“You can’t be serious. Those monsters out there are twice the size of the rug in our quarters.”
“I know, right? This is great!” Yukihyo exclaimed.
“I don’t want any of you going out there. It’s too dangerous. We have plenty to eat.”
“Those ice bears pose a danger to anyone on our land or the Galatea lands. When they dare to venture this close, they are ready to hunt us. Do you forget the elite Militia and Parvac soldiers who will accompany us? We will be fine.”
Phillip walked into our room with Neema and began changing her diaper. “Phillip, can you talk some sense into them?” He handed me her dirty diaper.
“No, but if you want a say in the movie we are going to watch, you’d better come with us. Isn’t that right, Creampuff?”
I heard fabric sliding against fabric as Nico, Yukihyo, and Quaid dressed in thick hunting clothes. At least each of them wore long johns made of protective silk. “What about your skulls? A man told me that bears go for the head.”
Yukihyo winked at me and sent me a naughty image of me going for his head when he got back. Quaid showed me the helmets that they would be wearing. I decided pouting and tears might be more effective but couldn’t make myself cry which made me angry. Quaid pinched my butt making me jump.
“Fine. You’d all rather be out there in the cold with wild bears the size of large land transports than here with me. Got it.” I was getting a headache.
“Cupcake, let ‘em have some fun.” I sulked. “Come with us. Neema and I have a fur nest all ready. Put on your slippers.”
Yukihyo pulled my boots off of me. I held onto his shoulder for balance. I sighed. My three stubborn husbands had made up their minds. I put on my slippers and followed Phillip. From Simon’s emotions, I could tell he planned to spend the day with Isidora behind closed doors. Once we were in the living room, I noticed several of the men had readied themselves for the hunt. The soldiers staying behind to guard me seemed disappointed.
“It will be more fun staying here,” I told them.
Their expressions said that they didn’t believe me. I crawled into the furs on the large square couch and leaned back. Neema crawled straight to me with a huge drooling smile. “You have your daddy’s big smile! Yes, you do.” I got cuddles which made me feel better. I pouted at Nico, Quaid, and Yukihyo as they filed past. “Really? You’re all actually going out there? Unbelievable.”
The living room door closed behind them. Hiroshi and eight soldiers had gone with them. I wondered how they would even get one of those ice bears back here through the snow if they got one. Two guards were stationed inside the front entrance, and four were in the sitting room. Kaoti, Gary, and our four new friends were with us in the living room.
“What do you want to watch?” Phillip asked.
“Nothing involving hunting or snow monsters.” Gary winked at Phillip. “Or dirty movies,” I added.
“Well, you’re no fun, Princess.”
I nodded in agreement. They picked an espionage action thriller with completely unrealistic technology. The main character could travel a mile at a time by using a localized black hole. The drawback was that he lost the memories of the two minutes prior to each displacement. When he escaped certain death at the hands of the traitor by traveling through the hole, he forgot the villain’s identity. It wasn’t until he learned to store his memories in the black hole that he managed to save himself and prevent the enemy spy from getting away. A few minutes into the next movie, the sequel, Neema and I fell asleep.
I was in a small room. From the wall fabrication of brushed silver, I knew I was on a Parvac warship. However, the legs and feet that stretched out before me to the end of the bunk were definitely not mine. A few straight black hairs grew from the toes. The hairs laid flat and seemed to grow at an angle. The legs were covered in black pants. I saw a bathroom and a storage locker but little else.
“Thank you for the intervention. My visit with your inquisitor was becoming unpleasant. He explained to me in dispassionate detail how the compounds in that injection would feel,” said the voice belonging to the feet.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, just bored.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Vawn. Xander and I had the misfortune of meeting two of your husbands and your cousin on Nephele. We’ve been guests of your inquisitor since then.”
“Firing on our ships wasn’t the way to make friends.”
“No, but at the time, we didn’t know how much your friendship meant to us.”
I woke up to men groaning during an intense action scene between the protagonist and three soldiers in a fighter bay with an open docking door. Space awaited anyone who slipped too closely to the pressurized shielding. Neema had curled up against my side, so I didn’t move. Izaac’s black eyes were intent upon me. I thought, “Vawn is fine.” Izaac nodded as though he already knew.
Eventually, Simon and Isidora ventured out of their room for food and a bath. Zam rushed from the bathing chamber and into the living room with a bloody nose. “Did Simon hit you?” I asked.
“No, his wife did. I thought it was a shared space.”
I held a silk square to his nose while Phillip went to get his medical bag. “Gosh, she hits harder than the door.” Zam’s nose was gushing. “Lay down.” Zam put his head on what there was of my lap while I held his nose as carefully as I could. Neema drooled next to us with her diaper in the air. “Oh, well. Be glad Simon didn’t hit you.”
“I could defend myself against him, not her,” came Zam’s muffled response.
I felt a gentle kick from Niklos aimed at Zam’s head and giggled. “Did you feel that?”
“I did. That was the most beautiful thing that I’ve ever experienced,” was his solemn reply.
Phillip appeared. He was followed by a sullen, damp, but fully dressed Isidora. Simon followed her with an amused expression. Phillip put the bloodied silk square into a disposal bag and began cleaning up Zam’s nose. Phillip stuffed Zam’s nose with gauze, put a gel strip across it, and placed a small nanite patch between his eyes. “Well, the bad news is that your nose is broken. The good news is that you’ve had two women’s hands on you today,” Phillip told him with a wink.
Zam sat up. “I meant no offense, Lady Montgomery. I only wished to bathe.” I could feel his sincerity.
“I’m sorry I broke your nose,” Isidora said grudgingly. I had never punched anyone in the nose.
“Is your hand alright?” I asked.
Isidora tried to hide it behind her back. Gently, Simon took her wrist and looked at her hand. Phillip scanned her knuckles and then rubbed a cream into them. “You’re okay. You may feel some tenderness for a few hours,” Phillip told her.
In my mind, I heard Izaac make a snort of derision at the idea of Isidora being tender. Isidora shot Izaac a narrow-eyed look of warning.
“Gary, will you watch Neema while I visit the restroom?”
“Sure thing, Princess.”
Kaoti extended his arm to me and helped me up. Then, he escorted me through the dining room to the restroom checking that it was empty before taking a position beside the door. Afterwards, he stayed with me as I wandered into the kitchen. There were no cake or cookie ingredients. One of the soldiers offered to cook, and being tired I thanked him and returned with Kaoti to the living room.
For dinner, we all shared a meat stew. Simon and Isidora vanished into their room as soon as they had eaten. When Neema woke up, I fed her mashed ceshoosh. Then, she showed me splashing images. “You want a bath? Okay.”
I carried her to our room where I changed into an exercise top and a pair of shorts. I pulled my robe on over them. I wrapped Neema in a blanket and nothing else. Kaoti had an annoyed expression. “What?”
“The boys have all decided to bathe.”
“It’s fine. I may not have a swim dress, but I’m covered up. We’ll wait here, if you want to put on some shorts and join us.”
“Bathing in
clothing is odd.”
I waited. Turning, Kaoti went to his room. Minutes later, he returned and walked with us to the bathing chamber. He held Neema while I removed my robe and placed it on the bench beside the fire. Then, he held onto my hand until we were in the pool. I sat at a shallow depth and held my hands out for my naked little princess. Kaoti bathed while keeping an eye on us. His chest only retained faint white lines where the blaster cannon had injured him. While Neema slapped her hands against the water, I cleaned ceshoosh from the creases in her neck. She and I both laughed when she made bubbles in the water with a toot. Neema grabbed handfuls of sand and tried to put them into her mouth. I lifted her up higher and went deeper into the water to rinse off. I thought that Zam, Traviz, Rozz, and Izaac must be very clean after having stayed in the mineral bath with us the entire time. Zam carefully kept his nose out of the water.
“It’s time to get out, my love. Your little fingers are shriveled.”
Hearing me, Kaoti got out, dried off, and wrapped a towel around his waist. He wrapped Neema in a towel for me and sat with her by the fire as I dried myself. Wrapping the towel around myself, I slipped my robe on over it and sat beside them. My hair had remained up and out of my way from when Isidora had done it earlier. Once we were certain that Neema was warm and dry, Kaoti carried her to her bed for me.
“Thank you for your help.”
Kaoti bowed, closed my door, and went to change. I put Neema in a diaper and gown. Then, I gave her a stuffed ice bear to play with in her bed while I struggled out of the wet shorts and shirt. I dropped my wet clothes and our towels in a laundry basket that Yukihyo had placed in a corner of our room. I dressed for sleep and pulled on a pair of Yukihyo’s socks. I placed my vid-screen on the bed, picked Neema up, and read her a baby book that had her touch the screen for the pictures that matched the words for balls, blocks, mommy, and daddy. She enjoyed it so much that we had to read it five more times before she lost interest.
By that time, Niklos had me desperately craving scrambled eggs, chicken, and peanut butter. I pulled a robe on over my gown and carried Neema from our room. Gary sat in a chair by our door. Neema put her head against my shoulder and clutched my robe.
“Everything alright?”
“I’m hungry.”
Gary stood and walked with us to the kitchen. From the sound of things, the men were enjoying another movie. They paused it when they saw us. It was a scary one.
“Kitchen,” Gary said as we walked through.
They resumed their movie. As we walked toward the kitchen, Zam came out with a glass of milk.
“Please have a seat, my lady,” he said as he placed it on the table.
Traviz came out with a plate full of scrambled eggs and a fork. Gary took Neema. Shocked, I sat.
“There’s not any chicken. Rozz is cooking sausages and bacon,” Zam said as he returned with a small bowl of peanut butter.
“Wow! Thanks!” I ate until I was stuffed. Then, I yawned. Neema had fallen asleep on Gary and drooled on his shoulder.
“We’ll clean up. You can go to sleep,” Rozz said.
Gary escorted me to my room, carefully put Neema in her bed, covered her up, and closed my door. Snuggling under the furs, I turned off the light and joined her in dream land.
I awoke to deep loud snores. Realizing that a bathroom break was a must, I carefully crawled off the bottom of the bed and felt my way to the door. The wooden beam was across it. As I began to try to lift it in the total darkness, large strong hands brushed across mine, lifted it for me, and opened the door. Even though he couldn’t see it, I smiled at Yukihyo anyway. He gave me his arm and guided me to the restroom. When Yukihyo turned on the light, I rushed into a stall. Sleeping through the night without a bathroom break made me grateful he had helped me with the door.
“Aww, that’s better. Niklos, you need to move to a different spot for mommy,” I said to my stomach. “How did your hunting trip go?”
Yukihyo turned on the water in the sink for me. I washed my hands in the cold water and used some to rinse my face and wipe the sleep from my eyes.
“We took down three large males who were attempting to take over our territories. Ice bear numbers have become dangerously high. The Sidero clan joined our hunt. They offered to make rugs for us of the hides in exchange for the meat of one of the ice bears.”
I thought of how nicely the rugs would look in our room in our house on Ephors. Yukihyo kissed me and pulled me against his chest. “I’m glad you are home. Isidora broke Zam’s nose while you were gone.”
Chuckling, Yukihyo said, “He may have been safer hunting with us.” I nodded at his wisdom.
Yukihyo picked me up and carried me to the kitchen. Rafe, one of the Militia soldiers, held the doors open for us along the way. Zam was in the dining room building up the fires. Yukihyo sat me down on a bench. Then, he grabbed a fur from the living room and returned to wrap it around my shoulders.
“You couldn’t sleep?” I asked Zam as Yukihyo handed me a glass of milk.
“My nose woke me up.”
I frowned at the milk but drank it.
“You are supposed to duck when someone aims a fist at your face,” Yukihyo informed him.
“She had me distracted.”
I remembered that Isidora had punched him in the bathing chamber. “He was looking at her chest. He should be glad Simon didn’t punch him.”
“Yes, your cousin has considerable strength.”
“Speaking of strength, how about some real coffee? I drank the weird milk.” I made a face and stuck my tongue out. “I even had some last night.”
“It’s goat’s milk,” Yukihyo told me.
“I don’t like it. Is it still snowing outside? Is it really deep?”
“The snow has stopped falling. The Sidero clan, who cares for our property in our absence, are plowing a path to our ships today. It is time we return to the land port. We may leave before nightfall. I have enjoyed returning here. It is something I thought I would never again do. Now, you know where yet another of your homes is located.”
While I sipped my coffee, Traviz, Izaac, Rozz, and Gary joined us. Then, Phillip wandered in and said, “I could hear Nico snoring through the door.”
“That’s what woke me.”
“He had a great deal of fun. Ice bear is prey worthy of General Cassian,” Yukihyo said.
The younger men exchanged looks among themselves. Then, Traviz asked, “Princess Teagan, when you return to your ship, what will become of us?”
I thought for a moment. They wouldn’t fit in the fighter ships. “Well, how did you get here?”
Zam said, “We have a ship at the land port, but arrived in the vicinity using guided escape pods with disabled tracking systems so as not to be detected by the warships.”
Yukihyo placed a steak in front of me along with a bowl of pineapple chunks. The steak had a few char lines on it and was perfect. For a moment, I forgot about Zam. “Well, I guess you’ll be riding with us on Tora, but we’ll need to double check with Captain Lee.” A thought occurred to me. I would have four new people with whom to play vid-games. I was sure that Kaoti would be pleased. Izaac smiled at me. “Kaoti always wins,” I told him and finished my breakfast.
“What are your plans once we return to the land port,” Yukihyo asked.
“We would like to follow the Lady Teagan,” Traviz answered.
“Where do you travel next?” Rozz asked me. I shrugged and looked to Yukihyo.
“My lady wife will see the moons of Sinope. Then, she will visit Carmanor. If all goes well, her Papa has arranged for her to enjoy a brief visit to Arachne before returning to Parvac.”
My eyes welled up and spilled over. “We get to go home? Really? Oh, Yukihyo. We’ll get to see the baby! Can we visit our land?” Yukihyo sat beside me and held me until my happy tears had subsided.
“Yes, my love. I must beg of you one favor.”
“Anything, but what is it?”
Yukihyo gave m
e a huge grin. “Allow me to buy you everything you want from the third floor of the indoor market on Arachne.”
Puzzled, since he always bought me everything I wanted, I said, “No problem.”
Phillip laughed. “Are you gonna take a picture of his face when he meets husband number three?”
My face turned red. “Yukihyo.” He grinned and kissed my nose. Phillip poured himself some more coffee.
Later that day, the Galateas paid us a visit. Yukihyo promised to deliver the gifts and vid-messages to his mother, Adini, and Galina. The Lady Galatea had brought gifts for all nine children and my mother and sisters-in-law. Lady Galatea was having tea with Isidora, Neema, and me when Yukihyo entered with Lady Sidero on his arm. I stood and welcomed her. Lady Sidero was the opposite of the tough, straight-forward, and fierce Lady Galatea. Lady Sidero was very old, but still wiry and strong despite her frail appearance. Her hair was solid white to match her eyes. She sat, and I poured her tea.
“You wonder why with the two of us so close to the Ponidi lands we did not take Ruyo into our families when we learned of his survival. The reason was that young Ruyo, blinded by pain and tortured by rage, refused to return to these lands or even our world,” Lady Sidero explained. I sighed knowing what she said was true. “Lord Ponidi, pitied by fate, was shown to you, an anchor of the Pariea.”
Yukihyo, Isidora, and Lady Galatea looked stunned by her words as did Quaid. “What’s that?” I asked. From the reactions in the room, I wondered if I had just been insulted in a polite way.
Lady Sidero gave a raspy laugh. “Pariea are the all-seeing ancient ones from long ago before we travelled the stars. They saw the heart and mind as clearly as we see these cups on the table. Traces of them live on in a few.” Lady Sidero turned her wizened gaze to Izaac and Zam. “You may have shaded eyes and a shrouded heart, but you draw them to yourself as a stone absorbs solar energy and give them back the warmth when they are close to you. For frozen men, you give hope for survival. Your eyes puzzle me. Never have I heard it told of a sustainer with colored eyes.”
“Why do you think all of this? The only Laconian blood that I have comes to me from my grandmother, Ettie Montgomery.”
The Parvac Emperor's Daughter (The Space Merchants Book 3) Page 31