Chapter 18

There was something about Sharisse that drew Taeron to her against his will. Her sister was very beautiful, and he had made an oath to make her his wife, but he could not take his eyes off Sharisse when she was near, could not stop thinking about her. When she had challenged him in the practice yard, what he was afraid would happen did when she had fallen atop him. By the gods, he had been eager to wrestle in the dirt after that, but she had balked at resuming training and he had been glad at least one of them hadn't lost their sense. The men were probably talking about his improper behavior now, and soon enough his brother would learn of it to add to his reports to the emperor. Trey would be displeased to hear that he had been rolling about shamefully with his wife's sister.

And yet he wondered how he could get into another such situation with the female.

Shaking his head to clear it of such inappropriate thoughts, he remarked, "You heard us speaking."

"I...I wanted to talk to you about ..." Taeron sensed that what she wished to discuss was painful by her reticence. Taking a steadying breath, she said, "I wondered if you had written of what happened on Teralon to report to the emperor."

Taeron did not know exact details of what had transpired on Teralon before the arrival of the Calabrian warriors. The Varoonyans had controlled Teralon for nearly two months, during which the royal family remained in hiding after managing to escape before Prince Rangyar's warlord took possession of the palace and royal city. Prince Rangyar had come to Teralon hoping to find Princess Chaela to take as his captive which would have put Emperor Trey at his mercy. Taeron knew the emperor would have agreed to whatever the Varoonyan asked to free his daughter and grandson, but Rangyar had been thwarted from taking his hostage. Prince Rangyar's crimes had been many, so Taeron had taken particular pleasure carving up the merciless bastard when he had cornered him on Varoonya. The pathetic creature had begged for his life before Taeron ended it with a single stroke of his sword.

"I chronicled the Calabrian effort only," he told her although he did not honestly know exactly what his brother had written. Taeron had been ashamed of his role in the initial debacle on the planet so he had not read the account that Stryfe had given him. He would have Stryfe had surely given as thorough a report as he could to the emperor, but he had already admitted that the Teralonians were secretive when he had been trying to find out anything he could about Princess Dijana.

Sharisse's lovely eyes lowered. "I was afraid when they came to Teralon. They...they were unlike any other being..." She swallowed and pressed her lips shut.

Taeron knew what she spoke of. The vile lords of Varoonya fed off their own people, sucking their blood, enslaving and enthralling them to do their bidding. Once they had, there was no escape for them but death, and they would be forced to live only at the whim of their masters, forced to feed off others while doing the bidding of their lords. Varoonya had become a miserable planet, the people too weak to even work. Prince Rangyar left his sister to rule in his stead as he took his enthralled warriors to Teralon because warlord Kai had been threatening his rule with his many thousands of thralls. He had promised Teralon and its healthy populace to Kai, and with Chaela as a captive, he could keep the empire from retaliating. Fortunately she had managed to escape and remain in hiding to give her father time to send forces to liberate the planet.

Seeing Sharisse standing before him, the shadows in the depths of her clear green eyes, he guessed she had suffered during the brief occupation and that she was shamed by the experience. He wanted to reach out to comfort her, but he did not know how she would react.

Instead he tried to calm her fears about what she had overheard. "You need not worry about Calabria, Sharisse. We have no proof of what we were discussing. Prince Staefyn was headed to Varoonya to serve as governor, and there are many on Calabria who would prevent him from challenging his father." Taeron hoped it was true although he did not know enough about the most powerful house, Caron, to predict what their lords would do. They had been the last to capitulate to Trey's rule and the head of the house had withdrawn to his vast southern holdings, not visiting the imperial court in all of Taeron's memory.

"I met Prince Staefyn," admitted Sharisse, her voice soft and wavering. "He … he came to Teralon to visit his sister and he... he brought Ambassador Kai with him."

"Warlord Kai?" Taeron was startled to discover that Staefyn was acquainted with Rangyar's ruthless general. Now his mind began to race with the possibilities, awful possibilities of why Staefyn had suggested he take Taeron's place on Varoonya so that Taeron could claim his wife. Kai was somewhere on Varoonya with an army of thralls, waiting for an opportunity to strike, but with Taeron's frequent patrols to hunt for him, he was forced to hide. After all that he realized about Staefyn and his very probable role in Amyr's disappearance, Taeron knew Staefyn had a sinister reason for going to Varoonya.

"I did not realize that he was a warlord," aid Sharisse as she wrung her hands before her. "He … he came to Teralon claiming to be an ambassador, but he was a spy."

Her hurt affected Taeron profoundly and he could not resist putting his hands on her shoulders to soothe her. She was vulnerable now, unlike the fierce woman who had pushed his face in the dirt and humiliated him before his own men. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her that he would protect her, but when she raised her face to his, his gaze was drawn to the her full, moist lips. The male in him reacted to the female. His heart beat faster and without conscious thought, he slid his hands over the rough fabric covering her shoulders, up her neck to frame her face. One day he would see her dressed in fine silks, a contented smile on the rosy lips that now trembled just below his. When had he moved so close to her? Had he lost his mind? Did he care?

He would have touched his lips to hers then, but his brother's voice interrupted him. "Brother, the prince has sent for us."

Sharisse gasped softly, and slipping from his hands, she turned on her heel and hurried away. Taeron watched her speechlessly, his hands still raised. He was trembling and breathless, frustrated to have been interrupted yet relieved to have been stopped from doing something foolish.

Stryfe had come to stand beside him and he put his hand on his shoulder but Taeron barely felt it.

"Brother, you have it bad for that woman."

Taeron turned to look at him. "It?"

Stryfe gave him the smile he usually reserved for those times when he was using his human euphemisms that Calabrians took too literally. "It." His brother emphasized the word, and when Taeron frowned at him, still not comprehending his meaning, Stryfe rolled his eyes. "You want to mate with her."

Very much so, thought Taeron, but he would not admit to it, especially not to his brother. "I was comforting her."

Stryfe snorted with laughter. "I will be sure to include that in my report."

"You are not reporting on my personal actions!" Taeron was horrified, tried to imagine how he had looked standing in the road with his hands on Sharisse, about to put his lips to hers. Gods only knew what he would have done after the kiss. He had kissed women before, but he knew sharing a kiss with Sharisse was going to be far more meaningful than those empty kisses he had given to the females using him to get to Amyr.

"Come along, brother. Amyr calls and Quynn thinks we should face him together." He poked Taeron in the ribs with his elbow which only irritated. "I will protect you from your clumsiness."

His brother started walking, but Taeron caught up and grasped his arm, stopping him. "I know that it is your duty to report everything to the emperor, but I would rather you did not tell him what happened this morning between us."

Stryfe's brows rose. "Why not? He tried to kill you."

"I was in no danger." After concluding that Staefyn had caused Amyr's enslavement, Taeron did not want to bring more misery on him should the emperor learn what his son had tried to do to his own imperial guard.

"Do you want me to give the emperor Amyr's version, the version he gave to Sharisse?"

Taeron glanced in the direction that Sharisse had disappeared, wishing he could see her, but she was out of sight. "No one would believe that I fell on the sword."

Stryfe laughed as they headed to the castle. "The Calabrians were discussing your ineptitude and whether you feigned it so you could get your hands on the Teralonian female, or whether her nearness caused you to fumble about like a poorly trained recruit."

If his brother expected an answer, Taeron disappointed him by remaining silent. He thought briefly about her attempt to train him, how she did not seem as adept at fighting as she would have had him think. If she had continued to train him, Taeron had planned to find some way to instruct her instead. The female was a mystery to him. One minute she seemed as haughty as Amyr, and the next she was unsure. The next time he saw her, she would probably be as brittle and intractable as the day she tumbled onto the shuttle, but for those few moments he glimpsed the woman she hid from everyone, the woman that had been hurt. If her life had touched the evil of the Varoonyan warlord, then he wasn't surprised by her fears.

"What happened on Teralon before we arrived?" he asked Stryfe as they approached the castle.

Stryfe gave him an annoyed glance that told Taeron he had not forgotten that he gave him the written account. He wisely chose not to mock his lack of reading skill. "Did Sharisse tell you something about it? Because if she did, it would be more than any Teralonian has revealed about the invasion. Princess Chaela would not even speak of it. I believe that the king forbade it. He may feel dishonored to have been forced into hiding and accepting the aid of the empire."

"Sharisse told me that Kai was on Teralon posing as an ambassador before the invasion. Perhaps you could ask the princess for some information."

His brother frowned. "Why do you wish to reopen this wound? If the people of Teralon are content in forgetting what happened, then it would do no good to expose their shame. Isn't it enough that they allowed one of the most evil men of the binary system to live among them without realizing he was gathering information for an invasion?"

"I am afraid that Sharisse crossed his path."

Stryfe frowned at him. "Many crossed his path, Taeron, and you know that he tortured more men, women and children than Rangyar. Despite her ambiguous status in the royal household, Sharisse is still the daughter of the queen and would have been in hiding with them."

"Staefyn went to Teralon with Kai," Taeron told him.

"We knew that he had been on Teralon after he had gone to Varoonya," Stryfe reminded Taeron.

"But we did not know that he was traveling with Rangyar's warlord or that he was aiding Kai in his lies on Teralon." Taeron met his brother's gaze. "You do not believe that Staefyn did not know, do you? How could he not?" Until now, Taeron had not thought about Staefyn's brief visit to Varoonya, and he was disgusted to realize that Staefyn had visited Varoonya and did not report the atrocious conditions on the planet. The emperor would have sent an army to help the Varoonyans and could have prevented the attack on Teralon. Staefyn's inaction convinced Taeron without any doubt of his guilt.

For a moment Stryfe remained silent, a frown creasing his brow, but whatever he was thinking he did not voice. They came to the castle and headed straight to Amyr's room where they found the crowned prince pacing and Taeron could see that he was shaking with anger. When he realized they had arrived, he spun to glare at them.

"Where have you been?"

Taeron exchanged an annoyed glance with his brother and then spoke to Amyr. "Does it matter? I am here now."

"I see that you are healed,"he snapped irritably. "The healer took her time coming to me. I suppose she healed you immediately." He didn't wait for Taeron to answer before striding to the window where he pointed in the direction of the ship. "I need to return to Calabria."

"We aren't going anywhere until the long range transport is repaired," Taeron told him. "Keldar tells me that it may take several days at the very least."

"Tell him that I expect it to be completed within the next few days." Without waiting for a response, he looked at Stryfe. "You will inform your sister that I will take her back with me to live as my bonded mate."

For a only a breath Stryfe said nothing, and then he threw back his head in laughter. Taeron smiled as he imagined Quynn's response to Amyr's command.

Amyr glared. "She is my mate."

"So we have heard,"said Stryfe, now just chuckling. "Must be hell for you not to be able to draw the imperial sword at will."

The prince spun to look at Taeron. "In the absence of your father, are you not the head of your house?"

Taeron nodded to Stryfe. "His birth precedes mine."

"Bastards! Both of you!" snapped Amyr, knowing that they were mocking him.

He shouldn't be angered by the insult, but Taeron wanted to draw his sword, the sword that Sharisse had wanted to handle. When she suggested it, Taeron had oddly anticipated her holding his weapon in her hands although he could not very well have pulled the sword then and there. She would have wondered why he had the sword. Now he wanted to use the weapon for violence. How would it feel to kill Amyr with his own sword this time?

Amyr's gaze narrowed. "Who do you think you are, Taeron of the house Maxwell? Are you going to raise your sword against me again? Will you break another vow?"

Taeron meet his gaze without a word. What could he say? Was Amyr reading his mind with his Guerani powers or was he perceptive enough to realize how Taeron would respond to his abrasive remarks. He should be used to Amyr calling him a bastard when he had done throughout their childhood.

"What vow have I broken?" he demanded of Amyr. "I saved you and liberated you from slavery. I destroyed the creature that held you captive."

"You are lying to the Teralonian females." Amyr smirked as the color rose to his cheeks. "How do you think Princess Dijana would feel to know that she has been seduced by a scribe?"

"Hey!" spoke up Stryfe. "I may be a scribe, but I will have some scathing words to record that will hurt you as much as that sword to the heart."

Amyr took a step toward Stryfe, but Taeron's sword was in his hand in the next breath and the blade separated the prince from his brother. Their gazes clashed, Amyr furious, Taeron warning.

"You would harm me, to protect your brother? We were brothers long before that bastard arrived on Calabria."

"I would protect the imperial scribe," Taeron was annoyed that Amyr would challenge him when he knew he had no choice but to protect the emperor's scribe. "If you were ever my brother, then you will not make me do it."

For a tense moment, no one said anything, no one moved, and then Stryfe laughed nervously. "There are some benefits to being the scribe. Protection of an imperial guard just happens to be one of them."

With a growl, Amyr spun away and slammed his fists on the stone wall, before sliding down to his knees, bowing his head and holding out his arms before him, stretching them out to Taeron. "Gods! Forgive me Taeron! She has made me lose my mind!"

He would be a fool to trust Amyr, but Taeron put his sword away in the face of his humiliating supplication. He had only ever seen men sentenced to the worst punishments beg the emperor for forgiveness in such a manner and he felt embarrassed to witness Amyr groveling before him.

"Get up! We will go talk to her together."

Amyr slowly rose to stand again and when he looked at Taeron again, there were tears in his eyes. "You cannot imagine how grateful I am. Perhaps she will listen to you."

"Only if you keep your mouth shut," remarked Stryfe, and Taeron gave him a warning glance. They would not be able to tell when Amyr might lose control again, and neither of them really knew what Guerani powers he possessed. He did not want Amyr pillaging his thoughts and rearranging them to suit his needs.

"My brother is right. If you cannot control yourself, she will reject you again. As it is, she cannot bear the sight of you and will agree to speak to you only about the snake that is your brother."

"Staefyn!" Amyr scoffed. "That toadying little weasel is as harmless as a sand slug."

"I hear a lot about sand slugs," remarked Stryfe, "and I have yet to see one that has not been served up in a surprising variety of seasoning by the imperial chef."

Taeron looked at his brother. "My prince has forgotten that they are poisonous."

"Only an idiot would be poisoned by a sand slug," said Amyr.

"Huh! Then I guess your chances are pretty good," returned Stryfe.

As they left the room together, Amyr remarked to Stryfe, "I never realized what a fool you are. Why does my father tolerate you?"

"My good looks and charm, obviously, nitwit."

Taeron could not help but smile at his brother.

"How does the princess feel about your good looks and charm?" Amyr asked with a snort. "I cannot imagine that Taeron has the reputation for such." He turned his gaze to Taeron. "I doubt you have the reputation as being a liar and an oath-breaker either."

He met his gaze. "I have managed to overcome the damage you did to my reputation."

"I? If you were rolling about in the furs with a couple of Teralonian harlots instead of doing your duty, then it is because you wished to be."

Taeron stopped in the road, oblivious to other travelers who turned to look at them. Amyr glanced about and something made him smirk before he turned back to him. "You heard me correctly," he said in a low voice that only Taeron could hear. "You took wine in celebration..."

"I took no wine!"

Amyr ignored his denial. "You cannot blame me for taking those females to your bed." He reached out to pat his cheek. "Do not worry, my friend. I know it must be difficult to reign in your basest urges given the fact that your mother is a whore."

Stryfe's warning sounded as if it came from far away because the blood pushed through Taeron and filled him with rage and indignation. He leaped at Amyr, and he heard shouting for him to stop, but he would not until his fists made contact with royal imperial flesh. Amyr managed to trip him, but Taeron brought him to the ground with him, and as they rolled, raining fists on each other, he became aware that the Calabrian men had hurried to watch the fight, that they were cheering him, not their crown prince. Taeron was sickened to realize that Amyr had justification for blaming him for losing respect.

He could easily beat Amyr senseless again, but what would it accomplish except to prove what they all knew and what he would find it nearly impossible to escape? Amyr had squandered everything that had been given to him until there was almost nothing left. Taeron had taken the last, the respect that the crown prince should be given by his people. His own selfishness disgusted him. Taeron had fought so long and hard to overcome his father's neglect that he did not know how to stop.

Amyr sensed the turn in the fight and took every advantage. It was difficult not to use the instincts and reflexes that he had spent all his life honing, but Taeron reined them in so that Amyr could pommel him with his fists and his feet. When he lay wracked with pain from the beating, seeing Amyr's booted feet before him, he felt something that he did not think he would ever feel, and that was free of the guilt that he had borne for so long for what had happened to Amyr.

"You bastard! What have you done!?" Taeron heard Sharisse's voice, and the last thing he thought before he drifted into unconsciousness was that he was glad that he had not betrayed himself.