The Parvac Emperor's Daughter (The Space Merchants Book 3)

by Wendie Nordgren

  We followed in our own transports. Once the door closed, I sighed in relief. “It was a xylophone, lady wife. Finding one for Thunderdrop should be no trouble.”

  “Chirp!”

  “Is the day almost over? Where is the sun anyway? It’s so dreary.” Aurilius’ sky was overcast, and everything seemed dim and dull.

  “This is how the sky appears most often. The nights here are long and dark. Aurilius is far from the suns,” Yukihyo said.

  “I do enjoy the nights on Aurilius,” Phillip said as he scanned me.

  We traveled to a highly cultivated area with rows and rows of trees. The Consul’s transport continued on to a large stone building. Its plasti-glass doors and windows were trimmed in wood. The structure was three stories high with large chimney stacks at each side of the house. Once we had parked, we were invited inside. Nico and I were led to a couch in the central room. Yukihyo sat in a chair with Neema beside us. Kane stood behind me. Phillip wandered around the room examining the décor. Quaid stood with Eric who smiled and shook hands with Consul Dano. A woman, who was wearing a long-sleeved, thigh-length dress with knee-length pants under it, brought us tea. I really wanted Phillip to scan it to make sure it wasn’t poisoned. The man’s father had falsely imprisoned my family members, and I could only assume his son held a grudge over his father’s ousting. I was also feeling cranky because I needed to use the restroom. I placed my cup on a table and made eye contact with Yukihyo. He spoke to one of the women who had carried in a tray. She curtsied to me and offered to show me to the facilities. Nico helped me stand and then went with us for which I was grateful. I pulled him into the bathroom with me and closed the door earning a shocked look from our escort. Nico gave me one of his toothy smiles.

  “Don’t get excited. I’m scared and don’t want to be alone.” I turned on the water in the sink. “Face the door, please.” Nico laughed and complied. After availing myself of the waste unit and washing my hands, I asked, “Do you think it’s safe to drink the tea?” Nico laughed again.

  “Emperor Probus made it clear that if you came home with so much as a bruise, he would destroy the offending planet.”

  “Now, who’s being melodramatic?”

  “He meant it, wife.” Nico kissed me and rested a large strong hand over our baby. As he gazed into my eyes, he said, “I will keep you safe.”

  Smirking at him, I said, “Yes, that’s why I brought you with me in here to pee.” He threw his head back and laughed. My blonde giant opened the door for me and held my hand as we returned to the others. A lady replaced my tea with a fresh cup. I thanked her. “Phillip, will you please make sure that I’m not allergic to this?” I smiled sweetly at him.

  He scanned it and said, “It’s fine, Cupcake.” He winked at me.

  After I had had a few sips of tea and listened to the men exchange pleasantries, Consul Dano suggested viewing his orchards. Since Neema refused to leave her daddy, Thunderdrop deemed it safe to take his place on my shoulder. A large transport with open sides and a canopy over the top had been brought to the front of the house. I was seated in the center with Yukihyo and Neema. Nico sat to my right, and Quaid sat to Yukihyo’s left. Kane sat behind us with one of his deadly guards. Eric sat in front of us with Consul Dano.

  Neema stared at Yukihyo. She patted her hands against his chest. Yukihyo’s strong arm enclosed her against him. They smiled at each other with mutual adoration.

  “Someone missed you as much as you missed her,” Quaid said.

  “It was difficult being separated from her for so many days. Thank you for taking such excellent care of her.”

  “She has taken my heart, and I will love and protect her as though she were my own as will every Bosh.”

  Neema laughed and screamed. I rolled my eyes. Yukihyo thanked Quaid for taking care of Neema when I was the one feeding her and keeping her clean and dry. Quaid may have changed two diapers while we were staying with him, and they hadn’t even been those of the challenging variety.

  “Here we have blackberry bushes,” Consul Dano announced as he pulled to a stop, got out, and invited us to do the same. He picked a berry and ate it. I gaped at him in stunned surprise. “Princess Teagan, have you never picked fresh berries?”

  “No, there is fresh produce at the markets on Arachne, but I’ve never been anywhere like this.”

  “Chirp!” Thunderdrop said as he leapt from me and went under a bush to investigate.

  “Lady wife, we must take you to visit a farm.”

  “Please, try a few,” Consul Dano offered.

  Nico kept his hand against my lower back. I picked a blackberry and ate it, which made me giggle. It was weird eating something that had come right off of a plant. Nico proceeded to feed me the handful he had picked.

  “Well, well, well. We have finally found a way to get Cupcake to eat berries.”

  Yukihyo laughed at him. Next, Consul Dano showed us his fig trees. Thunderdrop crawled all over the branches of the trees. The branches spread out in all directions and had large green leaves.

  “These are beautiful trees.”

  “Thank you. Would you like to try some fresh figs?”

  “Sure. On Arachne at the market, one of the ladies sells olives stuffed with figs and cheese. I love those.”

  Consul Dano showed me how to remove the seeds. Quaid picked several figs and placed them in a silk square for me. I ate them on the drive to the plum trees. Nico picked three plums for me. I ate them on the way to the pear orchard. Consul Dano handed me a large pear. Taking a bite of it, I closed my eyes in pleasure at the sweet juicy fruit. “Yum.”

  Phillip said, “So, we’ve finally found something to rival your love of pineapples and bananas.”

  “I bet these would be good on pancakes.”

  Thunderdrop darted after something on the ground. Then, he came scampering toward us. So did the small brown critter he was chasing. It came straight toward me. I screamed. Nico swooped me up into his arms. They both ran past us.

  “What was that?” I yelled. The men were too busy laughing at me to answer. Nico tried to put me down. I gripped his neck tighter. “No, Nico! What was that? Are there more?”

  When he stopped laughing, Eric said, “That was a shrew. It can’t hurt you. They eat bugs like our baby spiders do for us.” My heart began to slow, but my breasts started to ache.

  “Well, shit,” I said.

  Consul Dano looked at me in surprised. I scowled at him. Neema began to cry. Nico and Yukihyo laughed harder. Nico put me on the seat in the transport, and Yukihyo waited until I had adjusted my dress to hand Neema to me. I frowned. The sudden fright had left two wet spots on the front of my dress soaking through the protection I had placed in my bra. Yukihyo dug through Neema’s bag and helped me replace my breast pads chuckling to himself the entire time. Meanwhile, Neema helped me with my leaking problem. Quaid grinned. I rolled my eyes at him.

  “Once our lady’s Silk spider returns, we may as well show her the other indigenous life. She has already prepared her dress,” Quaid said to Consul Dano.

  I sighed. After I finished feeding Neema, Thunderdrop proudly returned with a small-cocooned bundle in his jaws. He dropped it at my feet in the transport. “Thunderdrop, good boy! Now, I don’t have to worry about the scary mouse climbing my dress.” It was difficult to feign enthusiasm.

  “Allow me to assist you with your gift, cousin,” Eric said as he took it away for me.

  “It was a shrew not a mouse,” Phillip reminded me.

  Neema grew heavy in my arms. Yukihyo wrapped her in a blanket and took her from me. Consul Dano next stopped the transport near some walnut trees. He, Phillip, and Kane gathered several walnuts and returned to share with us. Nico cracked them open in his hand for me. “These would be good with figs, cheese, olives, and chocolate sauce.”

  Kane laughed and said, “That sounds better than peanut butter and chicken omelets.” The others laughed.

  “Or steak with lemon icing,” Phillip added. They
groaned.

  Consul Dano drove farther. A few men and women were putting food out for some animals that darted toward them and then away. Thunderdrop sat atop my head and made soft hissing noises. The animals leapt from the ground into the trees. They were at least three or four times the size of squirrels with longer tails. “Those are monkeys.”

  “Yes, like the shrew they are herbivores. However, occasionally, they will eat bugs.” The monkeys were light grey with black faces. A few of them jumped onto the shoulders of the people feeding them. “The orchards provide them with plenty of food, but we give them a little extra each day to keep them somewhat domesticated.” He had stopped the transport. Eric, Phillip, and Quaid got out. They had walked over to the group of people and monkeys. One of the monkeys had jumped to Phillip’s head and wrapped its tail around his neck. “Would you like to pet one, Princess Teagan?”

  “No, sir. I’ll stay here with my baby.”

  “Chirp.”

  “I am surprised. I had thought you would find the monkeys to be amusing and cute.” Neema slept soundly in Yukihyo’s arms.

  “No, Thunderdrop and I think they’re creepy.”

  “Chirp!”

  After Phillip and Eric tired of playing with the monkeys, the tour continued. Consul Dano stopped not far from a cave entrance where other men and women interacted with animals of a much different variety. Thunderdrop wanted to catch and eat one. At first, I thought huge birds, larger than me, circled and then dropped to crawl around for pieces of fruit. Upon closer inspection, they had no feathers. “These are Megachiroptera, our flying foxes. They eat fruit and bugs. Like the shrew and the monkey, they keep the insects from destroying the orchards.”

  I watched as one lifted from the ground to the air. A woman held out her arm, and a smaller flying fox landed on her. It hung by its feet from her arm upside down. It folded its wings around itself.

  “Wow. They’re huge.”

  “You feared the little monkeys, but these bats intrigue you,” Yukihyo said in bewilderment.

  “Chirp!”

  “Would you like to pet one?” Consul Dano asked.

  “Okay.” Nico helped me out of the transport. I crossed my arms over my chest and blushed. Thunderdrop perched on my shoulder. “Please, don’t start trouble with the bats, baby.”

  “Chitter chitter chirp.”

  In the air, with their wingspan, they were larger than me, but on the ground, their bodies were similar to those of medium-size dogs. Their faces did appear pointed and dog like. Their eyes looked like amber. Consul Dano held out his arm, and one of the gigantic bats came to him. It hung upside down from his arm. With his free hand, he petted the fur on its stomach.

  “It’s okay. It won’t hurt you. You can pet it.”

  Slowly, I reached out and touched the bat’s stomach. “Neat. Can I touch its wing?” Consul Dano carefully stretched out the wing closest to him. I felt it. “It feels like soft, thin leather.”

  “Chirp chitter chirp?”

  “No, you can’t eat it. You can have your shrew back if you’re hungry.”

  “Chitter chitter.”

  The creature dropped from Consul Dano’s arm and crawled over to a piece of fruit. I put my hand to my lower back.

  “Tired, wife?”

  “A little.”

  Nico carried me back to the transport, and Consul Dano drove us back to his home. He gave us rooms on the third floor. Yukihyo put Neema down in a crib that had been prepared for her. Thunderdrop began constructing a web near the ceiling above her. Yukihyo went into the bathroom where I heard him begin to fill a tub with water. Nico unpacked my bag and placed a gown on the bed for me. I removed my jewelry. A soft knock sounded against the door. Nico admitted a woman who carried a tray with pitchers of chilled fruit juice and glasses. He thanked her and closed the door. I went into the bathroom, removed my stained dress, and sank into the tub. After soaking, I slipped into the gown and bed where I slept until dinner.

  We had dinner with Consul Dano and Lady Peth. Neema had finally gotten enough of her daddy and had returned to my lap. I was able to stay occupied with her and free of the political and economic conversations. A woman wearing a long plain dress placed a plate of olives, figs, cheese, walnuts, and melted chocolate in front of me. I smiled brightly at her. Then, she brought me pancakes topped with thin slices of spiced cooked pears. Yukihyo chuckled while I ate everything. The days on Aurilius were never bright or very warm. The nights were cold. Although the house was kept at a comfortable temperature, that night I snuggled against Yukihyo and enjoyed Nico’s warmth at my back.

  From the sounds coming from the rooms to either side of us, my cousins, Eric and Kane, had found company to keep them warm. Either Yukihyo or Quaid shielded me from Eric’s amusements. Quaid slept across the hall. When I had begun to feel guilty about Quaid, those thoughts and feelings disintegrated. I ended up sleeping through the next morning to mid-day. Neema had slept just as soundly.

  Although it was considered morning on Aurilius, the blackness of the night had not fully relinquished its hold on the planet. Yukihyo rose carefully sliding out from under his sleeping wife. He sensed troubled thoughts from Nico and Eric. Quickly dressing, he went downstairs where he found them along with Kane and Consul Dano at the dining table. Each man wore a serious expression. Nico appeared dangerous and calculating, and his mind had closed off as Teagan’s sometimes seemed to do. Eric filled a cup and slid it over in front of Yukihyo.

  “I received an intelligence report from operatives within the Galaxic Militia. Apparently, a well-funded operation using Laconian hybrids as muscle, is amassing black market weapons and technology through Amphictyon.”

  “Laconian hybrids?” Kane asked.

  Eric’s eyes had become glacial. “Laconian hybrids are scientific experiments. Their genes were manipulated to give them superior telepathic and empathic capabilities. The practice is illegal. The creation of hybrids is considered unethical by the guidelines established in the original treaty agreement between the Laconian Sector and the Galaxic Government. Hybrids are unstable, volatile, and unpredictable.”

  “From where are the credits originating?” Yukihyo asked.

  “Investigators are looking into it,” Eric said.

  “A hybrid Laconian army gathering weapons is a threat to the Empire and to the Princess,” Kane said.

  “Emperor Probus has been informed. If we pull her out of the sector now, they will know we are aware of them. While they believe us ignorant, we have time to formulate a plan. Although it is distasteful to both her father and to me, the best strategy is to continue amassing intelligence while allowing her diplomatic mission to proceed. To gain the upper hand, it may be necessary to use her as bait,” Nico said. “Don’t give me that look, Yukihyo. She has an Imperial Guard on rotation at all times. You know it as does everyone at this table. However, she doesn’t need to know about them or any of this.”

  Yukihyo’s eyes smoldered, but he knew that Teagan meant more to Nico than his own life. “Agreed.”

  “Has your brother, Arlo, had any contact with you since your father’s arrest?” Eric asked Cleto.

  “No, he has been oddly silent. Arlo has a fortune at his disposal. In addition to his own considerable resources, he knows of our father’s secret accounts. Arlo was always our father’s favorite. They share the same duplicitous nature.”

  Once my little princess and I had dressed and made our way downstairs, we saw the men gathered at a table. It looked as though they were having a business meeting. Having no desire to become involved with that, Neema, Thunderdrop, and I went in search of the kitchen. The kitchen was long and rectangular with large windows and a table and chairs at the very back near a door. Thunderdrop climbed the wall and peered outside. I had fed him in our room.

  “Chirp?”

  “No.”

  “Chirp chitter.”

  “No, it’s too dangerous with the monkeys and bats.”

  “Chitter chitter.”


  I made myself a cup of coffee with the beverage dispenser and carried it over to the table in one hand while balancing Neema on my opposite hip. “So, are you saying that you don’t care if I’m worried sick, and you’re going outside anyway?” He blinked at me. “Well, tell me what you decide to do.” I sipped my coffee and showed him an image in my mind of him being carried off by a bat. He sent me an image of himself sinking his fangs into the bat, attaching a line to a tree, and floating to safety. I rolled my eyes and opened the back door for him.

  “Chirp! Chirp!”

  “Whatever. You know how much I love you. Be careful.” Thunderdrop crawled up my dress to my neck and hugged me. I petted his back. “What’s your plan for getting back inside?” He showed me Yukihyo. “Okay.”

  I closed the door behind him and finished my coffee. Neema moved her arms up and down to make her bracelets tinkle. She laughed and smiled up at me. I kissed her soft cheek. Two women entered the kitchen and curtsied to us.

  “Hello. I hope it’s okay. I helped myself to coffee.”

  “Yes, Princess. May I prepare you something to eat?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  The other lady smiled and made me another cup of coffee. Quaid entered the kitchen, maneuvered around the women, and made his way to Neema and me. He bent down to place a kiss on my lips and another on Neema’s forehead.

  “I didn’t mean to sleep all day.”

  “Stress seems to have that effect on you.”

  “Perhaps that was the reason. It could also be that I didn’t get much sleep in your quarters.”

  Quaid grinned and winked at me. I looked down from his mouth to his strong hands, and the blonde hairs on his knuckles. That got me to thinking about his chest, and I sighed. Quaid sat in the chair across from me. I sipped my coffee. When I looked back up at Quaid, his eyes were black. I slipped my foot out of my shoe and touched my toe to his ankle under his pants leg. I sent a wave of pleasure through him. Quaid’s eyes closed. When they opened again, his eyes weren’t so very black.

  “Better?”

  “Much. However, nothing comes close to having you all to myself. Will you spare a few nights for me on Epopeus?”