Prologue #2
“Uh huh. Well, you just lie down and try to get some rest and think about it. And if you hear a commotion out in the corridor outside your room after a while, pay it no mind.”
“What kind of commotion?”
“Oh,” he said, waving a graceful hand in the air again. “You know—shots fired, screams, that kind of thing.”
“Shots fired?”
“In case Tariq arrives here and tries to force his way in to see you. He’s been threatening to, you know.
He’ll almost certainly fight to get in to see you when he arrives and the guards try to send him on his way.
He’s Tygerian, after all, and an Imperial, and they’re not known for their even tempers.
Just tune all the noise out and don’t worry about it in the least. I’m sure it will be over soon—one way or the other. ”
I sat up abruptly. This was just getting worse. “One way or the other? What do you mean by that? And who’s firing shots? Will someone be firing at my husband?”
“Probably not. Not yet anyway. But we did receive a subspace message from Tariq a little while ago. He said he’d be here as soon as he could and that he’ll be docking here at the palace.
He said, if we try to stop him and don’t let him talk to you…
Well, he made some vague threats and seemed pretty upset. ”
“What did he say? Please tell me.”
“Something about forcing his way in to get you and taking you and the boys back to Loros where you belonged. Insufferable, right? But don’t worry. I don’t really think he’ll do that, do you?”
“Tariq is actually on his way here to Tygeria? On his way here to get me? I thought that was just a bluff. B-but how did he come after us so fast?”
Blake shrugged. “He commandeered a striker, I think your father said.”
I knew that strikers were sleek, cruising ships that were small and could move incredibly fast through space.
They’d been around for a long time, and they were usually reserved for royalty only.
But Tariq was my nephew Prince Mikol’s Dyson on the planet Loros, where Mikol lived part of the time.
Plus, there were few who would argue with Colonel Tariq when his blood was high.
He did have quite a temper, and he was an Imperial warrior.
Imperials weren’t challenged often because of their reputation for superior skill in any kind of battle.
As far as most people knew, outside of the Prince, I, myself, was the only one who was brave enough to try and argue with him.
And both my fathers, of course. That worked out well, as I was usually the only one who could make the highly disciplined Imperial soldier angry enough to lose his temper in the first place.
Our arguments had been epic back on Loros.
Sort of like Blake’s and Davos’s were on Tygeria.
“Omak, the guards can’t shoot at him! Tell them!”
“I’m sure they won’t. Pretty sure anyway. Not without just cause.”
“No, there is no just cause, Omak! You have to go tell them not to dare shoot my husband!”
“You mean your soon-to-be-ex-husband.”
“Well, I…I haven’t totally decided that. Not yet. Besides, I’d never want him hurt. No matter how angry I was at him.”
“You were angry? As in not anymore?”
“No, I meant, am. I meant to say I am angry with him.”
Blake shrugged. “I’ll tell them to be sure not to fire their weapons then. Though if your father finds out he was threatening you and the children…”
“I-I didn’t say threatening. Did I say threatening? I must have misspoken. Exaggerated a touch.”
“What exactly did he do then?”
“Um... he said something about me not leaving the room until we had time to talk things through, or…”
“Or what?”
“Or he’d…I can’t tell you what he said.”
“Rakkur, you need to tell me right now.”
“He was basically just bluffing.”
“What did he say he’d do to you?”
I could feel my face flaming. My omak could be so overbearing at times. And once he got something on his mind, he never gave it up. Maybe it would be best to just tell him.
“He said my father was right and my behavior was deplorable and out of control at times. He said that maybe he should take Father’s advice and lock me up in my room until I learned how to behave, like Father said he did with you years ago.
‘Behave!’ Like I was a child. He said, ‘It might not be too late to remedy that situation unless I apologized.’ Otherwise, he’d take me to bed and… you can imagine the rest.”
“Yes, I certainly can. Lock you up, huh? What is it with Tygerians and their compulsive need to lock people up? That’s the second or maybe the third time since I’ve known Davos that he’s threatened that, after promising me faithfully that he’d never do it again.”
“You mean he really did that to you?”
“Never mind. It’s a long story and it happened a long time ago. I’ve mostly forgiven him. But let me get this straight, darling. Are you telling me that you do or you don’t want to let him come see you to talk things through?”
I looked down at my lap but finally shrugged again. “I guess I do. I suppose it won’t hurt to hear what he has to say. Just for a minute or two. Besides, I-I…”
“You what?”
“I kind of miss him,” I said in a soft voice, dropping my gaze down to my lap again. “Maybe I was a bit hasty in running from him.”
“I see. Well, I did something similar once with your father. Speaking of your father, I should probably go and inform him of what’s happening.”
Blake swept out of the room, on his way to see Davos.
I lay back on the pillow and sighed deeply.
I loved Tariq—I truly did and couldn’t imagine my life without him.
But was that enough? We were such different people.
Tariq was a Tygerian Imperial Guardsman, the highest and most respected class of soldiers, known for their fierce loyalty to the crown and for their honor and bravery.
He was exemplary in every way, and I was proud to be at his side—I loved belonging to Tariq.
But Tariq belonged to me too, and sometimes he seemed to forget that.
He was entirely too friendly with the other Imperials.
One in particular, his aide, a junior Imperial named Hamarr, was probably in love with him.
When I had just casually pointed that out, Tariq had laughed at me.
Laughed! If I ever flirted and spent so much time with another man like Tariq did with Hamarr, you could bet that Tariq would have plenty to say about it, and he wouldn’t be laughing either.
Was love enough to make up for such things?
We were very different people in almost every way.
Tariq was older and more disciplined. He was a member of the Warrior class and not a nobleman, though on Tygeria, the Warrior class was even better than being a nobleman in some ways.
He was a decorated hero and a war veteran, and he’d been married once before.
He was a widower, and his mate had died a hero’s death fighting for the empire.
He'd been in love with me from the time we’d accidentally bonded, when I was sixteen and I had been choking for breath after my ribs had been broken by a disruptor, and Tariq had saved my life.
He bonded with me by exchanging body fluids as he did rescue breathing on me.
At first, Tariq hadn’t been able to admit it, out of loyalty to his deceased first husband.
But when he finally allowed himself to tell me how much he loved me, he had been the best husband anyone could have.
He was loving, protective, and sexually compatible with me—in the extreme.
From the beginning, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.
Still, because he was an Imperial, and a few years older than I was, he continued to want to be “in charge,” and lay down the law.
And they never seemed to apply to him. For example, he was way too familiar with that aide of his, in my opinion.
And I continued to have a problem with that.
Was passion and extreme sexual compatibility enough to fix all the problems?
And, all right, love. I loved Tariq so much I ached with it. But could that be enough?
Blake used to read from a book by an old philosopher of sorts from Earth about the power of positive thinking.
One of the philosophies of that man, who was named Emmet Fox, if I remembered correctly, was that there was no difficulty that enough love would not conquer; no disease that love would not heal; no door that enough love wouldn’t open.
But I’d never been sure of that. Not at all.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t in love enough. I could hardly be crazier about Tariq than I was.
But lately I was plagued with doubts. There was a time before we married when I thought that Tariq didn’t love me as much as I loved him and was only going through with the wedding because I had become pregnant and he had to marry me.
And if Tariq didn’t love me the way I loved him, was I only setting myself up for heartbreak in the end?
But if I left Tariq, how could I possibly survive?
It was a quandary, and I simply didn’t know what to do about it.
Blake came back in and sat down beside me on the bed, patting my knee.
“I’ve talked to your father. He called Tariq while I was standing there and told him we’d be here to talk things out after he arrived. Tariq seemed to be so relieved and glad, Rakkur. He really loves you very much.”
“I don’t know if that’s true.”
“Of course, it is. Now tell me again how this argument started.”
“You’ll think it was silly. You won’t like it.”
“Probably not but tell me anyway.”
“It was about what school the twins will go to.”
“What school they’ll go to? Rakkur, they’re not even a year old yet. Tell me the truth.”
“That is the truth. Now you sound just like Tariq, who thinks we have plenty of time to worry about that. We need to make plans though. Reserve a place for them. The best schools fill up fast.”