By the time Kiza returned, Stinger and Gina were up, dressed and looking perfectly normal, he thought. That belief shattered when she took one look at the pair of them lounging in the kitchen and burst into spluttery giggles. Stinger shot her a sour look, but Gina merely smiled and sailed over to his daughter, giving her a hug.
"My princess," she murmured.
"Our queen," Kiza laughed, "FINALLY! Now the hive can shut up and let me study in peace!"
"Oh never mind me," Stinger snapped, feeling embarrassed and annoyed. "I'm just the drone 'round here."
"Daaaaaaad," Kiza slippped out of Gina's embrace and darted over to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "You're a consort now, and that's a huge stinking deal you know. By the addition of a fertile queen the hive's now eligible for Aegis protection through any harvests. You and Gina qualify to have it moved to any planet you choose, and best of all, any of your offspring are automatically Freeborn and not property of any Splicer!"
Stinger shot her a quick look. "How'd you learn all that?"
"You know I've been taking Holo-courses relayed from Orus for my galactic advocate training," Kiza replied. "I looked into hive rights first thing."
"Yeah?" He felt a sense of pride immediately followed by alarm. "Wait, you're supposed to be studying tercie law!"
"Tercie's a good start, but I'm not staying here," Kiza told him in a tone he knew all too well. "You know that too, dad."
He did, although it still irked his drone instincts. "Still years to go anyway," Stinger muttered.
"A few," Kiza agreed. "But Captain Tsing's cousin is willing to sign me up for a clerk apprenticeship as soon as I qualify."
"Already planning it?" came his grumble. Gina strode over and laid a hand on his shoulder. Her touch soothed him a bit although Stinger tried not to let it show too much.
"It's good to have plans," Gina reminded them both. "But in the meantime we've all got plenty to do right now. When was the last time any of the hives were properly cleaned?"
Stinger said nothing, aware that Kiza looked as guilty as he felt. Both of them twitched a bit, and Gina laughed.
"Been meaning to," he began, but his queen slowly shook her head.
"It's all right, just overdue. I'll consult them tomorrow and see what suits the hive best. Oh, and we want two gardens."
"Two?" He shot her a glance. "When there are acres of crops around us in damned near every direction?"
"Flow-ers," Gina replied serenely. "And herbs."
"Oooh! Mint, and ginger!" Kiza beamed. "Those would make some fantastic honey!"
"And sunflowers," Gina agreed before turning her gaze back to Stinger. "So you're going to be busy, my drone, busy as a-"
He rose out of his seat and pointed a finger at her, expression mock-flinty. "No, we don't use that saying around here, all right? Flowers. Herbs. I'll do it. Nothing says I have to like it, though. Not one damned thing."
She pursed her lips and buzzed softly, a kiss felt rather than seen, and Stinger blinked a little, mollified for a moment.
Kiza snickered again. "Bee-sotted. Sheesh, I'm going somewhere clear of all the pheromones, guys." She bounced away, leaving the two of them in the kitchen. Stinger turned to watch her go before looking back again at Gina.
"Weird," he grumbled.
Gina kissed him. "Weird," she agreed. "But she's right."
-oo00oo-
Without much discussion, Gina moved in. Stinger helped her load a single U-haul pull along trailer and brought over her meager collection of furniture and goods a few afternoons later. It distressed him to see the bottles of prescriptions among her belongings—most Tercie, but a few were from an off-world clinic. He knew Regenex wouldn't help—the nectar only worked on the human part of any being—but it didn't stop him from wishing it would. As if any of us could afford it anyway, he grumbled inwardly. Even if it did, it would also be awkward to ask the Seraphi Jupiter for help, given her stance on the stuff.
"What do the doctors say?" he asked Gina later, when they were curled up under the quilt, damp and sated for the moment.
She didn't lift her head from his chest. "Nerve degeneration mostly, since they can't see what I really am. Some of the meds stop the pain. The off-world stuff is good at slowing the damage but they can't rebuild me per se."
"So when you came here," Stinger mumbled, "you already knew you were sick. Dying."
Her gusty sigh blew over his chest. "Yes. I wanted to connect with a hive that could understand what I was. Tercie bees . . . they respect me, they let me guide them, but they don't really understand I'm one of them. There's not a true hive mind to them. Your stock has your lineage though, and that makes them open to me."
"What if I'd run you off that first time, the way I wanted to?" he asked, feeling a pang deep inside.
"Then I'd have gone home, brewed a pot of Borulux EverSleep and had a last tea party with my ladies I suppose," Gina whispered back. "If I thought you'd meant it. But your hive told me otherwise."
Stinger flinched and tightened his arm around her, feeling a hint of panic at what might have been, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head before speaking, his voice gruff. "Remind me to put an extra couple of Cosmos bushes in that garden you're making me do."
"Oh I will, I will," Gina assured him, her hands moving down his torso in a way that ended any further discussion.
-oo00oo-
Caine figured matters out at first sniff; Stinger watched as he looked at Gina, his nostrils briefly flaring. A hint of jealousy rose up, but Stinger squashed it back down; no point in giving the younger man any reason to grin.
To his credit Caine didn't, but one corner of his mouth quirked up in acknowledgement of the new relationship in front of him.
"Gina Bombini, this is Caine Wise, a colleague of mine," Stinger managed.
She nodded, holding out a hand to let Caine bend over it, all the better to catch her scent. "Good to meet you."
He gave a nod, saying nothing, but watching them both, his shoulders loose. Stinger approved; it had been years since he'd seen Caine so relaxed. Clearly service to the Seraphi was doing him a world-or more- of good.
"Her majesty wants to know if now would be a good time to visit," Caine murmured.
Stinger felt his eyebrows go up. "Here? She's always welcome here, but well . . . it's not fancy."
"That's just what she wants," Caine replied, smiling briefly again. "She said something about fresh air and a lack of . . . stuffed shirts."
Gina laughed, and Stinger snickered a bit too since it was clear Caine wasn't familiar with the phrase. Caine took no offence at their reactions, and when Gina smiled, he returned it.
"So it's true she's a Recurrence?"
"More like . . . an improvement," Stinger murmured, and looking at Caine, he nodded. "Her majesty is always welcome."
"Then we will be right back," Caine replied, and slipped away leaving them.
Gina blinked. "Er, as in right now? We've still got dishes in the sink, and I haven't put away the laundry."
This time Stinger shrugged. "Somehow I don't think it's going to bother her; trust me."
And he was right, of course. Stinger knew, having lived on the planet a while, that although her majesty might own the place, she never acted like it. Seeing her sail into the living room, smile at Gina and give her a hug was gratifying, and when Jupiter winked at him, Stinger tried not to blush.
"Your majesty," Gina began, and Stinger could see she was struck by Queen Jupiter's uncanny resemblance to the previous Seraphi.
"Jupiter, please," came the firm request. "I get enough of the royal treatment up there," and she waved an arm overhead. "So you're, um, a bee splice too?"
"Bumble, not honey," Gina told her. "I knew your . . . predecessor."
"Wow," Jupiter murmured, and shot a keen look at Gina. "Tell me; what did you think of her?"
"She was sad," Gina replied quietly. "Kind to me, though."
"Yeah?"
"Yes," Gina nodded. "I only saw her twice; once when I petitioned to be bought free of her son's service, and once after that when she came to the planet for a few days."
"Which son?" Stinger heard the hint of tension in the queen's voice.
"Titus Abrasax," Gina replied quietly. "I was his . . . summoner."
Jupiter made a face; she reached out and patted Gina's arm. "Wow. Okay, you've got my sympathy right there. I saw how he treated the people—beings—that worked for him and . . . yeah."
Stinger nodded and slipped an arm around Gina's waist in a gesture of comfort, helping direct the conversation to lighter things. Moments later, he waited until Gina stepped out to bring the lemonade and looked to Jupiter as he cleared his throat.
She turned to look at him, one eyebrow going up at his obvious tactic. "Yeah?"
"A . . ." The word was hard to say. "Favor, your majesty?"
The queen's expression sharpened; Stinger knew he had her full attention as she shifted closer. "Yes?"
He took a breath, shooting a quick look to the kitchen doorway before speaking in a low, urgent voice. "She needs care. Medical care. And she won't ask you, but I will."
To her majesty's credit, she didn't ask questions. "You've got it."
He narrowed his eyes. "Just . . . not a word to her. She'd be pissed."
Queen Jupiter nodded, and leaned back when Gina returned with a pitcher and glasses, looking cool and calm. Stinger had to admit he was impressed with her quick shift, and did his best to look innocent as well, which didn't come nearly as natural to him. Luckily he could fill his face with a few of the honey gingerbread cookies as the conversation picked up around him, feeling both guilty and relieved at his request.
Stinger relaxed until he happened to glance up, and in one horrified moment noticed that he and Queen Jupiter hadn't been completely alone during their exchange.
You were never alone near a hive, he realized with a sickening swallow of suddenly tasteless cookie.