The Parvac Emperor’s Daughter
A Space Merchants Novel
By Wendie Nordgren
Copyright © 2016 by Wendie Nordgren
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, places, and events are fictional and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental.
Cover Design by Winter Bayne www.winterbayne.com
With Cover model Anna Serena, from www.vikkaszone.com
Dedication
To Joe Nordgren, Jade Remeng, Ettie Haley, Melinda Johnson, Brenda Nichols, Lacey Fitzer, Teresa Louviere, Julian Thompson, Ty Arthur, and Wendy Giffen for your kind words of encouragement and support. Also, I wish to express my deep and sincere gratitude to those of you who have written such wonderful reviews! One of my very first reviews ever from Kyaussie, whoever you are, had me crying happy tears. I don’t know who you are, but thank you!
Please find me on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/thespacemerchantsseries
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter One
Papa came into the sitting room where I lounged on a couch and enjoyed the ocean breeze as it came through the open windows. After my husbands and cousins had completed a successful rescue mission into the Laconian Sector to rescue Captain Hiroshi Lee, my brother-in-law, and Lord Simon Montgomery, my cousin and best friend in the universes, a unanimous decision had been made to take an extended vacation on Thalassa. Papa and everyone else thought the planet’s beautiful oceans and beaches would pull me out of the depression in which they assured me I had been trapped while Hiroshi and Simon had been imprisoned falsely on Aurilius by the former Consul Dano. A coalition between the Galaxic Militia and Parvac Empire had removed Consul Dano from power. However, I continued to fear retaliation from the ousted Dano’s son, Cleto Dano. Putting it all from my mind, I smiled down at Neema, my infant daughter, where she slept sprawled on her back in a baby bed beside me. A rustling sound drew my attention back to Papa. He held in his hands what appeared to be a covered painting.
“What is that?”
“Something I had commissioned by that artist fellow you like.” He unwrapped it and stared at it for several minutes. Then, he hung the painting above a small table.
“Is that me?” Peering at the painting, I saw myself in my wing of the Palace on Parvac on a couch in my sitting room looking through the windows out at the lake. The white dress I wore almost blended in with the couch as it draped down to the white stone floor. My right hand rested on the back of the couch, and my left was around my left shin. My toes showed from under the dress’ hem, and my dirty blonde hair appeared tangled. “I look sad.”
“Yes, you broke my heart. I was helpless. This sadness isn’t anything that I have the power to fix or my doctors to heal.” Papa turned from the painting to stare at me with his dark brown eyes. Feeling helpless was not something to which the Emperor of Parvac was accustomed. He blocked my view of the painting with his wide shoulders.
“I’m better.”
Yukihyo walked inside with Nico trailing him. They both wore obscenely small black swim shorts that left nothing to the imagination. Yukihyo and Nico trained regularly, and it showed in the clearly defined muscles of their stomachs. I laughed. Yukihyo flexed his arm muscles at me. His dove grey hair was tousled from the wind, and sand clung to his feet. Looking down at what he had done to the floor, he gave me a sheepish grin and winked one of his milky white eyes at me. “Come, wife. We wish to do push-ups for you on the beach. You will be able to admire our manly attributes as we bask in the sun.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. I laughed at him again and informed Pierce, one of the nurses my Grandmother had hired to help me with Neema, that I would be outside.
My every action and word had been scrutinized since our arrival on Thalassa. Yukihyo’s return had put an end to my memories of Nathan Green which had taken the form of inescapable nightmares. Being able to sleep again had improved my ability to function during the day, and the dark circles had gone from under my eyes. While I felt better physically, I didn’t know how to deal with the wariness I had instilled within Papa, Abbie, Kaoti, and Dr. Fotri. They had witnessed my spiral into despair when Yukihyo had gone with the rescue party.
Falling in love with Yukihyo had stripped my heart and mind of the protective walls I had built throughout my childhood and without his presence, I was defenseless. Emperor Tavere Probus, my newly discovered papa, had continued to lay waste to those walls. Mrs. Tereas, Yukihyo’s mother, and Ettie Valen, my grandmother, had kept me together until he had returned. It had become painfully evident that in the symbiotic relationship that Yukihyo and I had entered, I had become the dependent one. The return of Yukihyo’s mother and sisters, the birth of our daughter, and the bonding formed between him, Nico, and Phillip had given Yukihyo the emotional stability he had suffered for years without. Now, when the family looked at me, I saw the fear in their eyes that I might break. Remaining a novice with the whole familial concern thing, I didn’t really know how to handle it.
Yukihyo smiled and beckoned to me from the veranda. I walked past Papa, kissed his cheek, and stepped through the door. As soon as my toes touched the warm sand, Nico lifted me up and carried me. I moved my right hand behind his head sliding my fingers across the sharp line of my general’s military haircut and around his neck. Following Yukihyo, Nico carried me past the pavilion and to the water.
“Nico, let me sit in the shade and watch, so I don’t have to squint.”
“I think you should play in the water first.”
“Well, then take me back to change. Stop. I don’t want to get my dress wet. It’s pretty.”
“You heard her,” Yukihyo said.
Sighing, Nico put me on my feet at the water’s edge and began removing my dress.
“Nico! What are you doing?”
“You said you didn’t want it wet,” Nico said as he continued to pull my dress off of me. He held it out of reach, and I hurriedly gave up my attempt to reclaim it. Nico stood at six-and-a-half feet. I wasn’t sure how far away my dress was in his upstretched arm, but my five feet and a few inches wasn’t going to get me there. I put my hands to better use and covered my chest. Nico along with all of my Parvacian family and friends, even Grandmother, thought I was a prude in my insistence of swim attire being worn at the beach. Nico tossed my dress to the sand and picked me up.
“Are you crazy? Give me my dress back!” He smiled and carried me into the water. My face was on fire from embarrassment. Nico laughed. “My Papa could see! Your mother could see.” Nico put me down in chest high water and kissed me. I felt something at my ankle and jumped. Then, I felt hands stealing my undies. Shocked, I pushed away from Nico who held up his hands innocently. Yukihyo surfaced several feet a
way. He gave me a wicked grin and spun my undies around on his finger. “Give those back right now, Yukihyo Alaric Montgomery Lee.”
“Make me.” His wet hair dripped into his eyes.
“What?”
“You want them? Come and get them.” He flung his head to the side to shake the water from his short dove grey hair and grinned at me.
“You are awful.” I scowled at him and splashed water at his face, but he was too far away. I turned to Nico and gave him my sweet smile. “Nico, darling, please get those for me.”
He smiled, kissed my nose, and cupped my backside with his hands saying, “I prefer you without them. Now, you are like all of the other women here.”
I squirmed away from him and carefully walked through the water to Yukihyo. I could see shiny silver fish as they darted past my ankles. I stumbled and caught a small wave in my face. I spat the salty warm water out and wiped my eyes. When I reached him, I tried to pull his arm down so that I could get my undies. He put them in his other hand and threw them.
“No fair!” I looked behind me at Nico who rinsed them out and held them up. He put his wrist through the leg openings. I frowned at him and returned my attention to Yukihyo.
“I agree with Nico. I like the way your breasts float in the water. However, I would be happy to cover them for you.” He demonstrated. I splashed him in the face and trudged back through the water to Nico.
“Don’t you dare toss those back to him.” Nico grinned at me and held them far out of reach. “You aren’t being fair.” I jumped and almost touched his wrist.
“They’re even better when she jumps,” he said to Yukihyo.
“I have a good view of other things from here.”
Nico bent down, kissed me, and pressed himself against me. His swim suit was gone. My eyes widened in shock. “Here. I’ll give you a boost.” He picked me up and slid into me.
“Nico!” He moved quickly, and I shattered clinging to him in shocked surprise. He didn’t last long either and stared into my eyes as he slid from me. Then, he grinned at me and tossed my garment back to Yukihyo. I rested my head against his chest.
“You’d better hurry and come here. A group of people are walking this way from a mile or so down the beach.” I looked off in the direction of his gaze.
“Give them back! Hurry!”
He smiled. I moved toward him as fast as I could. I was relieved when he actually handed them to me. I straightened them out and lifted my foot into a leg opening. Yukihyo grabbed my thigh with his left hand and my breast with his right. With his chest against my back, he pushed into me. I moaned. He didn’t care that people were approaching. He moved slowly and kissed my neck. With our bond, he calmed my fears with each gentle wave that lifted us. As he moved in the rhythm he had mastered, I could only clutch the arm he held in front of me. My right leg dangled uselessly in the water. I cried out with the force of my pleasure. Yukihyo sped up and found his own. He lifted me up into his arms, grinned down at my very relaxed expression, and tossed them back to Nico.
“Yukihyo, really? You’ve both had your ways with your pregnant wife, and you know I’m too tired to chase after those undies anymore.” Nico swam over to us and helped me into them.
“You were right,” Yukihyo said.
“Yes, it’s your new favorite game isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I’d ask, but I need my dress.”
“No, this will be much more amusing.”
“Yukihyo, no!” A group of men ran into the water and came straight for us. I covered my breasts with my arms. When they were close enough to identify, I was happy and horrified at the same time. “Nico! Go get my dress. Now!”
“No.”
I saw Eric’s huge dimpled grin and a bright red shock of hair that belonged to Simon. My cousins weren’t alone. There was also blonde, black, and slightly greying hair coming toward us.
“Did you miss me?” Eric asked.
“Um, yes. Could you please go get that white dress that’s rolling down the beach?”
“Why?”
Yukihyo tossed me up and caught me. I closed my eyes to avoid another splash of salt water in my eyes.
“Stop it! You’re both being awful. Simon, go get my dress, please!” Simon’s face turned red.
“What game have you been playing with my baby sister?” Hiroshi asked.
“Keep away,” Yukihyo said as he dropped me. When my head went under the water, all sounds were replaced with the whirling of water in my ears. I came up spluttering and wiping at my eyes. Then, I remembered to cover my chest and hoped they hadn’t looked. From the expression on Gary’s face, he had.
“Won’t anyone get my dress for me? It’s being ruined by the sand anyway.” Nico waved at a couple who walked along the beach without a scrap of clothing between them. “Who are they?”
“Mother and Orson.” In resignation, my face lost all expression.
“If your dress is on the beach, with what were they playing keep away?” Hiroshi asked. My face again turned red.
“Wife, are you getting a sunburn?”
“No, Nico. I mean yes. Go get my dress. The way the two of you are treating the mother of your children is reprehensible.” Yukihyo grinned at me.
“Want to race?” he asked Nico.
“Go.”
“Assholes,” I said to their retreating forms as they swam off.
Gary was looking down through the clear water at me. I splashed him in the face repeatedly. Gary spit out a mouthful of salt water and yelled, “Stop! I’ll help, Princess. I’ll cover ‘em up from behind.”
I saw Pierce walk out onto the veranda with Neema. I could tell she was angry. I avoided looking at the man with the blonde hair, Commander Quaid Bosh, who was my cousin Captain Eric Alaric’s second in command on the Hadrian and unfortunately my newest husband. Thankfully, he remained silent.
“Great.” I covered my chest with my arms and began trudging through the waves to the shore. They followed me. Simon trotted from the water and down the beach after my dress. He shook it out and brought it to me. “Thank you, Simon.” I slipped it on and kissed his cheek. I held his hand on the way to the house. “I was afraid I would never see you again.” I felt a return of the crushing sadness that I had been trying so hard to ignore.
“Do not waste your time ever again with such fantastical thoughts, sweet cousin. All you should concentrate on is bringing another adorable baby into the galaxies and your happiness.” Simon placed a kiss on my hand. Lorca handed us towels as we entered the three story white house, and as soon as I sat, Pierce handed Neema to me. Simon stood in front of the painting. Cass and Thunderdrop, our bonded Arachnean Silk spiders, ran off to my room. They were silent for a moment before the sound of harp strings reached my ears. “That is so much more pleasant than those dreadful drums.”
The others had followed us inside. Lorca and Pierce brought us chilled juice. Papa walked to where I sat with Neema and gathered my wet hair up and moved it behind my shoulder. “Now is my darling more content with her family returned to her?”
Looking up into his dark brown eyes, I said, “Yes, much.”
“What can I do to convince you to visit more often, Simon?” Papa asked.
Gesturing toward the painting, Simon said, “You already have.”
“Papa, your painting is depressing everyone. Have him paint one of Neema with her foot in her mouth, and Thunderdrop blinking at her instead. That would make everyone laugh.”
Simon’s ice blue eyes met mine. “No, I look at it and see how much we mean to you. Maybe he will make me a copy.”
“Here. Look at these,” Papa said as he handed Simon a vid-screen. Hiroshi, Eric, and Bosh looked over his shoulder. Deliberately, I avoided looking at Bosh or the towel wrapped low around his hips. Unfortunately, Neema and I had Gary’s attention.
“What are you looking at?” I asked Gary, who jumped in surprise.
“Pictures,” Hiroshi answered not realizing that I was ad
monishing Gary.
“I took them of you. I won’t forget how important Yukihyo is to our family,” Papa said.
Yukihyo walked in followed by Nico who said, “Look who we found.”
“Aw, Fitz! It is good to see you,” Papa said. Fitz Jiri was the eldest son of Praetor Jiri who Papa had entrusted to rule the tropical paradise that was Thalassa. Fitz occupied his time with his pineapple plantation. He was also one of the men in the Parvac Empire who my Papa deemed a worthy husband for me. Looking toward him, I had to smile at the tiny swim shorts Yukihyo and Nico wore. I shook my head at them.
“I hoped to interest you in some fishing,” Fitz said. The boys were eager to go. “Princess Teagan, I hope you might find the sailing to be relaxing.”
“I might, but Nico Junior would not. I won’t be able to join you, but I do hope you will catch dinner. He will let me eat.” Fitz smiled at me and bowed. Phillip looked disappointed. Dr. Phillip Svenson enjoyed fishing but didn’t want to leave me. “Phillip, I promise to behave for Dr. Fotri.”
“Well, okay then,” Phillip said as he grinned at me.
“I will stay with Teagan. Kaoti stands guard. Enjoy yourselves,” Papa said.
I would have preferred to keep Simon and the others with me, but I was not ready to deal with Quaid. I thought him to be much more of a shark than Eric, and I was afraid that at the moment I shared the same characteristics as an injured baby seal alone in the water with a ravenous Quaid. Avoiding him seemed prudent. Anyway, ours was a political marriage.
Hiroshi took Neema, held, and kissed her while the others changed their clothes. “Your Uncle Hiroshi has missed you, Akachan no Yukihyo.” She shrieked and laughed at him.
“My turn,” Simon told him. Neema stared at Simon and grabbed his nose. As she stared into his pale blue eyes with her jade green pupil-less eyes, I felt the bond form between them, so did Yukihyo. Our shared Laconian blood made emotional bonds possible between us. “Neema, you’ve stolen my heart,” Simon whispered to her. I knew with absolute certainty that Simon would always protect Neema. When his pale blue eyes met mine, I realized that he felt the same way about me. Neema released his nose which allowed me to hug his neck and kiss his cheek.
The Parvac Emperor's Daughter (The Space Merchants Book 3) Page 1