“Don’t bother,” Yukihyo said as he walked inside. He handed me a small box. Opening it, I found a dark blue swim dress with tiny spaghetti straps.
“Well, this is nice. Thank you.”
Yukihyo grinned at me. He had a matching one for Neema and bent down beside Nico to change her. I changed in the bathroom. All of us went out to the backyard, even Chef. Chef’s pale legs made me feel much better about my own.
The green grass was soft and cool under my feet. I smiled up at the moons. It made me feel disoriented, and I wobbled on my feet. Quaid slipped his arms around me from behind and kissed my temple. “What would I do without my gorgeous Galaxic Militia Commander?” I asked as I kissed the jaw that I found irresistible. The feeling under my ribs reached for Quaid through my back pulling at him like a magnet. The fierce attraction, yearning, and tenderness I felt for him swirled from me and around him as though he were prey. Quaid was the man I had selfishly wanted for myself for no other reason than that I desired him. I had tried to ignore my feelings. He had fought for me. Startled, I realized that bonding with Quaid had required no effort or thought. It was almost like a reflex. Quaid wanted to take me home to Epopeus and keep me there. Sharing me made him angry. Quaid had grown up getting just about anything he wanted even though his father made him earn those things.
I saw an image of Quaid’s quarters. He paced back and forth in front of his vid-screen. “Son, we dare not risk insult to her father. He could destroy our sector,” Consul Bosh said.
“Then, we won’t offend him. Please, father, help me with my marriage proposal. I’ve never wanted a woman the way that I want her. She’s beautiful, passionate, intelligent, tormented, temperamental, and has my soul in her possession. I must make her my wife.”
Consul Bosh rubbed his forehead. “From what I have heard, she can’t stand you.”
Quaid stopped pacing. “I must try to win her heart.”
“I fear you will be disappointed.”
“If it takes twenty years of courting to win her, that is what I am prepared to do. Will you help me?”
“I will attempt to communicate with her father.”
When I again saw through my own eyes, I saw the moons. The back of my head rested against Quaid’s chest. “Quaid, did you just see what I saw?”
“I did.”
“I didn’t realize that I mattered so much to you. I thought you were teasing and tormenting me for your own amusement.”
“I knew what you thought, and it made me want you even more.” Quaid moved to my side and took my left hand. “Let’s watch Neema experience grass.” Surprised he hadn’t reacted the way that Yukihyo had, I lifted my eyes to his. Quaid’s eyes almost appeared human. Smiling, he kissed my lips. “I love you, Lady Bosh.”
“I love you, Lord Bosh.”
We joined the others in the grass. Neema tried to bite the grass. “Chitter chitter chitter!” Thunderdrop admonished her. Stopping, Neema turned her head toward Thunderdrop. She began crawling toward him. He blinked and began taking backwards steps. Neema crawled faster. Thunderdrop scampered to me and the top of my head. We spent the day playing on the lawn and in the lake.
“Why haven’t we played in the lake at the palace?” I asked.
“Oh, that water is cold most of the time. The lake is fed by the mountains,” Nico explained.
After Neema became tired, it was time for showers and clean clothes for our return to the ship. As we began to gather our things to go inside the house, I stopped Yukihyo and said, “Thank you. I loved it here. I think getting away from everything was good for our marriage.”
“I agree, and you are very welcome.” Yukihyo stood in front of me. I reached out to take his big strong hands into mine and moved my thumbs across the tops of his hands. “You have removed all of the barriers between us. I find you to be even more alluring with this confidence and your growing inner strength.”
“I made up my mind to stop living in a tormented past. I can’t just snap my fingers and get over it, but I want to know who I am. I can’t do that from behind walls of my own making.”
“Had you not protected yourself within those walls, you would have been torn to shreds.” Yukihyo’s almond-shaped eyes bore into mine. “A wise woman once told me not to punish myself for having a sense of self-preservation. I think you should take her advice.” He kissed my forehead.
Soon, we were in the transport, and Kaoti returned us to the ship. Quaid kissed me goodbye and returned to the Hadrian.
Chapter Nineteen
The trip to Carmanor took three days. With their new names and identification chips, Izaac told me that he and the others had been able to blend in on Sinope and had actually enjoyed a dinner at a restaurant together. “We do not have to hide. We have citizenship,” Izaac communicated to me.
From him I sensed a mix of jubilation and disbelief. “Hopefully, you will like the Parvac Empire. It really is beautiful. Just wait until you see the pink and orange sky from my patio at the palace.” I found myself looking forward to my bathtub and my bed. “Papa gave me a pleasure barge. It’s like a floating white sitting room. From it, we’ve seen mountain goats. Phillip likes to fish from the back.”
“Huh? It’s sounding as though my tiny cousin is missing Parvac. I hope you feel the same way when it is time to leave Arachne.”
I held out my hand to Kane. “It is hard to leave Arachne. You know how much the Alarics and Montgomerys mean to me.”
“I’m curious to see all of your spiders,” Kane said with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, you’ll love them.” I had been terrified of Thunderdrop and all spiders. Trusting Simon when he had introduced me to Cass and had convinced me to pet Thunderdrop had been one of the first times I had overcome my fears. So much good had come of it. I liked controlling my own emotions. I didn’t like it when they controlled me. I had even been afraid of Gina and Gram.
“You’ve grown a lot since we first met.” Sighing, I rubbed my hand over Niklos. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Oh.”
“Eric has arranged for us to spend a day on Carmanor with the local dignitaries, and then, that night we will leave for Arachne.”
“How did he manage that?” Kane smiled and shrugged.
As our ships approached the final planet on my tour of the Laconian Sector, Lorca worked on my hair. Hiroshi, Phillip, Simon, and Isidora planned to spend the day making deals while we were trapped someplace stuffy on our best behavior. It was spring in the city where the land port was located. I wore a white short-sleeved floor length dress, diamonds, and delicate silver sandals. Lorca had put my hair up with a cascade of curls falling to my shoulders in the back. Within an hour of docking, I heard laughter outside our quarters. Then, Kane, Eric, and Quaid entered. Neema screeched and held her hands toward Eric.
When Eric saw her, his dimples went into full effect. “There’s my main girl. Did you miss me?” Neema smiled up at his face with her jade green eyes. Her white ruffled dress fell over the dark navy blue sleeve of his dress uniform jacket.
“You always end up with the prettiest girls on your arm,” Kane told him.
Quaid strode to me and kissed me by way of greeting. We had spoken daily via vid-screen. He held out a present for me. “Quaid, thank you.” I took it and freed the box of its blue ribbon. I laid the ribbon and the box on the dining table to remove the box’s lid. “Oh.”
A beautiful picture of Yukihyo and me was inside. We were holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes on Sinope. We both had messy hair from playing outside all morning. Our legs weren’t in the picture, but we were visible from the waist up. I wore the dark blue swim dress, Yukihyo’s shirt was off, and Nico held Neema in her matching swim dress in the background. She was pointing with her tiny little baby hand at Thunderdrop as he walked through the grass. The three moons were behind us. I began to blubber.
“It’s so perfect.” Someone pulled out a chair and sat me down. I continued to cry. I had such a perfect family
. Someone handed me a silk square. “Why am I crying?”
“It’s okay, Teagan,” Quaid said.
“It’s actually perfect. I told the Governor that Teagan was feeling tired and emotional so we could leave tonight. Neema, say, ‘Way to go Mommy!’ Now, I don’t have to pinch her to get her to cry. Come on. Let’s go while her face is still red and blotchy,” Eric said.
I blew my nose. I heard several clicks against the dining table’s surface. They were loud, fast, and coming closer to where I sat. Sniffling, I looked up in time to see Thunderdrop half sliding and half walking to me. He went down on a few legs before he managed to stop. Thunderdrop shook out his long black legs and blinked at me.
“Chirp?”
He wanted me to get into the lift and get the visit over with so that he could go to Arachne, see ZeeZee, and play in the trees.
“Okay. I’m coming.” I put my arm down onto the table for him to climb. Thunderdrop got himself comfortable on my left shoulder blade. I began to wipe at my eyes, but remembered that I had just blown my nose and frowned. Eric took the silk square from me, tossed it to Lorca, and handed me a dark blue silk square with the Galaxic Militia’s insignia on it.
No one greeted us at the land port. Instead, our cars were surrounded by security transports, and we were led in a procession to the mansion of Governor Chorgh. At first glance, Carmanor looked a lot like Arachne. However, as I stared through the windows and out at the trees, I spotted monkey after monkey, but no spiders. The monkeys were similar in appearance to the monkeys of Aurilius. They had black faces and grey fur streaked with traces of black. These monkeys appeared larger than the ones of Aurilius.
“Chitter chirp chitter,” Thunderdrop said as he suspiciously spied on them from my shoulder. I rubbed his leg and sent him and image of him staying with me and away from the bad monkeys. “Chirp.”
Governor Chorgh’s mansion was surrounded by a stone and wire fence. “It carries an electrical charge to keep the monkeys out. They aren’t violent, but the will steal anything they can. Nothing is safe from them,” Eric explained.
I saw a memory. A plate was on a table in front of me. My mouth watered at the sight of several pieces of fried fish, a pile of mashed brown beans, and some grilled tomatoes. Condensation beaded on the large glass of chilled tea to the right of the plate. A strong hand reached for the fork. Blond hairs were on the hand’s knuckles, so I knew the memory was Quaid’s. Suddenly, two monkeys landed on the table causing it to rock, and the dishes to clatter. The tea spilled to Quaid’s lap making him push his chair away. Two monkeys screeched and made loud noises as they grabbed the food throwing some of it to a third monkey on the ground. Then, just as quickly, they vanished into the shrubs. Quaid wiped at his uniform with a napkin. I could feel his anger.
I laughed and laughed. Neema laughed with me. “Oh, Quaid! That’s too funny! Did you order another plate of food?”
“Yes, however, I relocated to a table inside of the bistro.”
Our transport continued through the open gate in the fence. Enforcers lined the drive to either side, and an arbor of branches woven through with white flowers and ribbon arched over and above our path. The entrance to the mansion had been decorated in a similar fashion. Children dressed in white held white flowers. They were lined up along either side of the steps leading up to the wide double doors that stood open. Governor Chorgh stood smiling with a Galaxic Militia representative at his side. Our soldiers opened our transport doors. A smiling Captain Alaric helped me out and gave me his arm. As we walked up the steps, the children handed to me the flowers they held.
By the time we had reached the top step, and I had accepted flowers from adorable little four-year-old girls with large black eyes, blonde hair, and white frilly dresses, I was a blubbery mess again. “They’re so cute and sweet. Look how cute they are, Eric.”
“Yes, they are adorable. These are Governor Chorgh’s children. Princess Teagan of House Probus of Parvac, please allow me to introduce Governor Chorgh of Carmanor and Ambassador Redmond of the Galaxic Militia,” Eric said.
I curtsied. I couldn’t blot at my tears. I held onto Eric’s arm with my left hand and held flowers in the crook of my right arm.
“Princess Teagan, welcome to Carmanor. It is a great honor that you grace our humble planet.” Governor Chorgh had the blonde hair and the black eyes indicative of the Eriopis. “Please, come inside.” Eric escorted me into the foyer where two ladies curtsied to me.
“Princess Teagan, please allow me to introduce the Ladies Chorgh, the wives of Governor Chorgh and mothers of those adorable children,” Eric said.
I curtsied. “Thank you for inviting us into your beautiful home. Your children are precious.”
“Thank you. Won’t you have a seat? Please, let me place those in water for you,” one of the ladies said.
The wives of the Governor were around thirty in age and were identical. Each had wide black eyes and short blonde hair. The ladies wore long full skirts and elbow length form fitting shirts in shades of peach and red. Rubies were at their throats. Even the identification bracelets around their wrists were of the same hammered gold. The ladies began asking questions about Neema while their husband greeted General Nico Cassian, Lord Alaric Montgomery Lee, Commander Bosh, and Captain Kane Valen.
Eventually, our conversation transitioned to Thunderdrop. Eric and Pierce remained with us, but the other men all entered a sitting room on the opposite side of the foyer. It made me feel annoyed. The ladies Chorgh exchanged worried glances.
Eric grinned and said, “Teagan, it is a tradition on Carmanor for the men of foreign lands to share ibiki bread and water together on their initial meeting with the leader. It symbolizes peace and good will.”
I thought the men of Carmanor would get along famously with the men of Parvac who refused to let women join the military. Eric winked at me.
“Our children have been practicing a song for you, Princess Teagan. May they perform it for you?”
“Yes, thank you.”
The children gathered together. A blonde boy of ten began to beat a rhythm on a small drum. A girl of maybe nine tapped on a xylophone.
“Chirp!” Thunderdrop watched from atop Niklos.
Then, all of the children began to sing to us about little baby monkeys who played in a tree swinging from branches and leaping from limbs. The smallest children acted out their jumps. Neema clapped throughout the song, and Thunderdrop lifted his feet to the beat of the drum. The Chorgh children giggled at my spider. I clapped and thanked them for their performance.
“That was the best song anyone has ever played for me! Thank you very much.”
The boys bowed, and the little girls showed me how they had learned to curtsey. Then, the other men decided to join us. None of them attempted non-verbal communication with me. I assumed maybe it was considered impolite to speak silently with one person and ignore all of the others when they could still hear you anyway. Soon, the small talk switched to the picture taking. Neema, Thunderdrop, and I took pictures with the Chorgh ladies and their children. Governor Chorgh and Ambassador Redmond took pictures with Nico, Yukihyo, Quaid, Kane, and Eric.
“Princess Probus, might I interest you and your party in a short trip? For most visitors to our planet, the Salt Plains prove to be an intriguing curiosity.”
I wasn’t sure how salt could be interesting, but I was relieved that he hadn’t asked me to pet monkeys. I hadn’t trusted the little ones on Aurilius, and the big ones here I liked even less. “Yes, sir. Thank you.”
Smiling, Governor Chorgh said, “I assure you. You shall not be disappointed.”
We said our goodbyes to the Chorgh family, and the flowers that had been given to me were taken to our transport. Nico invited Governor Chorgh and Governor Redmond to ride with us. I assumed the men hadn’t had enough time to chat amongst themselves in their private man club or while taking their manly pictures. Eric was amused at my annoyance. Governor Chorgh, and apparently the men of Carman
or in general, didn’t think women were capable of sentient thought.
As if sensing my thoughts, Governor Chorgh appeared aghast. “Princess Probus, I must beg forgiveness. I have offended you.” I turned from the window to him, curious as to what he imagined he had done. “I thought it best to give you time with the children and my ladies. I know aspects of your tour of our sector have been stressful, and in your condition that is unacceptable. You have a reputation of intelligence and fortitude. Your escape in an interstellar transport is well-known. Will you forgive me?” Governor Chorgh gave me the charming smile of a politician.
“How could I not?” I smiled and then again looked through the transport’s window. On starship time, it was our morning. When we had docked on Carmanor, it had been early evening.
“I had hoped you might accept my invitation and prepared accordingly. I reserved a viewing platform for your privacy and comfort.” Again, Chorgh gave me his charming smile. Eric winked at me. Quaid gave Eric a warning stare.
The road we had followed had taken us away from trees and monkeys, through some hills, and into a barren landscape. Flat land changed from the grey stone of the mountains into a vast empty white. Soon, a structure came into view. A tall black pole rose up five or six stories into the sky. Five large flat platforms extended out from it. The uppermost platform was the smallest. The platforms grew larger the closer they got to ground level. However, the lowest of the platforms appeared to be set at the height of an average house’s roof. As we came closer, I was able to discern that the central cylindrical structure contained a lift. Plasti-glass enclosed each platform.
Governor Chorgh was welcomed by a fawning man in an expensive suit who did his best to ingratiate himself. “Governor Chorgh, I have prepared the third tier personally and will oversee every aspect of service to your party,” the man said with a bow.
The Parvac Emperor's Daughter (The Space Merchants Book 3) Page 37
