by Shannon West
“Omak and Father are here too?”
“Yes, and Anarr and Vannos and their mates as well. Now come with us.”
“But I have to go see Janos first.”
“The king? No,” Mikos said, the word harsh and abrupt. “You most definitely do not! Larz, come with us. You have nothing to worry about anymore.”
“No, wait! I have to at least tell Janos! You don’t understand!”
“I have to insist. Stop this. You’re coming with us. Now!”
“And I told you I’d come. But first I have to speak to Janos!”
Mikos’s lips tightened and he and Ryan glanced at each other. Ryan had a worried little frown on his handsome face. He firmly shook his head. “Mikos has his orders, Larz. Please come with us. Let’s go.”
“All right, damn it. I’ll go with you for now, but I need to come back to talk to Janos.”
“Janos will be ‘talked to,’” Mikos said, his lips tightening. His eyes roamed over the golden cuffs and the collar that they hadn’t gotten around to removing yet and glittered with barely repressed rage. Larz put his hand up to his collar and smiled.
“No, this is…you don’t understand.”
“Oh, I understand.”
“No, you see, they were welded on, so it would take a master craftsman to get them off and so far, there hasn’t been much time since we got back from…well, it’s a long story.”
“I look forward to hearing it. Now let’s get on board,” Mikos continued, pulling his arm.
“Wait!” Taran tightened his hold around Larz’s waist but Larz pulled him gently away. “Go back and find Luc. Tell him to take you to Janos and this time stay there. Tell Janos I have to leave but I’ll see him soon and to try not to worry.”
“Larz,” Mikos said, his voice sounding strained. “We need to get on board. Now.”
“All right,” Larz said, straightening back up and lifting his hands. “Take me then.”
Mikos took his bicep in a warden-like grip and escorted him up the ramp, with Ryan following close behind them. The hatch closed, leaving the Tygerian soldiers behind. Larz glanced at Mikos in confusion.
“What’s going on, Mikos? Why are you leaving the soldiers here?”
“We’re declaring martial law on Laltana until Father determines who’s to blame for your kidnapping. We’re taking you up to the ship to be examined by the physicians to determine the amount of abuse, and to see if it’s physical or…sexual. Then we’re going to make Laltana and its kings pay and pay dearly. King Janos’s life is already forfeit for what he’s done. The other kings on this planet have much to answer for as well. The only question now is whether or not we destroy this planet along with Janos.”
****
“The fuck you say!” Larz yelled at Mikos and tried to wrench the hatch door back open. Mikos tried to stop him, but Larz was as large and as strong as he was, and he desperately wanted to get out, so it took the combined efforts of both Mikos and Ryan to wrestle him away from the door. Mikos was shouting and Ryan was trying to calm Larz down with soothing words, but all Larz could understand was that Mikos had said he would kill Janos and destroy the planet. He went wild for a few moments and his vision blurred in a red haze. He could feel the shift starting again, but felt a pinprick in his arm as Mikos and Ryan held him down. The first one didn’t work well enough, and it took another needle in his arm to make him finally go limp.
After that, his limbs wouldn’t work right, and he couldn’t pry open his eyes, but he could still hear the voices around him, though even they were fading in and out. He was vaguely aware of being carried and placed on a flat, hard surface with doctors hovering over him, their hands smelling of antiseptic. He could hear Ryan’s voice as if he were talking at the end of a long tunnel.
“I’ve heard of this. It was called Stockholm Syndrome on Earth. I remember reading about it in school. It’s a really old concept and psychologists who have studied it believe that the bond is initially created when a captor threatens a captive’s life, and then chooses not to kill them after all. It would probably be even worse for Larz because he was so young when he was kidnapped, and because he’s been held for so long.”
Mikos’s rumbling tones, filled with outrage and fury, answered him. “But how could my brother feel anything but hatred and contempt for someone who treated him like a fucking slave? Look at that damn collar! And the cuffs on his wrists!”
“I know, Mikos, but calm down. His feelings aren’t real, the way I understand it, though they’re real to him. He was grateful for his life. They probably forced him to be dependent on them and interpret small acts of kindness as good treatment. Victims even develop a negative attitude against the ones who try to save them, like the way he acted with us.”
“This is intolerable!” Mikos shouted, and then one of the doctors bent over Larz, raised one of his eyelids and Larz saw him shake his head.
“He’s still awake. Should we give him another sedative, Your Highness?”
“No,” Ryan said softly, beside him. “No more. His parents are waiting to see him and they shouldn’t see him like this.” He bent over Larz and spoke directly to him. “Larz, honey, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I think you can. Nod for me if you understand.”
Larz must have made a small movement because Ryan said, “Good. Listen to me, please. Mikos was excited and overwrought over seeing you, but no one wants anything but what’s best for you. No one is going to do anything until Davos and Blake have talked to you, all right? You’ll have a chance to say whatever you like about-about King Janos. But you have to let the doctors examine you now. Is that all right? We’re on our way back up to the ship and Blake is waiting to see you. He has some exciting news for you, too. I know you want to see your parents, so you have to cooperate a little and calm down for us. Can you do that?”
Could he? Larz knew he had to try or else Mikos would have the damn doctors stick him with another fucking needle, and he wouldn’t be in any shape to explain things to his parents and who knew what might happen then? Gathering his strength, he managed to nod again and Ryan dropped a kiss on his forehead. He straightened up again and Larz heard him sigh.
“He looks so much like you, now, or like you did when we first met. Too handsome for your own good and you knew it, too. He’ll be able to overcome this, Mikos. Try not to worry so.” His voice had begun to drift away until he could no longer hear him or hear Mikos’s response. He felt the doctors poking and prodding him but fell back asleep in the middle of it. Ryan was right. He needed to see Blake and Davos so he could tell them what really happened. Explain to them that Janos was his nobyo now and nothing—and no one—would ever be allowed to separate them.
It may have been minutes or hours later that Larz drifted back up into consciousness. He felt a hand on his face and soft kisses all over his cheeks and thought for a minute he was in bed with Janos. He opened his eyes then and looked right into Blake’s tear-stained face.
“Omak? Omak, why are you crying?” he tried to say, but it came out much more garbled than that. He struggled to sit up and felt Blake’s hand on his chest, pushing him back down.
“Shh, baby. Don’t try to get up yet. They gave you sedatives on the shuttle craft. They’re wearing off, but it’ll take a little time yet. The doctors told me to wait to see you, like I’d ever pay attention to that foolishness.”
“Omak, I have to tell you something,” he said as slowly and distinctly as he could. “It’s important.”
“You can tell me anything, baby, you know that. Oh, Larz, it’s so wonderful to see you again. I thought I’d lost you.” He fell across his chest and started hugging and kissing Larz again and to be honest, Larz did a little kissing and hugging of his own. It had been far too long since he’d seen Blake, and this was his omak, after all. He hated to see him so upset. He felt a hard squeeze on his foot and blinked his eyes, peering up to see his father standing by the foot of the bed, fighting hard to keep back his own emotions.
“Father,” Larz said, holding out his hand. “I didn’t see you there. I’ve missed you.” Davos rushed to stand beside him and enfold his hand in his. He brought it to his lips to kiss the back of it like Larz had seen him do with Blake.
“Gods, you’ve changed so much, son. You were just a boy when you left and now, you’re a man, fully grown.” He put a hand on his chest and gazed sadly at him. “I’m so sorry I didn’t find you sooner. We tried everything.”
“I’m sure you did. And it wasn’t so bad for me once I got to Laltana.”
Larz saw the same look pass over Davos’s face as it had Mikos’s earlier. “Laltana,” he said as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. “These bastards have known who you were all along, and ignored all our urgent messages and attempts to find you. They’ll pay for that.”
“Wait, no they didn’t. At least Janos didn’t know, he’d have told me if he had.”
“Of course, he knew, Larz! He was lying to you if he told you any different. He’s admitted it!”
“Wait—what? He-he admitted that he knew who I was?”
“Yes, of course. Under interrogation. It’s still going on down on the planet’s surface, but we’ll get to the bottom of it; don’t you worry, son.”
Larz struggled to a sitting position. “Janos is being interrogated? Now? Without me?”
Blake gripped his hand. “Darling, please don’t worry about this. All you have to do now is rest and get well. And put this horrible ordeal behind you.”
Larz swung his feet around to stand up. He staggered as he tried to get up and Blake grabbed him around the waist to steady him. “Honey! Sit down! Please, what are you doing?”
“Interrogation? Do you mean torture? Are they hurting him? Who’s with him—Mikos? I need to get down to the planet’s surface!”
“Larz! Please, darling, sit down before you hurt yourself,” Blake said.
“I won’t allow this, do you understand? You’re not going anywhere!” His father thundered on the other side of him, but Larz whirled around to face him.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Father. I’m going back to put a stop to this and make sure Mikos doesn’t hurt him! I know his ‘interrogation’ techniques.”
“Don’t be ridiculous—Mikos knows what he’s doing.” Davos pulled at his arm to try to make him sit back down on the bed, but Larz ripped his arm away.
“Stop it, both of you! I know you mean well, but you don’t understand!”
“It’s you who doesn’t understand!” Davos shouted and made another attempt to put him back on the bed. This time Larz gave him a shove that made him stagger in surprise.
“Larz!”
“I’m sorry, Father, but you both need to listen to me! I’m not a child anymore, and I know what I’m saying. I love you both and I’m happy to see you, but you assume too much! I demand that you bring Janos here immediately! Stop whatever Mikos is doing right now and get him up here! There are things you don’t know—things I need to tell you, but I can’t think about any of that if Janos is being hurt.”
“Darling,” Blake said softly, and Larz knew he was trying to calm the situation down. “Please listen to us.”
“Not until you listen to me first! I love you, but I love him too. Janos is my nobyo, my mate. And I won’t be separated from him!”
“Your…what?” Blake said, falling back down into his chair. He glanced up at Davos with a blank expression. “What did he say?”
“Can this be true, Larz?” Davos said in a shocked tone, taking a step back toward him. “Do you know what you’re saying?”
“Of course, I know! I’ve taken him as my nobyo. So you can either bring him here to me or I’ll steal a ship and go get him myself!”
****
“Can it be true?” Blake asked Davos softly as he paced up and down in their private quarters on the ship. They’d left Larz with the doctors, after Davos had insisted on a physical examination before he made any decision about sending for King Janos. Larz had reluctantly agreed, only after he made Davos call down to the planet’s surface and stop the interrogation immediately. At one point, he’d grabbed the communicator from his father’s hand and yelled into it.
“If you harm a hair on his head, you’ll answer to me, Mikos! I swear it!”
Davos had ripped it away from him, and Blake had gone to put his arms around him, but Larz was so distracted, so distraught they hadn’t been able to get through to him. Blake hadn’t even been able to tell Larz yet about his new brother.
“Is it true? That he considers Janos to be his nobyo? I have no idea at this point what to think.” Davos said. “I wonder if he knows what he’s truly saying.”
“What are you thinking?”
Davos frowned. “I just don’t feel as if I know him anymore. For us, it’s only been months since we last saw him—a boy of just fifteen cycles. I wanted that boy back—I think I expected to see that boy, really. But that Larz is gone.” Blake came over quickly to put his arms around him.
“I know. But you’re wrong. Larz is here—just older than we were thinking of him.”
Davos sighed. “He’s a man, and for him, it’s been four long cycles since he’s seen us. He’s changed, and I wasn’t prepared for that. I thought I’d find a broken boy, and instead I’m confronted by a man fully grown and so independent, I’m finding it hard to make the transition in my mind. He says he loves this person. He says he’s made him his nobyo—I don’t know that I should question that. It’s a serious thing for a Tygerian to take a nobyo, and it isn’t done lightly. I think I’m doubting him because I’m still thinking of him as a child. The way he used to be—and still is in my mind.”
“It’s the same for me. He’s so much like Mikos too. So headstrong and full of himself. I thought, like you, that he’d be damaged and need our understanding and care. I was all in, prepared to do whatever it took to heal him. But instead…he doesn’t need us at all.”
Davos kissed him sweetly. “No, love, don’t think that way. You’re his omak, and he’ll always need you in his life. He just doesn’t have to have you taking care of him anymore. You should be proud that you raised him to be so independent and sure of himself. So strong.” His lips turned up the slightest bit. “Did you see how he stood up to me?”
“Do you realize I can actually feel your chest puffing out? Literally.” Blake smiled up at him. “God knows why I love you so much. But it seems I do.”
Davos bent his head to kiss him again, doing a thorough job of it this time and leaving Blake clinging to him, feeling weak in the knees. “So there’ll be no more talk of leaving me? Not that I would have allowed it anyway.”
Blake rolled his eyes so hard he thought he hurt himself, but couldn’t help smiling up at Davos. “Whatever you say, Davos. But no, I’ve stuck it out this long. I see no point in leaving now. You’d only follow me anyway and make a scene.”
“Oh, I’d make a scene all right.”
“I still want to see evidence that this attitude of yours is evolving, though. Your sons have made good matches and most important of all, they’re all happy. What they do in the bedroom is none of our concern and none of our business.”
“You realize the irony of that coming from you?”
“I never tried to interfere with their love life!”
Davos laughed out loud and Blake tried to pull away from him, but was simply shifted and settled even closer to his mate. “I’m sorry, nobyo. I didn’t mean to laugh.”
“Yes, you did. And perhaps I sometimes tried to help my boys—just a little. Maybe I don’t care all that much for Anarr’s husband, Renard…and Vannos’s husband Stefan can be a bit overbearing toward Vannos for my liking. Truly, Rhaegar should consider settling down more now that he’s a married man. But I don’t judge.” He slapped at Davos’s chest again as he continued to smirk down at him. “Well, I don’t.”
“Whatever you say, nobyo.” Davos kissed him again and sighed. “Now what will we do about this situation with Larz?�
�
“I don’t know that we have any choice in the matter. Not if he’s truly imprinted on him. We tried to get between Mikos and Ryan when we thought Ryan tried to kill him all those years ago, and it didn’t do a bit of good. When it comes to you Tygerians and your nobyos, nothing anyone says or does seems to matter.” Blake sighed and laid his head on Davos’s chest. “I’m happy if he’s happy, I suppose, but first we have to talk to this Janos and see what kind of man he is. If I had my way… But I don’t. Not if I want to have my son too. I’m inclined to hate this king on sight for keeping Larz away from us for so long when he could and should have sent him home, but I don’t want that to force Larz into making a decision between us. I might not like which one of us he chooses.”
“Mikos is on his way with Janos. Let’s at least hear what he has to say.”
“Oh, I intend to. And I have a few things I’d like to say to him too.”
Davos’s communicator made a sound and he looked down at it. “Mikos is arriving with him now. Let’s go find Larz and send for the physicians. I want to hear their report. But no matter what happens, Blake, try to keep hold of your temper.”
“Who’s talking?”
Davos looked bewildered. “I’m talking. What do you mean?”
Blake sighed. “Nothing, dear.” He patted Davos’s cheek. “Come on. Let’s get this over with. I can promise you one thing—I’m not losing my boy for a second time. No matter what else happens.”
****
He should have been terrified, and he was—after all, this was his worst nightmare literally come to life. A large, angry Tygerian was standing over him, looking as if he wanted to kill him, and ready to do him violence. He knew there was going to be pain, but on some level, he thought he probably deserved it, but the man looked so much like Bastion he couldn’t even be all that afraid of him. Those eyes of his were a little different than Bastion’s, come to think of it. Definitely colder. Full of menace at the moment.
Intellectually, he knew it was a serious mistake to discount him. This man was not Bastion, and felt nothing but antipathy toward him. Prince Mikos wouldn’t have any regard for him at all, and, in fact, he hated him because he’d kept his brother away from him for the past four years. Janos knew all of this—but when he stood close this way, looking so very much like Bastion, he couldn’t quite make his heart believe it.