by Rachel Clark
“But the IGAC is powerful. They can make things very difficult for dealing with other planets, not just Earth.”
“I am fully aware of their strengths.” He winked before adding, “And their flaws. I will not let them…what did you call it…steam-spin you?”
“Steamroll me,” she said with a sad smile. “Think of what your father will say. He was very eager to introduce human females into your society.”
Eric smiled and then pulled her close once more. “My father trusts me to make the right decisions.” Cindy wanted to argue the point some more, but truly anything she said after that assurance would sound like she didn’t have the same trust in him that his father did. “And besides,” Eric said in a far more jovial voice, “he would likely disown me if I came home without you. You’ve made quite an impression, Cindy Richards.”
“On all of us,” Loukie said as she wrapped her slender arms around Cindy’s waist from behind and rested her chin on her shoulder. “I’m more than ready to leave this planet, Eric. Let’s take our mubellabina home.”
Chapter Six
Eric watched Cindy pace nervously. They’d been back on the planet for less than three hours, but it had been decided long before their arrival that they would claim their mubellabina publicly as soon as they got home.
“That is a very big crowd,” Cindy said, peeking through the small window in the door.
“They are all well-known, trusted Desconians. I assure you everyone in that room is here to celebrate our union. No one will doubt your place in our society after this and it will mean you are far safer on this planet than you were on Earth.”
He had no intention of complying with any of the demands that had come from IGAC and the government on Earth, but the official claiming would make it a lot harder for the long arms of intergalactic law to get to Cindy. Desconians held the ritual in highest regard. Even those who’d never met her would defend Cindy’s right to be here, simply because she was officially Eric and Loukie’s mubellabina.
He and Loukie had spent the entire three-day trip home reassuring Cindy that her infertility did not matter and that they loved her and wanted her regardless. He’d desperately wanted to ask his father’s personal physician for a second opinion, but knew it would make Cindy feel that his love was contingent on a positive outcome. It wasn’t, but with every other false accusation that had been aimed in her direction, Eric would have liked to have tests done by somebody he could trust.
He growled as the communicator beeped once more. He usually enjoyed his royal duties, but today they just seemed to be a royal pain in his royal ass.
“What?” he asked into the microphone as he stepped from the room,
“We have a vessel from Earth requesting permission to land,” Jerrod, the man in charge of the royal guard, said grimly.
Eric shook his head at the rather gutsy move. The government of Earth and representatives of IGAC had spent the last several days alternating between offers of conciliation talks and threats of legal action and trade embargo. None of them had been worth Eric’s time. For some reason they seemed determined to remove Cindy from their planet regardless of the evidence Eric’s investigators had been able to dig up. It seemed that the plain proof of Cindy’s innocence was not enough for them to drop the charges against her.
“Permission denied. Advise them that I will not tolerate uninvited guests in our atmosphere and will fire upon any ship defying our laws.”
“Yes, Sire,” Jerrod said with obvious enthusiasm in his voice.
It was the most infuriating part of dealing with IGAC. None of the supposedly diplomatic representatives seemed to care that an innocent woman would have been incarcerated indefinitely. They only cared that she’d escaped their brand of justice when Eric himself had smuggled her off the planet. The weirdest part was that it was becoming quite clear that IGAC needed Descon more than Descon needed IGAC. Thanks to a very rare mineral being available in abundance on this planet, Descon technically had the upper hand.
When the communicator buzzed again Eric tried to hold on to what was left of his temper.
“Yes?”
“Apologies, Sire, but the ship insists that it is carrying your mubellabina’s sister. She requests an audience with Cindy Richards.”
The possible existence of a half-sister that Cindy knew nothing of had come up in their investigations. Unfortunately it was not something he’d yet discussed with his mubella or mubellabina. He’d been loath to pile on more issues as they sought the happy, quiet life the three of them wanted, but he’d intended to raise the subject soon. It looked like he’d waited a little too long.
“Fine. Advise them that a heavily armed transport full of my personal bodyguards will board their ship before they are given permission to land. Any deviation from our instructions or hint of subterfuge will be regarded as an act of war and we will respond appropriately.”
“Yes, Sire,” Jerrod managed to answer with only a small hint of his glee. Eric had no doubt that Jerrod and his team would protect his mubellabina. Nearly every person on the planet adored Cindy. They already thought of her as Desconian, choosing to ignore her planet of birth even as tensions between the two planets wound tighter.
Eric got to his feet, frowned at the list of things that would need to be dealt with later, and headed back to his lovers.
.
* * * *
“What’s wrong?” Loukie asked.
Cindy sat up straighter, her concern for their tredella very obvious on her face.
“Cindy,” he said, holding his arms open for her to step into his embrace. As usual, Cindy flew into his arms, her love for both of them always very clear in her behavior. He held his hand out for Loukie to take, and she quickly grasped it, willing to follow him anywhere. It seemed almost incredible that after a lifetime of fighting for her independence she would willingly support her man without question, but she understood enough to know that it was the man himself that inspired such devotion. Of course that didn’t mean she didn’t like making decisions for herself. It simply meant she loved the man enough to trust him to do the right thing for all three of them when he needed to.
He led them over to the group of chairs in the small room and pulled both women into the same recliner with him. He seemed very concerned about something. Loukie squeezed his hand, silently lending her support to help him through whatever he needed to say.
“There is a ship from Earth currently orbiting the planet. They claim to be carrying your half-sister,” he said to Cindy.
“I don’t…” Cindy let the denial trail off, perhaps remembering something from the past that might contradict her assumption. “What does she want?”
“I have no idea,” he said quietly, “and quite frankly I’m more concerned by what you want than a woman who may or may not be your relative. Do you know anything about her?”
“Only that I once overheard my parents arguing over an affair my father had. But nobody actually mentioned to me that I might have a sister.”
Loukie knew that Cindy’s parents had died many years ago, so the possibility of connecting with a sister she’d known nothing about would certainly appeal to her. Unfortunately, she could also see Eric’s worry. With Cindy so well known now, she’d be a target for all sorts of scammers claiming all sorts of things. They also couldn’t dismiss the notion that it was really someone trying to collect the secret bounty IGAC had set for her capture.
“I’ve sent my personal guard to escort them to a landing station. They’ve got instructions to verify the woman’s identity and motives by any means possible, but it’s up to you if you want to meet her or not.” Eric pulled Cindy onto his lap and cuddled her close. “We are your family, and we will support you in any decision you make.”
Cindy nodded. “I’d like to meet her, if that’s okay with you both.”
“Of course,” Loukie said, grabbing Cindy’s hand and squeezing affectionately. “Whatever you want. You know you can rely on us to support you, al
ways.”
* * * *
The waiting set Cindy’s nerves on edge.
It took several hours for the security guards to identify the young woman as genuinely Cindy’s sister, even going as far as gathering DNA samples and confirming that they did indeed have the same father. By the time the girl actually entered the room, Cindy was ready to crawl out of her skin.
She’d dragged on human-style clothes in the hopes of making her sister more comfortable. Eric and Loukie had chosen to wear their usual, Desconian style of clothing. It wasn’t as revealing as it could have been, but it wasn’t formal royalty wear either.
“What do you want?” It came out sounding rude, but she was so taken aback by the woman’s young age, she didn’t think to soften the question. The woman, no, the girl, looked thirteen, maybe fourteen Earth years of age at the most.
“I’m not really sure,” her sister, Lila, said with a typical teenager’s sneer. “You’re a bigger surprise to me than I am to you, I’d bet. If Felicity hadn’t sought me out, I may have lived my whole life not knowing I was related to the manipulative bitch who landed herself a prince and a princess in one giant scam. And it’s oh so lovely to know,” she said sarcastically, “that I have a sister who is also a criminal and IGAC’s most wanted fugitive.”
Taken aback by the blatant, and quite unexpected, attack on her character, Cindy ground her teeth together and wondered what to do now.
“Who is Felicity?” Eric asked in a deceptively friendly voice. Cindy knew that tone. She’d only heard it a few times, but it was the voice he used when he suspected a situation wasn’t quite all it seemed.
“Felicity Saunders,” Lila answered, sounding annoyed. When none of them showed a reaction she said it again. “Felicity Saunders. The Felicity Saunders. Geez, don’t you people know anything? She’s only the richest woman on the southern continent of Earth.”
“Ah, that Felicity Saunders,” Eric said as if he finally understood who the woman was. Cindy knew him well enough to know he was only playing along. “So why did Felicity Saunders bother to track you down?”
“So that she could introduce me to my long-lost sister,” Lila said to Eric with an expression that suggested he wasn’t very smart. “She does that sort of thing all the time. Unlike some rich people she’s actually nice.”
There was a commotion on the other side of the door, and a moment later one of the guards came in to speak quietly with Eric. Cindy could hear an outraged female voice haranguing the guards as the door slid closed and wondered if that was the famous Felicity, or perhaps the child’s mother. Eric nodded in answer to the guard’s question, and a moment later their newest visitor’s identity became very clear.
“Lila, darling, there you are. Are you okay? Did anyone hurt you? I told the Desconians you weren’t to go anywhere without me as your chaperone. Heads will roll over this. I promise you.” The woman said the words across the room, not bothering to check on her charge close up and obviously uninterested in any answers Lila might provide. As Felicity turned her attention on Cindy it was very clear that even though she’d said all the right words and made all the right gestures, the child was dismissed with barely a thought. “Finally, I get to meet the woman who stole my rightful place,” she said in a tight voice as she stepped closer. “Dismiss your servants so that we can have a friendly chat.”
It wasn’t a request. Loukie looked upset, but Eric must have decided there was an advantage to playing along. “Shall I call security, your highness?” Eric asked, using the title a human would expect and a voice that was the perfect imitation of his most pompous assistant.
“No,” Cindy said in a tone of voice she’d never used with anyone, let alone the servants who took very great pride in seeing to her needs. Nobody in the palace spoke to anyone without showing the proper amount of respect—Loukie and Eric included. “Leave me.”
Eric inclined his head in acquiescence in very much the same manner that the servants addressed him during official royal functions. He glanced at Loukie, who thankfully stood behind Felicity, tilted his head toward the door, and then left the room. After a moment’s hesitation Loukie did the same.
“Very good,” Felicity said with a sneer. “I see you’ve settled into your new life just fine. The life that should have been mine.”
“I don’t understand. How was it supposed to be yours?”
Felicity rolled her eyes like she was dealing with the densest individual she’d ever met. Ironically it wasn’t all that different to the way Lila had reacted to Eric’s question earlier.
“To put it in very simple terms for your very simple mind, I paid many, many IGAC officials to find me a royal spouse. When the request came through from the kings on this planet it should have been mine immediately. Instead I ended up on some planet full of carnivores who take offense to a smile.”
“Oh,” Cindy said, remembering back to the confusion of her first day on this planet. “But you’re already extremely wealthy. Why would you want to marry into royalty?” Cindy was very aware that the recording devices were running, but she also needed to know. If Felicity was the richest woman on the southern hemisphere of Earth why would she give that up to live a quiet life with Eric and Loukie? Although, considering Felicity had just mistaken the prince and princess for servants, maybe she was expecting a life filled with royal pomp and ceremony.
“Why wouldn’t I?” she said, dismissing Cindy’s question with an irritated-sounding growl. “Listen, you smart-ass little whore, this is how it’s going to happen. You make your excuses and get the hell off this planet. Play nice and I might even have a few of the charges dropped so that you can live on Earth again.” She laughed, the delighted sound starkly inappropriate in the strained atmosphere. “Even I can’t believe how easy it was to set you up. Leave today and I’ll try to make sure you avoid a jail term.”
“And if I don’t?” Cindy asked, hoping like hell Eric’s security team was catching every moment.
“Did I mention that your little sister’s whore of a mother signed over custody to me for a few lousy dollars? If you don’t do as I say, I will make sure that your precious little sister knows the meaning of the word miserable.” The news of Lila’s mother selling her was disturbing, but the threat really made little sense—teenagers tended to be miserable at this age anyway—but then Felicity leaned closer and whispered exactly what she had in mind for the sister Cindy had only just met.
Cindy hoped like hell that the recording devices picked that up. Threatening physical and sexual assault against a minor might have earned her a slap on the wrist back on Earth, but on Descon it was enough to get Felicity’s ass thrown into maximum security. They took protection of their offspring very, very seriously. When added to the charges that would likely come from her gleeful admission that she’d manipulated both IGAC and the government of Earth there was a good chance that all the money in the world still wasn’t going to ensure she saw one more day of freedom.
The door slid open and Eric, Loukie, and about a dozen heavily armed guards entered the room.
“Thank you, Felicity Saunders, for giving us enough information to not only clear our wife’s good name but to also make sure that you will spend a very long time as a guest of our criminal justice system.”
“Y–Your wife?” Felicity stuttered the question, obviously missing the part about her impending incarceration. She screeched in outrage as the guards pulled her arms behind her and roughly secured her wrists together.
Loukie smiled and followed the guards and their prisoner to the door before closing it behind them. With the room emptied, she and Eric wrapped their arms around Cindy and pulled her close. “Are you okay, mubellabina?”
“I am now,” she whispered. “Please tell me the recorders caught every word.”
“Yes,” Eric said, glancing at Lila with concern on his face. “We have already forwarded a copy of the video and sound recordings to the authorities on Earth.”
“Thank you,” Cindy whisp
ered sincerely. She didn’t know what the penalty was for selling a child, but she hoped Lila’s mother got the maximum punishment. How could any mother treat her child as if she were a possession to be sold?
Lila stood in the middle of the room, her arms crossed, her features frozen, but it was obvious to everyone that she was holding herself together by attitude alone. Cindy couldn’t even imagine how horrible a life her young sister must have lived.
“Go and talk to her,” Loukie said with a soft kiss to Cindy’s forehead.
“I’ll call the physician to check her physical health,” Eric added, “but just knowing that she has family who will accept and protect her should help her through this.”
Cindy looked up at her tredella and mubella and thanked every deity she knew for the gift of this man and this woman. They’d never doubted her integrity, never questioned her motives, even when everyone who’d known her had turned their backs, and now they easily accepted a child into their lives simply because she was related to Cindy.
In her time as an intergalactic ambassador she’d travelled to many foreign lands and met many different people, so she knew without a shadow of a doubt there wasn’t anyone in the universe more wonderful than her lovers. She hugged them tighter for a moment and then stepped away to try to help her sister.
Chapter Seven
Several days later, Eric held Cindy in his embrace as they watched his father and father-in-law indulge Lila’s request to play a type of interactive video game together. The two men were obviously awful at it, and Lila spent a good deal of time trying to instruct the men on what to do next, but already the kings were acting like doting grandfathers. Eric knew Cindy felt very grateful for the love and acceptance of a child who’d obviously had none in her young life, and he hoped that she understood how welcome her sister truly was. Family was very important to Desconians, and Lila seemed to be blossoming under the care and attention of her family already. Of course, Eric knew that things wouldn’t always run this smoothly, but at least it was a promising start.