I peeked at the screen having recognized the voice. “Merick?”
“Princess Probus, my ship and crew are at your service. Anyone who coerces you is my sworn enemy.”
“Coerces me?” Confused, I looked up at Eli. He used his thumbs to dry my eyes.
“Anyone who forces you to do something you don’t want to do.”
“Oh, yeah. Thanks, Merick, but Papa is the one making us go to try to stop the fighting. You can’t be his enemy, or you’d be mine.”
Merick smiled at me and met Eli’s eyes. “Let me know what you need.”
Eli said, “They need to disperse.”
“How do we know that Galerius and Licinius aren’t forcing her to go to Apellan? The Emperor conveyed to my father that she was to go to Daphoene,” Inquisitor Gordian said.
“Cormac, it’s safer on Apellan, and my kitchen and the nursery there are perfect. Thunderdrop even loves the trees. Papa won’t care if we go there instead. I don’t want to stay on the base at Daphoene.”
“How dare you suggest that I would attempt to serve my own interests over the desires of Princess Probus?” Dario asked Cormac.
His voice had gone from loud to distant. Closing my eyes, I pressed my forehead to Eli’s chest.
“Princess Probus,” a voice said. I looked up. Licinius smiled at me. “What do you think of irony? I thought myself brilliant when I pulled off my capture of you. It took a great deal of effort. However, in truth it was the stupidest thing I have ever done. My actions continue to cause your tears. What is that on your arm?”
I blushed at the gel wrap.
“She sprained her wrist slapping you,” Yukihyo said.
“I trust your foot suffered no injuries when it made contact with my face?” Licinius asked.
Yukihyo gave an incline of his head.
“I don’t want to marry you, Inquisitor Licinius. I don’t want the Warrior Caste attacking you either, but I don’t know what to do to fix any of this.” My nose tingled and my eyes went all blurry. I wasn’t sure if it was my eyes or if the vid-screen was malfunctioning, but it became static filled. The men to whom we had been speaking turned their attention from us to their own monitors.
“Chitter! Chitter! Chitter! Chitter!” Thunderdrop jumped to Phillip.
“It’s nothing, just a magnetic storm. It will pass,” Merick said.
I gripped Eli’s arms as my fancy new heart stuttered in my chest. A loud siren-like sound came from Phillip’s direction. My head fell backwards while I weakly attempted to hold onto Eli.
“Put her down here!” Phillip ordered. He pressed something to my chest, and I felt my heart start to beat again.
“Phillip….”
“It’s okay, baby sister. I’ve got you.”
“That was just the first wave!” Galerius shouted. “Position your ships in this formation and activate defensive shielding.”
I cried out at the next magnetic wave that hit. Eli had me in his arms with Phillip holding the device to my chest.
“Instead of worrying about them, take a breath for me. That’s good. Now, take another. Listen only to me,” Zared said in my mind.
My panic had been swatted away and replaced with a calm serenity. Instead of an exam bed in the infirmary, I laid on my back on my surfboard. The bright light above wasn’t for the doctors, it was Thalassa’s brilliant sun keeping me warm.
“Good girl, Cupcake. You’re doing great,” Phillip said.
I heard cursing as the ship jerked, and the equipment moved.
“Phillip?”
“Hush, baby sister. You don’t worry about any of that. Everything is fine.”
“If it’s fine, why do I feel every time one of those things hits?”
“Normally, you would never notice them. You’ve traveled through them plenty of times. However, this is the first time we’ve experienced one with your new heart.”
Suddenly, I began to breathe easier. Phillip silenced the alarm.
“Chirp!” Thunderdrop walked sideways from my left hip to my right knee and back again. “Chirp!”
“Report!” Captain Ricimer ordered.
“The Princess is stable,” I heard Chief Medical Officer Savelli say.
“The linked defensive shields are causing a power drain. The next wave is in thirty seconds,” Captain Ricimer said, and then the ship trembled. “We have another in fifteen minutes. Then, I’m taking us at maximum speeds to Daphoene. Keep me advised. Ricimer out.”
“Nurse, observe all space anomalies comparatively to patient’s life signs,” Savelli ordered.
I noticed Yukihyo held onto my feet. Eli watched me from across the room while speaking quietly with Zared and Kaoti.
“I’m sorry. I managed to ruin movie night,” I whispered.
“Are you kidding? The movie I picked out sucked. You saved us from it. You can pick the next one. Your timing was perfect. I was right beside you. Thunderdrop, good boy. You knew something was wrong and warned me. Even better, Teagan, you had your heart attack in front of an audience. Maybe that will get the sharks to quit circling.”
“I’m not a baby seal.”
“Yes, you are,” Phillip said as he wiggled the tip of my nose with his finger.
“Phillip, is my heart going to have me trapped planet side?”
“No, geomagnetic storms roll over anything in their paths, even planets. Now that we know they affect you, we know to take precautions.”
“So, this could happen even at home?”
“Yep. Yukihyo, as an added precaution, let’s get rid of any clothing we have with magnetic closures.” Yukihyo nodded, but didn’t move. “She’s alright, but I’m not letting her out of here. You can get her a gown and a robe if you want.”
“Wait, what about the baby?” I asked.
“Lorca will bring him to you. Niklos is sleeping,” Yukihyo assured me.
Eli said, “Teagan, don’t worry about anything. Allow your doctors to care for you.”
“How am I supposed to do that? Everything is my fault.”
“No, you will trust me,” Eli said as he stared into my eyes. He came closer and took my injured right hand in his carefully kissing my fingers. With all of the baby lifting I did, it was still tender. Then, he gave a short bow to Yukihyo and left the infirmary taking Zared with him.
Thunderdrop sat on my chest and blinked at me. I cringed and almost lost consciousness when the next wave hit. Then, we all felt the shift when Captain Ricimer left behind the defensive wall the Parvac Warships had created to protect me. He pushed the ship to top speeds to take us to Daphoene, the planet to which we were currently closest. Yukihyo refused to leave me. Violet brought me an Arachnean silk gown and robe in a soft pink shade. Then, she and Phillip helped me change. I was too weak to lift my arms, and with various medical equipment, devices, and tubes once again as my accessories, I fell into an exhausted sleep.
I heard a tiny voice and sensed someone beside me. It said, “How is she?”
“Not good. See for yourself. Jiri was right. She would have been better off remaining on Thalassa,” Luca said.
Wearily, I opened my eyes. Luca’s bruised hands held a small vid-screen on which I saw Dario. A blue and purple bruise covered half of Luca’s face. It made me cry.
“I’m sorry Luca. It was all my fault. I wasn’t thinking. I should have known better. He couldn’t help it.”
“Hey, don’t cry. I’m fine. It was fun. It’s been years since anyone bested me in a fight. Now, since I’ve met you, it’s happened twice. Perhaps undressing you was a mistake,” Luca said with a wink. “No, on second thought, it was worth it. However, next time, I hope you will listen to me and let me rub your back in your bedroom.” Luca looked at my monitors.
“Chitter chitter.” Thunderdrop shook a leg at Luca.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“He wants you to dry my tears. I’m too tired.”
Luca looked as though he had been punched harder than when Zared had done it. Car
efully, he blotted under each of my eyes.
“He will pay for this,” Dario said.
“No, please. The storm wasn’t Licinius’ fault. What cause it?”
“We are investigating,” Dr. Savelli answered. “Gentlemen, you can sit with her, but she needs to be still and quiet.”
Yukihyo got up and brought Luca a chair so he could sit beside him.
Chapter Sixteen
Activating his visual displacement shield, he eased open the door of the escape pod capsule. A crewman, intent on his vid-screen, turned a corner and walked away oblivious to his presence. He took up a position near a lift and waited. Less than an hour later, he followed a soldier inside of the lift where he waited again. Eventually, a crewman entered and took him to the deck he wanted. Trusted Parvac efficiency had him entering the quarters on the heels of an ensign who had been assigned cleaning duties. Avoiding his notice was simple. After the boy left, he waited in a corner by the door.
A few hours later, his prey entered. He watched as Inquisitor Licinius rubbed a hand over his eyes. Licinius thought to use the action as a distraction from the knife he drew. He had drawn his own knives hours ago. He activated the privacy shield, so they wouldn’t be heard. Then, he struck sinking a knife deeply into each of Licinius’ sides. Quickly, he withdrew them and freed Licinius’ knife wielding hand from his body. He sheathed each of his knives in Licinius’ shoulders and deactivated his visual displacement shielding.
“You,” Licinius gasped. “She’ll blame herself if you kill me,” Licinius stated calmly as bloody bubbles dribbled from the corners of his lips. He was quickly becoming pale from blood loss.
He put all of his strength behind the punch he delivered to Licinius’ face. Then, he pulled his blades free and cleaned them on Licinius’ uniform before accessing the Inquisitor’s command console. In moments, he confirmed the ship, as well as the others, followed Princess Teagan Probus to Daphoene.
I woke when the Empress landed. Thunderdrop blinked at me from where he sat on my stomach.
“How are you feeling?” Yukihyo asked.
“My boobs are killing me. Where’s Niklos?”
Yukihyo chuckled and called Lorca. Soon, he arrived with a very irritable prince. “Why didn’t you bring him to me?”
Niklos latched on with ferocity pressing each of his tiny hands to my painfully swollen breast. I took the hand towel Lorca offered to me and pressed it to the other one which was beginning to flow. He took my soaked breast pads away. I sighed as Niklos began alleviating the ache.
“You needed your rest,” Dr. Savelli said quietly.
“Niklos only woke once. I gave him a bottle, and he went back to sleep,” Lorca said apologetically.
Yukihyo burped Niklos for me and gave him back. With his belly full from my left side, he was content enough to slow down. Niklos looked up at my face and took his mouth away long enough to grin at me. I laughed and wiped his mouth.
“You are just like your daddy,” I said to him.
He nursed enough that I was no longer in pain. Then, I held him against my right shoulder and rubbed his back. I wondered which one of us took the most comfort from it. Niklos grabbed my hair.
“Oh,” I said as I took notice of it. I had woken up with my hair in spider braids. “Thunderdrop, you did my hair for me? Thank you.”
“Chirp!” He showed me an image of canned spider food.
“Yes, Lorca will feed you. Won’t you, Lorca?”
“Yes, your highness,” he said with a questioning look at the baby.
“I will hold our son when she tires.”
“Yes, Lord Yukihyo. Come, Thunderdrop,” Lorca said as he lowered his hand so my tired spider could crawl up his arm.
“How long have we been on Daphoene?”
“Not long. Phillip prepares a shuttle, so you will be comfortable.” I made a face. The military base was where I had been cooped up with the sickness when I carried Niklos. It was a boring place. Yukihyo laughed. “Dario has a home here and has invited us to stay there. It would take too long to travel there by transport.”
Luca massaged his bruised jaw which had become darker with beard stubble.
“Does that continue to aggravate you, General Braga? Let’s see if this will help,” Dr. Savelli said as he applied a cream to Luca’s bruise and placed a pain patch on his temple. “There you go. If you have any discomfort at all, I’ll take care of it for you.”
“You’re so nice, Dr. Savelli. That must be one of the reasons Papa wanted you on my ship. Dr. Fotri and Dr. Avitus are both grumpy and bossy.”
Dr. Savelli smiled at me. “I don’t understand how anyone could be grumpy with such a kind-hearted and beautiful princess. I’ll check on you again in a moment.”
I smiled at him as he walked away. Yukihyo chuckled after Dr. Savelli had gone, and Luca sighed.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Yukihyo said.
“Oh, no. Is he after me, too?”
“Oh, no,” Luca answered. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. You’re not his type.” Insulted, I frowned. Luca gave me a smug look. “However, unlike you, all I would have to do is wink, and he’d be all over me.”
“That’s a relief,” I said.
“Well, not for me. I’d much rather have you all over me. Ow!” Luca grabbed his right foot and frowned at Yukihyo, who looked innocently at me.
“Yukihyo, may I have a vid-screen?”
“Of, course,” he said as he gave me his. “Here. Let me activate this for you and take this little one. After you are feeling better and the ships are repaired and refueled, we will return to Thalassa. Tavere and Ambassador Jiri have been speaking to the Warrior Caste. You are not to worry. He said to expect surprises for you, the children, and Thunderdrop with whom he is very pleased.”
“Okay, but I should call Licinius. I was harsh with him in front of everyone. I shouldn’t have embarrassed him like that. What’s wrong with me when I’m around him?” I placed the call and waited and waited. “Seriously? He’s ignoring me?”
Luca had a look of disbelief. “There is no way he would do such a thing. Please, allow me.”
I handed Yukihyo’s vid-screen back to him. Luca called on his own device. When he wasn’t acknowledged, he frowned and said, “I’ll try hailing his ship.” This time, his call was answered immediately. “This is General Braga. I am attempting to contact Inquisitor Licinius on behalf of the Princess.”
“I will put you through to his quarters,” the officer on duty replied. There was no answer. “Perhaps the storm damaged our communications.” The man ordered someone to go to Licinius’ quarters, located in the corridor leading away from the bridge.
“Give it to me,” I said to Luca. He gave me a devilish smile but handed the vid-screen to me. “Look. I understand that he may not wish to speak to me, but I called to apologize.” I could see red lights flashing on the bridge of their ship. A man came and whispered something into the officer’s ear.
“Princess Probus, may I please speak to General Braga?”
I frowned and returned Luca’s device to him. Luca took it and walked away from us to the far corner of the infirmary. Then, he turned his back.
“Something is wrong with their ship,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it or anything else. Phillip will be here in a moment,” Yukihyo said.
“Princess, may I remove some of these?” Dr. Savelli said as he gestured to the crap that covered me.
“Yes! Please,” I said. He removed the needles, tubes, and one of the monitors. I hugged him. “Thank you. May I go to the restroom?”
“Yes, your majesty.”
Yukihyo walked with me and kept his arm around my waist. I laughed at my hair when I caught a glimpse of it in the mirror. “How long did this take?” I asked as I held up one of several thin braids.
“Much of the night. He slept on your pillow.”
“Did you sleep?”
Yukihyo smiled and shook his head. “I will sle
ep when you are beside me resting your head here, where it belongs,” he said as he tapped his chest.
“I love you, Yukihyo Lee.”
“I love you, Teagan Lee.”
“Do you ever wish we were alone in our forest?”
“Yes, but I would change nothing. My feelings for you have grown much stronger since first we stood upon your soil. You continue to improve with age.”
I laughed at him. Someone banged on the door.
“Hey! There’s no time for that, you two. The kids are already in the shuttle. Let’s go,” Phillip said through the door.
Yukihyo picked me up and didn’t put me down until it was into the reclined shuttle seat.
“Ooh, Mommy!” Neema clapped. “Mommy pretty.”
“Thank you, my sweet baby.”
“Chirp!”
The windows in the shuttle’s cabin had been covered. Yukihyo covered me with a soft thick blanket and then kissed my cheek.
“Princess Probus, thank you for accepting the hospitality of House Galerius during your stay on Daphoene,” Dario said from the cockpit.
“Thanks for having us. So, how were our ships damaged?”
“No worries, woman. You gave us a scare. All you need to know is that everything is under control,” Nico said. “Isn’t that, right? Tell Mommy not to worry.”
Instead of offering me reassurances, Niklos continued to suck on his fingers which made Nico even prouder.
“Darling, I will buy you anything you would like if you would just smile for me once,” Fitz said.
“Oh, Fitz, all I need is your company to smile.”
Through the cockpit window as Dario flew us from my ship, I saw crowds of soldiers surrounding another ship’s ramps.
“Tell me they aren’t attacking Licinius. We have to stop them.”
Dario took us up and then streaked through the sky.
“Teagan, don’t make me call Tavere,” Nico threatened.
I turned my full attention to Luca and gave him a large-eyed pleading expression. “Luca, darling, will you do something for me?”
“Yes, anything.”
“Call Licinius for me.”
Omnes Videntes (The Space Merchants Book 4) Page 27