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“You already guessed I once had a huge crush on you. You called it an infatuation. I denied it, but you were right. Now, I think it must have been a little more than that, and I’ve had these feelings for a long time. I even talked to my omak about it, and he said it was hero worship, or something like that. He said he’d had it when he was young too and started talking about posters of musical bands on the walls of his bedroom. But I knew it wasn’t the same thing. Anyway, I’m thinking this is all related somehow, and I need to figure it out.”
“It will do no good to talk about it, Your Highness. It will only make things worse. This can’t be put right. I’ve endured this for years and I can keep doing it. We have to pray to the gods that you’re not really affected. You can’t be—you’re not really Tygerian.”
“I beg your pardon, but I’m as Tygerian as you are. Well, almost. I’m half Tygerian, and I happen to have a lot of human DNA, and I’m proud of that. My omak is one of the best people I know. But I was born on our planet, and half my genes come from my other father. I don’t know how any of this happened, but it did, and I can’t pretend it didn’t. Neither can you. Now I’m ordering that tea and sandwiches and you’re going to tell me what you know.”
Chapter Six
Tariq
I still hadn’t regained complete control as I sat on the edge of Rakkur’s bed and watched his beautiful, little body moving around the room. When he got to his feet, he hadn’t taken the sheet or any covering with him, so I watched him, jealously, possessively, hating him for looking so beautiful and desirable. Loving him for it too, so much I felt dizzy at the turmoil inside my head. I decided that I would probably never get this chance again, so I looked my fill, taking in every inch of his perfect body.
I’d been right about the way he looked. He had almost no striping, just smooth, creamy-gold skin with little touches of striping here and there like shadowy, wicked lowlights that accentuated the pallor. He had a beautiful body, if small compared to Tygerians, but perfectly formed and proportional in every way. He strolled over to his locker and pulled out a robe, draping it around him, but not fastening it. When a knock came on his door, I was startled, but he strode over to answer and welcomed in a porter with a tray. He held his robe closed with one hand, while I gripped my fists to keep from killing the porter for being so close to him while he was in that state of undress. The man set the tea up, bowed to the prince and took his leave. Rakkur poured me a cup.
“Come on and get some of this down you. I think it will help.”
Reluctantly, I came over next to him and sat down. I didn’t see what use this would be—I didn’t especially care for Lycan tea. What I needed was a strong, Tygerian drink. And there seemed to be little sense in rehashing the long-ago incident. How could that help anybody?
“Please tell me how this happened,” he said, and I sighed, but did as he asked. It was time I was honest with him. I began to tell him the story.
It had been five cycles ago, when Rakkur had been at the training academy, and I had been sent there to do light duty as I recovered from injuries I’d sustained in a fight with rebels who had attacked a colony on Earth’s moon. Ludolf had still been alive, and I was set to join him after my duty at the Academy ended at his duty station on on Precept 3, a small post in the far northern reaches of the galaxy. I was looking forward to it and had high hopes for the future.
Ludolf and I had grown up and attended training together. We were as close as two friends could be, and our parents thought we’d probably mate one day. We weren’t in love, but that didn’t seem important to either one of us at the time. He was important to me, and we both thought that would be enough. We were in no hurry to marry, because our careers came first, and the only reason we would one day was so we could obtain a surrogate to produce a child to appease our parents. Ludolf wanted no part of the new pills that had come out, because he was too focused on his career. We’d decided to get a surrogate when the time was right for both of us. We vaguely wanted a family—one day, in the future—though we weren’t in any hurry for it. We were ambitious and interested in rising through the ranks and advancing our careers.
My injuries hadn’t been all that bad—nothing debilitating, anyway, and that was all that mattered. I was killing time at the training facility, waiting to heal up enough to join Ludolf at the new duty station.
It was there that I first encountered Prince Rakkur, the youngest prince and son of King Davos and his human consort. I’d heard about his beauty since the day he’d been born—everyone talked of it. He was extremely popular with the Tygerian people, who loved King Davos and his eldest son, Prince Mikos. We were charmed by the idea of this half-human child and were fascinated by his golden curls and pale skin. I had been stunned from the first at how beautiful he was.
My first impression of him when he was a teenager was that he was almost too good looking to be real. He fascinated me, but I thought he’d be arrogant about his looks. I thought he’d be spoiled too, and perhaps he was at home, but he was popular with his friends and never questioned any order he was given. He never acted conceited about his looks or his noble birth. He seemed to be working hard to be just like everyone else, though that was impossible, given who he was. He was only sixteen at the time, and smaller than the other boys. Of course, I noticed the way he looked at me and followed me around. Some of the other trainers even teased me about him, though they sounded more envious than anything else.
I was twenty-nine—thirteen years his senior—and thought he was far too young and small to even be at the training facility, and I would never have forgotten myself so much as to allow myself to flirt with him, even though some of the other trainers did. I thought of him as little more than a child and far too young and small to be away from his omak.
But I was always hyperaware of him whenever he was near.
Occasionally, I found myself watching him. I smiled at him once because of something he’d said. Maybe I was becoming a little more than fascinated by him. He had a smart mouth, but he was funny and never cruel or mean to anyone. He tried so hard to be as good as the others and sometimes he even succeeded. He was brave to the point of foolhardiness, and most of his trainers couldn’t wait for him to leave. Not because they didn’t like him, but because none of them wanted to be the one to tell the king, or even worse, the king’s consort, that Rakkur had been injured on their watch.
“On the day the…thing…happened,” I said, beginning my story.
“Do you mean the bonding?”
“Yes. There was an awards ceremony.”
“Yes, I remember the ceremony. Just minor awards, but they meant a lot to us and our parents.”
“Yes, they were nice, and the boys all enjoyed them. The public had been allowed to attend that day, and considering the fact that the attendees were searched at the doors, the attack by the pirates should never have happened. Afterward, there was a lot of trouble over that, with discussion of how they even got onto the planet. In the end, I think they discovered they had infiltrated a Nilanium trading vessel and had come down to the surface with some others who were delivering goods. A few of them, all Drex pirates, apparently were operating on the deluded idea they might be able to kidnap some dignitary at the ceremony and hold them for ransom long enough to get a few prisoners released. They attacked the audience at the ceremony. They had learned your father, King Davos, had unexpectedly attended and evidently lost their minds.”
“Yes, my father was there. And my omak and my brother, Mikos. His consort Ryan too.”
I nodded. “The pirates suddenly erupted from the crowd and ran toward the dais, firing wildly into the onlookers and guests. People were falling and everyone was panicking. Something had to be done.”
“The royal guards covered my father.”
“Yes. But I was still moving toward the dais when I saw you go down. I changed courses and ran toward you, landing on my knees beside you as you lay on your back, gasping for air. We learned later that your ribs were broken, and you were struggling badly because of the pain. Your face was turning gray by the time I reached you, because it hurt so much to breathe. I don’t think anyone else had noticed at that point—they were all too busy with your fathers and the crown prince. It scared me when I saw you go down. I pulled at your tunic, trying to figure out where you’d been hit. I couldn’t see any wounds at first.”
“At the time, I didn’t know who it was bending over me—the sun was in my eyes, and I was in so much pain. I-I thought you were my omak.”
He nodded. “You were only about half-conscious. I remember telling you it was all right and you’d be fine over and over,” he said, picking up the story. “My own omak was human, so I may have used the word ‘hush,’ to quiet your moans. Maybe that added to your delusions. I was trying to get you to calm down and stop moving around so much. Then you flung your arms around my neck and-and you pressed your mouth directly to mine.” He glanced over at me, shaking his head. “I was so stunned I let you do it at first, until you fell on your back, insensible again. I realized you’d stopped breathing, and it scared me badly. I tilted your head back to open your airway and began to give you rescue breaths. All I knew at the time was that you weren’t able to take in any air, and you were suffocating right there in front of me. I was so scared. I knew I couldn’t let that happen.”
“I was unconscious by then.”
