I gave Peter his freedom, putting him down beside Neema. “Drop, make us a web! Please?” she begged.
“Chirp!”
Niklos held out his hand, and his new spider companion crawled onto him, around his wrist, and up his arm.
Thunderdrop lifted them both from the web with his front legs and carefully deposited them at my feet. Going down to my knees, I said, “Niklos, this isn’t a pet.” He looked up from the spider on his arm and into my eyes. “Uncle Simon acted like Thunderdrop was a pet when he gave him to me, but he’s not. He’s my best friend. Your new friend isn’t like Flake.”
“I know, Mommy. She’s smarter than a puppy. I can feel things. She can feel things.” His eyes dropped back down to his spiderling. “She’s hungry, but she’s having a hard time catching rats to eat. Her brothers and sisters are good at it, but she’s not. Can I give her some spider food?” He looked back up at me.
My heart swelled with love for him. “Yes, you can pick out bowls for her and put them by Thunderdrop’s in the kitchen.”
“Can she sleep with me? Flake sleeps with Neema.” He started petting her back.
“Yes, she will want to be with you always.”
“Like Drop?”
“Yes, just like Drop.”
Niklos smiled proudly. “I didn’t get a puppy. I’m glad now. You’re better.” Niklos followed behind Thunderdrop who led the way back toward the house.
Forgetting she wanted a web, Neema said, “Mommy, I’m hot. Take this off.”
“Can we wait to take it off until we get inside?”
“Mommy,” she said with a pout.
“Alright.” I squatted and helped her out of her costume.
She had a thin pink romper on underneath it, and her hair was sweaty under her spider cap. Peter wanted to be changed, too. Fitz carried their discarded costumes over his arm. I looked ahead of us on the path. Neema held Peter’s hand, and the two of them hurried to catch up with Niklos.
“My baby just bonded with his own Silk spider, and I was there to witness it.” I stopped walking because tears blurred my vision.
Rozz snorted. “I’ll watch the kids,” he said as he kept walking.
Fitz tossed him the costumes and put his arms around me.
“He has a best friend, and they’re both babies.” I started sobbing uncontrollably against his chest. I heard someone running toward us.
Fitz called out, “It’s alright. She’s doing the happy, weepy thing.”
“What brought about this response in our Lady Wife?” Yukihyo asked.
I tried to explain, but he wasn’t able to interpret the sounds I made.
“We witnessed Niklos bonding with his very own spiderling. It brought forth some tender emotions.”
Yukihyo added his hand to my back. “Like mother like son. As the two of them grow, they will share companionship.”
“She’ll protect him,” I said. I sniffled and wiped at my eyes. Yukihyo gave me a silk square to use.
“She?” he asked.
I shrugged. “That’s how Niklos referred to her.”
“Come. You should rest and relax. I brought food from town.”
I linked my arms with theirs, and together we walked to the house. Neema and Peter were playing with Flake behind the house where we had fenced off an area and screened it. It wouldn’t do for the forest spiders to look at the snow fox as a snack. Rozz gave me a grin and a fake salute from where he sat watching them. Pierce tossed Peter a ball which he caught and rolled to Flake. Assured they were safe, we entered the house.
“See? Watch how Drop does it.” Niklos pointed at Thunderdrop who was eating spider food from the bowl Lorca had filled for him.
“Was Thunderdrop ever so small?” Fitz asked.
“He was twice her size when we met. I was terrified of him. I thought he was going to eat me.”
“Teagan, you were running for your life at the time. Had the circumstances been different….”
“Yukihyo, you know me better than that. I’d have been scared of a giant spider even if we had been formally introduced over tea and cookies.”
Yukihyo laughed and proudly said, “Our family continues to grow. It’s time for you to come and eat something.” Lacing our fingers together, he urged me to follow him into the dining room.
Niklos’ spiderling was starting to eat her food. Thunderdrop chirped encouragement at her.
Shaking my hand free of his, I went to the sink and washed them while encouraging my husbands to do the same. Yukihyo gave me an abashed look but minded me. Fitz smirked at him, so Yukihyo flicked water at him. “No, you two. Spiders don’t like getting wet. You’re going to scare her.”
With clean hands, we entered the dining room, and it immediately set my mind to thinking about Quaid. He’d been the one who had designed it after my favorite room at the Bosh compound. Holding out my chair, Fitz got me seated while Yukihyo placed a large bowl of hot, creamy mushroom soup in front of me along with a basket of freshly baked herbed bread. Tearing off a piece of the loaf, I dipped it in my soup.
“How was the party?” Yukihyo asked as he sat beside me at the head of the table and filled his own bowl from a tureen of soup.
Fitz said, “It was a bore until Gina and Sydney laid into Captain Espanoza on our behalf.” He tore off a chunk of bread and ate it. “How was your trip to town?”
“I was unable to learn anything about the pirates or who hired them. I’m too well-known as Teagan’s husband. Jazon even went with me, keeping himself hidden, to listen to learn if their thoughts betrayed them. Whoever is responsible doesn’t run in the same circles as my former business associates. The merchants with whom I spoke expressed more concern about the safety of their crews and ships. Pirates who are brazen enough to attack a Parvac warship would not think twice about attacking any of them.”
“For certain, we need to be prepared for any future encounters,” Fitz said.
I saw something out of the corner of my eye and gave a startled little gasp. I hadn’t heard, seen, or sensed their arrival. Eli and Drex pulled out chairs and joined us. Both of them were dressed in uniform.
“We will be prepared, but you needn’t worry. The pirates won’t pose a threat for much longer. We have located their base of operations and prepare to strike. There will be nothing left of them but dust. We leave within the hour.” Eli was like a furnace, hard and filled with fire.
“We? Am I included in the mission?”
Eli’s eyes pinned me to my seat. “Absolutely not.” His voice was cold and calm, at odds with the heat in his eyes.
Drex said, “Dearest One, remain here on Arachne and draw attention to yourself.” He slid a credit chip across the table to me as if I needed credits.
“But, my team is supposed to be getting to shadow Rovek’s team on missions. Eli is on his team.”
“Your team will be allowed to accompany us, but you will not. You piloted a fighter ship which could have been destroyed in battle. Be satisfied with it. Now, the other members of your team will have a turn. Furthermore, this isn’t a mission so much as a series of brutal executions. We are going to exact justice. You aren’t invited. Is that clear?” Eli tried to freeze my soul with his eyes.
“Yes, sir,” I quietly replied.
Inquisitors were ruthless and exacted brutal, bloody revenge against enemies. Eli had done so to those who had hurt me. At the time, he had been avenging the honor of an Imperial Princess of the Parvac Empire. This time, seven of their own had died in an unprovoked attack. With Inquisitors, there was always retaliation, and he didn’t want me to know the extent to which he would go or how deep was the darkness in his soul.
Together, Eli and Drex stood, bowed to me, and left.
Holding out my hand to Yukihyo, I said, “Please, give me your vid-screen.” I tried calling Clark, Cedrenus, Binder, Ross, Stayton, Levi, and Tyler. None of them answered.
Rozz came in with Neema, Peter, and Flake. Since the pest was always snooping around in my
thoughts, he knew what I was doing. “They’ve been ordered to remain silent. Take the credits and go shopping.”
“Shopping? Shopping? They’re taking my team but not me.” They were leaving me behind like I was just a pretty plaything to be protected as if my training had just been an attempt to placate and humor me.
“Teagan, wake up. You need to be out in public so you have several alibis. You should visit friends, shop, go to a spa, or something. Trust me. I know what they are planning to do.”
Fitz said, “He’s right. The pirates attacked the Inquisitors while you were in their care. An example will be made of them, and it will be vile.”
A signal came from the front doors. Rozz grinned. He already knew who it was, taking his responsibility to protect me and my family seriously. After all, he was a part of it. He asked, “Are you going to get that?”
“Movie, Rozz,” Neema demanded while tugging on his hand and leading him away.
Curious, I left the table and went to answer the door. A delivery man stood there with a flower arrangement and a wrapped gift. Drex and Eli must have passed him on the road when they’d left and notified security.
“Lady Bosh, Commander Bosh sends his regards. May I?” he asked with a subtle gesture toward the coffee table.
“Yes, of course, thank you.” I moved aside to give him room.
Even though he was careful, the heavy crystal vase made a soft thud against the table. It was spilling over with pink and orange roses which matched my décor. The man bowed and presented me with a gift wrapped in pink paper and tied with white silk ribbon. He wasn’t a typical deliveryman as I had presumed, not wearing a Galaxic Militia officer’s uniform as he did.
“I’m surprised he bothered with me.” I took the gift but didn’t smile.
“Duty often calls us away from loved ones.”
“Duty can also be used as an excuse.” I made no effort to try to politely hide the hurt from my voice. “Thank you for driving all of the way out here. May I offer you a drink?”
Rising to his full height from the bow he had held, he accepted and followed me into the dining room. Rozz had assumed a guard position by the door, so I assumed he’d started the movie Neema had wanted. Yukihyo and Fitz stood to greet our guest. Yukihyo extended his hand.
“Good afternoon. I’m Lieutenant Pullman of the Constantine. Commander Bosh is a friend of mine, and he’s worried about Princess Teagan.”
“If he really cared, he’d have made time to see me, but he couldn’t spare me an hour.” Dropping the gift to the table, I tore off a piece of bread and shoved it into my mouth.
Fitz poured our guest a glass of sweet tea while Yukihyo offered him some soup.
“Mommy! Look what she can do!” Niklos walked excitedly but carefully over to my chair and held out his arm. His new companion had wrapped a line of silk around his wrist and was perched there where she blinked at him. “Watch, Mommy!”
“I see!” I smiled proudly at my son.
Suddenly, the poor spiderling seemed to lose her balance and fell, catching her line of silk inches before hitting the floor.
“Oh, no! It’s okay, baby,” he said softly. “Mommy,” he pleaded. “Sing the pout song about the baby spider. She’s sad.”
It took me a while to catch onto his meaning. “Oh….” I nodded and started singing, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” He sang with me.
“You can do it,” Niklos assured her as she climbed back up to his wrist. “Good girl.” He left the room while singing the nursery rhyme to her.
“He bonded with one of our spiders. He’s Arachnean. Parvac’s future emperor is one of us,” Lieutenant Pullman said almost to himself.
“His father is Parvacian, and mine is too, as was my grandfather.”
“But, still, Niklos has bonded with a Silk spider.”
Yukihyo said, “You are Arachnean.”
“Yes, sir. No one in my family has ever had the good fortune to bond though. Your son is special.”
His sincere compliment put a smile back on my face. “Thank you! I think we may still have some of the cookies that Gram sent over. I’ll go get them.” Blushing, I went to the kitchen and plated some peanut butter cookies. Returning to the table, I placed then near Pullman.
Fitz was asking, “Does the Constantine intend to serve as our escort while we remain in these sectors?”
“Yes, sir. I believe we’ll be staying close even if we’re asked to do otherwise.”
Returning to my seat, I said, “I’m not sure what our itinerary will be. Where has the Hadrian gone?”
Yukihyo took a handful of cookies and encouraged Pullman to do the same.
“I’m not at liberty to say,” he responded before eating a cookie.
“He’s going to keep ignoring me,” I said quietly.
“Don’t waste your tears on Quaid. Instead, give us your smiles and laughter. After all, we are here on Arachne. Didn’t you long for two of everything in pink?” Fitz asked. I looked up from my bowl and into his eyes. Grinning, he said, “Tomorrow morning, we will go on a shopping spree unlike any other.”
I heard the front door open and the children running to greet whoever had just arrived. Then, through our bond, I knew who he was, but the children confirmed it.
“Rio! Rio! Look! Look at my spider! I have a spider like Mommy!” Niklos exclaimed.
“Rio! Rio! Rio! What did you bring me?” Neema asked over her brother and Peter’s shrieks of laughter.
“For you, and you, and you,” Dario said. He must have handed out either sweets or toys because the three of them got quiet. “What are you going to name her?”
“I don’t know, yet.”
“Come on, Nik,” Neema said. “Drop, come on.”
I heard little feet running back into the movie room. Then, Dario entered the dining room alone. “Hey,” I said while smiling up at him.
“Hello, baby,” he said as he came over to me and bent to kiss my cheek. “How are my girls?”
“We’re good. We were just planning a shopping trip for tomorrow. We need lots of pink, lace, and bows. Want to help carry our bags?”
Staring into my eyes in earnest, he said, “There’s nothing I’d like more.”
“Then, it’s a date.” I winked at him. Dario turned from me to give our guest his attention. “Admiral Galerius, please allow me to introduce Lieutenant Pullman of the Constantine. He’s a friend of Quaid’s.”
The two men inclined their heads to each other.
“Hey!” Neema stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. Then, she lifted both hands into the air. “You gonna watch with us?”
“What are you watching?” I asked.
She lifted her top lip a little and wrinkled her forehead. “A movie, Mommy.” She narrowed her eyes at me, turned, and walked away.
Yukihyo and I looked at each other and started laughing.
Turning back around, she asked, “What’s so funny? You laughing at Neema?”
“Yes,” her daddy answered.
“Why you laughing at me? Mommy’s the one who forgot about movies.” She ran to him and climbed onto his lap.
“We laughed because we think you are cute.”
Summing him up, she nodded. Seeing the gift from Quaid, she pulled it across the table by its ribbon. “This for Neema?”
“No, it is for Mommy from Quaid,” he told her.
Pushing it over to me, she patiently explained, “You gots to open presents.”
Humoring her, I unwrapped it. Quaid hadn’t even bought whatever was inside. Pullman had. Not wanting to seem rude or spoiled, I prepared myself to feign adoration for whatever trinket was in the box. However, I hadn’t prepared myself to be genuinely pleased. Not feigning my pleasure, I reached into the box and carefully lifted out a small, intricately carved wooden scene of an Arachnean forest. The detail was breathtaking. Carefully placing it on the table, I moved my chair back for Neema to crawl onto my lap.
“Oh, look,” I whispered to her as I
pointed out spiders hiding behind the leaves of a tree and a beautiful web on which Silk spiders seemed to watch us.
“Very pretty. I not touch, Mommy. I promise.”
“I love it. We’ll place it someplace special on the Empress so we can all enjoy it and think of home when we’re not here.” Leaning closer, I sniffed the wood, and Neema mimicked me. “It even smells like home.”
Neema scooted off my lap to go and play. “Now, movie,” she said.
“In a moment,” Yukihyo said.
“Okay,” she said as she skipped away.
“Huh,” I said. “He actually did good. I was dreading a meaningless piece of jewelry,” I admitted.
“I’m deeply flattered that you like it,” Pullman said.
“It’s stunning. Look at the detail. This is a work of art, and Quaid knows how fascinated I am by art. It’s not something for which I have much ability. This must have cost him a small fortune. At which gallery did you purchase it? Do you recall the artist’s name?” I looked in the box for a card but didn’t see one.
“I think I know where we will shop first tomorrow,” Yukihyo joked.
Pullman actually blushed and fidgeted in his seat. “It’s just a hobby of mine. Quaid knows about it and asked if I had any finished pieces.”
I gaped at him. Dario and Yukihyo were as surprised as I was.
Dario complimented, “You have a talent.”
“You truly do,” I agreed. “I know it can be difficult to find Arachnean wood to carve. You’re welcome to look through my forest for pieces. Just be sure one of us accompanies you so our spiders know it’s okay.”
“It is a most gracious offer, truly. I had planned to visit a few places tomorrow to search for suitable pieces to carve.” He seemed eager to run outside and search the forest floor.
“There’s no need for that. I’ve got lots of wood, more than I know what to do with.”
Yukihyo chuckled.
I pinched him to keep him from making any dirty jokes.
Lifting his hands in surrender, Yukihyo said, “If you will go put your feet up and relax, I will take him out on rollers to forage in the forest for wood.”
“Okay, join us once you’re done.” Dario pulled out my chair and gave me his arm. He inclined his head to me and smiled noticing as I had that our guest was as eager to procure his medium of choice as the kids were to go splash whenever they saw water.
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