Part Two: Lord Prince
Chapter 35
As his consciousness returned slowly, Taeron became aware of voices that at first sounded as if they were far away, but he realized that they were very close. As he became more awake, he recognized Lady Arora speaking, but never in all the years he had lived with the imperial family, had he heard this terse edge in her voice. Her soft, placid voice usually served to calm and comfort her husband and children. Now her anger distressed Taeron.
"... and without so much as consulting me!"
"Since when is the emperor required to consult with his female on the actions he makes for the good of Calabria?" Taeron could not believe he was hearing the emperor speak so furiously to his beloved wife.
A moment of silence followed his question, silence that stretched until Taeron wondered if they had left. He was uncomfortable now that he had come fully awake on the sofa that was too small for him, and he was even more uncomfortable to be listening to a private conversation – no quarrel – between the emperor and his wife.
Then Arora answered him, her tone low and ominous. "I am hoping I did not hear you correctly."
More silence. Taeron did not even dare swallow because he feared they would hear him gulping and he did not want to interrupt them. He was no stranger to arguments between mates. Although his father was not married to his mother, he had heard them arguing often enough to believe that it was a normal part of male-female interaction. Lord Duo openly squabbled with his dear wife Trynity, but Taeron had never heard the emperor speak to his wife in any but the most loving manner.
"You heard me correctly, woman. I can make decisions on my own, especially a decision of this nature."
Taeron did not recognize this overbearing male. He hoped Lady Arora did not still carry her imperial sword.
"You locked me in here as if I were a prisoner!" That explained why she had not been with the emperor to receive them.
"You were not locked in," he scoffed.
"There was a guard at the door and he would not let me leave!" Her fury made Taeron squirm.
"That was for your own protection!"
"Since when do I need a guard to protect me?" Now she sounded affronted as well she should, since Lady Arora was still considered one of the finest warriors of Calabria. "And from what were you protecting me?" When he did not answer she made an enraged sound. "And when you had me trapped in here, you threw our son out as if he were rubbish! How could you refuse to listen to him, to accept him back?" Taeron realized that she had not been as accepting of her husband's decision as she had seemed.
"To accept him would mean I must accept Quynn, and that I could not do, not after what she did to Amyr. Amyr made it quite clear that he chose her above me." Taeron heard a clatter and he peered around the edge of the sofa to see that the emperor had dropped Amyr's sword at his wife's feet. He ducked back before they could see him, but not before he saw the dismay on Arora's face.
Then she made a sound of exasperation and Taeron cringed. He did not know how the emperor had the audacity to speak to his mate as he did and not expect a woman like Lady Arora to retaliate. "He loves her and has made a child with her. What did you expect him to do after you gave him such an ultimatum?"
"He has only her word that the child is his! Amyr was not with her to claim that child. By the gods, woman! There is no possible way for him to be that boy's father!"
"Why did you not ask me?" she demanded furiously.
"Staefyn told me that Amyr was alive and that he was returning with the child Quynn claimed was his. He said that you would lie to protect Amyr. He was right! You are protecting Amyr without even knowing the facts."
Taeron grew hot with fury to hear that Staefyn had the temerity to sow dissension between his own parents. Why should that surprise him? Staefyn had meant to kill Amyr, engineered Lord Duo's disgrace and was plotting to murder his father. The bastard must be patting himself on the back for having the power to make Trey doubt his loyal wife.
"My own son said that of me and you listened?" Arora was rightfully indignant. "What else did he tell you? Did he convince you that Amyr is not your son, that I have lied to protect him all his life? Has he questioned the circumstances of Shamara's birth? Perhaps I have played you for a fool all these years and only now Staefyn has convinced you of it."
The emperor made a sound of disgust. "I know the truth." He did not deny Arora's accusation about Staefyn. How could Trey listen to that bastard's lies and not see through him?
"Do you? You were not there when Shamara was born. I delivered her into Apolo's hands. For all you know, he is her father! Or perhaps I did act as Dilan's concubine in the years we were parted as many have claimed."
"Do not even say such things!" he roared with anger. "Do you think it pleases me to hear them question the paternity of my children? How can you not know how enraged it makes me to hear them slander you? There are days when I want to go out there and cut off all their heads!"
"Yet you have used Quynn as the excuse you need to appease the imperial nobility," continued Arora. "Those disgusting wastrels live on the bounty of your rule while reviling you behind your back because of your human heart, the Guerani Wasteland whore you have taken as a wife and the son they call a bastard."
Something crashed and Taeron raised up quickly to look over the back of the sofa because he feared for Lady Arora, but he saw that Trey had thrown an elegant vase against the wall. Since they did not see him, he ducked back down, his heart racing with indecision. They would be embarrassed to realize he was listening, and yet he had never heard them discuss their feelings about the imperial nobility.
"Does that make you feel better?" goaded Arora. "I only wish breaking the pottery can ease the ache in my heart after what you did without even telling me your plans, after hearing you say that my own son has questioned my loyalty to you and your house and you did not defend me, but in fact, chose to believe him and imprisoned me here under the guise of protecting me."
He did not respond to her, and she continued. "But I am only the mother of your children, a female of your house, so I should expect no more of you. What shocks me even more is what you have done to Duo. He gave you his oath and he has proven again and again that he is willing to lay down his life for you, and yet you have, this day, accused him of a terrible crime against you. What has Staefyn told you to convince you of his guilt? What do you expect Duo to do now? How could you take Taeron from his house? Did your crown prince suggest that Duo will gather the clans on Ulfynaeus that already hate you because of me and lead them here to regain his honor and his son?"
"If he does not, you can be thankful that he is human and not Calabrian because without him to lead the imperials, imperials that may feel more loyalty to him than you, you would stand no chance against him. The warriors will follow Taeron and you cannot believe that he would ever raise his sword against his own father."
"I am his father now!"
"Your imperial customs are stupid!" she shouted at him. "Just because you were with Larya when he was born does not make you his father. I am quite sure you know what does." She fell silent for a moment and then said, "How do I know that was not planned? After all these years, is there something you want to tell me? Is this your way of confessing to betraying me with the white-haired harpy?"
Trey made a choking noise and Taeron was shocked that she could even suggest such a thing. "You have lost your mind! Larya and me?"
"I am perfectly lucid while I suspect you have eaten one too many under cooked sandslugs if you can believe those sycophants at court will not draw the same conclusion that I just accused you of. Do you think I will stay here and suffer their ridicule after all I have had to endure?"
"I did not lay with Larya," he stressed.
Taeron heard her footsteps away from the emperor. "I am taking the children to the moon and we will stay with Apolo until you have come to your senses."
"Please, Arora, do not leave! I need you." The desperation in Trey's voice made Taeron's heart ache in sympathy. It was how he felt when Mordrad had taken Sharisse – Dijana - from him.
"I am sorry, Trey, but I cannot stay here and watch you be manipulated. You did not listen to Amyr, you would not even hear Duo and you have allowed our son to accuse me of dishonesty. Maybe Apolo can convince me to forgive you, but at this moment, I do not think I ever can."
Taeron could not remain silent any longer. He dragged himself up and while Trey was surprised to see him, Arora must have known he was conscious because she merely raised a brow as if to ask him what had taken him so long to show himself.
"You cannot go to the moon!" His voice was hoarse from the medicine she had given him.
Trey put his hands on his hips and glared at him. "This is none of your concern."
Taeron straightened and met the emperor's gaze. "You took me into your house, and as a male of your house, I respectfully forbid Lady Arora from going to the moon."
"Do you suspect me of some foul plans, lord prince Taeron?" she asked with a curl to her lip.
"Never! But I do not trust Staefyn and I believe he may have anticipated your reaction." He looked at Trey. "You did not allow my father to explain all that Staefyn has done, how long he has been planning this rebellion."
"Staefyn? Staefyn does not have a rebellious bone in his body!" scoffed Trey.
Arora put her hand on her husband's arm and Taeron hoped her touch would make him amenable to reason. "I think we should hear what Taeron has to say, what Duo would have said had you given him the trust he has earned as your bonded imperial guard."
Taking a deep breath, Taeron began his story with the day of Amyr and Quynn's oath ceremony and ending with Staefyn's threatening call to Quynn on the night of their return to Ulfynaeus. He told them everything they suspected Staefyn of doing, how he had befriended the notorious Warlord Kai and probably aided in the Varoonyan assault on Teralon and might be sheltering him in the Guerani Palace now.
When he had finished, Trey was frowning. "Do you expect me to believe any of that?"
Arora frowned at her husband. "Staefyn did not give you a good reason for leaving Varoonya and returning to Calabria. You did not even question his excuse that he wanted to tell Duo in person that Taeron's ship had experienced difficulties and was lost beyond the frontier."
Trey did not respond so Taeron guessed he was feeling foolish to be deceived by his son.
"Stryfe has diligently recorded all the details," Taeron told him. "After he has read the official account, you can judge whether I am right or wrong. We had hoped that we could keep Amyr's presence a secret, but Staefyn already knew."
"I am angry that Staefyn would accuse me of lying to my husband, but he is a male and males band together against females," said Arora with a resentful glance at her husband. She looked back to Taeron. "Staefyn had much to lose with Amyr's return, but it is difficult to believe that he would plan an insurrection." She shook her head. "And you tell me he has my powers? I have never felt it in him, but I sensed Amyr and his son the moment they arrived on Calabria."
"Yori." The emperor grunted. "That is the child's name? You say that he was conceived during a trance that Staefyn initiated? How do you know that Staefyn is not the boy's father?"
"I heard both Amyr's and Quynn's accounts of what they believed was a dream when they told Stryfe, and they were identical. Staefyn was not a part of it." said Taeron. "He tricked Amyr into bonding to Quynn, and then he dragged him into the trance where he intended for him to die suffering in his separation from his bonded female."
"That would have been a terrible death." Trey glanced at his wife. "Even though Dax had tried to strip me of the bond, when you found me on Earth it came back, and after we had been together, the pain of your loss made me wish for death." He did not speak for a moment and Taeron saw the tears in his mate's eyes. Taeron certainly understood the despair as well as the physical pain that only Lady Trynity's medicine could keep at bay. He suspected that Lady Arora had a supply on hand for her husband's use because his duties frequently took him from her side as she remained at the palace.
"Why do you forbid my wife from going to the moon? What do you expect will happen?"
His suspicions were awful, but he needed to tell them in order to keep Lady Arora safe. "Staefyn will send the Varoonyan gliders after the imperial shuttle. By destroying it, he will weaken you and remove obstacles to his challenge to your reign." He glanced at Arora whose hand had gone to her heart in shock. "I am sorry, my lady, but I believe Staefyn has lost his mind."
Trey stared at him speechlessly, but when tears began to roll down Arora's cheeks, he drew her to him with trembling arms and held her close as she wept. When he met Taeron's gaze over her head, he saw tears glistening in the emperor's eyes as well. "How can I believe that of my own son?"
Taeron was incredulous that Trey clung so tenaciously to the belief that Staefyn might still be innocent. "You have taken me into your house," he reminded them again. "Allow me to handle this matter."
Trey was reluctant, but Arora convinced him to trust Taeron. He was not sure if Arora believed him completely either, but Taeron was confident that he could trick Staefyn into proving his guilt. Following Taeron's instructions, Arora stayed in their private apartments to prepare for her trip to the moon in only two day's time. Trey called Stryfe to him and they listened together to the official account of what had happened after Taeron left to meet with Princess Dijana which included the information that Stryfe had gotten from Amyr about what had happened to him.
That afternoon Trey announced to his court that he had taken Taeron into his house, and the nobility was predictable in spreading their malicious lies and gossip concerning the emperor and Larya. The following day Taeron took over some of the duties of an imperial prince, explaining that there was some discord between the emperor and his wife. News that Arora was furious with her mate spread like a wildfire through the court, and with Taeron now addressed as 'lord prince', few were either surprised or dismayed by the announcement that she was heading to the moon. There was even speculation that she might be taking her sword to rid herself of a rival, and when Taeron told her, Arora thought it amusing.
In preparing for her trip, Taeron was glad that Keldar and Danlaer had not returned to the moon with his father because he trusted them. They had been busy preparing the half dozen hyperspace craft for the trip to Teralon when he took them aside so that they could not be overheard. He asked them to outfit the emperor's shuttle for autopilot control and to plot a course for the first moon. They had already heard that gracious Lady Arora was angry at her husband, and since they had come to admire Amyr during their training sessions in the trance after leaving Norvana, both men volunteered to pilot the shuttle that would take her away from her intractable husband. Taeron trusted them with the truth, and since they had been innocent victims of Staefyn's perfidy, they agreed enthusiastically to follow his plans to expose him.
The day that Arora was scheduled to leave, the emperor escorted her to the space port along with their three children, two daughters in varying ages every bit as beautiful as their mother and older sisters, and their youngest child, a son who was younger than Yori and who sucked on a finger obliviously as his father kissed him in farewell. The shuttle was positioned so that when Arora boarded on one side with her family, they could exit through the cargo bay without being seen on the other and they were led into one of the hyperspace crafts nearby where they would hide.
Taeron stood with the emperor and watched as the shuttle took off, guided remotely by Danlaer from inside the hyperspace craft.
Watching the empty shuttle grow smaller and smaller, the emperor remarked, "You are wrong, Taeron, and Apolo will laugh when the shuttle arrives empty."
The shuttle disappeared into the atmosphere, but only moments later an explosion rivaling the light of the second sun brightened the sky. Trey stumbled back in shock, grasping Taeron for support, knowing that his faith in Staefyn would have meant the death of his wife and children if Taeron had not been there to protect them.
Almost immediately after the explosion, the hyperspace craft roared to life, and Trey spun to watch as it shot into the air to quickly clear the atmosphere. "Where are they going?"he demanded, seizing Taeron's shoulders. "Have you betrayed me?"
Taeron did not take offense to his accusation when he knew that Trey was in shock, but he had chosen not to tell him of his plans regarding Lady Arora because he feared he might let them slip and Staefyn would learn of them.
"Danlaer and Keldar are taking them to Bayman. The debris from the explosion should mask their escape from any sensor sweep from Guerani Palace."
"By the gods, Taeron, you should have told me!" Then Trey ruefully shook his head. "No, you were right not to tell me. Did my wife know?"
"We planned it together. There was the possibility that Staefyn would detect the second craft, so I did not want her to go without knowing the risk. We knew that you would forbid it, but I do not believe she is safe on Calabria now."
The ship had been gone long enough to prove that Taeron's guess about the sensors was correct because there was no explosion. He did not fear any gliders at the pirate satelite because the ship would travel through hyperspace to reach Bayman. The Varoonyan crafts would not be able to catch it even if they were warned of its escape from the surface. Fortunately Bayman was close enough to Calabria in its rotation around the second sun to be only a few days away, so they would not have to travel long.
Although wracked with guilt and horrified by his son's actions, Trey had a role to play and if he could not play it well because of his relief that they yet lived, given his decision to take Taeron into his house and the strained relations with his bonded mate, his inappropriate lack of grief was attributed to a more sinister cause. He delegated the running of his government to Taeron while he retired to the privacy of his chambers to mourn, but the damage had already been done. Many believed that the son of Zeno had murdered his own wife and children.
Trey did not speak of the rumors, and while Taeron did not speak of the calumny, Stryfe kept him informed of what the imperials said while he was closed away. Rather than vent his anger on the imperials, he became focused on capturing Staefyn.
"When he comes to honor the memory of his mother and siblings, we will take him into custody," Trey said the evening before the ceremony. "With communications out, there is no way to tell Apolo what has happened, but I trust he can sense that she is alive and well."
"Staefyn may sense her as well ," suggested Stryfe.
"She told me that she would mask her powers, as Staefyn has done for who knows how many years." He shook his head ruefully. "Knowing about his powers has made me question everything he has ever said and done. Has he become Dax?"
Taeron's instinct to deny such a thing died with a sharp pain in his head. When Trey saw him wince he suggested that he had been working too hard, that between the separation from his mate and all the mind-numbing duties at the imperial court, he was not getting enough rest. The explanation was reasonable, but Taeron had a fleeting thought that something else was to blame.
There were no bodies to burn in the funereal rite, and after the brief ceremony before the court announcing the passing of his family, Trey retired with the only other person of his house on the surface, Taeron. By tradition, this was the time that the family would share stories to celebrate the life of the person who had gone to be with the gods. Instead, Trey paced like a caged lion, outraged that Staefyn had not once responded to the messages he had sent to Guerani Palace about what had happened. His absence from the ceremony did not go unnoticed by the imperials who openly speculated that the crown prince was proving the contempt he felt either for the Guerani whore who had given him life or the sire who would murder her. Taeron wondered if Staefyn had a hand in spreading the rumors of his father's guilt in her death.
The evening after the memorial, Stryfe had come to share a meal with them and related all that he had been able to learn in speaking to various imperials of the court. There were many who had never approved of Arora because she had been set in the Wasteland by her father where she should have died. Those same nobles would have been as happier had Trey done the same to Shamara. Taeron wondered how many generations would pass before those people would accept the changes he had made on Calabria.
Before the end of the meal, the communication system indicated an incoming call and when Trey pressed the button to answer it, Staefyn's holographic image appeared before his father.
"I beg your forgiveness, father, for not coming to mother's memorial." He seemed contrite and sincere, but since Taeron knew the truth, he was appalled by his audacity and wondered how Trey could keep his temper in check.
Trey stared at him silently for a moment and then said, "I am sure that you have a good reason."
"Several days ago the rebels knew that I would be leaving, so when the gates opened, they attacked and I barely escaped with my life."
"Is that so?" Trey folded his arms over his chest. "Did you manage to kill any? Have you finally blooded your sword on the traitors?"
Staefyn shifted as he stared at his father as if he were considering what he could say next to cajole him, and then he pressed his lips together and dropped the act of penitent son, reverting to the self-assured bastard that he had shown Quynn and Taeron, "Perhaps if I carried the sword of the crown prince, I might have, but you have not sent it to the palace."
Trey snorted derisively. "Did you want me to strap it to the back of a pack horse to send it up to your palace?"
"You had it strapped to the back of an ass for many years father."
Taeron burned with fury at his disrespect for Amyr, but Trey did not respond to the insult. "I am more interested to hear what you have to say about the shuttle explosion that killed your mother, your sisters and your young brother."
"Maybe you should ask Lord Duo about that," suggested Staefyn. At least he was smart enough not to accuse his own father.
Trey rubbed his hand over his face and then glared at the holographic image. "And maybe you would be able to tell me how Lord Duo could have known about your mother's trip to the moon when communications have not been restored at Edgeland Fortress."
Staefyn put his hand to his chin for a moment before giving an alternative theory. "Did he not send a shipment of healing herbs to the surface? They must have returned to the moon with the news."
"The cargo ship did not return to the moon until after the shuttle explosion," Trey told him. "You will have to do better than that if you have any hope of my believing you."
His son threw up his hands. "I am all out of excuses, father. I guess I will have to take credit for what you have done."
"You lying bastard!" Now Trey was outraged that his son would accuse him to his face of arranging the death of his beloved wife and children.
"Really, father? I seem to be the only one who is not a bastard and yet you have passed me over repeatedly, first for Amyr who is not even your son and now you have taken that gods-cursed bastard Taeron into your house."
"Did you really hate your mother so much that you wanted her dead?"
"Dead, father? Do you really think I could be so easily fooled? She is a difficult female to be rid of. Dax put her in the Wasteland where she should have stayed, but she crawled out of there to shame her own house. Do you think I feel honor to be her son?"
Trey was struck speechless by the venom in his son's voice. Taeron expected it, so he crossed the room to join the emperor. "You have no honor, Staefyn of no man's house."
Staefyn snorted derisively at him. "Which is worse, Taeron? Belonging to no house or belonging to three because your mother is a whore who could not even know who sired her bastard? I knew the day would come when my father owned his betrayal of my mother and their bond, but it matters not because I am the crown prince. I will not let you stand between me and what is mine by right of birth."
His bravado almost made Taeron laugh. "You can try to get past me, sorcerer, but we both know the outcome of that combat. And I will never allow you to raise your sword to your father."
There was suddenly surprise on Staefyn's face and Taeron was aware that Trey was staring at him instead of his son. Taeron had no way of knowing what they saw, but he could hear Stryfe chuckling so he guessed the golden light they claimed emanated from him was now doing so.
"You call me a sorcerer?" Staefyn was sputtering, but he said no more as the communication ended when it looked as if he had more to say.
Taeron looked at Trey and ignored his wide-eyed stare. "Someone was with him and prevented him from speaking."
The emperor did not respond except to reach out and touch Taeron. "I was told of this, but I did not see it that day at Edgeland Fortress. What is this?"
Stryfe crossed the room and he announced proudly, "Taeron is a holy paladin."
"Oh!" Trey clapped his hands together. "I am dreaming! I thought perhaps this was real, but fire sorceresses, holy paladins, zombie warriors, Duo turning against me, my wife murdered by my son … these all have the makings of a virtual game dream. Am I going to wake up to find Heero Yuy finishing his game?"
Taeron raised a brow. "Have you gone mad, my lord?"
Trey sighed and put an arm around him. "I went mad a few days ago when I threw my son out on his backside without even looking at my grandson. But I don't regret taking you into my house despite what Staefyn says. You belong to three houses because we are all so very proud of you, Taeron."
"I love my father," Taeron told him. "Do not ask me to give up the honor of belonging to his house."
"I regret my rash decision," Trey told him with a rueful smile. "But I have need of you now and will not rescind my decree. Lord Prince Taeron, I need you to prepare the defense of the imperial city before taking your men to fulfill the terms of the treaty with Teralon. Get Queen Neria off Calabria before she offends every imperial at court."
Stryfe snorted with laughter. "She is off to a great start since more than half the imperials avoid her presence. I am surprised she wants a Calabrian warlord as a mate for her daughter when she views all Calabrians as bloodthirsty savages."
"If she can clear a room of those jackasses with her mere presence then she is worth keeping around," muttered Trey.
While Queen Neria was sympathetic to what was happening on Calabria, she did not hide her annoyance that Taeron's trip to Teralon was delayed by the tragedy that had befallen the emperor. She was mollified by his promise to leave a few days after the memorial service for the imperial family. Despite his ambivalence towards the woman that had lied to him, Taeron wanted to claim his bride as soon as possible, but he was not going to ignore his obligations on Calabria.
"I have already gathered enough men to insure a speedy victory on Teralon," Taeron told Trey. "We don't need to be bothered by Queen Neria for much longer."
"We won't," chuckled Stryfe with a wink at Taeron who was aggrieved to realize he would never be free of the arrogant female.
Trey smiled at Taeron. "I am assuming that you no longer have an objection to Princess Dijana, given that you have bonded and mated with her," He looked at Taeron's brother. "How did you put it in the official account, scribe?"
Stryfe stepped forward with a scroll which he unrolled. "Repeatedly and with much enthusiasm from sunup to sundown and the hours in between for several days."
Taeron felt his face grow hot.
Trey chuckled at his discomfiture. "I understand completely how you feel. Now I believe you and I have some medicine to take. Stryfe, call that female I saw you flirting with earlier and tell her to serve us some tea. I could use a few cups after that confrontation."
Stryfe scratched his head and then said, "I won't be able to do that. She asked me to tell you that there is no more tea to be had in the imperial city."
"No tea!" exclaimed Trey in disbelieving outrage.
Stryfe exchanged a look with Taeron and then told him, "I guess that is my father's response to your mistrust."
Trey threw himself down on the sofa. "I would rather take a sword to my gut than face my court without that tea calming them and me. That prick!" Then he shook his head and laughed. "I will have to grovel to Duo Maxwell for his forgiveness this time."
Taeron thought of the times Amyr had done so and remarked, "The imperial house of Trey does that very well. Very well indeed."