"Are you ready for this?" King Randor asked his son as he helped him load up Attak Trak.
"As ready as I ever will be," Adam answered. "I'm not quite as good at making big speeches as you are though. I'm not sure how I'll do when this is my first tour without you there to guide me."
"Nonsense. You did quite well today in the meeting," Randor replied with a smile. "And I want to thank you for what you said in there to defend me when my brother-"
Adam dismissed his father with a wave of his hand. "It's no less than you would have done for me. After all, as you're so fond of pointing out, I don't exactly have a spotless reputation."
"Still, I owe you a real apology for not seeing sooner the good man that you can be and in my haste to force you to grow up, forcing this mandate on you. I was wrong to do that."
"Apology accepted," Adam responded warmly, never expecting that his father would admit that he was wrong. "But, honestly, I think it's all working out for the best. Yes, I was upset about it at first, but look how happy Teela and I are now and it might never have happened if your mandate hadn't pushed me into really confronting my feelings for her."
"I can see that. I'm just sorry that I never saw it before, how much you love her and how suited you are for one another. It had never even occurred to me that that was why you struggled in your training with her. I thought-"
"I know what you thought; that I was just being lazy, but it's over with now. We don't need to rehash it again."
"I'm very happy to see these new attitudes you've adopted and while we're on the subject," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheaf of papers. "This is your schedule. You must adhere to it as closely as possible."
"I understand, Father."
"And Adam, remember what I said last night about being more discreet. I don't want to hear any stories about you acting inappropriately while you're visiting other kingdoms. You did very well at impressing the other leaders last night by standing up to Skeletor and again today in the meeting when Stefan started asking uncomfortable questions, but if you blow it simply because you and Teela can't keep your hands to yourselves-"
"Oh, come on, not this again!" Things had been going so well between them and now he was about to get another lecture. "We are getting married, after all. That's what this tour is all about, isn't it? To introduce people to the future queen?"
"It's about much more than just that. It's just as important to project the right image before your wedding and you're not going to do that if you two are sneaking out of events for a little quickie here and there."
Adam's mouth dropped open. He'd never heard his father be quite so blunt before about his private life. "Dad!"
"I do remember what it's like to be young and in love, but this is more important than you seem to realize. I honestly don't care what you do behind closed doors as long as it stays there. Save it for when you can be truly alone and I don't mean by sneaking into her room at night in someone else's home while you're on the road."
Before Adam could respond, Teela and Marlena flew overhead on Sky-Sleds. Both men looked up at them. "I never cease to be impressed at what a skilled pilot she is."
"Do you mean Mom or Teela?" He smiled as the two ladies landed smoothly side by side.
"Well, I was talking about your mother, but I suppose it could apply to both. Teela taught your mother how to fly a Sky-Sled and in return, she taught Teela to fly the Rainbow Explorer. She seems quite pleased to have Teela as a future daughter-in-law…and for the record, so am I."
"Are we ready to get these loaded up?" Teela inquired as she and Marlena approached them.
"Yes, that's all that's left and then we can take off," Adam answered.
The two men loaded the Sky-Sleds and when they were done, Marlena said, "I'm going to miss you so much!"
"Aw, Mom, we're only going to be gone for four days. We'll be back before you know it. Besides, you're going to be so busy with the wedding planning I bet you won't even have time to miss us."
"Excellent flying, my dear," Randor complimented her to lighten the mood.
"Why, thank you. I owe it all to Teela for teaching me to fly it."
Teela waved her hand dismissively. "You were easy to teach since you were already an experienced pilot. Beside, I learned a lot from you too, like the Immelmann turn."
"Are you ready to get going?" Adam asked his fiancée"
"Just let me pop inside and say goodbye to my father first," Teela answered as she headed back inside.
"And I should get out of this flight suit and start looking more like a queen again, but before I do," Marlena added. "I need to do this." She hugged her son tightly. "You be safe on your travels."
"I will," he promised, but then as he pulled back from their embrace, he noticed the bruise peeking out from her flight suit. "Mom, what happened to you?"
The king looked over and said, "Oh, my that really looks bad." But he couldn't help smirking as the memory of their prior night's passion flitted through his mind and when he saw his wife's perturbed expression, he laughed out loud.
"That's just like a man to be proud of marking his territory like a dog," she teased in a scolding tone.
"Ew!" Adam made a face. "I'm sorry I asked."
"Not proud, just reliving happy memories, my love," he informed her as he planted a quick kiss on her lips.
She playfully slapped him away. "Don't you try to charm me. Now, I have to go inside and find a suitable scarf to go with my dress for the afternoon court session."
She headed back inside while Adam glowered at his father. "You were just lecturing me about being discreet, but that doesn't look very discreet when it's obvious what you were doing with Mom last night. Don't you think that's a little hypocritical?"
"Not at all. She is my wife while Teela is not yet yours. Besides, it's not as if I was doing it where a whole ballroom full of people could have seen it like you and Teela at the ball. We were completely alone in the privacy of our own bedroom. Once you two are safely married and moved into your own apartment, it won't matter anymore and you'll be able to do the same if you choose, but until then, you must build a solid reputation and that means behaving as if you haven't already been to bed together several times. Do I make myself clear?"
"Listen, Dad, I understand what you're saying, but I don't think I can possibly do anything that would hurt my reputation more than it already has been."
"You'd be surprised," his father replied. "But if you don't want to worry about your own reputation, you should at least think of your bride's and what a bad image could do to her as your future queen."
"Don't you think you're overreacting?"
They had no time to discuss it further as Teela returned with a chipper, "Let's get this show on the road."
"Be safe out there!" Randor called as they waved goodbye and climbed into the armored vehicle.
"This schedule is crazy!" Teela grumbled as she looked over their itinerary while Adam sat behind the controls of the Attak Trak. "And why did he have to start us in Operon of all places, followed by Targa?"
"Perhaps he did that to get the most difficult ones out of the way since we both have former lovers in the Vine Jungle."
"But I don't think he knows about my brief affair with Marius, unless maybe my father told him."
"I'm sure Duncan wouldn't betray your trust like that, especially after he already kept from you the fact that he's actually your father. I'm thinking he probably just suggested it to my father because pretty much the whole palace knows about my fling with Princess Rhea. It's probably why we're only scheduled to have a luncheon there followed by the dinner in their neighboring kingdom, Targa."
"I bet you're right," she concurred. "I just hope it's a quick luncheon so we don't have to spend much time trying to avoid awkwardness with your ex."
"Speaking of which, what did happen between you and Princess Rhea last night while I was talking to my father?"
Teela laid out her conversation with his former lover and concluded with, "The way she smiled at me when she said she'd underestimated me makes me think that she staged the whole thing just to test me, you know, see if I'm up to dealing with scrutiny that comes with being part of the royal family."
"The way you put my snobbish cousin in her place, I'd say you're more than up to the challenge. But you might be right about her testing you. After all, she grew up as a princess which goes with the same kind of pressure, including her getting caught in the middle of the feud between Operon and Targa."
"Oh, that's right. You saved her once, didn't you? Maybe that's the real reason she wanted to sleep with you."
"I don't think so because it was really He-Man who saved her. She kissed me once as He-Man out of gratitude, but it was me, Adam, she slept with. If you wanna know the truth, I think it was because she'd heard about my reputation as a ladies' man and wanted to see if it was true."
"Well, we're going to change that reputation of yours from ladies' man to family man." She patted her abdomen.
"Not for a while," he reminded her. "Remember that we can't mention your pregnancy at all while we're on tour. You never know who might be listening."
"I know. It just makes me a little sad that we can't celebrate our babies yet."
"We'll have plenty of time for that after we're married. After all, if it weren't for your mother, we wouldn't even know they exist yet."
She nodded as she went back to the schedule and compared it to her maps. "You know, your father's schedule might just be for geographic reasons since the Vine Jungle is just north of Eternos, then we loop around through Dyperia where your uncle lives, followed by Arcadia-"
"Let's just hope Queen Sumana doesn't try to enslave me again just for being an evil male," he laughed.
"I think we taught her a lesson about equality between the sexes last time we were there," she pointed out, not finding his attempt at a joke funny.
"I hope so. I'd hate to find myself slaving away in her mines again once she finds out I've had the audacity to talk you into marrying me and becoming my princess. She might think I was depriving you of independent thought or something."
This time she did laugh and fired back, "You wish!"
"Nah, I love your independent streak."
She smiled, but then returned to the schedule. "As I was saying, the last stop on our journey is Morragor and then back home again."
"You'd just better not be kissing any cursed princes in Morragor now that we're engaged," he teased.
"I don't know, he was pretty handsome after he was transformed from his monster form," she countered.
"Hey!" Adam protested in an affronted tone.
"Relax, Adam, the only prince I want to kiss these days is you."
"Unfortunately, we're going to have to keep that to a minimum during this trip." He relayed the conversation he'd just had with his father.
"I hate this," she sighed.
He reached for her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. "We'll get through this and by the time we get back, our wedding will only be a week away and then after that, it won't matter anymore how affectionate we are with one another. It will be expected because we'll be newlyweds."
"Oh! That reminds me! I didn't tell you what our parents have been working on for our honeymoon."
"Oh, right! I hadn't even thought of that."
"Well, neither did I. We've both been so busy just dealing with all the pre-wedding stuff it never even occurred to me to think about what kind of trip we'd take, but fortunately for us, it did to our parents."
"Oh boy," he groaned. "I can only imagine what my father would plan, someplace like the tar swamp where we can't possibly have any sort of fun."
"On the contrary," she informed him. "Do you remember those two Earth astronauts who were temporarily stranded here awhile back?"
"How could I forget? I had to fly into space with them to destroy that meteor before it destroyed my mother's home planet. It was kinda nice for a moment though. I got to at least see where she came from even if it was from a distance."
"Well, that's sort of the point of this," she began. "Ever since then, your mother and my father have apparently been working together on a way to communicate with those two and they were finally successful at it."
"Okay, but what's that got to do with our honeymoon?"
"Your mother and I were talking about different wedding customs on Earth and she told me there are some great honeymoon spots there."
"So?"
"So, with the long-range shuttle combined with the Earth coordinates that were extracted from your mother's ship and her insane knowledge of space travel, my father thinks he can arrange for us to go there and he's trying to work it out with Colonel Blaze for us to get permission to land there at a place called the Kennedy Space Center."
"Wow, that's where my mother said her ship launched from before she crash-landed here. This means I might actually be able to see where my mother came from!" he exclaimed excitedly. "But, wait a minute, that's great for me, but what's in it for you? This trip is supposed to be for both of us, not just me."
"Are you kidding? You heard the way Major Steele raved about your mother and how famous she was there and how much they admired her. I'd love to see it when she's taught me so much more about flying just when I thought I'd learned it all. Just think about it. Someday we'll be able to tell our children all about their famous grandmother. Growing up here, they'll learn all about Eternian history and your father's side of the family, but this is something different. You have no family here from your mother's side so unless she tells them stories as she did with you, they'd be missing out on a part of their family legacy and growing up with only my father, I know how sad it is to be missing out on part of where you came from."
"But how will we make it there when it's so far away? My mother got caught in a meteor storm and blown off-course to get her here and the other two were caught in a vortex."
"Well, my father and your mother are putting their heads together to figure out how to reverse engineer that path just like they did to send those astronauts home."
"That's amazing, but won't that take us away from home for too long?"
"That's where your father comes in. They both spoke to him about how this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and have almost got him convinced to let you take more time off from your royal duties to allow for a longer trip and my father has agreed to help cover for me in my guard duties along with Lieutenant Duff. The best part of it is that if we do this our trip should last long enough that when we get back home, I can take a trip to the court physician to officially confirm my pregnancy and people will just assume we got pregnant right away on our honeymoon and we can finally properly celebrate it."
"Did you come up with that idea?"
"No, actually, according to your mother, that was your father's plan."
"My father has a lot of plans," Adam grumbled, still feeing sore about their last conversation. While Randor had apologized for the way he'd been treating him, he'd also laid down more rules for him. Why couldn't he just allow him to be happy and at peace for once? If he knew all that he had to deal with… Adam shook his head, knowing he shouldn't tell his father the truth.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, fine," he lied and pasted on a smile. "How did things go with your mother today?"
"Great! She's actually teaching me some real spells instead of just this boring telepathy stuff."
"Oh, I don't know. I didn't think it was so boring yesterday when you were in my head and I could feel how much you wanted me." He shot a sly grin her way.
She flushed and replied, "Well, I couldn't stop thinking about what happened at the loading dock. It was so much on my mind that I accidentally projected it to my mother."
"Oh no!" The last thing he wanted on top of his father berating him was the powerful Sorceress thinking badly of him for violating her only daughter. "Is she ready to murder me?"
"Not at all. I think if she were, she'd have done that when she found out you got me pregnant," she teased. "Weirdly, she seems pretty unruffled about the whole thing."
"Well, let's hope Princess Rhea is too," he nodded to the landscape ahead as the palace of Operon came into view.
"I guess I'd better get out of this uniform then and put on a proper dress fit for a future princess." She slipped into the back to get to her luggage and quickly found the garment bag that held the dresses she and Queen Marlena had painstakingly picked out for each stop on their tour. Since Operon was a muggy jungle region, they'd decided on an olive green sundress for the luncheon in Operon and a fancier sleeveless evening gown in the same hue for the dinner party in neighboring Targa.
"Adam, you're lucky you don't have to go through this," she sighed as she stripped off her armor. "Men's clothes are so much simpler." She made a face at the strappy high heels that matched both dresses.
"True, but at least you don't have to wear a coronet. That stupid thing is so heavy, it gives me a headache after awhile."
"I would gladly trade you the headache for the pinched feet from wearing these idiotic heels," she countered as she stepped back to the front and carefully settled into her seat, taking great care not to wrinkle her dress.
"You look lovely," he complimented her with a warm smile as their vehicle rolled to a stop in front of the palace.
"Better than your ex-lover?"
"Of course," he replied without missing a beat. "You know it was always you that I loved."
She smiled back at him and leaned in to place a sweet kiss on his lips.
"So, I guess we're ready," he declared half-heartedly.
"Not quite yet," she reminded him as she indicated the velvet-lined box she'd brought with her from the cargo area.
"Ugh," he grimaced as she opened it.
She smoothed out his shaggy blond hair and placed the coronet perfectly centered on his head. "You know, the more I think about it, the more I think how dashing it makes you look, like a real prince for a change." She reached out to lightly caress his face and kissed him once more.
"And you, my love, look like a real princess," he replied as he reached for the hand still on his face, placed a soft kiss on it and said, "But we should make our presence known. It's almost that time." He quickly climbed out and then offered her a hand to help her out as well.
They introduced themselves to the guards in front of the palace who ushered them into the throne room. They both bowed to the king who gave them a nod in return and said, "Welcome, Prince Adam."
"Thank you, King Thales," Adam replied respectfully. "May I present my future princess, Captain Teela."
"Welcome to you as well, Captain Teela, it's nice to see you again." He smiled warmly. "You both know my daughter, Princess Rhea. She has spoken very highly of her visits to Eternos."
The princess grinned at them and said, "That was quite the party last night. I particularly enjoyed getting to know Teela better."
"Likewise," Teela replied with a smug smile as she linked her arm through Adam's.
"Let us adjourn to the dining room where our chef has prepared a celebratory luncheon for our Crown Prince and his future princess."
As they settled in at the table, Princess Rhea said, "It's such a pity that the two of you are only visiting for such a short time. I rather enjoyed my brief time speaking with you last night, Teela."
Adam eyed his former lover warily, trying to determine if she was being sarcastic after the details Teela had provided about their conversation.
"Oh, yes," Teela responded enthusiastically. "It was rather enlightening. I was telling Adam all about it in our way here this morning."
"Oh?" The princess blinked in surprise.
"Oh, yes," Teela answered with a pointed look. "After all, we are going to be married very soon. We don't keep secrets from each other. Right, Adam?"
"Absolutely!" Adam agreed. "And you know, since Teela and I grew up in the palace of Eternos together we've always shared everything. I am a very fortunate man to be able to spend the rest of my life with my best friend."
"What a lovely sentiment," King Thales said as he raised his glass to toast them. "I wish you happiness in your upcoming marriage and I offer my apologies for not being present at your engagement gala. I regret that I won't be able to attend your wedding either, but unfortunately, I must stay here as there are those in my kingdom who still wish to continue the long-standing feud with Targa despite Queen Balina being dethroned. King Garn and I are working together to try to rid both of our kingdoms of that type of negative thinking, but it's been a challenge as people can be set in their ways."
"I understand how difficult that must be for you. As you know, we're heading to Targa next. Do you think there is anything we could do to help?"
"I can't think what it would be." The king replied.
"Well, if you ever need our help, just know that the Eternian Royal Guard is at your disposal, even if you find you just need more bodyguards," Teela offered.
"That's very kind of you, Captain. With such a generous spirit, you are going to be a fine queen in the future."
Adam beamed at her with pride.
As they said their goodbyes later and made their way out, Adam whispered to her, "That went much better than I expected."
"One ex down, one to go," she replied with a nervous laugh.
"Yeah, let's hope the next one goes as well."
When they arrived in Targa, however, they soon learned that was not to be the case. As luck would have it, Marius himself was the one to show them into King Garn's throne room, all the while shooting hostile looks toward the couple, especially Adam.
Adam and Teela exchanged worried looks as they greeted the king who was just as welcoming as King Thales had been, however, both of them were having trouble overlooking the glares from Marius.
Once the dinner party had begun, things didn't get much better. When Teela made the same offer to King Garn as she had to King Thales in an attempt to keep the peace between the two kingdoms, it only escalated.
"Teela's been working tirelessly on a new training regimen for Guard," Adam told the king. "She's quite skilled."
"Well, I know just how skilled Teela is, " Marius sneered, his voice dripping with innuendo.
Adam sidestepped the thinly-veiled insult with a smile. "Well, she was trained by the best, not only is her father our Man-at-Arms, but she's also learned things no other pilot on Eternia has because my mother has taught her some maneuvers that she learned on Earth and she was a well-known astronaut before she married my father."
"Oh, that's right. Your mother's not from here, is she?" Marius sneered and turned his attention to Teela. "Why on Eternia would you want to marry a half-breed?"
"How dare you!" Teela jumped from her seat prepared to strike, but Adam stopped her with a hand on her wrist.
"Don't, Teela, it's not worth it." He glowered at Marius. "Is that the best you can do? Do you think I haven't heard that before? It's never been any secret that my mother is Terran, not Eternian, but that didn't stop my father from falling in love with her any more than it stopped Teela from falling in love with me."
"Is that what she's calling it now?"
"That's enough!" the king jumped in to defend his guests. "Captain Marius, you are dismissed."
"But-"
"No, buts and I would advise you to think very carefully in the future about how you address the Crown Prince of Eternia and his bride-to-be."
Marius shot one more hostile look Adam's way before slinking out of the room.
"Thank you, King Garn and while your offer to house us for the night was very generous, under the circumstances, it may be best if we decline to avoid any further trouble. We have sleeping quarters on our vehicle that will suffice for one night."
"I wouldn't hear of it, not when you can sleep in comfortable beds. I insist you stay. We already have guest quarters prepared for you."
"That's very kind of you, Your Majesty," Teela replied.
Later that night, they retrieved what luggage they would need for the night and were shown to their rooms across the hall from each other.
"Well, I guess I don't need to walk you to your room this time, " he teased in a attempt to lighten the mood. "But I can at least help you with your luggage."
"Why, Prince Adam, I'm shocked at your blatant attempt to get into my room," she fired back with a teasing grin.
He slipped his hands around her waist. "Is it working?" He smirked at her.
"I wish," she sighed. "But after the way Marius acted tonight, we'd better not risk adding more fuel to the fire. Besides, I can't help thinking about what your father said to you today."
Adam nodded. "Yeah, and you just know my father would hear about it." He let out a groan of frustration and resigned himself to the task at hand and picked up her luggage. She opened the door for him and he carried it inside.
"Thanks," she replied half-heartedly knowing he couldn't stay there.
"Do you need any help unpacking?" he offered.
"No. I only need enough things to shower, change for bed and then another change of clothes in the morning since we're only here for the one night."
"Of course. I…uh… I guess we should say goodnight then." He frowned as he walked toward the door, hating how awkward things had become in just a couple of minutes.
She nodded as he leaned in for a chaste goodnight kiss. She laid her hands on his shoulders while his slid to her waist and what was intended to be a simple kiss soon grew more heated.
"I see some things never change," a goading voice interrupted them. "Do they, Teela? But I'm the one who was reprimanded for simply speaking the truth," Marius jeered.
"We were just saying goodnight," Adam defended himself.
"I know all about how she 'says goodnight'" he taunted.
"Oh, will you give it a rest already?" Teela snapped. "You and I were teenagers back then and I've grown up since then."
"You certainly have," Marius looked her up and down, leering at her salaciously.
"That's enough of that!" Adam was seething now, barely keeping his temper in check. "You've insulted me, my fiancée, my mother and by extension, my father for choosing her to be his queen and I've had all I can stand of it!" he stated forcefully. "Do you think Teela wouldn't have told me about your past together when we've been friends for our entire lives?"
"I-" Marius began, fumbling for a moment before recovering. "You say you won't stand for it, but everyone knows you're all talk; pampered Prince Adam with his parties and promiscuous women." He leered at Teela again and then turned back to Adam. "But it's no wonder that you're not much of a prince considering your father tainted the royal bloodline forever when he married his Terran trollop."
Adam clenched his fists at his side resisting the urge to punch the other man. He took a deep breath and decided to show him just what the power of a Crown Prince could do. "You know, Captain Marius, I've heard rumors that you don't like your assignment here in the Vine Jungle. Perhaps you'd like to be reassigned," Adam suggested in a menacing time. "I was just speaking to King Barbo this morning and he could use some more guards on the Dark Moon colony. Of course, that would mean a demotion because he already has a skilled captain."
"I suppose then that I could just spread the word that your future queen is damaged goods, just like your whore of a mother."
"Go ahead," Teela challenged as she gripped Adam's arm to keep him from swinging on her former lover after the insult to the queen. "Everyone already knows that you were sent to the ass-end of the jungle while I was assigned to the royal palace of Eternos because I out-scored you in every category when we were in training together. Think about how petty and bitter that would make you look if you start spreading vicious rumors about me."
"It's not a rumor if it's true," Marius fired back.
"I suppose then I could just tell people how you stalked me and harassed me all because you were a jilted lover. I could even take it further by letting people know the real reason you were dumped. You called Adam useless as a prince, but who was the one jealous of him when I became his bodyguard?"
"Becaause I know all about how you 'guard' his body," Marius sneered.
"You know, Teela, I'm now thinking Dark Moon is too good for him. Perhaps, we should arrange for a transfer to Arcadia and let him work for Queen Sumana in her mines. We'll be seeing her in two days. I'm sure I could arrange that with her."
"Fine!" Marius snapped. "But don't think this is over!" He stormed off in a huff, cursing both of them.
"That doesn't sound good," Adam said worriedly.
"Just ignore him. He's the one who's all talk," Teela replied nonchalantly. "I should know."
"I hope you're right."
"Listen, we have a long day of travel tomorrow, so we should get to bed."
"Yeah, I'll see you in the morning." They exchanged one more quick kiss and went their separate ways.
The following morning, they had said their goodbyes, thanked King Garn for his hospitality and were reloading Attack Trak preparing to leave. As soon as they got into their seats, Trak's computerized voice sounded to tell them that they had a communication from the palace. They exchanged worried looks as Adam replied, "Go ahead, Trak."
King Randor appeared on-screen, looking angrier than Adam had ever seen him and yelled in a demanding tone, "What on Eternia have you been up to in Targa?"
Trying to keep his cool, Adam answered calmly, "I don't know what you mean, Father. We just left King Garn and he was rather pleased with our visit." He related the information about the tension between the two jungle kingdoms and their offer of help.
"While that's great for diplomacy, I'm more concerned about the report I just received from their Captain about you being seen sneaking into Teela's room despite my warnings about being discreet."
"Your Majesty, that's not what happened," Teela explained. "Adam was just helping me with my luggage and then Marius interrupted us when we were saying goodnight."
"Yes," Adam confirmed. "There was nothing going on other than a goodnight kiss with the door wide open so that anyone could see that we weren't doing anything inappropriate."
"Captain Marius is telling an entirely different story and is threatening to spread it around the entire planet that your bride-to-be is a loose woman if I don't transfer him to Drisdos or Dyperia or one of the other larger cities."
Adam sighed, thinking that Marius must be retaliating over his threat to send him to King Barbo or Queen Sumana. He wondered if he should tell his father about Teela's past relationship with Marius, but opted against it, figuring that might make matters worse. Instead, he informed his father of the insults Marius had been slinging at them during dinner. "You can contact King Garn if you don't believe me. It got so bad that the king dismissed him from the dinner party."
"Believe me, I will," Randor replied. "In the meantime, I feel it might be better for the two of you to cut your tour short so that we can do some damage control. I may even have to give in to his demands just to save face."
"No!" Adam exclaimed. "You can't do that! If you cave in to one threat, that will make you and our entire kingdom open for further attempts at blackmail and then where would it end?"
"And I don't think it's good idea to cancel the rest of our tour either," Teela added. "Then it will just make it appear we have something to hide when we don't."
"Well, you DO have something to hide," the king reminded them. "If it were to get out that you're pregnant…"
"We'll make sure that doesn't happen, I promise." Adam assured his father.
"See that you do and I hate to say it, but if you're going to continue this tour, I'm going to have to reinstate the rules I imposed on you during your engagement gala."
"But, Father-" Adam protested.
"I mean it, Adam! Stick to the rules I set forth, period!"
Without giving them a chance to reply, the king ended the communication.
"This is going to be a long three days," Adam moaned as he wondered what else could possibly go wrong. His resentment toward his father had grown even more now. He and Teela had done everything right and it still wasn't enough. He didn't know what more he could do to live up to King Randor's rigid expectations or to get him to stop always believing the worst of him. Once more, he found himself wondering if the answer was just to share his secret with the king.