by Jaid Black
Jek seemed pleased by her evaluation.
Dak sighed. “I care not for riddles. What is the meaning of this inquisition, cousin?” He frowned as he glanced to Geris. “And why in the sands were you breaking your fast unattended with a male not of my line?”
Geris frowned back. “Because I felt like it. Besides, he’s a guest here and he hasn’t been in the best of health.”
Dak gave her a look that said they’d speak more on the subject later. Geris gave him one back that said no, they wouldn’t. He grunted and turned back to Jek.
“’Tis not a riddle I put to you, Mighty One, but a request.”
“Which is what?” Dak asked.
Jek hesitated, then blew out a breath and came to the point. “I think Yar’at would make a fine warrior. Mayhap even more one day.” When the king didn’t make jest of his pronouncement he added, “And I request that you train him in my stead, my king, until I have finished my duties under His Excellence the High King and am legally able to take Yar’at under mine own instruction.”
Dak frowned. “Finding that he does not lack his wits and declaring him a warrior in the making are not necessarily one and the same. You best give unto me a better argument than this, cousin. My squadrons are already nigh unto overflowing.”
“Dak!” Geris chastised.
He sighed. “Nee’ka, must you always interfere?”
“Yes!”
He muttered something under his breath, then regarded Jek. He knew his cousin understood his meaning even if his wife thought him cold-hearted. Warriors were the finest breed of Trystonni. The protectors of their people and the defenders of their way of life. Credits would be spent training none but the elite. That didn’t mean Dak intended to throw Yar’at out on the streets, however.
Jek inclined his head. “You have been given a report on the state of the crystal silius mines. And,” he quickly added when he could see anger growing on Dak’s face, “you are already awares that I sent in the high lords of the sectors in question to set things to rights as soon as I knew of it.”
Dak’s nostrils flared. “’Tis disgraceful that the high lords knew naught of it. ‘Tis why there are there to begin with for I cannot be in all places at all times. If they cannot be my eyes and ears, then who can,” he muttered.
Jek snorted. “They fear your wrath for a certainty.”
“As well they should. This issue has not been forgotten. Delayed until they set the situation to rights, but not forgotten.”
“By all reports the mines are atrocious places. The majority of the workers die, retarded of mind or no, after less than three Yessat years in illegal slavery.”
“That’s awful,” Geris whispered. She cuddled in closer to her husband. “It breaks my heart to even think about it.”
Jek nodded. His gaze clashed with Dak’s. “Yar’at lasted ten years.”
Dak’s eyebrows shot up. “Ten?”
“Aye, sire. Ten.”
The king was quiet for a moment. “I begin to see your point,” he finally conceded.
“You will train him in my stead then?”
Dak considered the question only a moment before inclining his head. “Aye. Your request is accepted.”
Jek smiled. “’Twill not be forgotten, your kindness.” He bowed, then turned on his heel to leave.
“Cousin,” Dak called out.
Jek turned. “Aye?”
Dak’s forehead wrinkled. “Why do you care so mightily? ‘Tis a good thing, of course. But why?”
Jek was quiet for a long moment as he considered the question that had been put to him. Eventually he shrugged. “I truly do not know. A gut feeling perhaps. An intuition of sorts.”
“About?”
Jek’s gaze found his cousin’s. “’Tis his destiny, this. I know not why, only that he must be trained.”
Chapter 15
Two weeks later, naked and straddling Dak’s lap in the raised bed, Geris gasped and grabbed her belly.
“Nee’ka?” Dak asked, worried. His eyes widened as he clutched her hips. “What ails you, my hearts?”
When she didn’t respond right away, he made to sit up, but she pushed him back down on the bed. A smile slowly spread across her face. “Guess what?” she whispered.
“What?” he asked, searching her gaze.
Geris grinned. “Guess who’s got the belly flutters?” she murmured.
That adorable dimple popped out on Dak’s cheek. He pulled her face down and kissed her sweetly, his hands threading through her micro-braids. “I am to be a papa?” he whispered, his voice shaky.
A tear formed in her eye. “Yeah. The best one in any galaxy anywhere I bet.”
“Oh,” he rumbled, embarrassed. “I cannot say the best. I—” His eyebrows rose. “Well…mayhap.” He grunted, an arrogant sound. “Leastways, ‘tis probably correct you are.”
Geris chuckled as she spread her naked body out on top of his. “Pilgrams will trek the world over to see the prized treasure I have in you.”
Dak’s eyes danced with humor, recalling as he did that those were almost the same words he’d used in regards to his wicked-big cock the eve that he’d joined his body to his wife’s. He kissed her on the lips, then lifted his gaze to hers, his expression growing serious. “’Tis you that are the prized treasure, nee’ka. ‘Tis you.”
* * * * *
Having returned to Sand City as soon as the belly flutters began for reasons Dak never truly explained, Kyra held one of Geris’s hands and Kil the other as the entire royal family waited for the hatching of the incubating pani sac Dak was cradling. Zor sat on the bed beside Kyra, Rem on the other side of Kil. All six of them maintained a hushed, reverent silence as they waited to find out the verdict.
“I wonder what it’ll be,” Kyra whispered.
“I don’t know,” Geris breathed out, “but the suspense is killing me.”
“Look,” Kil murmured. A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “’Tis starting to wiggle.”
Sure enough, Geris could see two tiny hands and two tiny feet kicking and flailing at the sac surrounding them. She held her breath, her eyes wide, as she and Dak exchanged an excited look.
Two minutes later, tears streamed down Geris’s face as the pani sac hatched and the most beautiful baby girl she’d ever laid eyes on kicked and screamed her way into the world. Her gorgeous face with features so much like Dak’s were scrunched up into an angry little ball as she wailed against the fates that had snatched her from the dark, warm pani sac and into the brightly lit world of Tryston.
Her eyes were a startling, wizened blue, the same as her father’s. Eyes that seemed as though they had the ability to look directly into your soul and claim a piece of it as their own. A tuft of golden hair sat on top of her head, giving the wizened look a touch of the devilish little gnome.
“She’s perfect,” Dak whispered, his eyes tearing up.
“Oh God, Ger, she’s gorgeous,” Kyra murmured, her own eyes doing a little tearing.
“A beauty,” Rem pronounced, his gaze looking so hopeful. “Mayhap the goddess will see fit to bless me with one just like her someday.”
Geris sucked in a breath as Dak handed her their firstborn daughter. “Oh wow,” she quietly laughed, still partially crying. “Oh Dak, she’s so perfect.”
“Aye,” he murmured. He kissed the tip of her nose. “Like you.”
Geris kissed him back, then turned her undivided attention back to their new daughter. She had never before experienced feelings so overwhelming as this. The emotions she felt toward Dak were just as strong, but different. There was something indescribably humbling about holding the child you’d given birth to in your arms. Something that gave life and fate both sense and meaning.
The man she loved more than life itself sitting before her, the best friend she loved just as much but in a different way at her side, and her new, cherished baby girl laying in her arms…what more could a woman ask for?
Geris and Kyra exchanged a t
earful, knowing look, both of them realizing how wonderful life had turned out to be. They had been reunited, they had been found—okay kidnapped!—by the loves of their lives, and they’d been blessed with precious children who would grow up to be as close as she and Kyra were. Somehow they both knew that would be the case.
“Come,” Zor said quietly to the room at large. He winked at Geris. “Let us give the new mani and papa time alone afore they are obliged to name the wee beauty.”
Kyra smiled as she stood up. “I’ll be back,” she murmured. “Call us when you’re ready for visitors.”
After everyone had left, Geris and Dak sat alone on the raised bed, holding and cooing to the baby they’d made together for a long, poignant moment in time.
“I love you,” Dak said softly to Geris, his gaze finding hers. “Until we breathe our last breath, there will never be another love for me but you.”
Geris smiled through her tears. “I love you too,” she whispered.
“Forever?”
“Oh yeah.” She searched his eyes. “Forever.”
Epilogue
In a few hours time they would name the baby Jana, after Dak’s dearly departed mani. Jana, who looked every inch her father’s daughter, would grow to be like her mother in both temperament and spirit. A fact Dak would often boast about to others over the years.
Jana grew up to be both beautiful and strong, a woman who believed in loyalty, devotion, and the keeping of one’s word. A daughter they could both be proud of.
Throughout the years more babies would be added to the household on Ti Q’won, each of them loved, each of them doted on, and each of them treasured equally. Their firstborn son Dar would grow to become a feared warlord and great king, their daughter Dari beloved amongst their people in her own right. All of their children would grow to be strong and capable, a cut above the rest.
But always Jana was the firstborn. A reminder of how it had felt to discover for the first time just what it was this thing called life was all about.
Geris had no way of knowing at the time how important her eldest child was to be. She had no way of knowing that Jana’s destiny lay in wait some twenty-five Yessat years ahead in a world none from Tryston even knew existed.
Nor could Yar’at have known as he lay abed on Ti Q’won recovering from the ten grueling years he’d spent in slavery, that the fates had more in store for him than an early death in the crystal silius mines. The giant had no way of comprehending at this moment in time that he, a man who had been thought a simpleton as a boy-child and sold by his own parents because of a speech impediment, had a destiny laying in wait within the swirling golden mass of the planet called Tryston.
But then that’s the funny thing about fate. Whether or not you choose to believe in destiny, it’s always there, biding its time…
Waiting, and preparing to make itself known.
* * * * *
Next in the Trek Mi Q’an Series:
NO MERCY
Other titles by Jaid Black:
Ellora’s Cave
www.ellorascave.com