by J. M. Page
“Oh!” he said, surprised to see her it seemed. “I… uh…”
Aris went wide-eyes and tried to step to one side, then the other to get out of his way. Unfortunately, Alex did the same, sidestepping the same direction as if they were in some kind of dance.
“Glad you could make it,” Ben said, humor in his tone. “Maybe next time try to find your way without destroying my palace and breaking down doors?”
Alex didn’t answer, still stuck in place in his awkward shuffling dance with Aris.
Celine saw the other woman’s face flush with heat. She cleared her throat, breaking through their bumbling.
“Everyone,” she said, taking Ben’s hand in hers, still cradling their son against her chest. “We’d like you to meet Liam.”
Just like that, all the commotion and fuss died down and everyone turned to marvel over the tiny royal heir, the room filling with love.
“Hi Liam,” Alex whispered, making his way across the room, his limp all but gone these days. “I’m your Uncle Alex.”
“So we’re going to do the presentation ceremony and then your part comes. You’ll be the Prince’s Guardian should anything ever happen to us, yadda yadda. Just listen for the question and answer— Hey, are you listening?” Ben asked, prodding Alex in the shoulder with two fingers.
“Ow, yeah. Yadda yadda, got it,” Alex said, one eye roving over the tizzy of activity down below.
Ben punched him in the arm. “Hey, this is serious. Age old traditions and all that. If you mess this up, Liam won’t have a Guardian. Pay attention.”
Alex grimaced. “Your son has more Guardians than any other Terran. I think he’ll be okay if I mess up the ceremony.”
Ben hoped his expression was as hard and unforgiving as he wanted it to be. Alex had been acting weird lately. Distracted and unreliable. He worried about his friend, but he had enough going on without those concerns.
Alex saw the King’s ‘I’m very serious’ frown and held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. This is important to you guys, I get it. Just go over my lines one more time?”
Ben heaved a sigh and thrust the script over to his best friend. “Just study it, will you? I need to make sure Celine isn’t losing her mind.”
“Is everything okay?” Alex asked, seeming to finally process the words Ben spoke.
Ben nodded. “It just her father. He means well, but he keeps offering mods to Liam and…”
Alex chuckled. “Say no more. Go save your Queen.” Already his gaze drifted away from the balcony where they’d hold the ceremony, down to the square below where decorations and festivities were being erected.
“If I can’t give him rocket feet, how about rocket shoes,” her father said, wiggling one of Liam’s teensy toes with his massive fingers.
“Dad, he’s a baby. Babies can’t even walk!”
“Not without rocket feet, they can’t,” Abatu said with a bitter edge.
Celine groaned, dropping her forehead to her hands.
“I thought you understood how important our mods are. After… well, you know,” Dad said.
Celine fought the urge to yell at him. Today is about Liam. Take a deep breath. This is not about you. It is for your son.
“When he’s old enough to make that decision for himself, he can. I’m not going to choose for him, Dad. Especially when he doesn’t need anything. He’s perfectly human the way he is.”
Right on cue, Ben stuck his head through the doorway. “All set? The ceremony starts in fifteen.”
Celine couldn’t remember the last time she was so happy to see her husband. “Yep,” she said, stealing her son from her father. “I just need a little help getting him into his Presentation outfit. Aris is busy with a billion other things.”
She turned to look over her shoulder as they walked out of the room. “See you soon Dad.”
“Are you okay?” Ben asked, once they were down the hallway out of earshot.
She nodded. “I’ll be glad when all of these royal things are over. Though I’m sure my father is never going to stop trying to make our son a modder,” she said ruefully.
“He’s lucky he has a momma that sticks to her convictions then, isn’t he?”
Celine felt her heart flutter. Ben always knew just what to say.
“We both are,” he said, his voice hardly more than a husky whisper.
They turned the corner to the room set aside for them to get ready in. It was blissfully empty and so quiet.
Celine kissed her husband, thankful for the brief moment alone. “How long do you think it would take for them to find us if we just hid in here?”
Ben chuckled. “Knowing Aris? She already knows we’re here. Come on, let’s get some fancy clothes on our poor baby boy.”
Standing on the balcony overlooking the streets packed full of people, Celine felt a familiar snake of unease twist down her esophagus. They were all there to see Liam, her son, the next heir to the Terran throne.
It was surreal.
Still, it was a jubilant occasion. Festive decorations, cheering in the crowds, memorabilia, music, dancing and excitement abounding. Liam was hardly a month old and already the citizens adored him. They loved pictures of the Prince, they liked to dress their baby in the same clothes the Prince wore, they wanted to hear if he was babbling or teething or even breathing funny, even though he was just a normal baby.
It was strange. But heart-warming, Celine decided. Liam was going to grow up being beloved by his entire kingdom. She couldn’t ask for much more as a mother.
She was thankful that her job in the ceremony was just standing there holding Liam. Ben and his father did most of the talking. They spoke about Terran history and heritage. About their long line of royal succession and their hopes for the future.
Then it was time for the Guardian ceremony, the part of the afternoon that acknowledged Alex’s role in the baby’s life as a secondary father figure. Guardians were a new concept to Celine, but the way Ben explained it, a Guardian was like another parent — they were there if the child’s parents couldn’t be for whatever reason, but they also played a huge role in molding and guiding the child while growing up. Celine couldn’t imagine a better influence on Liam than Alex. He mitigated Ben’s reckless nature and would hopefully be able to talk little Liam out of the kinds of crazy schemes that led to his parents meeting.
“Do you promise to uphold these values and celebrate the life of this child as if he were your own?” Ben said, reciting the old text.
Alex stood there, his eyes roving over the crowd. He seemed to be looking for something — or someone.
After a beat of silence, Ben cleared his throat.
“Say you promise,” he hissed under his breath.
Alex was still distracted in his search, so Celine nudged him with her foot.
“Hm?” Alex looked over to Ben, his expression dark with annoyance. “Yes! I promise,” Alex said.
Celine followed his line of sight, searching the crowd for his distraction, but everyone erupted into cheers all at once and she couldn’t see anything.
“Thank you for coming. Thank you. Yes, thank you for coming. We’re so glad you could make it,” Celine said over and over again to the long string of diplomats, government officials, and palace staff. No one wanted to miss Liam’s very first birthday party and the guest list had grown to unmanageable proportions. But it was almost over. They only had to get through the cake and then she could excuse herself to wash off her sticky baby and wait it out long enough for everyone to leave.
She had a plan in place.
Now if only it were that easy to execute.
Liam babbled and blew spit bubbles from his high chair and Celine scanned the vast crowd, looking for the tiny head of Aris who’d gone off to fetch the cake.
“Liam would love to attend Emmalyne’s Presentation,” Celine assured a foreign dignitary who didn’t seem to get the hint that she wasn’t at all interested in the conversation.
Still, she was the Queen and it was her duty to be polite and gracious, even when she was exhausted. Ben promised after the first year there would be less official events and more things they could just do as a family, without the watchful eyes of the Universe.
She couldn’t wait.
She shot a look at her husband on the other side of the high chair and sent a pointed glance off toward the back room. “I’m going to go find her,” she said. “You hold the post.”
Ben nodded, planting a peck on her temple before he let her hand slip from his grasp.
She crossed the room carefully, avoiding any small talk that would trap her in place longer than a moment. The big dining hall was packed to the brim with people and Celine was certain she’d talked to every. Single. One.
As she neared the swinging door that led to the kitchen, she heard a familiar male voice beyond. She couldn’t make out words through the muffle of the door, but she knew that voice anywhere: Alex.
She had the question halfway out before she even pushed the door open. “Hey, have you seen Ari—”
Finishing the question seemed ridiculous since Aris was in the kitchen with Alex. Not just with him, but with him, their lips locked in a passionate kiss.
The moment Celine walked in, Aris’s hands dropped from Alex’s chest and she backed away quickly, crimson burning her cheeks.
Celine just grinned even while they tried to pretend she didn’t just catch them.
The door swung open again, Ben following Celine in. She gave him a questioning look.
“Your dad’s watching him,” he answered before noticing how awkward everyone in the kitchen was acting.
It took the King a moment to connect all the dots, but eventually a sly smile spread his lips and he clapped Alex on the shoulder. “Well I’ll be… Look at you, you lucky dog.”
Aris’s eyes went wide for a moment, but she brushed off her surprise, clearing her throat primly. She picked up Liam’s little smash cake and exited the room as if nothing had happened at all.
“You know, when I told my dad to build something for Liam that wasn’t a mod, I didn’t exactly have this in mind…” Celine said, bemused as she watched her young son zoom around wide open halls in his toy hoverspeeder.
Aris giggled, her arms outstretched pretending to chase him. “He’s just like his parents. He can’t keep his mind out of the sky,” she said, good-natured teasing in her voice.
Over the past couple of years since Celine first arrived to the walled city, she and Aris had grown remarkably close. She made the transition from Celine’s handler, to Liam’s nanny, but more than that, she was Celine’s closest confidante next to Ben himself. They spent hours together talking and laughing over the antics of the young Prince — and his goofball father.
Celine still spent quite a lot of her time as an instructor for new modders and engineers, but when she wasn’t in class, she was hanging out with Aris and Liam, or flying with Ben when they could find the time.
“Unca! Unca!” Liam cried, racing across the empty hall.
In the shadow of the doorway was Alex’s silhouette, one arm behind his back.
Liam jumped out of his toy speeder and tottered over to Alex, clinging to his shins, never even noticing that they didn’t match.
Aris slowed her pursuit after Liam got out, and sauntered over to where the two boys stood. Celine thought she could see a little smirk curling Aris’s lips.
Alex’s arm swept forward, an extravagant bouquet of flowers clutched in his fist.
“Fresh-picked from the Perimeter,” he said, offering them to Aris.
Aris’s eyes went wide looking at the flowers, but Celine saw something else there. The part of her lips, the little slump of her shoulders.
“Does this mean we can all stop pretending we don’t see what’s going on here?” Celine teased.
Aris stammered, taking the offered bouquet.
Alex took her free hand in his, his eyes shimmering with a plea. “What do you say? Can you bear the thought of being publicly attached to me?”
Aris seemed to mull it over for a moment, dipping down to inhale the floral scent and hide her growing grin.
“I think maybe I can…” she said.
Alex didn’t waste a moment before he wrapped his arm around her waist and drug her in close, pulling her into him.
“Oh!” Aris squeaked only a moment before his lips descended on hers.
Footsteps behind her made Celine turn, spotting her husband approaching. He stood at her side and arm curled around her hips. “This again?” he said, clearly amused.
“Shush,” said Celine. “It’s romantic.”
Ben pouted, his voice a low whisper. “I’m romantic! Remember that time I took you to the aurora on Felleria? Or that incredible meteor shower on Vandu?”
Celine covered his hand with hers and patted it fondly, her head resting on his shoulder. “Of course I remember.”
He squeezed her hand back, the way they always did, silent communication of love and support.
Just that moment, the little Prince spotted the newest arrival. “Papa!” Liam cried, running as best he could on his wobbly chubby legs. Ben scooped him up, wrapping him in a big bear hug, and planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek.
Liam giggled and clung to his Papa, his face shining with glee. Celine was certain her heart was actually going to melt.
“I think Mommy needs to go for a flight,” Ben whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. “What do you say, buddy?”
Celine could barely suppress the giggle that came from her son’s eyes widening to the size of moons. It wasn’t often they took him — he was still so young, but he wouldn’t always be.
“Yes!” Liam squealed.
Ben and Celine laughed together. He definitely had the flying bug, too. No getting around it.
Ben cleared his throat and looked over to Aris, still wrapped up in Alex’s arms. She’d tried to pull away when she saw Ben, but Alex held her firm, clearly not going to let her hide their affair any longer.
“Aris, you’re relieved of your Prince monitoring duties this evening. Go have fun,” he said, a teasing edge in his voice.
Before Aris could manage a response, Ben took his Queen by the hand and carried his son with him, heading toward the hangars. He turned to her, a satisfied smirk plastered on his face. “See? Romantic.”
Celine rolled her eyes, her grin growing of its own volition. She kissed him, a thrill going all the way to her toes. “The most romantic,” she agreed.
