Prologue #3
“You’re the King’s son. That won’t be necessary. Any school would be happy to have the children.”
“I wanted to find one on Tygeria, of course.”
“Oh, well, that goes without saying.”
“But Tariq said he wasn’t sure about that!
He likes Loros and he’s been offered a place there permanently as the commandant of the Imperial Guard on Loros.
When he told me, I said, ‘Oh, really? And don’t I have a say in this?
’ And he said, no, because he’s older and he’s in charge.
Insufferable man. And he thinks I don’t work, so where we live is more up to him.
I don’t work? I have twin boys and no one to help me at all. ”
“You do have servants, dear,” Blake reminded me softly.
“Only a few!”
“Uh huh.”
“And that’s when I told him I was leaving, and he shouted at me. He said, “You’re not going anywhere,” and he pointed his finger right in my face. He had the nerve to say I was spoiled!”
“I see. Well, that was certainly an unfortunate choice of words. Did you talk to him about it? Let him know how you felt when he said that?”
“He doesn’t care.”
“The fact that he’s coming after you would indicate otherwise.”
“He’s just coming after the children. It’s not me he cares about. All he cares about are those stupid Imperials. And one in particular. His stupid aide.” I flung myself backward and put my hands over my face.
“Ah, I’m beginning to understand. You know, darling, when I talked to Tariq before you were married, I asked him if he truly loved you.
He said that he didn’t know much about love.
All he knew was that there’s no air without you and he can’t breathe.
That he doesn’t want to be in the world if you aren’t in it somewhere too.
Does that sound to you like he doesn’t care? ”
I pulled at my hair. “Oh, I don’t know anymore! What if he’s in love with someone else? What would I do?”
“That’s not how Tygerians work, darling.
You know that. He’s bonded and there’s no one else for him but you.
No matter what he says or does. He’s well and truly hooked.
Relax now, baby, while your boys are napping, and I’ll sit here with you until you calm down a little. You’re getting far too upset.”
I sighed with annoyance that I’d never openly express to Blake’s face.
I valued my life too much. A lot of people told me that I was too high strung, but where did everyone think I got that from?
Or maybe I should say, who? Both my parents had just terrible tempers, and with all the arguing, they hadn’t exactly set me a good example.
Except for making up afterward—they were really good at making up.
I did try to relax, though, and jammed a pillow under my head. Blake sat down on the bed beside me, smoothing out his robes.
“I do know how you feel, you know. Did I ever tell you about the time that your father and I split up?”
“What?” I said, rising on one elbow. “What does that mean? What is ‘splitting up?’”
“It means we almost ended our marriage. Well, technically, it was before we got married, though I’d been living with him for a while by then and he called me his nobyo.
We were waiting on the king’s permission, which he was reluctant to give, because I was a human.
I was desperately in love with your father by that time.
I’d even agreed to have a baby with him, and I’d begun taking the injections to prepare my body.
We only had a limited time, you see, because we were in the thick of the war then.
I was almost done with the injections, in fact, when we got the news that he had to leave Tygeria to go fight in the war.
It was by the king’s request, and since the king was going too, Davos had little choice but to go along. I was devastated.”
“And that’s what ‘split you?’”
“No, not exactly. He was gone for a long time and only came home one time on leave during that period. We’d spent that whole day in bed together. Oh, I’m sorry, dear, did I shock you?”
“Np. The two of do that now from time to time. Father even puts those days on his calendar.”
“Oh. Well, after he left, I spent my days at home, because he told me that sentiment against humans was running high just then, and it wasn’t safe for me to go outside and into the city. Then one day, the acting king, a general named Werros, sent me a message that he had bad news for me.
“He told me that he regretted to inform me that both the King and the Dyson—that was your father—had been tragically killed in a battle near some planet I’d never heard of. He sent his deepest condolences.”
My eyebrows shot up. “What? How could they make a mistake like that? That’s awful. It must have been devastating for you—all alone on Tygeria, surrounded by enemies and so far from home.”
“It was the worst day of my life. I wanted to die. I truly did.” His voice cracked partway through his reply and his eyes, glassy with unshed tears, took on a faraway look.
I could picture him in my mind’s eye—a young lieutenant, only twenty-three years old at the time, small compared to everyone else around him and completely, utterly alone on an alien world.
He had just received the most devastating news of his entire life—and he was lightyears away from everything and everyone he knew.
What do you do when the only person you’ve ever loved that much in your whole life is suddenly snatched away? Suddenly, I got an ache to see Tariq right away.
“The only thing that stopped me from doing something rash was knowing by that time that I was expecting Mikos,” Blake said softly. “I was going to have Davos’s child.”