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Sarus picked up the papers and scanned them. “We have a formal audience with the emperor the day after tomorrow and are bidden to present ourselves in formal attire.”
“Do we even have formal attire?” Evangeline inquired.Wow, I guess we do get to meet the emperor!
“The palace clothier has scheduled us for tomorrow morning. We dare not miss that appointment,” Sarus said.
“Anything else I ought to know?” Evangeline inquired, a little peeved that she’d not been consulted as to what she was supposed to do and when. A glance at her mates showed that they accepted the orders stoically.Perhaps they’re used to being micromanaged.
Sarus continued reading aloud, “There will be a ceremony following our audience with the emperor. We will join nine other mated dyads and triads for formal recognition of their bonding.” He paused. “Aha! We’ve just received a response to your request, Horas. The science master general will grant us an audience tomorrow afternoon.”
Evangeline stared at the paper.How can ink and paper update like that?She closed her eyes in a long, slow blink. Opening them, she decided that the technology was likely beyond her ability to comprehend.I’m better at understanding plants.
A yawn tugged at her and she gave in to it.
“To bed with you, little flame,” Horas said and swept her into his arms. “You must rest.”
She didn’t argue as he carried her into the bathroom. Nor did she argue as he bathed her, dried her off, and settled her on the large bed.I’m learning to pick my fights. Being pampered is not the hill I want to die on. As Horas drew the covers over her, she heard the low, nearly inaudible purr deep in his chest and the subtle movement of his lips.He’s speaking to Sarus again, something they don’t want me to overhear. One of these days I’ll figure out what they’re saying.
The mattress dipped beside her several minutes later as Sarus, freshly bathed, settled in beside her.
“Where’s Horas?” she murmured as her eyelids drooped with fatigue.
“He’s keeping first watch.”
Her eyelids flipped open wide. “Surely we’re safe in the palace?”
“The palace is a place of intrigue. Until we have you secured in our private home, we deem nowhere safe.”
“What could happen here?”
“Treachery,” came the terse answer.
Evangeline had no rebuttal, so she snuggled closer into the shelter of Sarus’ body. He settled an arm over her and tugged her comfortably against him.
“We will keep you safe or die trying, Evangeline.”
“Please don’t die,” she murmured. Fatigue compelled her honesty. “I don’t know what I’d do without either of you.”
Sarus felt a warmth swell inside him and fill his every cell. “Does that mean you hold some affection for us?”
With a sleepy smile, she murmured as she drifted off to sleep, “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
Chapter16
The clothier’s assistant who tucked, pinned, and hemmed worked with astonishing rapidity to alter a formal gown originally made to fit an Ahn’hudi female, making it small enough to fit an average-sized human woman. A calf-length, sleeveless tunic of a lightweight and flowing fabric was belted over a floor-length tunic of a complimentary color. The tunic’s fitted sleeves extended to the elbow, then belled into graceful folds to her wrist. Evangeline worried she would drag the draping fabric through something wet or sticky. The assistant muttered under his breath as he fitted jeweled sandals to her feet and laced them.
Wrapped in a robe while Evangeline waited for her dress to be altered, another alien took charge of her hair and jewelry. The stylist was female and not Ahn’hudi. The being murmured to herself as she combed and curled and twined and coiled the hybrid’s thick, lustrous hair into a complicated confection held in place with a profusion of jeweled pins matching the sparking stones on her sandals. Evangeline did not want to know whether the stones were real or merely rhinestones. Sometimes, she thought, it was best to remain in ignorance.
When she rejoined her mates, she gulped. Ahn’hudi military dress uniforms differed little from their everyday uniforms, except for the addition of shirts with embroidered stripes and insignia on over the shoulders designating their rank and military honors. The two brawny males wore black leather battle kilts and heavy, black leather boots. Empty, jeweled scabbards where weapons would normally be sheathed dangled from the wide leather straps criss crossing their chests. Golden studs decorated the straps. Short capes, the crown prince’s red for Horas and the military’s black for Sarus, dangled from rings at their shoulders, adding more swagger to their assured strides.
“You look exquisite,” Horas praised, taking her hand and raising it to his lips. He pressed a small kiss to her palm.
Evangeline blushed and said, “I feel overdressed.”
“One does not meet with the emperor in his palace andnotwear one’s finest garb,” Horas said.
A petty functionary sniffed to secure the warriors’ attention. “Colonel, Commander, my lady, please follow me. You are next in line to approach the emperor and we must not dally.”
The two warriors fell into step, each at one side of their mate. Horas walked slightly ahead on her right and Sarus slightly behind on her left to protect her from every angle. She flushed at the slapping sound of her sandals on the polished stone floor, so loud compared to the uncannily quiet tread of her mates’ heavy boots and the official’s soft-soled slippers. As they passed people in the wide corridors, Evangeline thought she heard more than one person mutter under his breath, “He’s the Scourge of Moriya!”
