A job she wanted to completely devote herself to, damn it!
Before she could work herself into an emotional crisis and draw unwanted attention, Reyes made a comment that brought her crashing back to reality.
“Man! That is crazy! You think their weather and stuff will be stabilized in that short a time? It was pretty ferocious when we were there.”
Claudia gaped at him, her mind instantly replaying the wild conditions they’d had to deal with before they had managed to take off.
And conditions had seemed to be deteriorating, the wind rising, the ice melting and causing higher and more dangerous floods, and quakes. There had most likely been volcanic eruptions, too.
It hadn’t settled into an orbit around the sun then, she countered.
It had picked up a string of meteors when it went through the asteroid belt, though, so there may also have been meteor strikes.
Or it might have a number of moons now that would pull at the planet as they orbited and could create havoc.
She frowned. “I can’t imagine that Torin would invite people there to settle if he wasn’t certain it would be ok.”
Reyes shrugged. “He’s talking to people that have to wear suits when they go outside. Maybe once he got a good look at the planet he figured humans were used to living on the edge.”
He had a point. She thought it must be pretty clear to even an outsider that Mars was being terra-formed. And she supposed that would seem to suggest that conditions on the Earth were as bad or worse.
Well, in some places it was.
It was the possibility of money/resources that had inspired the wealthy to invest in Mars, though.
It was the lure of actually having something—a home and land and/or a job—that had inspired the colonists to risk their lives for the possibility of better and they would certainly be willing to take Torin up on his offer even if conditions on the planet were still unstable and dangerous.
She began to rethink her situation, however.
She still believed, very strongly, that her child would be better off among the Vishnuvians. He had at least a 50% chance of looking very much like his father and that would mean instant recognition that he was ‘different’, but would it be best to make the move now? Especially if the conditions were such that it meant taking him into a very dangerous situation.
If she waited until the child was a little older, that would allow more time for the planet to settle down and conditions to improve.
But then again, she’d have a very young child to care for, which would make working on a homestead difficult to impossible.
And she wasn’t willing to wait until the child was old enough to be more independent because that also meant he would be old enough to understand slights. She turned to Reyes just as he spoke again.
“Well, I guess that’s that,” he said with a shrug. “I was really hoping we’d get the chance to see Torin so I could thank him for helping us.” He shrugged. “If not for you and him I wouldn’t be looking at seeing my family again. I would’ve been a casualty, too. I guess we both would have since Adams shot you and I certainly wasn’t in any condition to help you.”
He frowned, thinking that over. “Actually, I don’t suppose it would’ve gone down like that if you hadn’t had to get supplies for us.”
Claudia didn’t want to think about that incident at all and she definitely didn’t want to talk about it. “We’ve come this far. We should at least try to see him, maybe talk to him.”
Reyes looked skeptical. “They ain’t gonna let us in to the ball. That’s only for important people—rich people and politicians. And I hate to say it, but we ain’t exactly dressed for a royal ball neither.”
“We can get something. There’s bound to be at least one store open.”
Reyes shrugged but he didn’t object to looking and they did manage to find a store that was open for business.
It was a mercantile for settlers—they had a little of everything—but most of the supplies were targeted toward the miners coming in—tools and such. They did have a small section of women’s clothing, however. She felt like weeping when she saw the ‘best dresses’. She was pretty sure her grandmother wouldn’t have been caught dead in a single one of them, but she doubted there was anything better available to her.
She picked out the least offensive. It was made with a poor quality fabric, but the style and workmanship weren’t too bad. It was a flowing gown that she could wear over her protective suit and what she needed, she realized, because she and Reyes weren’t going to be allowed to enter the building and use the facilities for changing out of the suits.
Reyes informed her that he wasn’t wasting his credits on anything they had in that store, but she didn’t argue with him.
Clearly it didn’t matter as much to him.
She was getting in if at all possible!
If that didn’t work, she was going to go stand outside the ship and hope that worked, but that was a last ditch effort and if that failed she had no alternatives.
They didn’t manage to make it past the damned airlock.
Identifying themselves as two of the heroes that had just returned from the mission to the edge of the solar system got them into the airlock, but it was just their bad luck that there were MPs on the other side that knew there was a search and detain order out on them.
Claudia had the presence of mind to remove her helmet before they could open the outer door again.
“I have … uh … Torin … I mean the King knows me! I came to see him!”
The MP that had recognized her hesitated. He knew that both of them had been on the planet, crashed there. He just wasn’t certain about orders regarding whether or not they were allowed near the alien king.
“Hold!”
He spoke into his communicator.
Claudia and Reyes exchanged an uneasy glance, but both of them knew the bastards at headquarters would insist they be brought back without contacting Torin.
Claudia bit her lip but stubbornly refused to put her helmet back on so that they could be grabbed by the guards outside.
Thankfully there was no kill order on them or they would’ve been dead meat!
The MPs on the inside were really pissed off about having to handle the situation on the inside and they didn’t make any attempt to hide it.
Ordinarily Claudia would have faced death before she would’ve involved herself in a scene, let alone instigated one. But she was desperate.
Ignoring the guns trained on her, she tried to dash past the guards and when she was grabbed, she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Let me go, you son-of-a-bitch!”
Because she’d had time to realize that this hadn’t played out the way she’d thought it would, hoped it would. This was her last chance. They were going to haul her off and or lock her up and there would not be a last chance of waiting near the ship to see Torin.
Torin only knew of the disturbance near the entrance because the Earth security team informed his royal guard that there was a couple of terrorists trying to gain entrance and he should be removed for his safety.
His instinct wasn’t to run. It was to see what was going on, which was when he spotted Claudia. A mixture of rage and relief flooded him.
“Go!” he snarled at the royal guard, pointing toward Claudia. “Fetch her to me. And take care you do not harm her if you value your life!”
Confusion, anger, and fear flooded Claudia when she saw the advance of the royal guard. She thought they had come as reinforcements. To her stunned surprise, however, they demanded that the MPs hand her over.
With great reluctance, they did so, and the guard surrounded her and marched her deeper into the ballroom where the festivities were at full swing.
But frozen now as if someone had hit the pause button.
She wasn’t certain of what was going on, although she was hopeful, until the guards halted and then stepped aside.
She dropped her helmet on the floor, but managed
to prevent herself from throwing herself at him.
She felt her face change color three times while she waited breathlessly to see if he would welcome her or send her away.
He lifted a hand to her in invitation and when she took it like a sleepwalker, he drew her closer, drew her into a gentle embrace. His expression was unreadable as he stared down at her and Claudia composed and discarded one sentence after another while she searched her mind for something appropriate to say.
He shifted his hold on her so that he had her face framed between his large palms. “I never meant for harm to come to you, Tita. You know that, don’t you?”
Claudia smiled at him with an effort, not certain she knew exactly what he was talking about, but more than willing to accept what he said. “Yes,” she managed. “I know.”
He studied her for a long moment, as if he could probe her thoughts and then lowered his head until his face filled her vision.
And she knew without any doubt that she’d fallen in love with this man.
That was why it hadn’t occurred to her even once to abort the baby.
It was his baby and she wanted it for that reason above all other considerations, even the fear that her decision wasn’t in the best interests of the baby, that he might suffer for her actions.
But the world spun away from her as he touched his lips to hers and he was all that mattered in that moment.
She was vaguely aware that the royal guard had closed around them, felt more than saw that they’d drawn the attention of the entire room of partiers.
But then she focused on the feel of his body pressed against her length, the firm pressure of his mouth, his delightful taste and scent. A wave of dizziness washed over her with the heat that engulfed her and then she felt as if she was falling.
That feeling persisted when he broke the kiss and lifted his head to look down at her for a long moment. Then he took her in his arms and twirled her around.
That was when she realized that they were hovering in the air above the crowd on the dance floor, dancing on air. A sense of wonder and confusion washed over her. “Are we really doing this? Or is this in my mind?”
He smiled at her, nodding toward the floor below them and she saw that the two of them were standing together there as if frozen by some sort of magic. “We are performing the mating bond, joining soul to soul, two hearts as one, Tita. I will not take the chance that you will slip away again. I had thought that I had lost you when I let you go, but I thought it was best for you.
“Tell me I am what is best for you, Tita. Just as you are what is best for me.”
A jolt went through her. “Seriously?”
He looked nonplussed for a moment, but then he laughed. “Yes, Tita. Very seriously.”
Claudia didn’t know whether to take him at his word or not. He’d said he was serious and then laughed—or rather vice versa—that seemed to indicate it was a joke of sorts. But that was all it took to make her realize that it wasn’t a matter she found amusing. “I thought you said we did before,” she managed to say accusingly around the knot that had formed in her throat.
His laughter died but there was warm amusement in his eyes. “Indeed we did, Tita—my beloved. Tonight we announce that to both worlds and make it official so there can be no doubt in the minds of anyone that you are mine and I am yours. The ritual must be performed with witnesses of high status to be accepted as official when it involves anyone of the royal house of Vishnu.”
Claudia studied him for a long moment, both embarrassed and pleased by the romantic things he’d said to her. “I do think you are best for me,” she said finally. “I’d come to ask if I could settle on Vishnu. If you would give me a place.”
“Gladly,” he murmured near her ear. “In my home and my bed.”
Claudia couldn’t help but chuckle.
The return to their bodies wasn’t quite as magical as floating away from them.
Torin dragged her with him as he flew downward and almost seemed to fling her at her body. She ‘touched down’ with a jolt that seemed to suck the air out of her lungs.
Actually, in to them.
Torin caught her to him almost immediately and swung her in a wide dance step that carried them beyond the ring of royal guards. Unfamiliar with the dance, she struggled to keep up, to match her steps to his, but she was relieved when she discovered he’d waltzed her to the opposite side of the dance floor and, when they reached it, he simply caught her against his side and pushed through the crowd.
As if that reanimated them, the sound level immediately became a noisy babble as Claudia and Torin climbed the stairs together.
“Now,” he said when they’d reached his suite and he’d locked the door behind them, “how are we to remove the lovely you from the hideous thing you have trapped yourself in?”
Claudia felt her face heat with discomfort, but she couldn’t help but agree that the dress was hideous and she was all too happy to remove it—as long as he removed his trappings while she struggled out of it.
They fell naked into the bed and set about rediscovering all the little things that gave them joy in one another.
Epilogue
“Did you know I was pregnant?” Claudia asked, plucking lightly at the half dozen hairs that grew in the little hollow between his male breasts. “When you came for me, did you know? Is that why you came?”
Torin studied her from beneath hooded lids. “Stop trying to pick a fight,” he murmured lazily. “And quit trying to remove the symbol of my manhood from my chest. It took much effort to grow those three mighty hairs.”
Claudia bit her lip and ducked her head. “I’m not. I just … I just wondered. And there are twelve. I counted them.”
He tipped her face up so that he could meet her gaze. “I was yours from the moment I joined with you—heart, mind, soul—all that I am. And it was pure torment to allow you to go. I only did so because I thought it was better for you, that you’d be safe.
“And to answer your question--yes, I did know and I was overjoyed because I knew that it meant my people would accept and love you as I do. It didn’t change the way I felt about you. It just made what had seemed impossible before seem possible.”
Claudia examined that suspiciously, but she realized that he was right. There was no sense in picking a fight with him about it.
He loved her.
He loved their son.
And they made one another happy.
That was all a person could really hope for in life—happiness.
That wasn’t to say their union was total joy at all times, only that there was more happiness and harmony than unhappiness and discord. Torin was the King and he had inherited a kingdom in a grand state of disaster. He was busy from daylight till dark trying to pull Vishnu back together and make it work for the people so that they could have comfort and happiness.
Claudia didn’t get to see him as often as she liked, but Torin put forth every effort to insure that their time together was quality time where they focused only on one another and, in time, the three children they bore together.
The End.
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