That sounded a lot more appealing, but she still wasn’t happy about having to go into public when she knew they’d all be staring at her. She had no interest in politics, even if she could’ve understood what they were talking about. She hated to disappoint him, though, so instead of whining and asking him to let her wait in his room until he came back, she got up and tried to pretend she wasn’t as uneasy about the prospect as she was.
She was not happy at all, though, when he summoned women to help her bathe and dress. She was uncomfortable being exposed to Simon’s view looking as she did. It was worse having strange women helping her bathe and dress, especially since they chattered to one another in their native tongue the whole while. She didn’t know that they were talking about her, but she didn’t know they weren’t either.
She felt a little better when she’d finished bathing and saw the gown and pants they had brought for her to wear. In style, it was pretty much like everything she’d worn since she’d been brought to the palace, a sort of loose robe/dress to be worn over the loose legged pants made to match it. As with the others, the dress fastened up the front. The ‘waist’ was just beneath her breasts and the skirt loose and flowing to mid-way her calves. The neck of this one, though, was lower than the others, showing a lot more cleavage than she was used to having on display.
It was made out of a material that reminded her of satin, though, shinny, and not clingy like the other gowns she’d worn. It was also lavishly embroidered with a beautiful design and sparkling stones had been sewn into the designs that reminded her of diamonds.
The only drawback was that it was a pale cream, almost white and she already felt like a blimp. This was bound to make her look even bigger, she thought glumly.
Simon seemed pleased, though.
He seemed a little less pleased with the way they’d arranged her hair--in a style similar to the woman in the portrait--which Raina hadn’t especially liked either, but it seemed to be a fairly common style among the women.
“I far prefer your beautiful hair flowing about your shoulders,” he murmured. He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head and then tucked her hand in the crook of his arm, matching his steps to hers as he guided her along the seemingly endless corridors of the huge place and finally through a set of double doors that opened into a huge room.
She almost had heart failure when they stepped inside and a contingent of trumpeters snapped to attention and let out a blast with the strange looking musical instruments they were holding--all six of them at one time. Jumping, she sidled closer to Simon, looking around with wide eyed uneasiness as everyone in the room--and it was packed to the gills--immediately bowed low and stayed that way as Simon dragged her down the center of the room to a dais at the other end.
He patted the hands she had looped frantically around his arm. When she looked up at him questioningly, he smiled at her. “Do not be alarmed, beloved. Old traditions are hard to break.”
Easy for him to say, she thought with some dudgeon. He wasn’t surrounded by a room packed with aliens. She’d known there was no way she could enter a room with Simon and not attract attention. She just hadn’t expected to be the focal point of the entire room.
She supposed Simon was actually the focal point, but she could hardly go unnoticed under the circumstances and she’d hoped to.
She felt a little relieved when she saw that Audric was one of the people seated on the dais, which held several chairs, one very big, very fancy looking chair, and two less fancy chairs on either side of that. The relief didn’t last, of course. Audric’s nearness had been a tremendous comfort to her almost as long as she’d known him, but she’d no sooner drawn a sigh of relief from knowing he would be close by than it dawned on her that he was probably really pissed off with her right now.
She’d be lucky if he didn’t give her the evil eye and snub her.
Which she richly deserved.
He didn’t, though. Even as she sent him an uneasy, guilty glance, he smiled at her reassuringly and got to his feet with an effort and bowed as Simon helped her up the steps to the dais, guided her to the chair beside Audric and helped her to sit--helped her because the damned thing was higher than it had looked. She managed to plant her butt on the seat easily enough, but by the time she’d scooted into it, her feet were dangling above the floor. Trying not to look as uncomfortable as she felt, she propped her hands on the mound in front of her and then moved them to the arms of the chair as Simon moved away from her and sprawled comfortably in the huge, fancy chair she finally realized was the throne of Schalome.
She felt the color drain from her face as that sank into her, felt her heart alternately skip and race with nerves as everyone finally rose from their bows and faced the dais.
Chapter Twenty Three
Simon reached almost casually for her hand and laced his fingers through hers in a gesture of reassurance. Raina smiled at him tentatively when she saw that he was looking at her, relaxing a little when he lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. He lowered her hand to the arm rest again, but he didn’t let go of it as he turned to survey the crowded room, bringing them to an expectant silence with no more than that look.
As the silence became so profound it was nearly deafening, he began to speak.
Raina had no idea what he was saying, of course, but as she surreptitiously watched the crowd around them she saw shock in every face--just shocked disbelief. She couldn’t decide, at first, if they were shocked speechless with joy or fear or anger, but she noticed after a few moments that everyone began to flick curious glances at her. The color that had left her face surged back and then began to pulse uncomfortably hot when the people began to divide less subtle glances between her and Simon as he continued. The dead silence that had gripped everyone when Simon began speaking gave way to a whisper of voices that gained in volume when he’d finally stopped speaking. Several men, dressed in clothing that seemed to indicate they were men of importance, detached themselves from the crowd and seemed to be arguing with Simon. They were certainly discussing something they weren’t happy about.
After a few minutes, when the crowd seemed to be becoming more agitated instead of less, Simon rose and helped her from her seat. “Do not look so distressed, beloved. I knew they would not be pleased. Go with Audric,” he added, glancing at Audric. “He will keep you company while I sooth their ruffled feathers.”
She didn’t like the taut look on his face and the tone of the voices, even though she couldn’t understand what they were saying, made her more anxious, especially when Simon seemed worried about her continued presence. “You’ll be alright?” she asked anxiously.
He smiled. “You do not need to stay and protect me, my little dracon,” he murmured. “Go with Audric. I will be along directly and redeem my promise to show you Schalome. They are more … distressed than I had anticipated, and I do not want to leave until I have calmed them.”
She still didn’t like leaving him in the room filled with so many agitated people, but she thought, maybe, she was adding to the contention the way they kept looking at her. Finally, she nodded and turned to look at Audric a little doubtfully. He looked as grim as Simon, but he moved unhesitatingly to take her hand and settle it on the crook of his arm as Simon had before, guiding her to a door at the back of the dais.
Instead of leading her back to her room, or his, or even Simon’s apartments and leaving her, he walked her down a long corridor and outside into what looked like a small formal garden. There were strange, stunted looking plants arranged along walkways and benches sprinkled here and there. She didn’t have much interest in the landscaping, though. A shiver skated along her spine. It was cool outside, so high in the mountain, but that was only part of her discomfort. She didn’t know what Simon had said to those people, and she knew there were guards stationed around him, but she still didn’t like him being surrounded by so many people who seemed so unhappy with his announcement.
Audric noticed. Turning to one o
f the men trailing them, he barked what sounded like an order and the man saluted and disappeared. He returned bearing a long, fleecy woven something that looked like a very long, wide scarf as Audric guided her to a bench and helped her to sit down.
Audric settled the scarf-like thing around her shoulders, wrapping it around her. “Better?”
Raina nodded, struggling with her uneasiness about Simon and her discomfort around Audric considering their last meeting. “You’re getting around much better,” she commented finally. “I’m glad.”
“Not nearly as glad as I am, I expect,” he returned, smiling faintly. “I was heartily weary of being confined to my sick bed.”
Raina managed a faint smile, but then frowned, feeling her discomfort rise as she struggled to think of an adequate apology for her behavior. “I’m tempted to beg off on account of hormonal insanity,” she said finally. “I know you probably hate me, and you won’t believe it, but I’m sorry … about ….”
He lifted a hand and nudged her chin to force her to look up at him. “I do not hate you. I do not think that I could. I love you, Raina. I knew that he would come for you, even if you did not … and I also knew that you would go to him--As it should be when you carry his child. I will not say that it did not cause me pain,” he finished wryly, “but it was no surprise to me.”
Raina studied him with a mixture of hopefulness, distress, and shame. “I love you, too. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just ….” She broke off and sighed. “I can’t help it.”
“You love Simon more,” he said simply. “Do not look so distressed, Raina. I am used to being in Simon’s shadow. I do not particularly like it, but I love him, too, so I understand.”
Raina frowned. “I love Simon differently,” she corrected him.
“Because he is Simon.”
“And I love you because you’re you,” she said, smiling faintly.
“In a brotherly way.”
Raina chuckled, but she hated to see that look in his eyes, especially when it wasn’t true. “I hope you don’t think that I’d do the nasty with so much enthusiasm with my brother--even if I still had one. Ew!” she said teasingly.
He smiled more easily then, desire rising to gleam in his eyes. “I am not at all certain that I believe that, but as it helps my feelings a great deal, I think I will try to believe it.”
“You should. It’s true.” She studied her hands for a moment. “What was all that ruckus going on back there?”
Audric’s entire attitude changed instantly. “Simon abdicated. He has relinquished all rights to the throne of Schalome, now and forever,” he said with a mixture of anger and incredulity.
Raina stared at him in shocked disbelief. “He did what?”
Audric stared at her for a long moment. “You did not understand any of that?”
As embarrassed as she was to admit she hadn’t managed to pick up even a handful of words in their language, she shook her head. “Sorry. I haven’t actually tried to learn. I figured when Simon got tired of me, again, he’d send me home. There just didn’t seem to be much point in learning the language.”
He looked taken aback. “He worships the ground you walk upon, little fool! I have never seen him behave so foolishly over any woman and I have been with him my entire life! Unless he tires of having a heart, I do not think that is anything you need concern yourself over.”
He shrugged, apparently oblivious to the fact that he’d sent her reeling with that information. Raina desperately wanted him to continue in that intriguing vein, wondering if he included Simon’s wife in that ‘any’, but she decided it was probably just a figure of speech. It was enough to thrill her no end that Audric considered that she held a special place in Simon’s heart. She couldn’t help being envious of that long dead woman who’d meant so much to him, but she was not going to let it ruin her enjoyment of being special to him now.
“I do not suppose there is any point in learning our language, unless you wish to please Simon. He told me when we were coming back that he would do this, but I did not truly believe he would. Even I thought that it was no more than lust and possessiveness that he felt for you, that he would realize that and forget you …. Or, at least, I suppose I only hoped that that was it. He would hardly eat or rest. I had begun to be seriously alarmed about his health, but once he had made the decision to go back to you it eased his mind.”
Raina stared at him speechlessly. “He said that? Before he discovered I was pregnant?”
The look he gave her was skeptical, but he smiled wryly. “Love has made us all blind and deaf to the rest of the universe. It is you he wants, dearling. I think that he did not know that himself until he left you and came to realize you were all that mattered to him. I told him that he could not go into battle with his heart and mind divided, that he must focus on the prize. And he told me the only prize of any value to him was the one he had left--you.
“He knew that he would have to give up all to have you--for there has never sat a consort upon the throne that was not draconian--and he knew that he could only have one or the other, not both.”
Raina felt faint with the thoughts churning through her mind, so thrilled she could hardly catch her breath, but hungry to hear more, and still doubtful. “He didn’t say he loved me,” she said after a moment.
“He calls you beloved. Is that not saying it?” he demanded with a mixture of amusement and irritation.
Raina blinked at him. “I thought that was only a term of affection. You both call me ‘sweeting’ and ‘dearling’ all the time. And he hasn’t acted any differently that I can tell.”
“Because we both love you! And there is no reason to behave differently when we both did almost from the first moment.”
“Oh!” Raina cooed with a mixture of pleasure and shock. “That’s … that’s …Oh, that’s bad!” she finished. “He’s not going to be happy not being the king, is he?”
“Emperor,” Simon corrected as he reached them. “But he knows what he wants. Do not doubt that, beloved.”
Raina jumped, whirling to look at him in surprise, having dismissed the sound of approaching footsteps because she was so engrossed in her conversation with Audric and thought, besides, that it was just one of the guards.
She looked up at him hopefully, feeling both shy and uneasy as she searched his gaze. “They’re still mad, huh?”
He shrugged. “They will recover,” he said dismissively, taking her hand and helping her from the bench. “They are arguing over who they will find to take my place when we leave. To appease them, and because we can not go anyway until you are able to travel, I told them I would do what I could to untangle the mess the realm is in before I left. For now, though, beloved, I am yours. I have arranged a traveling skimmer to show you about Schalome. I am anxious to see for myself how much has changed since last I was here.”
He grinned at her once he’d settled her in the thing he had called a skimmer, looking more relaxed and carefree than she’d ever seen him. “Ah! Alone at last,” he quipped.
Raina gave him a look. “Just you and me and the dozen heavily armed skimmers following us,” she said dryly.
He chuckled, but shrugged. “The realm is still in a bit of unrest. We can not be certain, yet, that we have ferreted out and eliminated all of Jaelen’s supporters. We will ignore them.”
He ignored them. Raina found that a little more difficult, but the droves of people they met up with made that easier. Everywhere they went excitement rippled through the people that saw them, that bowed respectfully to Simon, looking at him, when they dared, as if they were in the presence of a god. Simon seemed to take it stride, smiling easily at anyone that made eye contact with them, although there weren’t many who seemed able to get up the nerve to do so.
“What does Pater-Draken mean? Your name isn’t Draken?”
Simon shrugged. “It is … ah ….” He paused to consider it. “An honorary thing from ancient times.” He smiled wryly and dropped an arm around her sho
ulders. “Long ago, the people looked upon the emperor as the son of the gods,” he whispered conspiratorially. “That is why the heir to the throne is always referred to as Father Dragon. We are credited--or were--as the origin of the race.”
She looked at him askance, not because she doubted it for a moment, despite the teasing way he’d said it, but because even she could see, without any understanding of the language at all, that they still looked upon him as a god.
“This is why they call you Matra-Draken,” he added, his eyes gleaming with amusement and something else she found hard to decipher. “But also because they have heard of your feats in battle and respect you as a great warrioress.”
“My feats …? You’re kidding, right?”
He chuckled. “Now you are credited with having slain a dozen draconian warriors. Before much longer it will be an entire battalion, but they are right about the gist of it. You are a remarkable woman, Rainie. You deserve their respect and honor. You were brave and strong and I would have swollen with pride in you myself if I had not been too terrified to appreciate it at the time.”
Raina reddened, both gratified by his praise and embarrassed. “I wasn’t brave. I was scared to death. I ran and hid.”
“You confounded the enemy, retreated to a more defensible position, and held them off with stones until I could rescue you--to say nothing of the man you dispatched to protect Audric. You kept your wits and fought them, for which I will be eternally grateful--because you protected the one thing most important to me--you. I am proud of you, and justifiably so. Few women in your position would have had the courage or the wit to fight for their lives. They would have wept, or screamed, and waited for someone else to protect them.”
She still felt very undeserving of his praise when she’d only acted on her instincts for survival, but if he wanted to be proud of her for it, she was happy to bask in it. She smiled at him and slipped an arm around his waist as they walked together. As much as she enjoyed seeing the things he took her to see, and admired the beauty he’d spoken of--and the place was beautiful, the scenery as well as the fine architecture of the buildings he took her to see--she enjoyed being with him far more.
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