Gateway to HeVan (11 page)

“The king must return to KowLer
; there is much to be done.  He must find the duke’s co-conspirators and make sure there will be no more rebellion.  Will you consent to making sure the princess remains unharmed?  Even now, she fights for her life,” said Arjun.

By this time, they had arrived at the critical medical bay.  There were two occupants, each in their own room.  Warrior Makor and
Princess BianCa, Duchess of LucenTio.  She lay on the healing table, covered from neck to hips in healing gel.  Special nanos had been injected into her chest cavity to try to repair her heart.  If too much of the muscle were destroyed, she would need a replacement.  They were growing one in the lab, just in case.

To protect her modesty, the gel had been colored, and a sheet was pulled up to her hips where the gel stopped.  Even so, every dip and swell of her womanly body was visible to the eye.  Her long, hip-length hair was in a thick braid and draped down her right side.  Lord Thors was instantly struck by her beauty, to her finely drawn features and small frame.

“She is so small; is she a child?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“No, she has always been of a shorter stature, like our mother,” Ben explained about his sister’s five foot two inches height.

Lord Thors then turned away from the beautiful creature and looked at Arjun and the king.  “I will guard her with my life.  No one will harm her,” he said emphatically.

“We will leave her in your care
, then,” said Arjun, taking Ben’s arm and getting him out of the room.  To his eye, Lord Thors was halfway in love already.

Arjun escorted the king out of the room.  Addie wanted to meet with him again before he returned to KowLer.  He would still be coming back every couple of days to check on his sister.

****

The next morning
, Natalie woke up in the medical bay. She managed to get herself to the bathroom to shower and took care of her morning routine. She had just returned to bed and was deciding if she could ride out the pain she was starting to feel or call for another dose of pain reliever.  The door opened and Jennifer and Marta came in to keep her company for a while.  They had passed the guards on duty outside her door.  They looked back at the warriors before turning toward the bed.  Jennifer shook her hand at the wrist.

“
Hot—they’re smokin’ hot!  I’m looking forward to meeting my soul mates.  I’m so jealous of you, Nat,” said Jennifer.

“I’ve stopped being nervous about it.  When I’m healed, I am going to jump their bones,” she said
with a giggle.

“I’m g
lad.  I have to say, all of the women are really happy.  It’s nice to know there is someone who will always love you.  I mean―I haven’t heard of a single argument.  Is that even possible?” asked Marta.

“No, it’s not,” said a voice by the door, which turned out to be Grace.  “My
Ankida
and I have had more than one disagreement.  Because we love each other, we work through our problems.  Usually, they can get me out of a bad mood with lots of sex.  And I can do the same with them.  The main thing is—I had to make them agree never to gang up on me.  Three against one is hardly fair.  We also agreed never to go to bed angry.”

“Huh, I didn’t think of that.  I’ll have to make Peet and Reeko promise not to gang up on me either.  Did you forget something you wanted to tell me?” asked Natalie.

“Two things―I wanted to get your recommendation for your replacement while you’re recovering.  Also, I wanted to ask if you wanted to
join
with your mates on KowLer.  When King Ben was informed of what a
joining
entailed, he offered.  There isn’t any place on board the ship big enough for them to be able to fly.  They don’t really have to fly but I thought you might enjoy watching them.  They only have the opportunity once in their life, as they shed their wings after you
join
,” Grace explained.

“If it’s possible, I would love to see them fly.  I don’t want to put on a live sex show for anyone so we would have to be guaranteed our privacy.  As to the other, I think Cassandra should take over for me.  Jenner and his brother and Evoxan and his brother can take turns as her guards.  If she had shaken hands with the duke in the docking station, she would have had her vision sooner.  I’ve noticed her visions are sharper if she’s met the people
, especially if she’s had physical contact with them.  Don’t tell her I said that; I don’t want her to feel guilty.  We can’t place the burden of always knowing about everything in time,” Natalie said and then waited for the others to agree.

Before anything else could be discussed,
Catherine entered the room. 

“That’s enough visiting.  Natalie needs her rest if she’s going to be fully healed in just two days,” she said, shooing them all out. 

Then she checked over Natalie’s healing wound and gave her some pain reliever, along with an update on her mates.  Natalie was already closing her eyes when she left the room.

Glynnis and her
Ankida
approached Addie’s rooms with Cassandra, who was flanked by two large warriors.  When they got there, they found all three of Addie’s
Ankida
standing in the hallway.  They didn’t look happy about it, either.

“Why are you standing out here?  Is Addie alone?” asked Glynnis.

“No.  Against our wishes, Addie asked us to leave so she could speak to the king privately.  She’s been cooking up a plan in her head and she’s not sharing,” said Rune. 

Rune was especially hurt because while Arjun and Kylan often left their quarters to take care of important matters around the two ships, he had chosen to always be by her side and care for her every need.  He had shared many conversations with her and felt he’d become a close advisor.  That there was something she wouldn’t share with him was distressing.

Before anything else could be said, the doors opened and the king came out.  Glynnis, having seen the hurt in Rune’s eyes, marched right past him to have a word with her granddaughter.  Turning, she spoke to them.  “Please stay here a few minutes longer. I need to have a few words with my granddaughter,” she said, as she waved them to remain.

“
Highness, if you’ll come with me, I’ll escort you to your shuttle,” said Cassandra with a smile. 

King Ben KowLer took in the forbidding looks on the faces of the queen’s
Ankida
and agreed now was not the time to have a discussion with them.  He nodded and they began walking down the hall.  They had nearly reached the shuttle bay when Cassandra spoke again.

“You know I’m a
Seer, Highness?” she asked.

“Yes
—and please call me Ben,” he said, looking at this young girl who held such power; power which came at a heavy price.

“I know you have a decision to make.  I just wanted to tell you the mate
proposed for you may be your perfect love, just as you may be hers.  Your road will be rocky and hard at the beginning; she has been deeply hurt.  Be patient and see her not only as a mate, but as a true partner and queen.  If you are to have love, you must first give trust and earn trust,” she said.

“Thank you, Cassandra.
I will consider all you have said in making my decision,” he said, before turning to enter the shuttle bay and return to KowLer.

Cassandra had a smile
, which was returned by her guards when she left the king.  “Okay, let’s head over to the docking station and give the warriors waiting to see the queen the bad news and the good news,” she said.

“Bad news
—do we need to prepare for another emergency?” asked Jarmin, sharing a word with his brother Jenner.  It was their shift guarding Cassandra, the new aide to the queen.

She laughed
. “No, the bad news is their visitation with the queen will be postponed.  The good news is we’ll get to take them to eat in the new meal chamber set up by Jennifer Sharp.” 

Both men looked pleased at this.  Jennifer had transformed one of the larger conference chambers into what she called a restaurant.  It became a favorite place for many of the crew and especially the women on board.  Replicated food just didn’t have the same flavor as freshly made.

****

Glynnis walked in to see her granddaughter staring, looking at nothing as she scratched the head of one of her dogs.  The fact she was throwing off golden sparks meant she’d been using her powers again.

“Addie, do you know you’ve hurt Rune’s feelings?  I want to know what you’re going to do about it.  If you’re getting a swelled head about being queen, you’re not too old for me to scold,” said Glynnis.

Her reverie broken, Addie looked at her grandmother, the woman who’d raised her and Grace when their parents had been killed by a drunk driver. 
Instead of embracing her golden years and finally traveling to all the places she’d dreamed of, she’d taken on two traumatized girls.  Pushing down her own grief of losing her child, she and her husband went back to the farm and made a home, started raising a family all over again.

“Granny?” she asked, looking over at her.
“Where’s everyone else?  We have plans to make.”

Looking at her granddaughter, she
saw the tremendous pressure Addie carried on her shoulders.  Pressure she would carry all her life.  It was all there in her eyes, the care, the worry, and the love—for her family and her people.

“I just wanted a minute with you.  How are you holding up, honey?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine, just really tired of this chair.  I don’t even want to think about how fat my ass is going to look when I finally get out of it and have these babies,” she said.

“You’ll be fine.  I wanted to let you know I think Rune’s feelings were hurt.  You need to fix that,” she said.

“Really, I never intended that.  Send him in, and then give us five minutes.  Okay?”

“Of course―just remember
, you don’t have to do anything alone.  We’re all here for you.”

“That’s good, Granny, because I’ve made a decision and
I’ve got a job for you and your
Ankida
to do. We’ll get into that later, though.  For now, please get Rune for me,” she said.

Glynnis was torn.  She wanted to know Addie’s plan but she also wanted Addie to make up with Rune.  Finally, she threw up her hands and went to
get Rune.  Moments later, he entered the room.

“You wanted to speak with me, my queen?” he asked.

Oh, yeah, he was hurt, and pissed, too,
Addie thought
.

“I can see you’re hurt and angry.  But if I try to get out of this chair so I can come to you, you’ll just get even angrier.  So I have to ask you to come over here so I can apologize for hurting you.  It wasn’t my intention.”

She waited for him to come over to the gel chair.  With a little encouragement, he lay down next to her. 

“
Let me see if I can explain to you how I feel.  Arjun―well, he’s a natural leader.  He’s my head and the first one I’d call on to deal with a situation which depends on diplomacy and a cool head.  Kylan―I think of him as my gut.  His instinctual reactions are quick and precise. I can count on him for the right action in a volatile situation.”  She turned her head to look him in the eyes. 

“Rune, you’re my heart.  You always see through to the emotion guiding other’s actions and the insights you give me are invaluable to making the right decisions in any situation.  Never believe I don’t need your counsel and comfort.  The only reason I needed to speak to the king
alone is because the conversation had to do strictly with him.  The privacy was for his comfort, not mine.  I needed to sway him to make the decision I wanted him to make and knew I would have a better chance if we were alone.  So, are we good now?” she asked.

“I’m ashamed for my jealousy,” he said.

“Do you doubt I love you?”

Shocked, he lifted his head and looked into her eyes.  He had hurt her with his lack of trust, he saw now.

“Never―not for one moment,” he answered.  “If there was a lack, it was in me.  You are my world, Aditya Marie Perez Azazyel.  I will love you until I die and beyond,” he said emphatically.

She smiled at him and stretched forward to give him a kiss.  It soon heated into a more passionate embrace. 

“It’s been so long since we’ve made love. I need to have you take me―hard and fast, to feel you inside me.  I need that connection again, with you, Arjun and Kylan, too,” she said to him.

“Later, we’ll work something out,” he said, making her a promise.  A few kisses more and he got up to let in the others.  Arjun and Kylan
came in and seeing Addie’s swollen lips, both took a moment to kiss her too, before they all took a seat.

Rune came back in the room with a tray of food, followed by Recca and Rufan, two of Glynnis’s
Ankida
.  They helped by carrying trays and beverages.  At first, they all ate their food.  Addie cracked jokes about no longer needing a tray, her belly being large enough to hold her plate.

Addie finished first―she couldn’t eat too much at one time and tended to eat smaller meals throughout the day.

“Go ahead and eat your food.  I’ll explain my plan as you finish.  Then I’d like to hear your comments and suggestions.  Step one: I’ve decided we’ve spent too much time running around to Malpha’s timetable.  While we do need to get to HeVan as quickly as possible, I don’t want to wait until then to meet Malpha.  By now, she obviously knows you’re bringing home a queen—or at least has a strong suspicion.

“I don’t want to give her more time to plot and I’m not comfortable meeting her for the first time on her home turf.  So I’ve decided we should stay here until I deliver our
daughters.  I want Granny Mac,” she said, calling her grandmother by the name she’d used growing up, “to take a shuttle with her
Ankida
and go to HeVan immediately.  She will take over as Regent, stopping Malpha from any additional plotting.  She can then transmit memory savers of me and all the other women on a worldwide transmission.  I understand there is a global alert system―we’ll use that.  Our people will then have hope and will be prepared for our arrival. 

“
As part of the transmission, I will tell the people I need to consult with Malpha on all that has happened during her reign.  Since she has been relieved of her burden because Glynnis is there to take up the reins and lead during this transitory period, she is free―by my order―to come and meet with me here.  Granny, you send Malpha back here the next day on the same shuttle you arrived in with the same crew; we don’t want her to have time to act against us.  I’ll be sending her a separate, private message I believe will convince her to cooperate.  Any questions?” she asked.

Everyone in the room gave her varying looks of shock and amazement.  Finally, it was Kylan who broke the silence.  “Your plan has merit.  I believe it will succeed well.  In fact, it
’s an ingenious idea.”

Next, Arjun spoke, “Malpha won’t have time to put any other plan in place.  Glynnis can stop any move she makes.  Having Malpha leave right away will also prevent her
from putting any schemes in motion.  I would suggest sending Cassandra and her parents along with Glynnis.  Cassandra may be able to pick up on something we should know about,” he mused.

Rune, after hearing his brother’s views, gave Addie a smile before giving his own.  “She will be angry at first, but in the end
, I think this will be better for her.  I assume your message to the people of HeVan, in part, will be the events which occurred around Tamiel’s and her mother’s deaths?  By coming here, she will avoid the immediate backlash against her House and her Regency.  While we haven’t always agreed with her decisions, it must be noted she has kept our people together for hundreds of years.  Many will hold her responsible for actions taken before her birth.  She does not deserve their scorn.”

Addie shared a look with him and knew he understood her words even more clearly now.

“Addie, I’m very curious to know what the meeting with King KowLer was about?” asked Glynnis.

Addie looked at her grandmo
ther―no more white hair, and only a little gray.  She would have her for many years to come and was so happy about that.  Right now, she was bouncing in her seat like a little girl, wanting to be let in on a secret.

“I don’t believe Malpha should return to HeVan,” said Addie. 

Many in the room gasped.

“You’re not going to do anything…” Glynnis’s words trailed off.  No one believed Addie could be so ruthless as to take Malpha’s life.

Addie laughed, “How bloodthirsty you are!  No, Arjun gave me the idea when he told me about BianCa and Lord Thors.  Malpha’s wish is to be queen and the king is in need of one,” she said simply.

She said no more as they all worked out her plan in their own minds.  All at once, all of the men began to laugh.  It wasn’t long before they were practically rolling on the floor
with hilarity.

“This is why I didn’t want them in the room when I put the idea to the king,” explained Addie to her grandmother
in a dry voice.  Glynnis nodded and they both looked on fondly while their
Ankida
regained their senses.

An hour later
, Glynnis and her
Ankida
left to pack. 

Addie turned to her men.  “Okay
, guys—tell the guards on duty I’m going to be napping for the next two hours and we’re not to be disturbed for any reason.”

Rune immediately
went to her side and searched her face.  “Are you feeling unwell?  Do you need me to carry you to bed?”

“Yes, I need you to carry me to bed.  But I have no intention of sleeping and every intention of making love to my
Ankida
.  I’m going to let you do most of the work, but we are going to do this.  As I said earlier, I need you. I need to reconnect your bodies with my body.”

Remembering
what he had promised her earlier, heat entered his eyes.  He stepped over to the chair and picked her up.  Kylan led the way into the bedroom and Arjun went down the hall to speak to the warriors.