"So," Terra asked as she and Tamerlane walked slowly along the surfline side by side. Thus far, in their journey down the cliffside steps and across the beach to the shoreline, not a word had been uttered. When he had started walking along the waterline, it became more evident to Terra that tonight 'talk' was not code for kissing. She was beginning to think that Tamerlane actually wanted to talk.
"No games tonight," Tamerlane started simply enough as he looked over at Terra as they walked along. "Open and honest communication. Agreed?"
"I thought it was direct and forthcoming communication?" Terra teased lightly when he used her version instead his own. She knew to him there was a difference.
"Agreed," Terra replied when Tamerlane did not challenge her assertion.
"What are your plans for the future?" Tamerlane ignored her comment which was most likely meant to goad him.
"My plans for the future?" Terra's brow furrowed slightly. At the moment, she was content being on Arktos, living at the palace and taking courses at Kodiak University. In the future, she had no idea what she was going to do. At some point, she most likely needed to return to Elysium to run the shipping business. She glanced up at Tamerlane who seemed focused on the beach stretched out before them. "I am not certain."
"Can you envision a future here? On Arktos?" Tamerlane asked after a moment of silence.
"I could see myself here. I could work on my next level degrees in archeology and anthropology and take a job with the university or one of the museums. I could join one of the research teams excavating the planet," Terra considered her options carefully. "I could work on pursuing more education in business and pollical science and may go to work for the Nietzschean Empire like my mom. With her and Kindred here, I can see making Arktos my home. But I will always be tied to Elysium as long as my dad and the shipping business are there."
"What are your plans for the future?" Terra asked when she finished answering and he made no comment.
"Universal domination," Tamerlane replied with a faint smile. "And thousands of grandchildren."
"Would you settle for utter domination of all non-Commonwealth space?" Terra quipped lightly. At the rate he was making babies with his wives, if his children were as motivated, she had no doubt Tamerlane Anasazi would have thousands of grandchildren one day.
"Known space is so vast. There are huge areas just waiting to be absorbed into the Empire," Tamerlane sighed deeply as he looked down at Terra. "However, there are Commonwealth worlds for which the Nietzschean Empire is a far better fit. Those … those are open to the taking."
"What is the extent of your relationship with Bartolomew Carnige? Nathaniel Hunt? Maximillian Arnault?" Tamerlane posed the question in a softer, lighter tone. He only named the three Human male with whom he believed Terra had deeper relationship. He knew there were others but none of them important enough to have presented them publicly.
"As I have told you …" Terra began to tell him it was none of his business.
"It is my business," Tamerlane cut her off before she could tell him it was not.
"How is it any of your concern?" Terra stopped walking and crossed her arms over her chest. Tamerlane stopped a few steps away and remained standing with his back to her.
"Can you see a future with any of them?" Tamerlane asked before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly as he surveyed the area before him. As always, her intentions were never very clear to him. If he was going to find some way to bring Terra Hawkins into his life, he needed to be certain of her intentions.
"A future?" Terra's voice relayed her confusion with the question. "You mean like married with kids and all that?"
"Yes," Tamerlane replied as he started walking once more. "Like that."
"I haven't really thought about it," Terra said as she hurried to catch up to him. Just as she caught him, he turned to start back in the direction they had come from. She looked up at Tamerlane. "Ever since the whole thing with the Dragans on Sahure my life … I see it differently. I am not planning for a particular future. I am enjoying the life I have and look forward to seeing what the universe has to offer. Because I know … in the blink of an eye … it can be over. No one is guaranteed a tomorrow."
"So your relationships with them …" Tamerlane left the question hanging in the air as he started to walk again.
"Open and honest communication, right?" Terra asked as she looked out over the sea. The moonlight was playing off the water and was bright enough to illuminate the area around them.
"Yes," Tamerlane nodded without looking in her direction.
"I enjoy spending time with each of them for different reasons. Bart is funny in a goofy kind of way. Nate … Nate has always been a good time. Maximillian is more grown up I guess you might say. He is more cerebral and I find talking to him fascinating and intellectually challenging," Terra replied after some thought. "I find them all physically attractive. And not that it is any of your business … I enjoy the intimacy I share with them."
"How intimately do you know them?" Tamerlane posed the question as nonchalantly as he could.
"I have sex with them," Terra replied when her irritation with Tamerlane flared just a little. He couldn't just leave it alone. He had to make her actual tell him she was having sex with other men.
A light tingle ran through her spine when his fingertips teased over the back of her neck as they walked along the sand.
"Do any of them know the meanings of your tattoos?" Tamerlane asked while running his fingertip over the tattoo at the top of her neck.
"No," Terra's brow furrowed when she thought about the question. None of them had ever asked about her tattoos.
"Are any of them even aware you have tattoos?" Tamerlane asked as allowed his hand to drop down her spine and run his hand over the place where he knew she had another tattoo even though he could not see it at the moment.
"If they are, they have never mentioned them," Terra replied with a little tension in her voice.
"Perhaps they do not know you are intimately at all," Tamerlane offered before his hand dropped from her back. "Do you have a favorite?"
"A favorite what?" Terra let the irritation with the questioning be heard in her voice.
"A favorite amongst your many men?" Tamerlane asked as he looked ahead of them.
"Do you have a favorite amongst your wives? And paid entertainment?" Terra retorted as her temper flared just a little.
"I have told you before my relationships with my wives are varied and different. I do not have a favorite," Tamerlane shook his head as he glanced down at her. "Quite often I enjoy spending time the Margriet because she appreciates Human opera while the others prefer other artistic venues. The contracted females were all the same to me. However, if you must know … I am no longer using their services and have no intention of renewing the contracts."
"Because you have six wives who are all probably going to want to have babies soon so you'll be too busy and it's a waste of your credit," Terra replied flippantly.
"Are you going to answer my question?" Tamerlane posed a few steps later.
"A favorite?" Terra pursed her lips as she considered it. "Not really. They all have their good points and their bad. I do not have a favorite."
"Thank you," Tamerlane looked over his shoulder to where Terra had stopped walking a few steps behind him.
"You're welcome?" Terra replied as she hurried to catch up.
"Does it bother you that I have six wives?" Tamerlane asked as short time later when they got back to the area where the chaises were still on the beach but the umbrellas had been taken down. Instead of taking one of the chaises, Tamerlane led her to the cabana. "You bring them up often."
"I …" Terra frowned slightly as she stepped up on the platform. The curtains that might shield the occupants' privacy were tied back to the support posts. There was one oversized chaise in the middle of the small platform. "I know you have them. I know you will have more. I know your relationships with them are not what I think of as a relationship that would lead to marriage."
"Not long after your first arrived for Kindred's graduation, you told me that … when I had not just had sex with one of my wives, we could talk …" Tamerlane reminded her hesitantly as he sat down on the side of the bedlike chaise. It was closer to the size of the one Tamerlane had outside his private residence. Terra could only think it was more comfortable for a larger Nietzschean male. And more appropriate for the Nietzschean Emperor. "Will that always be your stance on the subject?"
"I am not sure what you mean?" Terra shrugged slightly as she stepped over into the V created by his legs.
"I am asking … if I were to breed with one of my wives … would you … refuse to spend time with me?" Tamerlane asked haltingly as his hands came to rest on her hips, pulling her closer to him.
"If you had not told me you had bred with Katarina and Isabella on the same night when you were married, I would not believe it would be possible for you to breed with one of your wives then spend time with me," Terra shook her head ever so slightly as she caressed his jaw. She looked away from him for a moment as her eyes looked out the front of the cabana at the surf breaking on the shore.
"I guess it would depend … you and I … when we have been together in the past … there would be expectations," Terra began haltingly. She wasn't really sure how to answer his question or why he was asking it. If she were being honest with herself and him, she really did not know how she would behave if he came to her one night after having bred with one of his wives. "If you had been with one of them our time together might be … lacking. I guess there are other ways for you and I to please one another … I don't know … it depends."
Terra looked back at him for a long moment.
"I guess the thing that … bothers me … is not really them or even the whole concept that you have sex with them to make children … but the time you spend with them," Terra continued after a long moment. "You and I … there is never time. Do you understand?"
"Between my work and my families, I have very little free time," Tamerlane began after a long moment. "It limits the opportunity for you and I to interact. I understand that. However, in the hours when I might be free, you spend a great deal of time with multiple men. That makes it even less likely that you and I find the opportunity to spend time together."
"So it bothers you that I spend time with other men," Terra remarked with a little sense of triumph.
"I am not jealous of any of the men with whom you spend time," Tamerlane shook his head before she could say it. "I do wish at times that I had the same … freedom … with you."
"I would never refuse you because of one of them," Terra murmured softly she leaned and pressed her lips to his. She caressed his jaw lightly. "And tonight, you have all the freedom in the universe."