He turned on his heel and flounced his plump, naked, little ass out the door, his ugly red coat holding his ugly red coat. I found I didn’t like the idea that someone might see that pretty body of his. Though I was sure that plenty of men had seen it before.
“Good riddance,” I called out behind him as he left and slammed the door behind him.
If he had made one more obnoxious, smart-assed remark, I might not have let him leave at all. I was afraid I’d have pushed him back down on the bed with his ankles over his head and that would no doubt have been disastrous for both of us.
I slept badly that night on a lumpy, too-soft mattress, and woke up early to poke at the fire in the grate and warm up the room a little before I went to take a long, soaking bath in an old-fashioned metal tub. The rain was still coming down and getting even more intense. It was still early and there was plenty of hot water though. I felt a little better after I got out and dried off on the thick drying cloths. I got dressed to go downstairs to find my men. Prince Vannos had mentioned first meal the night before, and I hoped, given his heritage and background, that there would at least be some good Tygerian food on the menu.
Some of the aromas coming out of the dining area were encouraging at least. When I entered the room, I saw most of my men already there, eating at one end of the long, dark woodentable. A few other people, including King Stefan, were filling their plates at a long table on the side of the room, filled with various warming dishes. I bowed to the king and saw two young men who looked like him, no doubt his sons, standing near him, looking at me and my men curiously. They were handsome, and I saw a family resemblance to their Tygerian father as well. They all nodded respectfully back to me and cleared the area, sitting at the table at the opposite end from my soldiers.
Unfortunately, most of the food seemed to be Moravian and unfamiliar, but there was a huge platter of ranyon at the far end, with a little pitcher of the blood sauce with hot peppers, A Tygerian staple, which I helped myself to, spreading it liberally over a few pieces of their dark, slightly spicy bread as well since the only other meat was oddly colored. Thankfully, there was a quantity of hot Lycan tea and some vinegar I could pour over the pickled vegetables.
I passed up the many plates of sweets and took some plain, hot cereal, before taking my seat with my men at the opposite end of the table and away from the royal family. The door opened and I turned to see Prince Larz and the former Laltanan king come through the door, accompanied by Prince Vannos. Larz held tightly to Janos’s hand. I saw them all looking at me and gave both princes a kind of half-bow, though I didn’t rise to my feet as I would have for Prince Mikos.
Prince Larz gave me a careful nod back, staring at me a little too long. I turned back to my plate and stole another quick glance at Janos, the former king, who looked as if he were trying to hide behind his mate. There was no arguing that he was a good-looking man and regal in every line of his body and every inch of his bearing. His long hair was in thick, black braids, but swirled around on top of his head in a kind of small coronet, making him look a bit taller than he actually was. His eyes were so dark blue as to be almost navy, and he had fair skin andfeatures that were patrician and delicate looking, except for his firm jaw. He was much more handsome than I’d realized, and I could definitely see the attraction.
He was very small, compared to Larz and had a slight, though fairly muscular build. He was wearing a proper sapphire robe, belted around his slim waist, and he wore an elaborate golden necklace around his neck. He seemed fragile, and I wasn’t sure why at first. I decided that it was maybe because of his eyes that kept darting nervous looks down the table at me and my men. I’d seen that same look in the eyes of men that I’d wounded in battle—full of fear and desperation, yet still defiant. I remembered that he’d suffered torture in Beatik and felt an unwanted twist of pity for him. Larz, who was sitting on the same side of the table as I was, shifted so that I had a clearer view of both him and his little mate, and I saw him put a hand on Janos’s leg as if to comfort him.
I had read up on the disappearance of Prince Larz before I’d come on this mission, and I knew a little of the history of Laltana and Janos himself. Over one hundred and fifty cycles ago, when the great galactic war first began between the Axis and the Alliance of Planets, the Herkon Kingdom of Laltana had ignored the conflict and resisted all efforts to be drawn into it. Their king at the time, one of their Janos’s great grandfathers, I suppose, had refused to join either faction, preferring neutrality. It wasn’t until the reign of King Leanor, Janos’s late father, that they had finally entered the conflict, siding with the Alliance. Picking the wrong side was a fateful decision and a fatal error they came to regret.
Years later, King Leanor had been killed in the bloody battle of Helios, and his son, Janos, then only twenty cycles old, had been taken prisoner and put into a Tygerian prisoner of war camp. No word came from him for a long time, and there had been strong rumors of his death, in fact. His brother, youngerby a year, had been declared Regent in Janos’s absence, and made plans for his own coronation, believing his older brother to be dead. Then suddenly, the war was over and word came that Janos was still alive but had been held in a prison camp called Beatik until he signed the peace treaty. Janos had refused to sign it, even to get out of prison.
It had made him a hero and a martyr to his people, but it was still another year before he finally came back home to claim his kingdom and his throne. By that time, he was a broken man. What in the gods’ name had been done to him at the now infamous Beatik? There were charges of torture and sexual abuse. Officials on Tygeria covered it up, or so some said, until the King’s Consort Blake had investigated and finally discovered the truth of what had taken place there. The changes that were then made were sweeping, but came too late for men like Janos, and some said he took his revenge by kidnapping the innocent young boys who had been taken along with Prince Larz. Prince Mikos certainly believed so. It was a sordid, tragic story, with plenty of blame to go around. Yet the Tygerian people hated King Janos and blamed him for the kidnapping of those young men.
A laugh came from the direction of the doorway, and I looked up to see the boy from the night before coming in with a young man, who looked a little like King Stefan and must have been another one of Stefan and Vannos’s sons. I thought it was the eldest son Bryos. I wondered if the little shit who’d been searching my room the night before was wearing next to nothing under his ugly coat again, perhaps trying to drum up business for later. I resented the fact that he looked so beautiful—no other word for it—with his glowing, golden skin and his hair lying across his shoulders and spilling down his back in elaborate braids that were traditional on his planet, or so I’d learned in my research. He wore his hair in the same style as Janos did whenI’d been observing the planet and seen him on the front steps earlier.
He looked up and saw me sitting at the end of the table, and his face drained of color for a moment before flushing dark pink. I gave him a little smirk and a wink. He surprised me by turning his head sharply away and then going immediately over to Janos to lean down and kiss him on the cheek.
That was surprising. Was he fucking both the princeandJanos? And this Bryos too? Larz leaned over and said something to him that made him laugh out loud, but he still glanced nervously back down the table at me. I pretended to ignore him after that first look.
A major named Kasavan leaned over and asked if that man sitting beside Prince Larz was Janos, the former Laltanan king. When I nodded, he made a face like he’d smelled something sour.
“Imagine one of our princes marrying that bastard. He could have had anyone. He still could. It’s disgusting.”
His remark was highly disrespectful, so I gave him a forbidding look.
“That’s enough,” I said sharply. He knew it was totally inappropriate to say anything insulting about members of the royal family, because we’d sworn an oath about that kind of thing. I’d had to say something, and though I preferred to have a good relationship with my officers, I wouldn’t countenance disrespect to the royal family. Larz was still one of Davos’s sons and Janos was his consort and a member of the family through marriage. I couldn’t allow that kind of talk. It definitely wasn’t our place and unworthy of an Imperial guard.
Thankfully another of my officers interrupted with a question then and soon I was embroiled in a discussion with him, so I didn’t pay much attention to the other end of the table for a while. Major Kasavan took the opportunity to quicklystand and leave the room. The rest of us finished eating and got up to leave as a group. I intended to make another sweep of the palace perimeter as well as one last recheck of the conference area before Prince Mikos and his party arrived. King Davos should be arriving soon as well, so it would be a busy morning.
I had made it just outside the door, along with my soldiers, when I heard someone call my name.
“General Vargarra. Wait a minute, please.”
I stopped, motioning for the others to go on ahead and turned to see the boy Taran hurrying toward me, his face scrunched up in a scowl. “I want a word with you,” he growled at me.
“I don’t have time for you now. If it’s that important, come and see me later tonight. I believe you know where my room is.”
His face turned even brighter pink than it had the night before, and he pointed a finger in my face. I wondered what he’d do if I took it in my mouth. “Don’t be rude. I have something I need to speak to you about.”
“And I told you I’m busy. Can’t it wait until later?”
“No, please…you see, I don’t want my father to know what I was...what happened last night. I don’t want you to tell him.”
“Your father? What in the four hells doeshehave to do with anything? Who is your father anyway?”
“My father is Prince Larz, and he has plenty to do with things.”
That took me aback for a moment, but I stared at him and gave him a little sneer. “You’re lying. Prince Larz has no children.”