, whatever it turned out to be. She squeezed his hand, but he did not dare to hope for the one thing he needed most—absolution and some reprieve from the daily torment visited upon him by his demons.
“I have never lived in your shoes, Antares. Earth is so unlike this. Everything is so regulated and there is no thinking, no decisions to be made. They are all made for us. I have lived a shallow, mundane life without meaning, while you have held life in your hands. You have extinguished life. I can’t even begin to imagine what that does to a man. I can clearly see with my own eyes the devastation of your people, and I hear your passion, devotion, and determination to save them. You are so not what I assumed you to be all those years in the camp.”
She took a breath, pulled her hand away, and looked at the shambles around her.
“Why do I never see people on the street?”
“They hide. My people are extremely frightened. If you were to go into one of these buildings, you would find a pocket of people in almost every one. They live like animals, frightened and hungry, and will not show their faces, especially after dark, which is nearly here.”
The sadness etched on her features was a double-edged sword. Though he was glad to see her empathy for his people so plainly, he had a strange desire to shield her from the sadness, to take away her pain and fill her life with only joy and happiness. They began to ride again, only this time in complete silence. He wished he could know everything that was going through her mind, but he knew he had placed a heavy burden on her and given her possibly too much information at once. He would respect any need she had for silence to consider all he said.
“We are here.”
They rode up to the old transportation maintenance facility, located on the other side of the city from the hotel where Antares had taken up residency. The strategy was that he and the loyal seven would spread out over the city in the hope of keeping peace and civility as long as possible.
They reached a large metal door standing two stories high. He dismounted quickly, then went to help Naveenah down, but as her feet met pavement, she wobbled. He quickly embraced her in the attempt to steady her.
“It has been a long day for you.”
She shrugged. “It has been a good day.”
“We will not
stay long, and when we get back, I shall see to it that you have a hot bath brought up to you.”
“I’m fine. Really.”
As he held her, standing so close, her scent enticed him. Her wild, honey-wheat locks made her look exotic and sexy, and her full lips were a temptation like none he had ever known. He was uncertain how long he could resist. He wanted to grab those locks of hair and kiss her absolutely senseless. A flash of them came to him. They were naked, entwined only in one another and sheets, candlelight causing the sheen of sweat on their skin to glisten.
The overwhelming wave of desire was nearly unbearable. His heart raced, and his cock grew hard. He quickly adjusted his position so she would not feel it. He pushed his hands into her hair and brought his mouth close to hers. Her eyes darkened, and her breath floated across his skin as she parted her lips in a clear invitation.
“You are truly beautiful, despite what I said earlier.”
She smiled and closed her eyes briefly as if taking in his words. He would kiss her…and pray he would be able to stop.
Chapter Ten
Naveenah briefly wondered about the ethics of being involved with two brothers. She had learned a lot about herself in the past few days. She never would have thought she’d find any of these aliens attractive, especially after all she’d been through at their hands. Then there was Nikolai, like a life jacket in many ways, and that day they spent in bed together. A day she would not forget soon, if ever. Then today, Antares was nothing like she had expected. She found herself admiring his passion and tenacity and even shared his empathy for his people. Now she stood here not just waiting for him to kiss her, but wanting him to.
“Antares, you old fool, what are you doing out here? It is nearly dark. Get your ass inside. I’ll have someone tend to the horses.”
To Love a King [The Reformation 1] (Siren Publishing PolyAmour) Page 9
