Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, Deb awakened in Rastrath’s arms feeling extraordinarily contented. Her baby was safe, she had her freedom, and she had a man who treated her with remarkable kindness and who touched her body in a way that only grew better each time. She could hear shutters being opened in the other rooms and saw sunlight peeking around the bedroom door. The storm had passed. The only shadow on her existence was the fact that she would never be able to see her family again.

“Regrets, sweetheart?” His voice was cautious, and she hugged him reassuringly.

“Not about you, or about last night. I was just missing my family. I’m sorry you didn’t have a better one.”

“You can’t miss what you never had.” He shrugged but she knew him well enough by now to know that he was nowhere near as casual as he sounded.

“Were you ever around any happy families?”

“In the Imperial Palace? I’m not sure that they exist. Everything is about power and position, and your children are only pawns in that game.” He rolled to his back, taking her with him, and stared up at the ceiling. “The only exception I can think of might be the Emperor himself. His mother wasn’t brought up in the palace. Once she was selected to become the First Consort, she was sent to a convent on Draenor to be reared to ensure her purity.”

She shivered. “They sent her to a convent? That sounds terrible.”

“I don’t think it was. The Sisters of Rakokh believe in goodness and charity. I suspect they were kind to her and in turn taught her to be kind, but it didn’t serve her very well once she became First Consort.”

“Did you know her?”

“No, half-blood princes far down the line of succession do not associate with the immediate royal family. But I would see her sometimes. She was very beautiful and very sad. I think she loved her son very much and he loved her. He grieved openly at her death.”

“Wouldn’t anyone grieve if their mother died?”

“Not on Kaisar. Showing true emotion only makes you vulnerable.”

Her hand went up to stroke his cheek, her heart aching at the terrible childhood he must have endured. Thank God her child could be brought up here. She hadn’t seen many children in the palace, but she couldn’t imagine that the gentle Sheraens would treat their children so.

Rast’s hand covered hers, then brought it to his mouth, his tongue tickling her palm before he drew one of her fingers between his lips and sucked gently. Her body immediately responded to the sensual pleasure and wiggled closer, reaching down to find his already hardening shaft.

The communicator sounded.

“Gods damn it, Marious. What is it now? Neither I nor Mistress Deb are available.”

“I beg your pardon, Your Highness, but there was a message from Captain Athtar. He has entered the system and will be arriving shortly.”

“Today?” Rast’s muscles tensed. “Very well. Arrange for him to be met and brought to me immediately.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” There was a pause, then Marious cleared his throat. “Ah, will Mistress Debra be joining me today?”

“No.” His arms tightened before he sighed. “I would like her to meet Captain Athtar.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Marious said, but she could hear the reluctance in his voice as he ended the call.

“He’s not going to be happy,” Deb laughed. “We were supposed to meet with the cloth merchants today.”

Rast laughed, too, but there was an odd note to it. He rose to one elbow, staring down at her with an expression she couldn’t read. “You have become indispensable.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Her brow furrowed, trying to decide why he didn't sound happier. “You said you didn’t want to deal with these types of questions.”

“I don’t. It’s just…”

“What?” All of a sudden, she felt frightened.

“It’s just that if Athtar has been successful, then I will most probably have to leave Sherae and return to Kaisar to meet with the Emperor.”

“Leave?” An ache started in her chest. It shouldn’t matter; she had her freedom—she even had a job—but the idea of Rast leaving hurt much more than she expected. She had known he was only visiting, but she had thought she would have more time to prepare for his departure.

“I don’t want to leave but one of the few advantages of being in the line of succession is that I can arrange for an audience on fairly short notice. I suspect that Athtar has brought information that I need to bring to his attention.”

“I see.” She tried to keep her voice matter of fact, but even she could hear the tremor in it. “Will you be back?”

“I want to come back.” He looked almost surprised at the words. “Both to Sherae…and to you. But I do not know what will happen when I meet with the Emperor or how long I will be gone.” He reached out and caressed her stomach with a gentleness that made her blink furiously to suppress her tears. “This little one may have seen the light of day by then.”

The baby kicked as if in response, and they both jumped. Deb managed a laugh. “Looks like you woke him up. He’ll be demanding food soon. And if your friend is coming, I’d better get dressed.”

“I certainly don’t want him seeing you like this. You look far too delectable for an old scavenger like him.” She made an attempt to move away, but he immediately stopped her and pulled her close. “But before you go…”

His mouth descended over hers with the same urgency she felt. If they only had a short time left, she wanted to take advantage of every minute of it. She clung to him and he held her with the same desperation as his kiss turned demanding and his shaft hardened between them. Her nipples tightened into hard little buds and she could feel the slickness between her legs. Only the sound of activity in the living area beyond made him finally pull back and she could have cried with frustration.

“Gods dammit. I’m sorry, sweetheart but we don’t have time right now. Go and get dressed and meet me on the balcony.”

Pasting a smile on her face as he finally released her, she rose ungracefully to her feet and left before the tears could come.

As soon as Deb left, Rastrath let out a string of obscenities. The intensity of his desire not to leave shocked him. He had come to like this planet much more than he expected. Negotiations were well in hand for the upcoming trade fair and the opening of Parliament the previous day had shown him that there was a lot of work that could be done there—work for which he was surprisingly well suited. But even more deeply, he did not want to leave Deb.

Now that she knew she was free and had chosen to come to him anyway, the fear that he had refused to acknowledge was gone. He wanted to stay here with her, to be there when her son was born. To have her tell him stories about his household over dinner, and to have her soft body in his bed each night. He had never intended to return to Sherae but perhaps…he shook his head. Only the Gods knew how long this could take. What if she found someone else while he was gone? If only he could just send a message instead of going in person…but the rigid concept of duty that his grandfather had tried to instill wouldn’t allow him to take such an ineffective path. This was too important. All he could hope for was that Athtar had returned to let him know that he needed more time.

That admittedly remote hope was dashed as soon as they met. Athtar looked as grim as he’d ever seen him.

“You’re very fast, my friend.”

“I had Kanithe cross check those lists you send me against the Serigali logs. She made a fucking connection.”

“So where is it?”

Athtar sighed and rubbed his chin. “On Hothrest.”

“Fuck.”

Before he could question him further, a slight sound made him look up to see Deb standing at the door. The dark red gown that set off her creamy skin should have been modest, but nothing could conceal her lush curves. She looked like an ancient goddess of fertility and he heard Athtar swear under his breath. Resisting the sudden desire to punch his oldest friend, instead he went to meet her, taking her hand to lead her into the room.

“Deb, this is Captain Athtar. He runs the dirtiest old rust bucket this side of the galaxy and he is an uncouth brute not fit for civilized company, but he is my oldest friend.” He smiled at her startled expression. “Athtar, this is my…” No term really seemed appropriate, so he settled for “My Deb.”

“Your Deb, eh? Nice to meet you, Mistress.” Athtar extended one giant hand and Deb rather gingerly gave him hers. He bowed over it with a grace that would have put Rastrath’s etiquette master to shame. “Very nice,” he repeated with an appreciative grin as he surveyed her curves.

Rastrath pulled her firmly back to his side. “That’s enough, you bastard. Let’s go out on the balcony.”

The vine over the dining area had been ripped away, but no other sign remained of the storm. He helped Deb onto a couch overlooking the ocean and sat down next to her. Athtar raised an eyebrow at him but refrained from comment as he joined them.

“You found the lab on Hothrest?”

“Yeah. There’s a small port in the northern mountains. Nothing there but fucking rocks and snow, but there’s a constant stream of supply ships landing. Looks like the base is actually underground. I sent Studoc in as a drunken trader who’d gotten off course from the capital. He said he thought they were going to shoot him at first, but you know him. He can charm his fucking way out of anything. He acted like an idiot, lost a whole bunch of your credits gambling with his guards, and in the end, they sent him on his merry way. He thinks the scientists are Elginar.”

Rastrath shook his head. “I wouldn’t have expected that.” The Elginar were renowned as scholars, not as warriors.

Athtar shrugged. “Fucking intellectuals. All they care about is being able to experiment, not what it’s used for.”

“He’s right,” Deb interjected. “My youngest sister is like that—too smart for her own good. She blew up the shed in the backyard trying to create a new fire starter. Even then, all she cared about was trying to perfect the formula. I don’t think she even really noticed that she’d taken out my mom’s favorite rose bush.”

A shadow crossed her face at the mention of her family, and he took her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. When he looked up, Athtar raised his eyebrow again, then shook his head. He ignored his friend, thinking over the problem. “So, all they probably wanted was to be able to work on their project and Ustrod gave it to them. On Hothrest of all places.”

“What is Hothrest?” she asked.

“A planet of people who like their privacy. Since they’re Athtar’s size, covered in fur, and have claws and fangs the size of my hand, they usually get what they want. They don’t often leave, and they don’t like visitors.”

“They like traders,” Athtar pointed out. “Not a whole lot of variety on a planet where it fucking snows all the time. Lots of business in the main port. Maybe could get in that way.”

Rastrath sighed. “The old Emperor would have just sent in the Imperial troops, seized the planet and the lab, and killed anyone who got in the way. I don’t think Karthajin would do that. He might agree to a sneak attack, rather than wholesale slaughter.”

“If you talk to him,” Athtar said. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.” His hand tightened over Deb’s and she returned his clasp. “I’m going to have to go to Kaisar.”

Athtar nodded but didn’t say anything. Deb tucked her soft body closer against his side as he looked out over the sparkling blue waters. The waves lapped against the shore and the constant breeze brought the scent of flowers. He had never wanted less to leave, and he had never been more sure that he had to go.