“The number applies to you as well Varan. I’ll make sure my sister adds a bonus for you. I realize how dangerous this is, and that not all of us may come back alive. But I can’t sit here and do nothing, leaving the border weak and vulnerable to those monsters,” she spat. Lina stood and she began to pace, surprisingly steady after all the alcohol.
Nadyah’s knee brushed against his leg again and Varan gritted his teeth. He nearly snapped at her, but managed to keep his mouth shut. He was still angry about what had transpired between them at the coming-of-age party. Varan did not appreciate having his emotions toyed with. And if Raena accepted his diamond then Adelina would be his wife. He would be hers and not any other females’.
Roxy finished what was on the plate and then set it down, chewing slowly. “You aren’t what I expected,” she said around a mouthful. Those malachite eyes of green fire watched the princess pace. “You really think you can get these Drakesthai brutes to heel? You think they will even let you inside their borders? They could very easily just kill us all on sight.”
Varan had known how dangerous the trip would be. He felt a twinge of guilt for getting Roxy involved after all their cycles of friendship. They’d grown up together in the slums, always keeping an eye out for each other.
Lina kept pacing, and then made a beeline for his desk. Varan lurched to his feet as she ran a finger along the carved black-wood and marble. “Leave my things alone,” he snarled. There weren’t just jewels and trinkets and gold in there. Kill orders, jobs, and his inner circle were among some of the other tidbits hidden among his trove. Varan didn’t like people touching his things and Adelina knew it by the wry smile she gave him when she sat in his chair.
Varan gritted his teeth in annoyance but rolled his eyes and slouched back into the couch instead. He trusted Lina despite the fact that she wasn’t in his inner circle.
Lina stared at Roxy – just stared at her. The utter stillness of her body was a little alarming and Varan leaned forward to pop a grape in his mouth, careful to keep one eye on her. He didn’t know this new princess, but he was ready to learn.
“Let’s begin with the work on the starships,” Lina finally said. “It will give you time to think about my offer and what we will be doing during our travels. There will be three starships total, and I need them perfect. The tech I’m about to share with you was a gift from a close friend of mine. To demonstrate to you that I am willing to trust you with this secret I’ll show you now, and we can sign a contract at a later point in time.”
Varan glanced at Nadyah then. He trusted Roxy not to blab her mouth, but he knew the courtesan still wasn’t convinced. Nadyah said nothing but watched Lina and Roxy like a she-wolf with her pups.
Lina placed the tech on his desk and displayed it against an empty wall. She started going over the details but he tuned her out. Varan couldn’t help glancing at Nadyah again. Then he studied his princess, the one he’d gladly sworn his life to protect and serve. With the white hair and the gold eyes that practically glowed, it was difficult to see the royal underneath. She stated facts and declared what she’d need from Roxy with a strength he’d never seen in Princess Adelina until her coming-of-age party.
Varan knew there was a cunning mind under that empty smile, and her party had only been more confirmation. When he’d asked her to dance with him he’d had no idea what he was doing. It had felt like instinct, a bit of his usual dramatic flair, but there was some small part of him drawn to the princess in a way he could not understand or describe.
The liquor burned his mouth and his throat on its way down to warm his belly. After the female next to him had trounced his feelings so soundly, not once but twice, he’d thought it was a good idea to move on. Varan was no fool. The courtesans were mysterious and dangerous in ways no one really knew, and their sexual prowess renowned.
Varan had yet to deliver the diamond to the palace in a formal declaration of his intent to marry Princess Adelina. Another reason why he didn’t want those sticky fingers of hers rifling through his desk, but there was something else going on between him and Lina. He knew it in that part deep inside of him, the instincts which had made him such a good thief, such a good judge of character, and an excellent player of political games. It’s how he’d gotten King Orion to befriend him, and managed to stay off the executioner’s block.
There was an attraction between him and the princess. He’d always felt it when she was Lina, but her visits were infrequent. Varan was not sure if the two of them would make a good match in the long term. He thought they could, given half a chance. His people would love having him as an official prince, and he could do so much from that position. The dreams he had to help the citizens were ones he knew Adelina had as well.
Then there was the issue of Prince Nash.
Varan liked the bloke, and despite his violent temperament he had a solid, dependable personality that would shield the Draga galaxy if only for Princess Adelina. If he made his formal declaration, Varan would be competing with a friend unless the male would agree to share – and he knew it was uncommon in the Khara galaxy to do so.
Nash had asked him to keep Adelina safe, so that’s what he would do.
He glanced at Nadyah again and those sapphire eyes held his. Varan didn’t dare look away when he’d been caught. He ran his fingers through his hair and then refocused on the chatter between Roxy and Lina.
Roxy studied the tech on the wall. She stood in front of it, peering closer in some areas than in others and asking various different questions Lina somehow knew the answers to.
“Are you going to deliver the diamond before we leave?” Nadyah asked as though she could read his mind.
Varan tensed, her husky voice pierced through him like sunlight through smoke. “I told the princess I would,” he replied. Nosy, busybody females.
“I need to ask a favor of you,” the courtesan said, and the hesitation in her words had Varan turning to study her.
What could Nadyah possibly be uneasy about? “As always it depends on the favor,” he said carefully. Varan had no inkling what she could possibly want from him, but he probably wouldn’t like it.
“May I please have a sample of your DNA?”
Varan outright stared at her then. A warning flickered in his chest. “No.”
Nadyah placed a hand on his arm and leaned in closer. “Please, Varan. It is of the utmost importance.”
That warning didn’t wane. Varan hooked an ankle over his knee and tried not to look disturbed by the request. His mind flicked through all the possible reasons Nadyah would ask for such a thing, but none of them made sense. “Why do you even want it?” he demanded. His voice was sharper than he’d meant it to be and Lina slid her gaze to him.
Then the warning flared.
A child? Would they want the DNA to father a babe? But why?
“It is…complicated, but having it would help us plan – for the future.”