“We might still be dangling in that birdcage if you hadn’t thought to use our boots to get my pertundo,” he finally said, realizing the silence had grown long. At the least, he could offer her the compliment she deserved.
It seemed to be the right choice, because she smiled. “I do have something of a reputation for creative problem solving.”
“How many days to Oceanus?”
“Five. I think your bones will have healed by then.” Nalini held up a jet injector full of nanites.
“Then I’ll stand at your back as you work your deals, and do my best to dissuade anyone from kidnapping you.”
“Good.” Her smile widened. “I thought you’d try to talk me out of it.”
As if he could have accomplished it, anyway. “Talk you out of pursuing your dreams? That would be discourteous.”
“Yes, it would, but many have tried.” Nalini pressed the injector to the side of his ribs, and it hissed, causing a little burst of pain that was inconsequential compared to what he’d endured. “I should use the next few days to check in with my other properties around the system and make sure everything truly is taken care of for the start of this new project. Do you want anything to read while you’re resting? We were interrupted in our earlier discussion about investing. I have some network articles that I’ve written that talk about the basics of buy-and-hold rental properties. If you have any interest in attaining financial independence, so you need not spend your life nearly getting killed to protect others, I would be happy to share them with you.”
“No reading. Thank you.” Tristan closed his eyes, hoping she would think he had a headache and that was the reason for the rejection.
He didn’t want to reject her. He could see the merit in learning about investing, since it wasn’t as if knights made huge sums of money, but he was still focused on becoming a full-fledged knight without an asterisk next to his name on the roster. After that happened, then he could think of his financial future.
“Ah.” She sounded disappointed.
“Not right now, I mean,” he amended, hating to disappoint her, “but maybe later when I’m feeling better.”
“Of course.” Nalini patted his arm, and he thought she might rise now that she’d delivered the nanites, but she paused. “Why don’t you like to read?”
He stifled a grimace. He thought he’d hidden that better.
“It’s all right if you don’t,” she said. “I just… It’s something I’ve gotten such pleasure out of throughout my life that I can’t imagine—it’s hard for me to understand why some people don’t like it.”
“I don’t dislike it; it dislikes me.” Tristan opened his eyes in time to catch a frown from her. He hated to share his weaknesses, but after they’d been through so much, did it matter? “I’m dyslexic. I have a hard time seeing words the right way, so I’ve always found reading to be frustrating and looked for other ways to learn.”
“Oh.” She didn’t sound like she knew what that was—maybe in the gene-cleaned rest of the Twelve Systems, it wasn’t common. Her eyes grew distant as she accessed her chip. Looking it up, no doubt. “Oh, it’s a learning disability common in the Kingdom, more so among boys than girls. Interesting.” Her frown shifted back into a smile. “I understand now. Then I could send you a bunch of audio interviews and lectures I’ve done. They cover a lot of the same material. And I’ve done some presentations that were recorded as videos. Can you read graphs? I have lots of graphs about this stuff. I used to do presentations for my father to convince him to give me money to invest, back before he learned to trust me with everything.”
“How old were you then?” He imagined a young Nalini in pigtails with a pointer standing in front of a slide presentation.
“The first time? Uhm, ten. I convinced him that we could turn empty storage warehouses near the ship bays in the palace into lodging for guests.”
He smirked. Pigtails definitely might have been involved.
“Why are you smirking?”
“I get excited by graphs. I’m fortunate that I don’t also have dyscalculia. I’m not great with spreadsheets full of data, but graphs and I get along. Feel free to send me any audio or video material.”
“I will.” She beamed a smile at him, and when their gazes met, he didn’t see any disappointment in her eyes.
He’d been judged before by people who thought having trouble with reading made him stupid, usually by teachers and superiors, but once by a girlfriend who’d thought him good at sports but dull at everything else.
He was relieved that Nalini didn’t seem to think that. It made him want to hug her and kiss her and forget about Jorg, his mission, and the rest of the universe.
Unaware of his jumbled thoughts, she touched the side of his face in parting and headed toward navigation.
He watched her go, wistful longing starting a new ache in his chest. Painkillers wouldn’t help this time.
13
Nalini lifted her hand to protect her eyes from the intensity of the Oceanus sun. The sea was calm, the barge only bobbing a little on the waves. It was the perfect day to create a massive new island—and she’d made it in time.
She grinned, almost giddy, and turned toward Tristan, who loomed protectively behind her shoulder as a good bodyguard should. After what they’d been through, she would have preferred to have him at her side, but she doubted he would agree to that. He was determined that they maintain a professional princess-bodyguard relationship, even though she’d caught him checking out her ass more than once. And even though she’d spent the last five nights wishing they were doing a lot more than discussing the lectures on real estate that she’d selected as foundational material for him.
Tristan raised his eyebrows at her grin, then looked slowly down her body.
She blushed, surprised at this blatant perusal, until his gaze landed on her shoes. She wasn’t wearing her fuzzy blue palace slippers, the first footwear of hers that he had not commented on, but her foot flamingoes, as they were called, were noteworthy. The satiny pink slip-ons themselves weren’t that remarkable, though the dark bird silhouettes sewn on the sides were adorable, but the flamingo necks and heads that thrust up from the tops tended to attract attention. They did not, despite what her brother said, look like pink mushrooms growing out of her feet. They were limited editions, with fewer than a hundred pairs having been made. Any sane woman would die for foot flamingoes.
Nalini folded her arms over her chest, waiting for a comment. When Tristan looked back up, after letting his gaze linger on them for several seconds, he smirked, his eyes twinkling.
“Not saying anything?” she asked.
“Not out loud, no.”
“Some of the scions of the Miners’ Union would have you flogged for that.”
His smirk deepened. “For not speaking?”
“Yes. It’s infuriating.”
“Really?” His humor faded, and a hint of concern entered his eyes, as if he worried he’d hurt her feelings.
She clasped his hand. “No.”
Tristan smiled in relief and returned the hand clasp. “Good. Because sometimes while I’m not speaking, I’m contemplating the interviews you’ve been sharing with me.” He looked down at their hand-holding, seemed to remember they were being professionals, and withdrew his grip, though his fingers twitched back toward her before he clasped his hands behind his back. “The neighborhood where I grew up in the capital was rough and dangerous when I was a kid, but it’s been getting more—what was the word you used in your discussion on up-and-coming markets and opportunities?—gentrified. I was thinking how someone might still be able to buy a small property there inexpensively enough that the rent would cover the mortgage, and that in another ten or twenty years, it would likely be worth a lot more. A few years ago, the king delivered a big speech about how crime anywhere on the planet was unacceptable, and the Kingdom Guard has been doing quite a bit to improve that neighborhood and make it safer.”
“So you want
to buy a property there?”
“Maybe.” The hand came out from behind his back as he gestured grandly. “If certain job prospects work out.”
Such as if he became her bodyguard permanently and he had a secure income?
Nalini knew that keeping someone she was attracted to that close wouldn’t be wise once she married the prince, but she was delighted that Tristan was taking an interest in her passion. She caught his hand before he could hide it away again and squeezed it and held it to her chest. She didn’t intend it to be a romantic gesture; she just wanted to let him know that she approved that he was thinking of his future.
But he grew still, the humor in his eyes turned into something deeper and more intense. She flashed back to that moment when she’d first seen him in the arena, when he’d bowed to her and held her gaze. Back then, he’d almost seemed to be looking through her, as if she were some vague goal to be obtained rather than a real person, but now, he was gazing straight into her eyes, as if he saw nothing but her.
She needed to let his hand go. She knew she did. But she wanted to kiss him instead.
Would that be so wrong? She hadn’t even met Jorg yet. How could she be expected to be loyal to him?
Meanwhile, Tristan was here, and he cared about her, and she cared about him. He was—
“It’s coming. It’s coming!” someone shouted.
Tristan pulled his hand free and looked upward. Nalini noticed the cool breeze against her skin when his warm fingers were gone, but she shook the feeling away and focused on the sky.
A shadow fell across them as the huge oblong asteroid passed in front of the sun on its way down, heading rapidly toward the precisely chosen location in the sea. The water wasn’t that deep there, with a huge continental shelf only a hundred meters down. Numerous rockets rented from the local governments had hooks in the asteroid from above and were firing against gravity to slow its descent, but it would still make a big splash.
It had all been calculated and recalculated, and everything should work out fine, but nerves fluttered in Nalini’s stomach. What if some unforeseen calamity happened?
It wouldn’t, she told herself. There was nothing for it to fall on except water. Even if the asteroid split a thousand times upon impact, it was large enough that the mass would still rise above the surface, providing plenty of building room. It would take time and money to craft it into a beautiful island capable of sustaining millions of citizens, but she had enough investors to fund it. And she’d already pre-leased condominiums to thousands of space-habitat residents who longed to live on a real planet with sun and soil but couldn’t afford the astronomical housing prices on Oceanus’s small and overpopulated existing continents.
“Is it supposed to be plummeting out of the sky so fast?” Tristan’s voice was dry but also concerned.
“Yes, actually. They just released it. Look, you can see the rockets flying away. They brought it in as far as they could before the gravitational pull was too much for the ships to counteract.”
“Uh, how big is the splash going to be?”
“We’re fine. We’re at a safe distance.”
“That didn’t answer my question,” he said.
“I could send the calculations and projections and all of the information on the asteroid and the process, but you said you don’t like reading.”
“I’m fine with graphs and diagrams. Or you could just send a picture of the size of the splash with a stick-figure knight standing next to it for comparison.”
She snorted. There wasn’t time to send anything. In seconds, the huge asteroid, which now filled the entire western sky, would slam into the water. Barely conscious of the movement, she gripped Tristan’s hand again. He didn’t pull away.
Shouts and whistles came from the barge crew, and then the asteroid struck. It came with more of a bang than a splash, the noise so loud that it hurt Nalini’s ears from miles away.
“Brace yourself, mates!” someone cried.
“Are they supposed to be that big?” Tristan asked as the first massive waves rolled toward them.
“We’ll ride right over them.”
“What about when they get to land?”
“Land is a thousand miles away. That’s why we picked this spot. They’ll have settled down into barely noticeable waves by the time they reach those existing shores.”
Even as she reassured him, she squeezed his hand tighter. Her stomach dropped as the first wave reached the barge, lifting them high up over the surrounding ocean. Even though she’d chosen a stable craft for exactly this reason, she couldn’t help but feel a thrill of excitement—and fear.
As the wave passed, the barge sank down into the depression, and her stomach sank with it, her fear increasing as they were in the hollow between two massive waves. Excited whoops came from the crew—but a few terrified screams, as well.
Tristan was a supportive rock, and she caught herself leaning against his chest as they rose up atop the next wave. For balance, she told herself. Nothing else.
Up and down they went more times than she could count. Finally, the swells grew less pronounced, and she could see the results of months’ worth of planning. And she grinned again.
The asteroid, with its various lumpy shades of brown, wasn’t much to look at, and it had lost its shape in places, breaking apart upon impact, but it rose high enough that it truly appeared like a great island with hills and valleys and future coastlines. Her team would use robotic terraformers to erode the jagged edges into pristine beaches and prime waterfront real estate. Inland, there would be lakes and farms—she’d selected this asteroid not only for its size but also its composition. They would have to bring in amendments to make fertile soil, but the rock itself had the raw materials a growing metropolis would need to survive and thrive.
“That’s rather incredible,” Tristan remarked as the waves quieted further.
One of Nalini’s project managers jogged up before she could respond. Edgar. He glanced at the handclasp she shared with Tristan, and she released it.
She doubted Edgar would report back to her father or judge her for having a relationship with a bodyguard, but she didn’t need to court trouble. Especially when nothing was going on between them.
“It came down right where we wanted, Your Highness.” Edgar smiled, wispy hair sticking out in all directions in the breeze, and held up a tablet. “Here are the latest projections on development. I’ll send them to your chip. That deal you were working on came through. We got one of the northern-continent governments to grant us free use of their terraforming equipment since you agreed to reserve five thousand housing units for low-income families at a rent they can afford. Also, they’ve got industrial and service businesses clamoring for the first available warehouses and manufacturing facilities.”
“I’m glad. Thank you, Edgar. Yes, send everything over to me.” Nalini smiled and waved to her chip, not glancing back toward Tristan. She hoped he hadn’t been paying attention.
This was part of the secret she didn’t want her father to know about, that many of her properties were acquired or built with units set aside for lower-income families at below-market rents. She still made plenty of money for her father’s coffers, but he was a shrewd capitalist, and he would rant and lecture if he knew she didn’t squeeze every cent possible out of their investments.
Nalini doubted that Tristan would blab to him about that, especially after all they had been through, but her father had been the one to hire him. She had no idea what had passed between them or if he felt more loyalty to the sultan than to her. It was also possible that he would say something by accident that could get her in trouble. Maybe on the way back, she would take him aside and confide the need for secrecy to him.
“Yes, of course, Your Highness.” Edgar, originally a Kingdom man, bowed before walking away.
“You build housing for people who can’t afford regular rents?” Tristan asked.
Nalini licked her lips, suddenly nervous, and fac
ed him. So much for him not paying attention. “That’s not everything I do, but I reserve some in every project. It’s still profitable.”
Even though she wasn’t talking to her father, she felt defensive. She remembered broaching the idea to him when she’d embarked on her first project, and how he’d told her it was ridiculous to charge less than the market rate, that people with lower incomes wouldn’t take care of the homes and she would regret her decision. She hadn’t then and she didn’t now.
Nalini looked Tristan in the eyes. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to my father. He believes in always maximizing profits and wouldn’t understand.”
“I won’t.” He met her gaze, that intensity lingering in his eyes again.
She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Or Prince Jorg. I shouldn’t have to justify my investments to him, but I don’t want to deal with any more drama than I’m already going to have from our…” She chopped her hand, not wanting to say the odious word marriage.
“I won’t tell him anything,” Tristan said, almost fiercely, as if he were making an oath.
Relief washed over her like one of those waves. She gripped his shoulders, intending to thank him and hug him, but her gaze was drawn to his mouth—his appealing lips, so quick to smirk and tease—and she kissed him before she could think better of it.
A ripple of surprise went through him, and she almost drew back, certain he would remind her that they had a professional relationship.
But one of his powerful arms swept around her back and pulled her against his chest. He returned the kiss with the same intensity that was in his eyes, and a charge of pure energy crackled through her body, making every nerve spark with electricity.
Knight Protector: a Star Kingdom novel Page 14