“Mommy!” Neema said. I turned my head to smile at her. She began a quick crawl straight for me. I laughed and clapped.
“That’s my girl! Look at you! Wow, Neema!”
Neema paused at the couch, and figuring out how to crawl around it, she made it to Quaid’s feet. Neema got distracted by his toes. We had all removed our shoes in order to enjoy the feeling of the luxurious carpet. Neema grabbed at the blonde hairs on Quaid’s big toe. “Yah!” Quaid grimaced, but forced himself not to move afraid he might hurt her.
“Neema, let go and come to Mommy.” I held my hands down for her. She yelled, smiled, and crawled to me. As soon as she was up in my lap, she decided that she was hungry. “How’s your toe?”
“That stung a bit. It’s amazing how a baby can hurt more than a fight with battle hardened soldiers.”
“Tell me about it.” I moved my feet back and forth over the carpet.
“Would you like your bedroom floor in the palace covered in this?” Yukihyo asked.
“Yes! How nice would this be for our babies to crawl all over? Do you think it would be okay with Papa?”
Nico chuckled and said, “Your father will never tell you the word no, nor will he pass up an opportunity to please you.”
The skin of Quaid’s big toe was red. “Nico, I’ve only known Papa to be sweet, kind, and generous. When you blew up that moon, it got me thinking. What don’t I know about his temper?”
Dark brown eyes turned to me. Nico clasped his hands before him resting his elbows on his knees. “If your father were weak, he wouldn’t be our Emperor. He’s the most powerful man in the known universes. He has eyes and ears everywhere. I had to plead with him to spare Arlo Dano’s home world of Aurilius. Destroying that moon was a compromise. He realized after quite a bit of arguing, that destroying billions of lives in a fit of rage would be excessive. I told him how much such actions would distress you, might even destroy you. He was angry Arlo Dano escaped our justice with a quick death.”
Chills had raised on my arms. “Thank you for talking him down. Innocent people should never be punished in place of the guilty.” I smoothed Neema’s hair with my hand.
“We should have done a better job of protecting you,” Quaid said.
“Impossible. We all know what they can do. They were able to take me off of the Hadrian’s transport deck. Are there any other threats to us comparable to the one they posed?”
Nico grew thoughtful. “No, not known to us.” He looked at Quaid.
Shaking his head, Quaid said, “No.” His skin continued to look nice and tan. The sun I had gotten on Epopeus had already faded, and my legs looked like pastry dough.
“Ha, ha, ha, ha!” Yukihyo took Neema from me, burped her, and said, “Go sit in a recliner on the balcony. Your daughter and I will bring you your coffee there.”
Quaid helped me up. “I can go out there in pajamas?”
“Yes, it is private here.”
As we walked toward the door, each of my steps was rewarded with the soft feel of the dark blue carpet against my arches. I felt happiness from Yukihyo. He was thrilled to have pleased me with his surprise. He was ecstatic that I had bound us together. He had been afraid that I would grow to care more for Nico or Quaid than I did for him. Shocked, I stopped walking. “Never! Without you….” I struggled to find the words. I looked through the wall and out to the sky. I saw brightly colored birds of red and green soaring through the air. “Without you, I’d be a bird with a shattered wing, unable to do more than watch from an earthly cage as others flew where I’d never again be able to go. Without the ability to glide through sky, a bird would never feel freedom and bliss. You are my wings, Yukihyo. If you begin to forget, I will remind you.”
Quaid and I continued out to the balcony where he helped me to sit in the first recliner to the left of the door. I could hear Pierce speaking to Kaoti in the yard below, but I didn’t bother peeking over at them. Quaid kissed me.
“You are a beautiful woman.”
I leaned my head back against the seat. “I’m nothing special compared to the women who throw themselves at you on Epopeus.”
Quaid ran his fingers from my shoulder down to my hand sending thin ribbons of delicate pleasure along my skin as he did. Rubbing his fingers over mine, he said, “They are like meteors. They draw our attention as does the meteor’s path of shooting flame across the night sky, but like the meteor, soon they fall to the surface, and their sparkle is gone. You are like a sun, constant, brilliant, and of sustaining warmth. As the planets need the sun to survive, so too do we need you.”
Yukihyo cleared his throat. He was annoyed with Quaid’s sweet talk. It made him jealous. “Lady wife, your coffee.”
“Thank you.” I wondered if it was real coffee, or if Nico had had Chef switch the other kind into the beverage dispenser. One disappointed sniff told me it was decaffeinated. I sighed but decided to take what I could get.
“Move, Quaid. She wants some sun on her legs. She can’t be brilliant on herself,” Yukihyo said snidely.
Quaid made a show of examining the sky. “What? Will she get a tan from the moons?”
“I’ll show you a moon,” Yukihyo threatened.
“You did a moment ago.”
I rolled my eyes and sipped my coffee. Yukihyo still held Neema. She was firmly in place against her daddy’s chest held there by his thickly muscled arm. I sighed in appreciation. Yukihyo’s expression changed from annoyed to flattered. He winked at me. Then, as he approached a wall control pad, he pressed a few buttons. From the roof, a panel extended above us. A soft light shone down accompanied by warmth. Walking back to us, Yukihyo pressed a button on my recliner.
“Oh, Yukihyo,” I gasped. Hundreds of invisible fingers rubbed my back through the recliner.
“Daddy daddy! Drop drop! Coco!” I saw images of Thunderdrop, Nico, and the blocks with which she had been playing earlier. Moments later, Thunderdrop crawled to my knee. He decided to bask in the artificial sunlight with me. “Drop drop Coco!” I opened an eye at Neema’s insistence.
“Thunderdrop, Neema wants to play blocks with you.”
“Chitter chitter chitter!” Thunderdrop showed me an image of a block coming straight at his cephalothorax and almost hitting him in three of his eyes.
“Oh, I see. I understand, and so does Quaid. What if we put the blocks away and give her a ball instead?”
Thunderdrop blinked at me. “Chirp.”
Having overheard, Pierce quickly removed the blocks from sight. Yukihyo carried Neema inside. Thunderdrop followed. Nico joined us on the balcony and stared out at the moons.
“Nico, are you okay?”
“Yes, of course.”
I didn’t believe him. “Quaid, could you give us a moment?”
Kissing my hand, Quaid met my eyes. “You tied Yukihyo to yourself. What of us?”
I looked from Quaid’s eyes to Nico’s and saw the same question mirrored there. “Do you love us as much as you love him? Can you bind us together? Do you want to?” Nico asked.
I could see his jaw working. I sat up and put my coffee down. I felt my eyes begin to fill. “I’ve hurt you. I didn’t mean to. Yes, I love you. I didn’t even know what I was doing. I just wanted to hold Yukihyo as closely as I could, and it happened. Do you want me to try to embrace you in the same way?”
Nico came to me with a desperate look that I had seen from him only once before. It had been on his second visit to see me at the palace on Parvac. Nico thought that he had angered me to the point that I would never forgive him. “Yes, I want that. I need you, Teagan.”
Nico’s jaw worked as he became more frustrated. I saw in his eyes the words he struggled to say. I held my hand out to him and did my best to sit cross-legged on the recliner so he would have room. “Oh, my!” I said with wide eyes.
Laughing, Quaid turned off the massage chair and moved toward the dining table on the right side of the balcony to sit in a chair. I patted the place evacuated by my legs, and Nico
sat. Worry wrinkled his brow, and fear was in my blonde giant’s eyes. It hurt me that I had put it there.
“Oh, Nico. Please don’t ever feel that you are not of equal importance to me.”
Even with his towering height, physical strength, and power over forty thousand men, General Nico Cassian was like an unanchored web fluttering helplessly against the wind without me. I reached for Nico’s hands and placed them over our child. I placed my hands to either side of his face and gently kissed his lips. He had given his entire life to the service of the Empire as had his father before him. All he wanted for himself was my love.
I searched within him for the fluttering strands of silk. When they stuck to my fingers, I gently pulled them to me and held them to my heart. Moving along the lines to Nico, no tug pulled at me from under my ribs as it had with Yukihyo. I searched. Nico wasn’t Laconian. He was Parvac. I had accepted that I was Parvac. I believed in Nico’s love for me and had accepted him as my husband. Remembering how happy and surprised he had been when I had placed my palm against the screen to seal our contract, I looked into his eyes. They were full of trust and devotion. I realized how much I needed him. Even though I had been aghast at the moon base’s destruction, I was also gratified that he had made such a spectacular display of eliminating what had become to me a symbolic representation of the loss of my free will. He had collaborated with my cousin to rid me of that nightmare. Nico’s brown eyes pulled at my soul. It reached to him. With my hands remaining on his face, I again pressed my lips to his. I pushed the warmth from within me into him wanting him to feel my gratitude, love, and acceptance.
“You don’t need to waste your time being afraid of losing me. You’re a part of me.”
I felt Nico’s anguish. Thoughts of losing my regard plagued him. Nico’s duty to the Empire had to come before his duty to me. However, often he considered us to be one and the same since I was the Emperor’s daughter and mother to the future emperor. He would do anything to safeguard us. Nico feared the actions he had taken and those he might be one day forced to take to protect us could drive me away from him. However, for my well-being, it was a risk he had prepared himself to take. He had realized it with my fighter ship which had ended up being inconsequential to his most recent concerns. The hard choices of life and death were the ones he didn’t believe I would be able to understand. Sending feelings of trust and acceptance to him, I tried to infuse his soul with my willingness to understand his position when we disagreed. I wasn’t an officer or even a soldier. He was. He took the difficult situations and handled them, so people like me wouldn’t be burdened by them. It wouldn’t be fair if I were to judge him for it.
Then, I felt it. The gentle tug and pull under my ribs drew Nico to me and wrapped around him. The unanchored strands of webbing were now firmly attached to me. The web was strong and taut. Everything Nico felt, I felt. His feelings for me were complex. Love, desire, reverence, pride, and a touch of annoyance were all rolled into one with traces of jealously. I let my hands fall from his face, leaned back, and tiredly rubbed my hands over my eyes. What had been effortless with Yukihyo had been a strain with Nico.
“He has no Laconian blood, only Parvac like your father. Here,” Quaid said as he placed a fresh cup of coffee into my hands.
Yukihyo watched from the open doorway. He leaned his back against the frame. I feared his reaction. Would he feel jealous? Risking a glance at his eyes, I was surprised to see his smile, and clear white eyes. I sensed pride from him. Nico stood, stretched my legs out before me, and took the recliner to my left. I took a sip of coffee pleased that it was the real kind and strong. Yukihyo came to me, kissed my forehead, and turned on the chair’s massage function. Sighing, I closed my eyes.
“You have learned to form a conscious bond. That is quite the accomplishment. Mother will be proud of you,” Yukihyo said.
“Why? She bound you, Phillip, and Nico together.”
“Yes, but her first attempt when she formed a tentative bond between Hiroshi and me on our first visit to Parvac was a strain for her. Hiroshi is not Laconian. She struggled less with Phillip and Nico. However, unlike you, mother has had years of practice and is a pure blood Enyo.”
“Enyo?” I asked much to Yukihyo’s surprise.
“Yes, I am Enyo. You are partially Enyo, and Neema is a little over half Enyo. Quaid is Eriopis.” At my obvious confusion, Yukihyo said, “It is what we call our races.”
Quaid said, “Our eyes, hair color, and abilities mark our only discernable differences. However, our races are incompatible from a reproductive standpoint. Marriages between Eriopis and Enyo rarely produce children with most pregnancies ending unsuccessfully.”
Understanding hit me. “That’s the problem he is trying to solve.”
“Who?” Nico asked.
“The scientist who created our new Ponidi brothers. Quaid, is there a record of an unsuccessful pregnancy between an Enyo and Eriopis couple from what, over twenty years ago? That’s how we find him and find out why I’m different.”
Quaid winked at me and gave me a half smile. “Eric’s investigators onboard the Hadrian have been pursuing that and other lines of reasoning.”
“Like what?”
“Financial records, medical research equipment sales, defunct weapons’ research, bioengineering projects, and every other link of which they can think.”
“Oh,” I said deflated.
“Teagan, you don’t need to worry about this. The Galaxic Militia is responsible for investigating illegal genetic manipulation.”
“Was something done to me?”
“If something was done to you, you will have to wait until we return home to find out,” Nico said. He didn’t want me to ask why or to argue. I decided to go along with him.
“Lady wife, you have not been genetically altered in any way. Phillip is certain of it. Our children are fine,” Yukihyo assured me. He turned the sun panel off, and it retracted. My arms looked a tad pink. My legs were still pale. “I did not arrange for us all to come here to worry. Tonight, we relax and enjoy the view. Tomorrow, we let Neema crawl on the lawn and splash in the lake.” My growing anxiety disappeared, and I laughed as joy bubbled up inside of me.
That evening we all enjoyed dinner together on the balcony. “Has anyone heard from Kane?” I asked.
Grinning, Quaid nodded his head. “Kane and his Arachnean twin, my Captain, are off chasing women. They don’t stand a chance.”
Frowning, I considered my handsome and dashing cousins who were both starship captains. Eric and Kane’s exciting careers would be enough to make them attractive to women seeking a little danger. However, Eric was tall, muscular, had beautiful pale blue eyes, black hair, and dimples, even one in his chin. He had made my heart flutter when we had first met. Kane was equally handsome with his dirty blonde hair, typical well-muscled physique of a Parvac soldier, height, and the same green and gold eyes as me. I pictured the two men side by side walking toward an unsuspecting woman. “Quaid, how can you say they don’t have a chance? My cousins are handsome, strong, and smart. They even have jobs.”
Quaid laughed. Yukihyo joined him. Nico shook his head at me and smiled. Quaid said, “The women don’t stand a chance, Teagan.”
“Oh, that makes more sense. They aren’t twins though.”
“Their personalities, goals, and pursuits are identical,” Yukihyo said.
“Oh.” I was feeling mentally feeble at the moment.
“You are tired from forming two bonds in one day. That is all,” Yukihyo said.
“Thank you for dinner. If you will excuse me, Princess Teagan, I will take Neema downstairs with me and put her to bed,” Pierce said.
Yukihyo had assured me that Neema and Thunderdrop would be fine sleeping in Pierce’s room, but I thought that it seemed far away. “Okay, but don’t hesitate to bring her to us at any time.” With Neema beginning to eat solid foods, she had been sleeping soundly through the night. I reminded myself.
“Simon wanted m
e to tell you that he and Isidora are employing the sales strategy you used on Aurilius. The struggling dress shops are eager for business. Simon has received orders for more gowns, dresses, and hunting gear. The families are pleased. Also, I informed Hiroshi that our dinner plans had changed,” Yukihyo said.
I rubbed my hands over Niklos. Then, I remembered the recliner that was a few steps away, got up from my seat at the table, and went to it. I pushed the button, laid back in the chair, and groaned in relief. Nico, Yukihyo, and Quaid helped Chef clear the table by placing our dishes in the cart that Chef had brought up. Sinope’s three moons were on the left side of the balcony now. The sky had grown dimmer, crickets chirped, and frogs croaked. I turned onto my left side to watch the moons as they began to disappear along with the sun Sinope shared with Arachne. The third moon vanished from sight and the sun went with it. I woke up as Nico was putting me in bed, and Quaid was covering me up.
“Hush, go back to sleep,” Nico whispered.
I turned onto my right side and snuggled against the soft pillow. When I woke up, I was alone, and it seemed like morning. I could feel Neema, Nico, and Yukihyo somewhere on the first level. Lumbering up out of bed, I made my way into the restroom. I heard a knock just as I dried my hands. “Yes?”
“Mommy,” a sweet little voice said. I opened the door to Neema as she yawned and rubbed at her eyes. Then, she reached for me with a crinkle of sound from her diaper.
“Good morning, my sweet baby.”
We got back into bed. Yukihyo kissed me and went to the balcony with his vid-screen. He was relaxed and content. After having her needs seen to, Neema decided that she wanted to cuddle with me. We gave each other hugs and kisses.
“Coco!” Neema said as she sat up. I wasn’t the only one who was thoroughly amused by General Cassian’s new nickname. I couldn’t wait for Papa to hear it. Nico held a tray.
“Breakfast, woman?”
“Yes!” Carefully, I sat up so he could put it front of me. Neema laughed as she crawled over my knees to her Coco. Chef had made me a cheese omelet and a bowl of yogurt with sliced bananas mixed into it. Nico laid on his side on the floor and kissed the bottoms of Neema’s feet. For a while, she screamed and laughed. Then, she gave her attention to her blocks. I looked through the transparent walls to the right and enjoyed the moons while I ate. Chef came up and took my tray. I started thinking about the shower.
The Parvac Emperor's Daughter (The Space Merchants Book 3) Page 36