Chapter 37

The morning of Taeron's departure, Trey presided over a ceremony acknowledging Taeron as lord prince commander for the imperial troops headed to Teralon. As he knelt on one knee before the emperor with the nobility looking on, Taeron was acutely aware of the rancor of some of the nobles gathered. At least four prominent families had lost young sons at Edgeland Fortress, and Stryfe had reported to Trey that morning that he had heard rumors that they were furious at the emperor for sending a significant force to a distant part of his empire to quell the rebellion on Teralon instead of punishing those responsible. Many wanted the ships directed toward the moon because Staefyn's spies had succeeded in convincing them that the emperor's imperial guard had turned on him. Others wanted the Guerani Hills to run red with the blood of the crown prince and his allies. They trusted Lord Duo more than the conniving prince that had not returned to the imperial court since the massacre at the fortress. Taeron had to choose not only his own warriors with care, but also the palace guard that would protect the emperor in his absence. Most were house Caron warriors that had been with him on Teralon and Varoonya, so Taeron trusted they would not attempt to stab him in the back.

Before the end of the ceremony in which Trey presented him with a sword and dagger with stones of the imperial house, a small group of armed men attacked Taeron, giving him a chance to blood his new weapons before even leaving the receiving hall. One of the attackers had the temerity to swing a sword at the emperor. Trey did not even blink at the sword slicing toward him as Taeron battled six men who had obviously come to stop him from leaving Calabria. Leaning back from the blade, Trey pulled his own sword and swung it upward, cutting off the arm of his assailant before swinging it again to remove his head. He then joined Taeron in his fight and proved that he was still a warrior who could protect himself. Together they made short work of the attackers.

After bidding Taeron farewell, standing amongst the butchered corpses in a pool of blood, Trey turned a contemptuous, challenging glare on the imperials gathered before turning on his heel to leave them gaping in awe. Taeron calmly wiped his newly received sword and dagger on the tunic of one of his victims, then resheathed them. He raised his head, looked at the imperials blandly and then turned and walked out, irritated that the ceremonial tunic that Amyr had once worn and that he now did, was stained with blood. His clothing had been sent ahead so he would be unable to change in a clean garment any time soon. His brother joined him before Taeron exited to the courtyard where several of his men waited to escort him to the army readying to depart outside the city walls.

"Is that a good way to begin a campaign?" asked Stryfe with a grimmace.

"Is there a better way?" Graegor of house Chasek had responded. The warrior had been rescued by Quynn after spending several years in slavery after being captured on Teralon. Impressed by his skill and dedication to his training on Norvana and during the trance, Taeron had appointed him one of his commanders. Another former slave, Andwar of house Vaan, had been appointed governor of Varoonya and would continue on to the other planet after they liberated Teralon.

Swinging up on his horse, Taeron looked at Andwar. "Have your scouts reported back?"

The older warrior answered with a curt nod. "They had nothing to report. If Staefyn has troops hiding on the route, then he is using sorcery to do so."

Since Guerani were not capable of such sorcery, that meant they would probably travel unmolested. They were not so fortunate during the ride through the city although being pelted with flower petals and greeted with cheers along the route could hardly be considered arduous. Each time a female came forward to give him a flower, Taeron thanked her politely and by the time they reached the gates, he had more flowers than he knew what to do with and his men did a poor job of hiding their humor.

He arrived at Edgeland Fortress late in the afternoon several days later after an uneventful ride across the uneven terrain between the fortress and the imperial city. Taeron had expected Staefyn to send a force to prevent them from reaching the spaceport, but the crown prince must have decided it would be disastrous to challenge the army of experienced warriors. As his men boarded the transports that would take them to Teralon, Apolo met him and told him that his mother was expecting him to bid her farewell, and Apolo sheepishly admitted he dared not return to the fortress without him.

Since there was nothing to be done that his commanders could not do, Taeron went with his mother's husband. Larya had been at Edgeland Fortress for only a few days, but she had complete control of her own army that was busy cleaning the mess left behind by the attack. As he walked through the blood-stained corridors, Taeron thought of the many raids that Dax had launched from the fortress that had destroyed not just the Guerani, but had also decimated the tribes that now lived on the moons. Taeron wished Trey would tear the gods-cursed walls down, but the strategic fortress had stood for many years defending the imperial city from the wastelands plains and the Guerani hills.

His mother was in the private apartments of the governor where Dax had once lived happily with his wife Valerya and their son who was now governor. As he walked through the rooms now being scrubbed and redecorated to Larya's tastes, Taeron thought of the night that had changed Calabria, the night when Dax and Zeno had met each other to exchange newborn daughters. Both walked into the desert wastelands with the infants and one walked out carrying the child he could not leave behind. The emperor's wife had lost her daughter to the sands, but her mate had saved the child that would one day take his life. Taeron often wondered how the Guerani Dax could leave a child to die, but he supposed it was because the creature Camridaeus had forced him to act against his nature. Whatever the reason, the gods had punished him by taking his beloved from him.

A servant stopped scrubbing to inform him that Lady Larya was in the salon, and when Taeron entered, he was discouraged to hear her chatting amiably with Queen Neria. By the gods, this did not bode well for him.

Apolo had entered after him and Taeron turned to look at him. "How long has that been going on?"

"Since she arrived this morning." Apolo was smirking. "Your mother has made a friend."

No good could come of this friendship. Taeron would not speak aloud his unfavorable opinion of Queen Neria, but she had nagged him incessantly, berated him and criticized him so frequently in the last two weeks that the sound of her voice grated his nerves. He would rather face assassins than spend more time with her, but he would have to escort her to his own transport where she would probably witness him losing consciousness when they took off and then he would have to suffer her scorn for that weakness for the rest of his life.

Apolo leaned in. "She is as nasty a she-beast as your mother. I do not envy you, Taeron. Once you save her daughter, you had better make her happy or her mother will make you wish for escape to the netherworld."

He already wished for escape to the netherworld. Pausing a moment to run through a calming exercise from his imperial training to prepare for battle, he took a steadying breath and stepped into the chamber. Queen Neria saw him first and her nose wrinkled in distaste as she set aside her cup of tea. She seemed to have developed the same fondness for the tea that his mother and much of the imperial court had. He wished it would make her more amenable. For once her wings were not stretched out behind her which they usually were because she enjoyed intimidating people, especially at Trey's court where her arrogance had not endeared her to anyone. Taeron found it almost more intimidating not to see her wings.

"You could not have changed into something more suitable before presenting yourself?" she asked with annoyance with a significant look at the dried blood splattered on his tunic that was almost covered with dust from the road.

Larya lifted her brows. "I vow, son, that you have the manners of that oaf on Ulfynaeus."

"Mother," he warned. He should be used to hear her malign Lord Duo, just as he was used to his father expressing his disgust with Lady Larya. How had they ever set aside their mutual disgust to breed? With a glance at the smirking Lord Apolo, he wondered if he could even live with his mother if it were not for his Guerani charm. No other male could do it.

His mother listened to his explanation of what had happened at the ceremony and then she said, "Trey probably knew what was going to happen and let it happen just so he could prove how brilliant he is by appointing you to lead his army."

"The emperor bloodied his sword as well," Taeron pointed out.

Queen Neria sniffed. "Of course he did! I have already learned that you Calabrian males like nothing better than to hack each other up."

"Very distasteful," agreed Larya. "You cannot imagine how much worse it was under Zeno. If Trey does not deal with this insurrection quickly, we will be back to the bloody chaos before Arora slew the butcher."

"Your imperials are probably salivating at the prospect. I find it repugnant that my daughter shall have to make her home here." Queen Neria fixed Taeron with the glare she seemed to reserve especially for him. "If she is to be the wife of the emperor, then you must quickly give her a female child that I might raise to rule Teralon."

His insides churned and he glanced at Apolo and found that his lips were pressed together but he could see by his gaze that he was amused by their remarks.

"He will have absolutely no control over that," Larya told Queen Neria. "Almost all aspects of breeding are the responsibility of Calabrian females. He will have only one duty to perform to that end."

"Well, I hope that he can do that," remarked the queen with an appraising glance at Taeron that made him shift nervously. Apolo raised his brows and Taeron could see that he wanted to laugh while Taeron wished he could get this farewell over with before his mother decided to instruct him again.

"I may be able to educate your daughter, but I know nothing of your mating practices." Larya looked at Taeron and he was horrified that she was going ask something deeply personal. Of course she did. "Was there anything unusual in how you mated with her?"

Now Apolo burst into laughter despite the glare he received from his wife.

"There will be something unusual in your mating habits, my lord Apolo, if you do not shut your mouth!"

Taeron cast his mother's husband a smug look when Apolo had pressed his lips together – not surprising when his wife had him wrapped around her little finger, especially when it involved his favorite activity. Apolo was still a worthy warrior, but he was first and foremost a Guerani healer who prefered the making and preserving of life to taking it.

Queen Neria sighed. "I would say he is a useless male, but you seem to be pleased in the fine children he has given you. He is also quite pleasant to look upon, so I imagine that breeding with him is no chore."

"Well," said Larya, "he does have his uses. There are things he does with his tongue that ..."

"For the love of the gods, mother!" Taeron was appalled although Apolo was preening from the praise his wife was about to give for his skill as a lover.

Larya sniffed in disapproval. "My son, you have adopted the very prudish ways of your human sire. You have spent far too much time with him. I was hoping that once you had taken a female that you would have lost your inhibitions and embraced what makes you a male."

He wanted to drive his own dagger through his belly to die an agonizing death rather than hear this, and when Queen Neria took a breath, he almost reached for one of the two he now carried although he knew that Apolo would just heal him and he would have to return to this conversation.

"After all that my daughter has suffered, I should like to imagine that she is being pleasured properly." She leveled an accusing glare at him and he almost expected her wings to fly out behind her. "You have much to answer for."

"Indeed," agreed his mother.

"Indeed," murmured Apolo.

"Mother, I came to collect Queen Neria and to bid you farewell." Taeron refused to discuss his intimate moments with Dijana with them. "I have a battle to fight. I will worry about pleasuring my mate once I have wrested her from her enemies."

Unfortunately he chose the wrong words because Queen Neria's brows drew together. "Are you worried about pleasuring my daughter?"

Before he could respond that he was not although he feared that would lead to questions he did not want to answer, his mother let out a deep sigh. "Apolo, you should have undertaken training my son in these matters. I tried and he would not listen to me."

He felt nauseous as he remembered the conversations his mother had forced on him beginning when he was much younger and she had caught him ogling one of her serving women. After that horrid experience, he kept his eyes off her women and confined his interest in females to those of the imperial palace when his mother was far away on the moon. That had not stopped her from offering her advice when he had gone to Teralon to claim Dijana and now he had no intention of delaying his departure so that she could refresh his memory.

Apolo waved his hand dismissively. "He is a male. He knows what to do."

Taeron would not point out that he had already done it repeatedly and with much enthusiasm from sunup to sundown and the hours in between for several days. He would like to pummel Stryfe for adding that line to the official account of his courtship of Princess Dijana. He knew what to do and how to do it with Dijana and he would tell them so if he did not think they would demand an explanation.

"Well, I am hope that he knows what to do with his..."

"Mother!"

She wrinkled her nose, but she seemed to have realized that she might be going too far. Taeron knew he should get out before she decided that she had further lengths to go in delving into his private moments with Dijana.

Queen Neria sighed and stood. "Larya, if he is an example of his father's upbringing, then I truly pity you for having suffered Lord Duo's fumbling attempts to breed you."

Larya rose and hugged her new friend. "There was no fumbling. I plied the fool with a noxious beverage that the emperor's mother brews which rendered him compliant as I chained him to my bed and proceeded to ..."

"By the gods!" That was more than Taeron wanted to hear and he knew if he did not stop her from speaking, she would give every detail. He had imagined something similar, but to hear her describe the events that led to his conception was too much to bear.

His mother shrugged and rose. "I imagine he is eager to swing his sword, so I will have to allow you to take your leave."

"He used his sword with precision," Taeron heard Queen Neria remark as as the two women headed to the door. "I am pleased that my daughter shall have such a strong warrior as her mate."

As the two women hugged each other again, Apolo put his hand on Taeron's shoulder. "Don't judge your mother too harshly. She was trained to be a concubine from her tender years and doesn't view the private relations between a man and a woman the same as others do. But you know that she loves you."

"I do," he said with a sigh, and he glanced at her still murmuring with his mother by marriage. He remembered her saddened words, that he deserved a better mother and his eyes misted for a moment. "I love her too. I am honored that she is my mother."

"She makes me very happy," Apolo told him seriously, his eyes also on the beautiful fair woman. Then he grinned and looked back at Taeron. "If your mother likes your wife as much as your mother by marriage, you can expect they will be talking about every aspect of your life."

Taeron tried to imagine Dijana sharing the details of their most intimate moments with his mother and his stomach flipped. "Gods!"

Queen Neria had stepped out of the room and now Larya came to Taeron. She viewed his tunic with distaste, then threw her arms around him anyway, pulling his head down so that she could kiss his cheeks. There were tears in her eyes. "I hate it when you go off to war!"

"I have trained for it all my life," he reminded her.

"I am still angry at Trey! You are not his prince!"

Apolo chuckled. "Only you would not find honor in the emperor taking your son into his house and making him the most powerful warrior on Calabria."

"I just want my son to be happy," she pouted before she put her arms around Taeron and pulled his head down for another kiss. "Do not worry about us here. Restore Queen Neria and bring your bride to Calabria. Once that is done, you can deal with that wasteland rat hiding in the hills."

After his mother reluctantly released him, Taeron hugged Apolo. "I only wish I had time to stop at Ulfynaeus so that I could ask my father to send Quynn to repair the communications."

Apolo shook his head. "That would not be wise. There are those that would consider that an act of treason since Duo is under suspicion. Your father will understand."

The door opened. "Are you coming, warlord?" demanded Queen Neria.

Apolo chuckled and then moved away to take his wife who had begun weeping into his arms. Taeron could not spare any more time to assure his mother. He was, as Queen Neria had pointed out, a warlord and he must do what he did best.

Taeron escorted his mother by marriage to the spaceport and he was glad that she did not speak to him. He did not want her distracting him from considering the dangers ahead of him. Staefyn had enough spies at the imperial court for him to have found out all the details of his departure, and since he had not attacked on land, Taeron was sure he would send the Varoonyans against him in space where they would be vulnerable. When Danlaer and Keldar had returned from Bayman, gliders had challenged them, but they had managed to elude them with the superior speed of the hypercraft.

Danlaer would be piloting the craft onto which Taeron escorted Queen Neria and when he tried to get her to go to the quarters prepared for her, she insisted on staying in the control room with him. His pilot was unable to keep from chuckling and Queen Neria berated him for his disrespect until Taeron suggested that if she were to stay in the control room, she had better allow someone to strap her in.

"Are your ships so poorly designed that you cannot accommodate for the change in gravity," she said after a regal sniff.

Taeron had little difficulty understanding why Balak had banished his queen to an inhospitable prison. "Teralon does not have hyperspace craft," he told her and she looked as if she would argue but then signaled to her guards, two beefy winged warriors, Guillem and Valter. They gave Taeron what seemed like an apologetic grimace before they strapped her in and took seats Taeron expected his commanders, Andwar and Graegor, to fill. With a shrug and an amused glance at Taeron, they left the control room to the join the warriors in the cargo bay.

After Taeron was settled, he nodded to Danlaer who informed the other ships they were taking off and Taeron closed his eyes when the ship left the ground. As they rose higher and higher, a sweat broke out over his brow and his stomach lurched, but he managed to stay conscious as they shot through the atmosphere.

Their communications must have been monitored at Guerani Palace because when they cleared the planet and headed in the direction of Teralon that would take them past the derelict pirate satelite, at least two dozen Varoonyan craft suddenly shot out from behind the hulking dark space debris. Taeron was expecting it, but he was dismayed to have to fight a battle over which he had no control. He trusted the pilots, especially Danlaer and Keldar who was piloting another of the six hyperspace crafts, so he had little choice but to sit back and began the calming meditation that Lady Trynity had suggested to stave off the worst of his motion sickness. After the first few maneuvers of the craft, he thought he might be able to get through the space battle, but as Danlaer made tight turns and spins to avoid missiles, Taeron lost control and blacked out.

A loud shout of joy brought him back to consciousness although he felt so nauseous he feared he would vomit. He managed to swallow it when he turned his head to see Queen Neria looking at him.

"Welcome back, my lord prince," she said scornfully.

Danlaer's shout saved him from anything else she might have said. "My lord, we have been reinforced from the moon!"

Taeron turned his gaze to the viewing screen, glad not to have to look at Dijana's mother. Several ships were engaging the gliders, and he recognized the battered, older model of the hyperspace craft. He knew who was skillfully distacting the Varoonyan ships.

"Quynn!" he exclaimed with joyful relief. He watched in amazement as she lured two ships into chasing her before maneuvering them into the position of blasting each other.

"Hey, Danlaer, is that you in the lead ship?" Taeron was never so happy to hear his sister's voice. "You're doing a damn good job. But get back there and protect the flank. They are taking a beating and I don't know how long their shields are going to last."

The pilot quickly turned the ship and Taeron's stomach lurched again.

Go ahead and vomit.

The advice had come into his head.

You will probably feel gratified in more than one way, brother.

Was that Jeshed? How could he hear Jeshed's voice?

Because we are linked.

Is Amyr with you?

Where else would he be? He wishes to fight at your side, to protect you.

His heart ached at the change in their status.

Relax and let me care for you before you empty the contents of your stomach on Queen Neria. I doubt she would appreciate you for it.

A cooling wave surged through Taeron and he was grateful for the power of Jeshed's magic because it made it possible for him to stay conscious during the rest of the battle. When it was over, the imperial fleet had sustained little damage while the space around them was littered with debris that would be collected by barges sent from the moons.

On the viewing screen Staefyn's face suddenly appeared. "Bravo, my lord prince! Then again, I did not expect you would be stopped by my force. I only wanted to trim the odds a bit before you reached Teralon."

"You failed," he pointed out. "Just as you failed to kill me on the surface."

Staefyn frowned. "You think I had something to do with those shoddy attempts? My father has more enemies than he thinks, fools who dare to challenge him through you. I have heard that it is impossible to kill you, and it is getting very difficult to offer enough credits to assassins to attempt it. Do I have your sister to thank for this debacle?"

"Damn right, Staefyn," piped up Quynn's voice. "I can do with this ship what Taeron can do with his sword."

"I am disappointed, Quynn, that you would choose to stay with Amyr after all that bastard has done." Staefyn sneered. "He is with you now, isn't he?"

Taeron was surprised that Staefyn could detect his brother despite the distance between them. The crown prince had developed amazing Guerani powers.

"I am," spoke up Amyr.

"So little to say, brother?" Staefyn laughed. "I don't know what pleases me more, seeing you dead or seeing you walk two paces behind Taeron as his guard after all that you did to him when we were children."

"I am honored to guard my lord prince," said Amyr and Taeron did not detect any mockery.

"Of course you should be honored. You are a bastard and even though Taeron is a bastard, at least he has my father's blood."

Taeron was about to retort, but Queen Neria quickly unstrapped herself and moved to press the button closing the communication. She turned to look at him. "Responding to such ravings only validates them."

She returned to her seat and after she had been strapped back in by her men, she turned her head to look at him. "You have shown yourself worthy of the loyalty of your people. After all that has happened, a lesser man could expect Prince Amyr's dagger in his back, but you have managed to earn his allegiance. Perhaps I have misjudged you."

Taeron hardly believed he was hearing praise.

"Or Prince Amyr is a fool," she added as an afterthought and he sighed with annoyance.

"Hey, brother, father has gathered a force to accompany you to Teralon. They will be taking off from the moon now that we have eliminated the threat. Where is Stryfe?"

"He is piloting one of the transport ships that has been fitted with hyperspace drive capabilities," he told her.

Quynn whistled. "Wasn't that expressly forbidden in the agreement with the Cinq Kingdom?" The human king did not want barges of imperial soldiers showing up in his system.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him," Taeron heard Stryfe say.

"That's what father said when he upgraded our barges." Quynn laughed, then she said, "It was nice of gramps to put the schematics on the back of the control panels."

"My grandmother probably had something to do with that," Taeron heard Amyr remark.

"Hey, Taeron, Amyr wants to know if we can dock so that he can come aboard."

If Amyr were taking his duties seriously, he would want to be near, but Taeron felt Queen Neria's gaze on him Taeron had another solution. "Dock with us and I will join you."

He closed the communication and sat back with his eyes closed. He could not get off that ship fast enough.

"A very wise decision," remarked the Teralonian queen and Taeron heard Danlaer chuckling.