* * * * *
Looking at the clock in the officer’s lounge, Ari turned. “Well, it is 1100 hours, m’Lady. They should be along any time now. He thinks you and his sister are dead, so you will need to allow him a few moments to adjust to the shock of seeing you.” He smiled at his companion.
“Of course, Conte. Again, thank you. I shudder at the risks you and Captain Rickard took to get us back home. Krakoll did not give us up easily,” said Lady Claire Gloriana DeLorion.
“I would do anything for your son, Lady Claire. Putting my feelings for him aside, I could not leave you in the grasp of the Haarb leader. I am very pleased to do whatever I can to help you.”
“Segundo Signore—in a Tetriarch. How astonishing. His father would have been so very proud.”
“Ah, I hear their voices. Remember, this will be a shock.”
The door to the officer’s lounge opened to admit Fleur and Doral. Their playful banter entered the door before them.
“No Doral, it can’t be a pony. He didn’t know about the twins and even with his omniscient powers, a pony is a bit much for the officer’s…”
“Mother! Sophillia! What—how?” Doral’s eyes widened in disbelief then he rapidly crossed the room to envelop first his mother and then his sister in a bone-crushing hug.
“My darling son.” Claire DeLorion could not stop stroking Doral’s face and shoulders. “Your hair!” She choked on a laugh and tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. “I don’t think you cut it for three years.”
Doral cleared his throat. “No,” he managed, “I haven’t. Mother. Goddess, Mother. And Sophillia, little Sophi.” Doral’s voice broke. “You are here, alive, healthy. How?”
Claire DeLorion clasped her son’s arm, holding him to her as she smiled across the room to where Ari stood embracing Fleur. “The ‘how’ is long and involved, but us being here now?” Lady DeLorion nodded toward the conte.
Following his mother’s gaze, His normally inscrutable face alive with intense emotion, Doral looked at Ari. “You did this,” Doral said in wonderment. “How?”
A self-deprecating smile tipped Ari’s mouth and he shrugged.
“Thank you,” the visconte whispered. “Thank you.”
Ari smiled and nodded.
Doral turned to envelop his mother in another mammoth hug, twirling her around and around in a dizzy circle, her feet a good twelve inches off the floor. “Mother, Sophi, you must meet Fleur. Did you know I am to be a father? A little girl! We are going to name her Lilly. And you know our Primo, Ari. He is going to be a father, too—a little boy.” Doral laughed.
When angels laugh with joy, it must be this sound. I don’t remember him ever laughing like this.
“And you will never guess, I am Segundo Signore, can you imagine? Me!”
Doral paused and looked at the ceiling. “Oh Goddess,” he groaned with vehement disgust. “I am gushing.” He put his mother back on her feet gently.
When the laughter at Doral’s lament died down, Fleur smiled delightedly. “Lady Claire, I am Fleur Constante, and among other things, Lilly’s mommy.” Fleur looked at her rounded abdomen, caressing it gently. “We are so glad to welcome you home. We must see you often if you have this effect on our quiet, reserved Doral. Was he like this as a boy?”
Lady Claire dipped into a deep curtsey, “Your Majesty. Thank you for all the love you and the conte have given my son.” She rose and smiled in return, “And, yes, he was very gregarious.”
“Please, Lady Claire, none of that ’Your Majesty‘ stuff. I am just Fleur in private. And we save all the bobbing about for court. As for loving Doral,” Fleur smiled and held Doral’s gaze for a long moment, “it is one of the easiest things I have ever done.”
His legs crossed at his booted ankles, his arms folded across his chest, Ari propped against the wall and observed. If all the wealth in the universes were offered in exchange for seeing this one moment of unadulterated joy on the face of his Doral, he would have refused without thought. The sight of a pregnant Fleur shook him to his soul with the unexpected realization of how desperately happy it made him.
“Lady Sophillia, welcome home.” Fleur acknowledged the young woman standing silently, almost hiding, behind her mother and Doral.
“M’lady,” she whispered in response.
Lady Claire put a protective arm around her daughter. “Sophi is very shy, but I know she is as grateful as I am for all you have done.”
“Sweetheart, I think we should leave Doral alone with his mother and sister for a while. I imagine there are many things they want to say to each other.” Ari looked at Doral and smiled. “I ordered a light luncheon to be served to you here in the lounge. You won’t be disturbed for several hours. Come find us in our quarters when you are ready to come up for air. The shuttle planetside is scheduled for 1800 hours, so the rest of this afternoon is yours.”
Doral nodded mutely, hastily swiping at his eyes then finally grinning and shoeing Ari away. “If you tell anyone you saw this, I will have to kill them.”
“Secret’s safe with me, my lethal blade,” Ari teased as he straightened from his position against the wall and took Fleur’s hand. He nodded to Lady Claire and Lady Sophillia then guided Fleur through the door, closing it behind him. He nestled Fleur under his shoulder as they walked away from the officer’s lounge.
“He was absolutely effervescent with joy,” Fleur marveled. “I have never seen him like that.” She watched her husband with loving consideration as they casually walked down the corridor. He smiled at her in return.
“Ari.”
“Yes, love.”
“Have I told you lately I adore you?”
“Hmm. Not lately.”
“I adore you.”
“And I, you, my queen.”
“I could never have imagined this a year ago. It will all work out.”
Nor I, not in my most fanciful imaginings. “Yes, love, it will work out.” He leaned down and swept her up into his arms. “I made plans for your glorious self.”
“Do they require nudity?”
“Extensive. Prolonged.”
Fleur’s smile was so wide he thought her jaw must hurt.
* * * * *
The powerful shuttle thrusters pushed the utilitarian craft away from the docking portal on the orbital station. Ari glanced up quickly to see Doral patting his mother’s arm, then checking that his sister and Fleur were safely strapped in.
Doral stood and crossed to the command module. He sank into the co-pilot’s chair, buckled in and began taking over some of the guidance of the small shuttle. Ari and Doral had done this so often they worked in silent unison until Doral took a deep breath and spoke. The background noise of the powerful engines obscured their conversation.
“Ari, Allegra is in the city of L’apellat on the planet Vortus. Dre Sallan blinded her then sold her to a Trill ore-trader as its egg host.”
Ari glanced sharply at Doral, then back to his instruments. “A Trill. Perhaps her unnatural desires will be sated, but I wonder if even she can endure such rigor.”
“She is a survivor. I’m certain she is serving its needs quite well.”
Ari concentrated on the instruments in front of him. “No one will ever again abuse you as long as I live to prevent it.”
“I must ensure you stay alive.” With a slight smile, Doral made a course correction. “Did you know our queen sent DeStroia to find her?
He looked sideways at Doral. “She sent Eric?”
“Our blood-thirsty little hell-cat wanted Allegra dead.”
“Remind me not to piss off our queen. Eric is almost as deadly as you.” Ari returned to watching the digital display.
“I’ve got your back, Primo.”
“Then I’ll live to a ripe old age, Segundo.” As Ari checked the instrument panel, he saw Doral’s reflection in the plas-shield. Doral wore that rare and stunning smile so seldom seen and so impossible not to respond to.
The End
A
bout the author:
Patricia A. Knight is the pen name for an eternal romantic who lives in Dallas, Texas with her horses, dogs and the best man on the face of the earth – oh yeah, and the most enormous bullfrogs you will ever see. Word to the wise: don’t swim in the pool after dark.
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More of those Verdantians!
If you enjoyed Hers To Command, look for Sophi DeLorion’s story, Hers To Choose, coming out in mid-July 2013 and Steffania Rickard’s, Hers To Cherish in early August, 2013
Blurb: Scarred from her years as prisoner to the off-world Haarb, Lady Sophillia Glorianna DeLorion, found refuge, purpose and familial love with Verdantia’s desert-dwelling Oshtesh. But her sentient mother planet called to Sophi to exercise her unique birthright and join with a hardened warrior in a sexual rite that would bring prosperity and comfort to the people of the war-ravaged planet. After her years as a prisoner, Sophi doubted she could be a fit sexual partner for any man, even the warrior Verdantia sent to her – the one whose green eyes made her remember what it felt like to desire.
Commander of the Queen’s Royal Guard, Eric DeStroia had grown up watching the corrosive, soul-killing effects of arranged, aristocratic marriage. He would rather remain single his entire life than be joined to a woman he didn’t love – or who didn’t love him. In post-war Verdantia, any woman was a rarity. An aristocratic woman bearing a unique genetic marker matching his was beyond price. So, when the geneticists ordered their joining, he capitulated, consoling himself with fantasies of sheltering a wounded dove under his mighty arm. Instead, He discovered a fierce falcon that refused to stoop to his lure.
In the aftermath of their resounding defeat, the Haarb leader, Krakoll, plotted a return to Verdantia to exact retribution. His painstaking plans bore fruit. The time was ripe for return and his first objective was the recapture of Lady Sophillia Glorianna DeLorion. She had been unreachable until she went to the Oshtesh. Now, only Eric DeStroia stood in his way.
~ Here’s a short excerpt ~
At dusk the next day, Sophi’s flight filtered into Sh’r Un Kree from the surrounding hillsides. As they gathered in the designated courtyard, she made a small adjustment to Brio’s bridle.
“Are these the legendary wasteland horses we lowlanders hear stories about?” Commander DeStroia’s deep voice caught her attention. I didn’t hear his approach. Taught stealth by my brother, no doubt.
“Yes.” She followed his gaze as he examined her flight’s small, hardy mounts and the equally small, hardy women astride them. “Petrina – she has a fiery temper to match her red hair, but she is my right hand. The brunette beside her is Adonia, our medica. Her knowledge of herbs is indispensible and then Rhea, our best tracker. Layna, Eudora and Maeve complete our flight. Their precision in hitting their targets is uncanny. We don’t look like much, but we will not burden you, Commander. We are quite self-sufficient.”
“I never imagined otherwise, Lady DeLorion.”
She stiffened. “I do not use my courtesy title. I am no longer that person. I prefer ‘Flight Leader’.”
His eyes examined her but he nodded agreeably. “Flight Leader. We will leave upon the half-hour. Take position beside me at the front. Your flight can muster behind you.”
“No. It is not our way. We will ride the ridges and shadowed places in twos and threes. We will be there but you will not see us.”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t like it. I cannot protect you if I cannot see you.”
“I do not ask your permission, Commander. I am in far less danger with my flight than with you. I knew you were coming hours before you arrived. Sound carries great distances in the wastelands – and the dust! Your numbers hang a sign in the desert air, ‘attention – riders approach’.”
She swirled her robes away from her legs and vaulted onto her gelding. A whistled birdcall caught her archers’ attention. “We flank Commander DeStroia. Ride out.”
Sophi felt the Commander’s eyes on her as she and her flight faded into the desert night.
* * *
When Sophi and her women had faded from sight, Eric strode into the stable yard where his four rides of the Queen’s Royal Guard assembled, preparing for the order to mount. Frustration chewed on his temper. I was prepared for a shy, withdrawn woman, not this – Valkyrie. It is difficult to “escort” a woman when you don’t know where she is.
“Queen’s Guard! Prepare to mount! Mount!” he barked, swinging up onto his horse. “Rides! By two. Form up!” Cavalrymen paired off and formed orderly lines, broken every eight riders by a colorful pennant bearing the insignia of their unit.
“Queen’s Guard! At the walk! March!” Eric ordered.
As his horse’s long stride swung through the arches of the village wall, his second-in-command rode up to him.
“Commander?”
“Captain.”
“Do we leave without Lady DeLorion?”
“No.” Eric fumed in silence.
“Commander?”
“What!”
“Ahem, where is Lady DeLorion?”
“Good question, Captain Biron. If you see her let me know.”
* * *
Authors note: You can now hear me read this scene on either my facebook page or my website.
https://www.facebook.com/patricia.knight.71619
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Hers to Command Page 24