Chapter 67
"Duo! By the gods! Where are you?"
As his father lowered his sword, Taeron did as well and he caught his father's frown as the emperor leaned over the balcony ringing the practice yard. It was early enough in the day, just shortly after first sunrise, that they would not be disturbed by the lazy imperial coutiers who came for the entertainment of watching warriors at practice long after second sunrise. This was the only time Taeron could find privacy with his father, and when they crossed swords, they spoke out of hearing of those imperials and also Stryfe who rarely left his bed before second sunrise.
"As you can see, Trey, I am here." With a regretful shake of his head, Duo sheathed his sword as did Taeron and he put a hand on his shoulder. "I think I am going to catch hell now."
"I heard that," snapped the emperor irritably. "I have just received from a messenger – a messenger! - a note that has passed through countless hands that the Teralonian forces landed at Edgeland Fortress three days ago with Neria and her consort. Three days ago!"
"You have said often enough lately that Teralon is beneath your notice, so I did not think you wanted to be disturbed by any news of them. Larya and Apolo have been entertaining them at the fortress."
Taeron did not dare look at is father, but his heart began to beat faster. Did this mean that Dijana had come to Calabria? Is that why the emperor was furious? Throughout the last few weeks, Trey reminded him frequently of his disappoval of Dijana. A woman like her could not be trusted. Even if she did accept him, which he was not so sure she would after what she had done to him on Teralon, Trey reminded Taeron repeatedly that she had only to run back to her home planet the moment her feelings were hurt. Did he need to remind Taeron how often that would happen at the imperial court?
But, gods, he wanted to be with Dijana!
His father was speaking. "Don't worry, Trey. Princess Dijana did not accompany them." Duo gave Taeron an apologetic look before turning back to the emperor who hardly seemed mollified.
"You would not lie to me, would you Duo?"
Taeron expected his father to take offense to the question, but to his surprise Lord Duo laughed. "I would not lie to you, Trey. The princess did not accompany her parents."
"Good," said Trey. "I don't need that complication. You and your son will join me and house Caron after second sunrise. We are done discussing this gods' damned business and I want it over." Without another word, he turned and moved away.
When he was gone, Duo shook his head. "I wish Arora would return from Edgeland before second sunrise, but she will not be here until the banquet this evening."
"Does it matter?" Taeron's heart was aching again. Dijana's parents had come to Calabria, but she had not come with them. Why would she? She did not want to see him and could easily stay away while he felt lost without her.
"Dijana could have come," he muttered resentfully. "By the time she does, it will be too late. I will be bonded to a woman I do not want."
His father grunted. "And you will last only long enough to sire a male before house Caron will storm the palace to dispose of you."
Taeron frowned at him. "Why has Lady Arora never told the emperor what house Caron did? He believes as everyone else, that they barely made it past the front doors of the palace, so it was easy for him to take Rendael's oath and forgive them."
"She has never told him for the same reason that you are being prodded into taking their female into your house. Caron was Zeno's ally and Dax's friend, and he might have accepted Trey, but he refused to believe what he claimed were lies about Dax. His wastrel sons were friends of Prince Dilan and they convinced him that Arora had bewitched them all with her Guerani powers. So Caron made the agreement with Meridon, an agreement that Meridon has since regretted because he realized that he was used by that house. Even I do not know exactly what happened in the palace that night when I arrived barely in time to save her life." Duo shook his head and visibly shuddered. "If I had been only a moment later..." He swallowed and ran a shaky hand through his hair. "Arora has no love for house Caron, has tolerated them only for Trey's sake. When Trey told her that he intended for you to marry Keilana, that he refused to consider any other female, she left for Edgeland Fortress."
"He has been very irritable since she left." Taeron sighed. "They argue more than I remember from my childhood."
"Because Trey is a stubborn fool." Duo chuckled. "I know when to shut my mouth even if Trynity is wrong."
"Lady Trynity is never wrong," Taeron told him and his father threw back his head in laughter.
"By the gods, no female is ever wrong, Taeron. They have all taught you that lesson well."
Taeron thought that the females he had known all his life were usually very good at thinking through problems and that was a reason he should have been considered a good mate for Dijana. He respected the counsel of females and saw nothing amiss in Neria's rule. She had certainly proven herself as ruthless as any male.
"How can I avoid this match with Keilana," he asked his father. If there was ever a time that he needed Lord Duo's help, it was now.
The other man put his hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, my son. I know just the right buttons to push and levers to pull to drag this out as long as I can."
"You will not betray Lady Arora's confidence, will you?" Taeron asked anxiously. She would never forgive Duo if he told Trey about the night of Amyr's birth. Nobody who heard her story would shame Arora with the retelling, not when Taeron feared there were details she could not repeat, would never repeat.
"I don't need to air the emperor's dirty linen. I have other things in my bag of tricks. Your mother should arrive by then, and for once, I think we can work together." The phrases his father used were strange enough to Taeron, but hearing him plan to work with Larya was even stranger.
Upon returning to his room, he found Amyr still sleeping, so he bathed and dressed before waking him. If Amyr could reach Quynn in his dreams, he did not tell Taeron, but learning that Staefyn was bonded to another female seemed to calm him. That did not mean that Amyr did not try to contact her when he was with Shamara and Chaela. Taeron knew those females well enough to not trust them, especially after their mother had left them unsupervised. He suspected they had tried to break through Staefyn's wards, but the three were not strong enough. Taeron knew how powerful Staefyn was and they would need Arora and Apolo if they hoped to weaken him.
When Amyr awoke, Taeron told him that they would be meeting with house Caron soon and that he should ready himself. Yori would be with Jeshed, both learning to make sense of the written symbols with a master teacher now that Stryfe was too busy for them. Taeron did not envy them their lessons because they had bored him to tears. What reason did he have to read when he had a scribe? Gods, was he thinking like Amyr already?
Hearing his directive, Amyr looked as though he wanted to speak his mind about the impending match, but Taeron shook his head to keep him from voicing his opinion, so Amyr went to the bathing chamber. Taeron did not need Amyr to come up with some ridiculous plan to avoid the marriage, especially when he did not know what ridiculous plan his father had already put into motion.
While Taeron was waiting for him, he calmed his nerves by sliding an oiled cloth over the blade of the sword his father had given him when Stryfe strode into the room, scrolls tucked under his arm.
"Your parents are together in one room," he told Taeron, and by the merry light in his eyes, Taeron guessed that it was not going well.
"Has Lady Arora returned?" She was one of his mothers as much as Lady Trynity and Larya.
"She did not accompany them." Stryfe told him with a laugh. "The emperor is furious by her delay and when he complained about her absence, my mother sassed him with some choice words about his overbearing, ape-man behavior, so they were arguing when I left. I think Trey is suspicious that his devious wife is conspiring with the winged royalty of Teralon."
"She will only infuriate him more if she is." said Taeron, frowning. "And I do not think an angry emperor will improve my odds of avoiding this marriage."
"Probably not," agreed Stryfe. "I have spent the last three days hearing over and over again how important this marriage is to the empire. Most of the imperials that went to Teralon and Varoonya with you were from house Caron."
"They are admirable warriors," said Taeron.
Trey's reliance on the southern lord's men had put him in this position and now he had little choice but to appease house Caron. If the emperor lost the their support, it would weaken his army, and if house Caron challenged Trey, the emperor would have to call on every last warrior pledged to his own house to hold him back. The war would be long and blood and the outcome was not assured for either side.
Because of his reluctance to want to fight the honorable men he had commanded because they had already shared so much together, Taeron knew he would have to take Keilana as his bonded wife. But he could not share with any female what he shared with Dijana in his heart. Would his mind become twisted like Staefyn's as he bound himself to a female he did not love?
Amyr strode out of the bathing chamber wearing one of his tunics and Taeron was glad of the distraction from unpleasant thoughts of the future. "My mother is with your father and she will not be pleased to see you wearing that."
"Since you disdained wearing it although it had been set in the chamber for you, I decided not to let it go to waste. I am marginally safe from her wrath in the receiving hall. Has the Teralonian delegation arrived at court?" Amyr glanced at Stryfe for the answer.
"Not yet," Stryfe told them. "Apolo reported that they are arranging for the training of the winged warriors at Edgeland and Prince Consort Roehan wishes to oversee the transition."
"Are the emperor and myself the only two who did not know of their arrival?" asked Taeron with annoyance.
Amyr raised a brow. "What would you have done had you known?"
Taeron would have raced to the fortress faster than his mother had if only to hear news of Dijana. "I am surprised that Neria did not accompany my mother to the palace," remarked Taeron without responding to Amyr. He would rather not deal with the two women at the same time, especially not now when his heart felt like a lifeless lump in his chest.
"They have had the last three days to catch up," said Amyr with a chuckle. "I think I know what the subject of their conversation was."
"My complete humiliation?"
Stryfe and Amyr were still laughing about his answer when they entered the hall. Unfortunately or by design, they soon came upon the males of house Caron accompanying Keilana. For a moment they all fell silent and Taeron suppressed a wince when he looked at the beautiful female. Her long dark lashes were demurely downcast as she stood meekly beside her father. Her skin was pale as marble and he wondered if she would lay like a statue in their bed. He would probably prefer that.
Rendael took his daughter's hand to offer her to him. "My lord prince, would you honor my daughter with an escort?"
Taeron took her hand, but he would be gods' damned if he raised the limp, pale fingers to his lips in the acceptable courtly greeting. Ignoring the annoyance and unease the slight caused, he put her hand on his arm. "I would be most pleased to escort Lady Keilana."
His words seemed to mollify them, and Rendael swept the men accompanying him with a contemptuous gaze before saying, "Walk with us and let your lord have some privacy."
"My brother is not, technically my lord," Taeron heard Stryfe tell the older man as they walked away. "And he is not Prince Amyr's lord either."
Taeron did not hear what Rendael growled in response, but Stryfe fell silent. Privacy was the last thing Taeron wanted with Keilana when in the past three weeks he had enough private encounters with her to last a lifetime. Keilana rarely spoke and then only to recite her accomplishments in her studies and her knowledge in running the household of her father's southern palace, but when he asked about her father's lands, she either had nothing to say on the matter or she was instructed to be evasive. Unlike other females, she did not beg to hear about his campaigns, nor did she lower herself to watch him at sword practice where he more often than not instructed others. She reminded Taeron of a pretty doll that Chaela and Shamara had once fought over and that Amyr had taken to crush under his heel when their shouting had annoyed him. Keilana appeared fragile like that doll, not strong and able to survive what Dijana had during the Varoonyan occupation.
He waited for the males accompanying them to move ahead before he started to walk. He recognized the exotic scent she wore, and while it was not unpleasant, he had grown tired of the cloying aroma. Dijana did not wear scents, but he remembered clearly the smell of her skin, would remember it always even with Keilana's perfume overpowering his senses.
"My father tells me that Lady Arora has planned the ceremony for our oath," Keilana remarked softly.
He wished she would not speak because he wanted to think about Dijana without interruption. Dijana's voice was throaty and remembering how she sounded when she made her noises of pleasure made him feel uncomfortable now.
"The celebration will be grand," continued Keilana, oblivious to his stray thoughts.
If she did not care if he answered her or not, he would think about how soft Dijana's hair was in his hands, how it tickled his flesh when it fell over her shoulders as she pressed kisses to his body.
"My father will bring many warriors to the ceremony," said the woman at his side.
Taeron looked down at her bowed, dark head. "Are you threatening me, female?" He was not going to be polite to her, not when she chose to speak of war.
Now she raised her head and he saw what she had hidden from him in the past weeks. There was deliberate calculation in her icy blue gaze. "I would not presume to threaten the crown prince. I am warning you. Once our houses have settled on an agreement, you will not back out as you did on Teralon."
"I did not back out of any agreement on Teralon," Taeron told her. "And I will remind you that no signatures have been affixed to any documents yet."
She curled her lip. "My father assures me that the emperor has been backed into a corner. They have thoroughly discussed the terms of our marriage."
"You wish this marriage even though I love another?" He doubted the appeal to her vanity would work, but he maliciously hoped she was hurt.
Keilana removed her hand from his arm. "I no longer need to pretend, my lord prince. You may have won yourself a throne with the strength of your sword, and because my house wants that throne, I will give myself to you, but I will not enjoy the touch of a bastard on me."
Her words cut even though he had heard them all his life, but she was not finished driving the blade into his heart.
"When we have bonded, you will cease to think of that Teralonian harlot. If she wanted you, she would not have sent you away. I give her credit for proving herself a good judge of character. Your mother is a whore and you are a bastard, something you cannot change no matter what you do or where you go." She raked him with her contemptuous gaze. "If I must suffer your touch, I will, but I will like it little."
For the rest of the walk to the emperor's receiving room, he did not force her to suffer his touch and she did not put her hand back on his arm even when they came within sight of her family. Sensing his disquiet, Amyr's brows raised and Stryfe viewed them with interest as well, so Taeron guessed he would have to tell his brother about his conversation. He wondered if he should lie for the official account or be brutally honest about what he had discovered about the female he must wed.
The guards opened the door, giving deferential nods to Rendael as well as Taeron, so he knew they were warriors provided by house Caron to serve the emperor. Taeron needed to find out from Trey how many of the guards in the imperial household were from house Caron, and while Taeron knew the men, had trained with many and led many others into battle, he could not be certain of their loyalty.
"Taeron!" Taeron noticed Keilana's grimace of disgust when his mother hurried to hug him. "You look well!"
"I saw you four days ago," he reminded her wryly. But he was happy to feel her arms around him.
She smiled as she looked into his eyes and he had the uncomfortable feeling that she was keeping a secret from him. By the gods, he could not imagine what she had discussed with Dijana's mother.
"You have been entertaining Queen Neria and her consort," he remarked, not giving a gods' damn if Keilana heard him inquiring after Dijana. "Did they mention their daughter?"
His mother laughed and lightly patted his cheek. "Now is not the time to speak of Teralon. I will only say that Neria and I had a pleasant visit. Her consort is brutish and overbearing, but quite handsome. Have you seen his wings? They are majestic!"
"I have had the misfortune of seeing them," Taeron told her. "How did you have the opportunity to see them?" He had only seen Roehan unfurl his wings when he was agitated.
Larya did not answer his question, and since Taeron knew that it did not take much to set off Roehan's temper, he guessed that Neria caused the appearance of the wings. "Come along. There is much to discuss."
Taeron doubted there was much to discuss because Trey and Rendael had spent days discussing the terms of his surrender to Keilana.
When she led him to where Trey stood with Lord Duo and his wife, Lady Trynity came to kiss Taeron's cheek and he noted that house Caron did not seem to care for the healer either. Taeron knew that once those males wrested control of Calabria from Trey, they would return to the old ways. The slave markets would reopen and females would no longer be safe.
"The scribe has drawn up an agreement that I think we will all consider acceptable," began Trey, but Larya cut him off.
"I want to hear it."
Trey's brows drew together as he looked at her. "I have already discussed this with Duo."
Taeron's father scratched his head. "I would like to hear the scribe read it as well since I have forgotten some of the details."
The emperor looked at him with annoyance. "You actively participated in drawing up the document."
Larya huffed with exasperation. "I don't care what you discussed with that oaf," she nodded in Lord Duo's direction. "Taeron is my son and I want to hear exactly what you posturing males have decided." She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Trey. "Do you deny my right?"
"I have taken him into my house," stated Trey with a dismissive wave of his hand. Taeron thought that move was rather brave in the face of Lady Larya, but then the emperor did not look her in the eye when he did it.
Beyond glaring at him, Larya did not push him any further, and yet Taeron was more afraid for the emperor than if she had pulled a sword. Now she turned slowly and speared Rendael with a look that made him start. "Perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me what you males have agreed to do with my son."
Whatever secrets she had about Rendael of house Caron were damning enough for him to nod to Stryfe who sighed and slowly unrolled the scroll to lay out upon the table provided for signing the document. He began to read from the beginning of the scroll which was a recitation of both his antecedents and Keilana's. While the list of Keilana's family was long and impressive, neither Taeron's mother nor father knew who their own parents were and Taeron could see that the males of house Caron were disgusted by how low into the mire they had to go to buy themselves a throne.
Duo interupted his son after he stated his name to inform Stryfe that he had forgotten to add his middle name to the document. Trey argued that Calabrians were known by one name and their house, and then Duo reminded him that he had already accepted his last name so why not add his middle name. Stryfe made a notation on the parchment and apologized that they would not be able to sign the document until later that evening, and when he asked for his father's middle name, Lord Duo had to think for a few moments.
The emperor suggested "Dick" under his breath and Stryfe snorted, then coughed to cover what Taeron suspected was laughter. Biting his bottom lip to keep from laughing himself at what Taeron assumed was a human joke, Duo finally said "James" at the same time his wife said "Robert" after which they argued which name was correct. As Taeron suspected, Trynity was right – or perhaps his father gave in.
Once everyone was satisfied by the preamble declaration of houses, Stryfe began to list Taeron's achievements and Taeron could see that Keilana was bored in hearing what he had accomplished. After finishing with the tale, Duo interrupted again with details from Taeron's visit to Mars Colony which Trey told Stryfe not to include and his decree was followed by an argument between the two men until Duo finally relented.
Rendael and his men could not interrupt when the document was so important to them, so they could only stand with gritted teeth as Taeron's father picked at most of the text and Taeron could see that Stryfe was becoming flustered by his father's censure. Although his mother stood by placidly listening and watching, Taeron suspected she was colluding with Lord Duo to delay the marriage and he was overjoyed to see that they could work together for him.
The reading of the document took the better part of the day and by the time Stryfe had finished reciting the list of goods and services that would be transferred to the emperor's crown prince, Trey was infuriated that his imperial guard questioned every detail. His temper was not eased at all by the occasional smirk he caught on Lady Trynity's lips, but he did not speak to her, so Taeron guessed their previous argument might have gone just shy of her returning to the moon and withholding the herbal remedies that made his life comfortable.
"Are you satisfied?" Trey finally asked Duo when Stryfe had come to the end of a document that was marked up with changes.
"I may need more time to consider," he said.
"You will receive no more time to consider. I took Taeron into my house and I have given you rights you do not deserve." Trey's patience had run its limit.
"That is a harsh thing to say, Trey," pouted Duo. Taeron knew his father was not bothered at all by Trey usurping his rights when Trey had raised him among his own children. Nothing had changed in Taeron's relationship with Lord Duo as a result because Taeron would have spent most of his time on the surface with Amyr anyway.
"If all the details have been decided upon," spoke up Rendael, "we can sign the agreement tonight during the banquet shortly before my daughter and the lord prince speak their oaths. On the morrow they can share the bonding cup in the plaza for the people to witness."
Taeron's heart was pounding in anxiety and he felt more fear than he had in facing any enemy. His father was not speaking to put a stop to this marriage and his mother remained silent! They had exhausted all their resources and Taeron was still going to have to marry Keilana.
Duo glanced at him, then turned to look at his wife.
Taeron held his breath.
Lady Trynity stepped forward and he thought he would become dizzy waiting for her to speak, but she was waiting with mocking deference to be acknowledged by the emperor.
"Now what?" demanded Trey with annoyance.
"I cannot allow Taeron to take the bonding cup with Keilana of house Caron."
"What?!" demanded the males of house Caron together. They were looking at each other as if they had been attacked in the flank and could not recover. Taeron gulped in a breath of relief and he thought he saw his mother smile slightly.
Rendael finally stepped forward, dragging his daughter with his hand on her elbow. "How dare you try to stop this sacred tradition!? My daughter has a right to have a bonded mate!"
Trey glared at Trynity. "We have spoken of this before, woman. You will not interfere in the bonding tradition."
She calmly folded her arms over her chest. "I have thoroughly tested Prince Taeron's blood upon his return from Teralon after his treatment by the sorceress on the frontier world. The outward symptoms of his bonding to Princess Dijana seem to have been erased, but I may need more time to test if his blood still has antibodies that will attack if another female's blood is introduced into his hemoglobin."
Taeron had no idea what she was talking about.
Neither did Rendael. "I do not understand your words!"
She rolled her eyes. "Taking Keilana's blood from the bonding cup might kill him."
"It might not," said Keilana with a quiet, sweet voice that made sympathetic eyes turn to her while Taeron was disgusted by the wraith-like female. "The gods will decide."
"Very well," said Trynity with a shrug. "And when he writhes in a painful death only moments later, you will be a widow before you are even a wife. We shall discover what the gods have decided."
Keilana pursed her lips and Taeron knew that she was seething with fury.
Lady Trynity smiled with as much false sweetness as Keilana had shown only a few moments ago. "I can perform some tests if you but offer your blood. I can mix it with the lord prince's blood and see if there is a reaction. If not, then you may bond with the gods' blessing."
Taeron wanted to tell Trynity he preferred writhing in his death throes at Keilana's feet, but there was a chance that he would be able to bond with her so he remained silent.
"How do we know you can be trusted?" Rendael asked the beautiful healer.
Lord Duo growled with fury and both Trey and Taeron had to seize him to keep him from drawing his sword. "I would enjoy nothing better than to treat you to the edge of my blade, Rendael of house Caron, the same edge that drank the blood of your father."
Rendael started to draw his own sword, but his sons stopped him as well. "One day, Duo of house Maxwell, I will stand over your lifeless body."
"Are you males done making threats?" asked Larya calmly. She looked at Keilana. "I must insist that you submit to Lady Trynity's tests. I do not want my son to die needlessly. Of course, if you do not insist on bonding …"
Keilana looked at her father who shook his head and then she went to Lady Trynity. "I will do what I must to prove that the gods mean for me to be Prince Taeron's mate."
No one was surprised that the healer carried the necessary supplies to draw blood in a satchel that she carried everywhere with her. When she stuck the long needle into Keilana's arm, Taeron wondered if it was his imagination that she was not nearly as gentle as she usually was when drawing blood. Keilana winced and Taeron was surprised that seemed even paler as she watched her blood seep into the glass tube.
When she finished, Trynity pulled out the needle and pressed a small white cloth square to the spot that soon stopped bleeding. She told them all that she would have the results on the morrow. Without any further discussion, house Caron retreated, probably to investigate an alternate strategy if the healer proved him unable to bond with Keilana.
After Taeron and Trey released Duo, he straightened his shoulders and fixed Trey with a glare that was not feigned. "I will avenge that insult."
Trynity tossed the tube of blood in her satchel. "That went well."
"That went well?" demanded Trey furiously. "Do you want to spend your days treating maimed and dying warriors?" He looked at Taeron. "I know you had nothing to do with this." His gaze moved to Larya. "And what of you? Do you realize how powerful this marriage will make your son? Why would you try to destroy the alliance with house Caron?"
"Because the males are swine," she stated matter of factly. "Xuxa handed me over to that fat old bastard Caron when I was but twelve, and after he finished with me, he gave me to his vile sons as if I were a scrap thrown to the dogs. Raemon beat me nigh senseless before using me, and when it was Rendael's turn, he cried like a baby and wet himself instead."
"By the gods, mother!" Taeron was heartsick to hear her story.
"Rendael was always a timid hill weasel around his brother," she told them. "And since his brother's death, the hill weasel has grown sharp teeth and claws."
Trey stared at her incredulously. "Why did you never say anything to me?"
"When did you ever care?" she asked him. "Xuxa blamed me for the beating Caron had given me because she thought I had deserved it, so she beat me again when Caron told her that I did not pleasure his younger son. She forced me to go back to him on my knees. Did you think I was always a pampered whore, prancing about half-naked to seduce the crown prince?"
Taeron was surprised that her words seemed to trouble Trey, but after a moment he turned back around to look at Duo. "What did you mean about your sword drinking Caron's blood? Wasn't he killed by the palace imperials?"
Duo did not respond.
Trey waited for him to speak, and when it became clear he would not, Trey turned around to look at Amyr who had wisely chosen to remain in the shadows throughout the day, dozing off an on. Now he straightened as his father spoke to him. "Do you know what he was speaking of?"
"I was not even born yet," Amyr reminded him with a nervous laugh.
Taeron hoped the emperor did not ask him. He was not as skilled in telling half-truths as the rest of them were.
"Your wife led the palace guard," Larya reminded him before Trey could ask him what he knew. "You shall have to save your questions for her. I, for one, do not care whose blade drank his blood. I would have enjoying bathing in it."
Trey ran a nervous hand through his hair. "By the gods, I need Arora! This business is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth. And why did you leave Apolo at the fortress?"
"For the same reason that Arora stayed behind. Queen Neria and her consort are guests who have come a long way to deliver warriors for training. You should be thankful that Arora knows her duty while you play your matchmaking games." Under her censure, his shoulders slumped and he lowered his head, so Larya went to Trey and put her hands on his shoulders by his neck. "You are very tense and need some rest."
She was massaging his shoulders and Taeron was surprised that Trey reacted with pleasure of her touch. "I could not sleep at all last night," he admitted.
"Remember when I would do this for Arora when she was heavy with child and then you would demand that I do the same for you?"
Trey laughed softly as he took her hands and raised them to his lips. "You know just the right spots, Larya."
Taeron was surprised that the emperor did not flinch away from her, had openly touched his lips to her without the usual reaction of a bonded mate to another female, and he realized then that the emperor had never shown an adverse reaction to Larya. He had never heard of bonded males able to maintain a friendship with a female other than their mates.
"Interesting," commented Trynity as she looked at the door they had passed through. She must have been considering what Taeron had. "I wonder if non-breeding females are viewed as non-threatening to bonded males."
"I cannot imagine any female more threatening than Larya, breeding or not," remarked Duo.
"You must not have met Queen Neria," remarked Amyr with a shudder.
"At least I have never seen Larya kill anyone," added Stryfe. "I will never forget how she dropped her own son out of the sky without even batting a lash."
Irritated that they should bring up Teralon, Taeron looked at Trynity. "Will you need some of my blood?" he asked although he would rather she not poke his arm with her needle.
She looked back at him. "Oh, no, I don't need to. You have nothing to worry about. Whatever that sorceress did to you completely cleansed your blood of any residual effect of your bond with Dijana."
Taeron frowned at her. "Did you lie to the emperor?"
"Lie?" She raised her brow.
Lord Duo growled. "Are you accusing my mate of lying?"
"Taeron, my mother never said there was anything wrong with your blood," pointed out Stryfe. "She just said she was going to do some testing." The scribe's recollection was never wrong. How would Trey feel to know about all the misinformation that he was given? Taeron doubted he would be pleased.
"I suppose I should do some testing then," commented Trynity with a sigh, "Or I will be guilty of lying. Duo, do you think there are any high-powered microscopes or genetic analyzers to be had in the palace?"
"Babe, I really doubt it." Lord Duo went to his wife and slipped his arm around her waist. "And I don't really care."
Taeron looked away when he nuzzled her neck. His father wasn't bonded, but he acted as if he were.
Stryfe was grinning at the affectionate display his parents were putting on. "Hey, mom, I have a magnifying glass in my office. Will that help?"
Duo raised his head. "I'm a dolt when it comes to biology, but even I know that won't help."
"I did not say how thoroughly I will study the blood," she reminded him. "I can see a few things with a magnifying glass."
"Like the color?" asked Stryfe with a chuckle.
"I would be curious if Keilana has red blood," commented Amyr.
"I am sure she supplied only ice water," muttered Taeron.
Duo laughed and pulled Trynity up in his arms. "Stryfe, bring that thing around in a few hours."
"Hours?" Stryfe scratched his head and Amyr chuckled as Taeron's father walked out carrying his wife.
"When you have a mate, you may find you want to spend hours with her instead of the few minutes you spend on your females," Amyr told him. He glanced at Taeron as if waiting for confirmation, but Taeron did not want to be reminded of the hours he spent with Dijana, not when he was going to end up lying with a female as cold as a mountain river snake.
"What am I going to do?" he asked aloud.
"You could try appealing to the gods," suggested Amyr with a smile. "They have been known to listen to you."
"They haven't yet," grumbled Taeron.
"Try being a little more specific," said Stryfe. "For example, 'O mighty gods, please save me tonight from making a terrible mistake.'"
"Seems a little general," remarked Amyr. "The terrible mistake might be putting on a sweaty old tunic to wear at his oath giving banquet."
"Nothing could top the mistake you made at your banquet," argued Stryfe.
Taeron sighed with exasperation, and he walked to the window where the second sun was already in descent and he raised his hands as he closed his eyes. "Gods, please send Dijana to me tonight, before I shame myself with an oath I do not wish to make. I will love and honor her all the days of my life if you just give me a chance."
He felt embarrassed by what he had said and when his brothers did not tease him he turned to see that they were staring at him in wonder. "What is the matter with you?"
"Gods' blessed," said Stryfe.
Amyr smiled at Taeron. "I don't think the gods have ever heard a more worthy plea. I should not be surprised if they answered you."
Taeron turned away from them to look at the sky and the few stars he could see. Dijana was too far away and this time the gods would be unable to heed his cry for help.