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“This is simply a meeting with him and his entourage at Kalen and Mikol’s home on Loros so the two can meet and see if they might possibly suit each other. It’s more or less middle ground politically, considering how far away his planet is. Both Loros and Myr, his home world, affiliated themselves with the Alliance, and while Rakkur is there, he can check on the progress of the new facility we’re building. He can bring any proposed betrothal contract—should there be one—home for us to look at.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard all that before,” Blake said.
“Actually, you haven’t, because none of our other children after Mikos ever had a decent contract. Anarr’s marriage was a rushed-up affair, and Nicarr’s wedding was a sham. When you consider it, I wonder why we continue to even bother.”
“That’s what I keep saying,” I replied in a loud, sarcastic tone, and got three dirty looks for my trouble.
“We have to be responsible parents. And I don’t know if Rakkur is ready for a betrothal yet. And certainly not to someone from the back of beyond.”
The king waved my omak’s remark away as unimportant. Like Mikos, he liked to live dangerously. “You agreed for Rakkur to meet this king. It’s only a first meeting, and as for not being ready, I was married at his age, and so was Mikos. I named Mikos my Dyson when he was even younger.”
“Over my strenuous objections.”
“Yes, yes, but Blake, you can’t baby our sons forever.”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Nobyo,” he said, coming over to where Omak was perched on the side of his desk to wrap an arm around his waist and kiss him. A deliberate ploy, in my opinion to distract him, not that my omak seemed to particularly object. In other words, he allowed it, even enjoyed it, but it still never made much difference to what he said.
“Rakkur will resent you if you interfere,” my father kept on. “He doesn’t mind going, and it will give him a chance to see if he has anything in common with this man. The offer was good, but I know you won’t approve unless Rakkur wants the alliance, and considering his history up to now, those odds are slim. He’s as stubborn as you are.”
“I’m still standing right here,” I pointed out.
Continuing as if there had been no interruption, my father sighed. “I suppose, overall, it’s mostly Rakkur’s decision. We have to start giving him his chance to prove himself. Ease him into it.”
“I’d love for him to find a husband soon, but only if it makes him happy. We allowed Mikol to wait quite a few years. And speaking of that, why do you even consider these offers from so far away? I’d like Mikol to be closer and Rakkur too.”
Feeling close to a meltdown, I turned away from the window to glare at them. “You two know I can hear every word you’re saying, right? And I don’t see why I can’t choose my own husband when I get good and ready. Derrick did. Not to mention Larz.”
“Yes,” Mikos said in a dry tone, “and look how well that turned out.”
“None of our boys’ track records with men over the years has been anything to brag about, including you, I might add, Mikos,” my omak said, still talking over my protests. “Ryan is great, but the two of you didn’t start out too well. In fact, all of you have mostly been lucky that it all turned out, but none of you started out the right way. Not a single one of you.”
It was sadly true, and as the youngest son, I had heard the cautionary tales all my life. Mikos had become convinced that Ryan was part of an ARes plot to kill him shortly after they were first married; Anarr had been arrested by Renard when they first met; and Stefan had believed Vannos to be a Tygerian spy for a while. Derrick had taken up with a pirate; and Larz had fallen in love with his kidnapper, and that wasn’t even the worst of it. Larz been Janos’s slave on his planet before that. Even Nicarr’s husband, Axel, had believed Nicarr to be a murderer for a while. None of my brothers had especially auspicious beginnings with their mates, and now I had to suffer for it.
The injustice of it bitterly stung. “I don’t see how their mistakes have anything to do with me.”
“I’m very aware that all of them have had unfortunate tendencies to choose men who were unsuitable for one reason or another,” Father said. “Yet all of them seem happy enough now, don’t they?”
“I certainly am,” Mikos said.
“You and Ryan aged me, though, Mikos, and I can tell you that for free.”
Mikos made the dismissive “pah” sound that the Tygerians favored and that my omak hated. I had to admit it was pretty expressive, though. “You don’t need to worry about my relationship. Ryan and I are fine.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Not that everybody isn’t fully aware of that fact, seeing as how I couldn’t get either of you out of bed before noon during the recent holiday, and the howls and squeals coming out of your room alarmed the servants.”
Mikos laughed out loud, and even I cracked a smile.
“Oh, you mean on your Christmas holiday,” Father said. “That’s right. Yes, it was a relaxing couple of days. We should do that again someday soon. We could do it several times a year, in fact.”
Omak sighed, turning in his arms to brush a kiss across his mouth. “You really are clueless, aren’t you? Christmas comes only once a year.”
My father pulled omak closer. “I’m the king. I can make it come whenever I like. Now that you mention it, nobyo, you’re still looking tired this morning. Maybe we should go back to bed for a while and rest.”
Things like that used to embarrass me when I was younger, but it was just the way the king always was with my omak. After a while I got used to it, since Omak didn’t seem to mind.
“Uh huh. Nice try, but it’s the middle of the day, and I’m fine. Actually, I’m sure you’re needed somewhere by your ministers.”
