Chapter Five #3
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Davos
I was restless and had a hard time paying attention at the meetings I needed to attend most of the next day.
And I couldn’t stop thinking about Blake all morning long.
There seemed to be an invisible cord that ran from my heart to his.
It was the damnable bond I’d made with him.
Only time and distance would help me forget it—possibly.
Some people said the bond was unbreakable.
I cursed the animalistic side of me that caused this.
I was still brooding over that when one of the Imperials came to the door and beckoned for me.
“Any news yet?” I asked him, once I’d gone outside to the corridor.
“Yes, sire. The doctors examined him and said he’s fine, but it would be wise for him to spend the rest of the day and maybe the week in bed to recover from all the excitement.”
“Very well. See to it for me. Tell him I said to stay in bed, or I’ll tie him down.
Lock him in. I don’t trust that damned Evoq not to get to him somehow.
He and his church voted against me resuming the throne of Tygeria, and he knows that I’ll come after him now.
I don’t trust him. He’s lied to me, and I still need to have a word with him about that. Don’t let him anywhere near the human.”
“Hai,” he replied and saluted as I turned to go back inside to the meeting.
Late that afternoon, I stopped by Blake’s room to see how he was and found him deeply asleep. The doctor was there, however, and I exchanged a few quiet words with him on the way out.
“I have some questions,” I said.
“Yes, of course, Your Majesty.”
“The human said something strange to me. He said he’d never met me before, though he lived with me for almost a full cycle before I left for Myrthia. What do you think might cause that?”
“He didn’t have any blows to the head, so I don’t think that’s it. I can get a mind healer to check him out.”
“Not anyone from the Veranon. I don’t trust them at all. But go ahead and do that and let me know the results.”
“Of course, sire. Right away.”
I employed some highly trained trauma physicians and used them after a particularly bad engagement with the enemy, if at all possible, or if there was ever a need for them.
Because of our soldiers’ long and superior training, it was rarely necessary to use their services, but on occasion, they were helpful.
Despite the lies of the Alliance, we were not savages.
When innocent civilians, particularly children or the elderly, became victims of mass casualty incidents, some of the men needed to speak to someone about it.
Quick intervention in the field saved problems later on.
It was the next day before I heard back from the healers. A Captain Metokk had examined Blake and had his report.
“The human has been influenced heavily by someone. They used drugs along with psychological techniques like isolation, exhaustion and psychological distress over a period of time to do this to him, I think. The drugs were psychotropic drugs, and they used hypnotism to brainwash him.”
“What kind of drugs is that?”
“Psychotropic drugs affect thoughts, perceptions and moods. If used along with hypnotism, you can greatly influence a person to do whatever you want them to do. I’ve already started the healing process with your…uh, with the lieutenant.”
I guess I wasn’t fooling anyone about my feelings for the human.
“Oh, and sir,” the captain said. “The ones who did this were very skilled. It would be a good idea to be sure that whoever it is be stopped and not allowed to go after him again.”
“Do it then. Whatever it takes. Make it a priority, Captain. Oh, and by the way, I have one more question.”
“Certainly, Sire.”
“Is he in any danger of losing that baby he’s carrying? If we were to have sex, for example, would it hurt the child in any way?” I was still hoping that if I fucked him enough, I’d get him out of my system, though it might take some time.
“Probably not, Your Majesty. As long as you keep weight and pressure off him, it would be fine. He’s a bit farther along than he’s saying, though. At least a month or more farther along, or else the child is very large. Penetration wouldn’t be a good idea.”
“I see. Thank you, Doctor. And please step up the sessions with him right away. The situation is intolerable.”
“Yes, Sire. The oppression is not long-standing, so it should be fairly simple to remove. I can get started on it right away.”
I left then, not knowing if I believed it or not.
It still seemed to me that he had “forgotten me” way too easily.
Too conveniently, though I wouldn’t put much past Werros and those Veranon cultists.
Still, how could Blake be so easily persuaded that I was dead?
I knew he had a fear of abandonment. Was I being too hard on him?
I headed back down the hall for another meeting.
But I stopped walking and leaned against the wall for support. Damn it, I had been hard on him. It was foolish of me to keep denying how much I cared for him. How much I loved him, damn it. As for the brainwashing…
Roughly a third of the Tygerian people were involved with that Veranon religion, and it wasn’t all that dissimilar from the official state religion.
But it was still different, nonetheless.
They called themselves “nationalists,” and its devotees seemed to me to be much more fanatical.
Yet they questioned the government, and its church leaders had sown dissension.
Could something else be at work here? Some plot to destroy Tygeria from within?
The Alliance was crazy enough to try something like that.
I’d reserve judgement until I saw if the captain could be successful in ridding Blake of the oppression he was under, and I intended to question Blake about who did that to him.
If I didn’t like his answers, then I’d track down whoever did this and get rid of them myself.
It was as easy as that. And that person had to be Evoq.
I’d never liked him or his so-called religion, so it wouldn’t be a chore.
I still waited two more days to be clear about my feelings for Blake. On the third day, when I could stay away no longer, I went to his room late in the evening, after giving orders that I didn’t want to be disturbed until morning.