The Spider Queen (The Space Merchants Book 5)

by Wendie Nordgren

  “Alright. Come with me, little one. Let’s go meet Dr. Savelli.”

  Yukihyo and Fitz accompanied me to the infirmary where the baby became the center of attention.

  “Who is this?” Dr. Savelli asked with a soft chuckle as he moved the blanket away from the baby’s face.

  “This is my new son. Will you please make sure he is okay?”

  “Please, bring him over here,” Dr. Savelli said as he indicated an exam bed. The baby only weighed three pounds and was eleven inches long. “This child was born prematurely and under stressful conditions. He has no signs of infection. According to what we have learned from treating crash victims, he seems healthy. I would like to exam him each day until he grows stronger.”

  Nodding in agreement, I wiped more tears away, and said, “Please, do. I don’t want anything to happen to him.”

  Dr. Savelli looked up at me from the baby. “He will have the finest care. Would you like to bathe him while I run more tests?”

  I nodded.

  A nurse prepared an infant bath and brought warm towels and soft wash cloths. “I’ll increase the room temperature,” he said.

  “Well, hello. Are you going to open your eyes for me?” His little eyelids were about the size of my pinky nails. Carefully, I unwrapped him. The brown baby blanket had been embroidered around the edges in red. “I think your mother made this blanket for you before you were born. How about we preserve it so you always have something she touched while thinking of you?” My voice broke as I blinked away tears for the both of us. “We have losing our mothers in common.” I kept him covered for a moment with his diaper, so we wouldn’t have an accident. “From now on, I’m going to be your mommy. You have a big sister and a big brother, five fathers, and sixteen telepathic uncles. What do you think of that?”

  He watched my face as I whispered to him.

  “Your daddies got me to you just in time. Yes, they did.”

  Gently, I placed him in the baby tub and drizzled warm water over his tiny chest, arms, and legs. I couldn’t help giggling at his very tiny little private area. Unbidden thoughts of my night in Farowyn’s arms returned to me. The baby had soft, loose skin from his inner arms down to his hips.

  “You are all cleaned up. Yes, you are.” I lifted him from the tub and laid him on a warm towel to dry him off. “I’m going to kiss those little feet,” I said as I promptly kept my word.

  Yukihyo stepped out of the infirmary to take a call just as Pierce stepped inside. He had brought diapers and clothes. “Oh, he’s even smaller than I imagined,” Pierce said with a look of sappy devotion on his face. “Wait until Lorca sees you. These may not be small enough, but I hope they will fit,” he said of the diapers. “We have several in a supply closet.”

  I thought back to when I carried Niklos, and everyone feared I wouldn’t be able to carry him to term. No wonder my children’s nurses had tiny clothing for a baby boy. “These were meant for Niklos?”

  “Yes, Princess. However, they never would have fit him.”

  We laughed together. At six months, Niklos had weighed twenty-five pounds. At one-and-a half years, Neema had weighed twenty-two pounds. Niklos took after his blonde giant of a daddy.

  More seriously, I said, “I think his mother made him this blanket before she died. I want it framed for his room.”

  “Yes, Princess. I will see to it. What is his name?”

  While fastening his diaper, I said, “I don’t know. I need to get to know him better.” I dressed him in a long white baby gown and wrapped him in an Arachnean Silk baby blanket. “There, all better,” I said as I melted while looking into his eyes.

  “Princess, you are free to take your new son to your quarters. Congratulations,” Dr. Savelli said.

  “Thank you.” I carried him out to the lift with Fitz and Pierce. Yukihyo abruptly ended a call with someone and joined us.

  “Let’s change into comfortable clothing and take it easy today,” Fitz suggested.

  “That is a good idea,” Yukihyo said.

  “You can both change first. I want to hold him. I’m so grateful my hideous nightmare didn’t come true.” I sat on the couch with my baby in my arms. I felt Jazon approaching.

  From behind me, he trailed his fingers down my temples. “Forget,” he said making the dream vanish. “You will know you had the dream, but you will not remember the details or the pain it caused you. I refuse to allow you to suffer.” Jazon had a stubborn, angry, and defiant look on his face.

  I laughed at him, not understanding what he was going on about. “Will you sit and hold him so I can change?”

  Terror took over Jazon’s face.

  “Where’s your bravery now, brother?” Zared asked.

  Jazon glared at Zared but walked around the couch and sat beside me. I laid the baby in his arms. “He barely weighs anything,” Jazon said gruffly.

  “Only three pounds. We need to take very good care of him. I’ll be right back.” Rushing to my room, I left my boots in the closet. Then, I stripped in the bathroom, took a fast shower, and returned in pink silk pajama bottoms and a T-shirt. “I’m back.” Taking my new baby, I carried him to my bed and laid down with him.

  “You are weary,” Yukihyo said. He left and returned with the bassinet. He placed it against the wall to the right of the room on his side.

  The baby began to make his soft hungry squeak. Yukihyo left the room. His cries made my breasts begin to ache and swell. On impulse, I lifted the left side of my shirt and held him to my breast. At first, he was confused, but then the smell of my milk drew him. He latched on. The tiny alien infant overpowered and defeated me as protective tenderness and love filled my soul until it ached. I watched his tiny face. He had closed his eyes and fisted his hands to nurse.

  Yukihyo returned to the room with a bottle and sat beside me. “We should visit alien worlds more often. We have large homes to fill.”

  “Is it strange that I’m nursing him?”

  “No, for you it would be odd if you did not.” The baby fell into a deep satisfied sleep. Yukihyo placed him in the bassinet. “Let us take a nap as well,” Yukihyo said as he got into bed beside me and pulled me down to his chest.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” Neema sang happily as she climbed the steps at the foot of our bed, gripped the blankets, and crawled onto us. “Oof,” she said as she fell on top of Yukihyo.

  Sleepily, I rolled to my back and wiped at my mouth. My fear was quickly dispelled by relief when I sat up and saw the baby sleeping in his bassinet beside us.

  “Who that?” Neema asked.

  “He is your new baby brother,” Yukihyo said.

  “I get two?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, Daddy.” Neema sat on his chest and bounced. Then, she fell over onto me, grabbed my face in her little hands, and kissed my nose. I hugged her and kissed her cheeks. “Mommy, I got to go.”

  “Okay. Come on, big girl.” I picked up Neema and carried her to the waste unit. After washing her hands, we went to the nursery just as Niklos sat up in his crib.

  “Down,” Neema said. I put her to her feet, and she toddled off to find a doll to hold.

  “Good morning, sweet prince.” I lifted Niklos out of bed, sat with him in our rocking chair, and nursed him.

  Then, the three of us found the others in the sitting room. Thunderdrop ran off to his bowls that Lorca was in the process of filling. I yawned and sat at the table. Chef put a large cup of coffee in front of me, while Yukihyo put Neema in her highchair. When she started eating bananas and cereal, Niklos got mad and reached for her tray.

  “Here, brother,” Neema said as she held out a banana slice that slipped from her fingers to the floor. Niklos looked down at it and pouted.

  “Niklos, do you want to sit in your own big boy chair like sister?” I asked.

  He smiled and laughed at me. I groaned as I stood with him. Lorca helped me get Niklos into his seat. Then, he fed him mushy cereal while I started o
n my coffee and battled my yawns. I was on my second cup when I sensed the baby waking. I pushed back my chair and jogged to my room. Tiny little eyes saw me after I was bent over his bed.

  “Good morning, baby.” Reaching down, I picked him up and cuddled him. Taking a diaper and some wipes from underneath the bassinet where Pierce had stashed them, I unwrapped him and got him all cleaned up. Fitz came and took the used diaper to the waste unit for me.

  “He’s so very small. Once he is grown, imagine the fun he will have on a surfboard with those arms of his.” Fitz looked as though he watched the future scene in his imagination. Putting my arms around his neck, I kissed Fitz Jiri passionately while rolling as much pleasure through him as I could. “Teagan,” he said.

  I held my arms around him until his heart slowed to a normal rhythm. Then, I took his bottom lip between my teeth and gently pulled it. “Just wait until naptime, Fitz Jiri,” I seductively promised.

  Fitz spread his fingers behind my head through my now messy braid. His lips were like the tips of feathers against my own. “You become more beautiful with each new thing that I learn about you.” There was an emotional nakedness in his eyes.

  “Don’t make me cry again today. My heart feels raw.”

  “You’ll feel better by the end of the day when you’re covered in baby food, milk, and spit-up,” Fitz said as he grinned down at me.

  I laughed at Fitz and hugged him. “Let’s go meet your brother and sister,” I said as I picked up the baby. Neema wanted out of her chair so she could see. “Finish your breakfast. He isn’t going anywhere without you,” I told her.

  Exasperated, she said, “Uh, okay,” and sat back down.

  Fitz pulled out my chair. I sat and ate my oatmeal with one hand. Chef kept coming to the table to see if we needed anything. “You’ll have to wait your turn,” Lorca told him.

  “No, you don’t. Sit down. I’ll let you hold him.”

  A big smile spread across the retired soldier’s face. Once he sat, I put the baby in his arms while Pierce and Lorca scrutinized his technique. I got myself another cup of coffee. While I was up, the large vid-screen signaled, so I answered it. The blonde hair, black eyes, and handsome face of Quaid Bosh greeted me.

  “How is Eric?”

  Quaid was angry. “He continues to recover. What is this I hear of your return to the invaders’ settlement?” He wasn’t angry. He was furious.

  Unsure of what to say, I stared at him for a moment. “They aren’t invaders. They are tired refugees on an exodus searching for a new home world.”

  “Your poor refugees are hostilely usurping an inhabited planet whose people we have sworn to protect.”

  “And we will protect them. Quaid, the Eloneave were shot down. They have made the best of impossible circumstances.”

  “They are barely sentient and upright. That you side with them, against your own cousin, who they viciously attacked as though they were ravaging beasts, and me, your husband, is sickening.”

  Hurt tears filled my eyes. “I’m not siding against you.”

  Quaid looked down at his console and angrily tapped. Live feeds of Luca and his men guarding the Eloneave appeared in the corner of my screen. “Then, explain this.” Quaid’s anger hurt me. “I know you spent time with them and think that you care for them. However, what you feel for your kidnappers is referred to as Stockholm Syndrome.”

  My cheeks heated with anger. “They are good, kind, intelligent, and far more compassionate than some Laconians I know.” I ended the call. “Captain Ricimer.”

  “Yes, your highness?”

  “Refuse all calls from Quaid Bosh.”

  “Yes, Princess Probus.”

  I returned to the table where my other husbands looked angry. I sat with my coffee.

  “Oh, Mommy mad,” Neema said to Niklos as she successfully passed him a banana slice which he ate.

  Hurt, I frowned at the men at the table. “Well, are you all angry with me, too?”

  “No, not at all,” Nico said as he used his fork to cut a sausage patty in half.

  “I told Quaid not to contact you until he could control his temper,” Yukihyo said angrily.

  “He didn’t listen,” I grumbled.

  “Yes, he did,” Yukihyo replied apologetically.

  Zared had slipped into the space behind me. He removed the braid and began brushing my hair. With each pull of the brush, I relaxed, but Quaid had hurt me deeply.

  “He thinks I have betrayed him and Eric. He sees my protection of the Eloneave as disloyalty.”

  “Bosh doesn’t know about the baby or the night terror that so disturbed your consciousness,” Zared said gently.

  “Eat something,” Fitz pleaded.

  I tried to perk up and finish my breakfast.

  Chef was in love with the new baby. “Princess, what’s his name?” he asked.

  “I don’t know yet.” I smiled and took the baby from him and over to the couch. Pierce and Lorca cleaned breakfast from Neema and Niklos.

  We spent a quiet morning playing in the sitting room. Niklos was too little to care, but Neema was curious about the new baby. She sat on Yukihyo’s lap beside me and stared so long as to memorize his eyes, V-shaped mouth, and single nostril in a slightly pointed nose. Then, her attention turned to his little pointed ears. After lunch, the children went down for naps.

  Rather than catching up on my sleep, I climbed my husbands. For the remainder of the day, I was too satisfied and relaxed to worry about Quaid. Well, that wasn’t true. Pretending that I didn’t care about his anger wasn’t tricking me or anyone else into believing it was true. Before dinner, I got Yukihyo to call and check on Eric.

  “He remains in stable condition. We will slowly bring him back to consciousness once we are sure that his synaptic functions suffered no ill effects from the microbial infection. It was a fluke. The spores of a poisonous plant that pollinates once a year happened to be floating through the air when he was injured,” Phillip said.

  “Who gave you permission to discuss the Captain’s condition?” Quaid asked Phillip as he cornered him in the Medical Bay.

  Phillip’s expression changed to chagrin. “Teagan is worried about him. Come on, Quaid.”

  “Then, she can ask me.” Quaid held his hand out for the vid-screen, and Phillip gave it to him. Quaid looked angrier than he had looked earlier. He could see me from where I stood holding Yukihyo’s arm. “Have you decided to see reason and capitulate? The five hundred and eighty-four Eloneave accounted for yesterday must leave Talpa. Parvac is breaking its treaty agreement in allowing them to remain and in preventing Galaxic compliance of our accord with Talpa,” Quaid said.

  “No, we aren’t,” Nico said. “I know Vice Admiral Valen has carefully explained to you Parvac’s ethical dilemma in our current situation. All we ask is time to agree upon a peaceful resolution,” Nico said calmly.

  “It’s wrong to remove them,” I whispered.

  “I disagree. The planet rightfully belongs to the Talpa. Your stubborn refusal to see reason mystifies me.”

  “No, it’s five hundred and eighty-two, now,” I said sadly.

  Quaid seemed even angrier. “Teagan, your defiance of me seems to be habitual.” Quaid’s voice had grown deeper in his anger.

  I drew in a hurt breath and tried not to cry. “No, Quaid. I mean it. His mother died of her injuries and from his birth. She may have passed after your count. Now, I have him here with me. I just meant that your count might be off because of my infant son’s tragic loss.” I wiped my eyes on Yukihyo’s shoulder.

  “Infant son? Niklos?”

  I shook my head.

  Yukihyo said, “Teagan’s night terrors took us to the surface. She feared for a child who had stolen her heart. We have adopted him.”

  I went to the bassinet where we had placed it near the couch. “Did we wake you up, little one? Come and see.” I carried my fragile bundle to the couch and sat. Neema and Niklos rolled a ball back and forth to each other across the
carpet. “He was born prematurely when they crashed,” I said.

  Yukihyo held the vid-screen so Quaid and Phillip could see.

  “Ah, look at that little fella,” Phillip said. “He’s cute.”

  I smiled up at Phillip. I expected to see understanding and a softening of Quaid’s features.

  “Adopted? You adopted the offspring of one of those murderous vagrants? You didn’t think to consult me, your husband?”

  The blood drained from my face and to my heart, making it pound.

  Coldly, Quaid said, “Before we leave this sector, decide whether you want to keep that thing to raise with our children or to remain my wife.” Quaid thrust the vid-screen back at Phillip and stormed out of the Medical Bay.

  Thunderdrop crawled to my shoulder and nuzzled my neck.

  “Yukihyo, please help me prepare divorce documents. I will free Quaid Bosh from his ties to me.”

  I felt as though my heart tore apart. How could the man who I loved so completely be so heartless, cruel, and racist? The only sounds on the Imperial Deck came from the children. I concentrated on cradling the baby and breathing in and out.

  After a dinner that I couldn’t eat, we sat on the floor and played with the children. The baby slept deeply. He was oblivious to the turmoil surrounding him. Neema sat with dolls and picture books surrounding her. Niklos crawled around on the floor chasing Thunderdrop. For some reason, Thunderdrop trusted Niklos a lot more than he trusted Neema. Neema grabbed a book and thrust it none too gently onto my lap.

  “Look, Mommy.”

  “Yes, I see. Are we reading this one, now?”

  Neema crawled onto my lap with her book and pushed the pages until they turned. It was full of beautiful colored illustrations of children sleeping in their beds and star-filled night skies. It was a classic children’s tale from Earth. She kept turning the pages and wouldn’t hand it to me to read.

  “See? Baby,” Neema said as she pointed. Surprise and astonishment widened my eyes. Neema patted a picture of a boy with pointed ears who could fly. “Baby,” Neema said.