Chapter Fifteen

Jago

We left the big office building after another half hour or so and got briefly back on the transport thing that had brought us there. Niko said we were heading toward the palace and the dula, though we’d be in our own separate wing—the one his grandmother had once occupied.

I had some idea in my mind of what this dula might be like, and I learned it from a book. Blake had always loved books, and once he became the beloved Royal Consort, he’d told Davos that he’d like to have some from Earth, and he’d like to make a small room for those books in the king’s palace. He meant ones that were written in Earthan or in American English, of course, because that’s what he spoke. Not that he minded if British English books were ordered too, and other Earthan languages as well, if any of the other human love slaves asked for them, though he didn’t order them unless someone asked.

Not because he was self-absorbed—though he was, a little, to be honest—but because he intended the books to be read by his children. He wanted them to know about the people and history and customs of Earth, so he was really eclectic about his choices. He directed the Nilanium traders to bring him both fiction and non-fiction and to make sure there was a great deal of history and “fine” literature included. The mistake he made was in leaving it up to the traders and their own discretion.

After all, these were Nilaniums, and they loved a bargain. They purchased a variety of books, though some were in large lots. And not all of them were exactly what Blake had in mind.

He kept every one of them, though, in their own room he called a “library.” As a child, when I used to visit, I loved to go in that room and look through his many books, and I loved the ones with the garishly colorful covers the most. And one of these was entitled The Arabian Nights . It was a collection of “Middle Eastern” folk tales originally written in Arabic, according to what Blake told me, and I loved those stories.

They were all about a king who found out his wife was unfaithful. He had her killed, but then he decided all women were the same—all lying and untruthful. So, he began to marry a whole succession of them only to have them executed the next morning. Finally, one named Scheherazade tricked him by telling him a story but not ever ending it. The king, curious about the ending, waited and let her live one more night to finish. And one more, and one more and so on. As soon as she finished one story, she began another and managed in that way to postpone her execution over and over again. This went on for a thousand and one nights. By the end, she had saved her life, because he let her live.

The stories were all different and some were wild. There were love stories, tragedies, comedies and even erotica, though I was pretty sure my omak-ahn didn’t know about those. A lot of these stories, being Middle Eastern, featured something called harems—and these sounded like the dulas to me.

In harems, men who had more than one wife kept them in a separate part of the home reserved for them along with the man’s concubines and female servants. Even their female relatives, like their mother, their sisters and daughters stayed in there. From what I could tell, a dula on Pton was similar in concept, only with the addition of hostages being kept there too. But maybe that was because Linnius wanted to use the hostages as sexual partners.

The idea of a man like that Linnius coming there and picking out his choice for the night was abhorrent to me. He was not an attractive man, to say the least, with his tall, skinny body and mean looking face. If it hadn’t been for Niko, I’d have already tried to escape, no matter the consequences.

But there was Niko, and I was grateful to have him there. It seemed a strange thing to say since I wouldn’t be here except for him—I’d be safe at home. I knew that none of my family would ever forgive him for what he’d done. I decided to think about that some other time, though, and just be glad he was here with me in my exile.

Of course, it was even more than being grateful for his company. I was pretty sure I loved him, even though it wasn’t supposed to happen so fast. I think I’d loved him from soon after we met on his ship. Blake had seen it, and though he wasn’t happy about it, I think he recognized it. He’d certainly seen it before.

At any rate, I thought I knew what a harem might be like, but I soon found I was wrong. As soon as we walked into the main huge, sprawling building, we were in the middle of a hum of activity. It wasn’t the quiet, serene and perfumed place I thought it would be. People were bustling around everywhere, and everyone seemed busy and preoccupied, going from one building to the next. The various buildings were nestled amid rich lawns and were quite beautiful. They were joined by big courtyards filled with trees and flowers, but they were all encircled with high, windowless walls. Once again, the idea of being in a huge cage came back to taunt me.

Niko drew me into a large, cool building he said used to be Itaka’s home. It was nice, with blue tiled walls and polished stone floors. The rooms were spacious, and the furniture looked comfortable, with a lot of pillows and lounging areas in every room. It was scrupulously clean too, and Niko said the servants probably still came daily to keep it in good order. He didn’t seem to think this was as unusual as I did. He led me into a large bedroom and showed me a closet filled with soft robes in every color. They were made in some rich, heavy fabrics and heavily embroidered.

“Pick whatever will fit or whatever best suits you,” he told me.

“I’d prefer trousers like yours.”

“Those may be hard to come by, but I’ll see if I can find you some. You can’t wear servants’ clothing and most of the dula boys wear almost nothing at all. That won’t be an option for you.”

“Oh?” I said, pretending to be curious. “And why is that?”

He pulled me into his arms and kissed me until I forgot what I had asked him in the first place. Finally, he pulled away and stared sternly down at me.

“You know why. With that hair and that face, I’d put you in a hooded robe if I thought you’d wear one.”

“Well, I won’t. And what’s wrong with my hair and my face?”

“Nothing and that’s the point. Both are way too beautiful. The other residents will learn you belong to me, if we’re here long enough, but until they do, maybe you can tie your hair back. I don’t suppose you’d wear a veil?”

“Are you crazy?”

He shrugged. “Just a thought.” He gave me one last kiss and then turned to leave the room. “You can bathe in that room over there, if you like, and I’ll go find the servants to prepare us something to eat.” He pulled out a small device from his pocket. “This is a translation device. Use this if anyone tries to talk to you before I get back. I’ve programmed it for you.”

“Thank you,” I said, delighted that he’d thought about that and wanted to help me. “This will help a lot.”

“It will. And will it tell me what to say in return?”

“No, unfortunately. Tygerian is not one of the languages it already knows, though I’ll work on trying to program it in.”

I kissed his cheek and he blushed a little. “Be good. Stay inside these rooms and I’ll be back soon.”

Since the idea of a bath sounded really good, I went in the room he’d pointed out and found the bathing facilities, which weren’t all that difficult to figure out once I’d sorted out the various knobs and levers. I took a hot shower, using some of the huge assortment of soaps in a dish beside the big tub, and I felt much better. There were drying cloths hanging up, so after I finished, I wrapped myself in one large one and went out to select one of the robes to wear.

I found one that was in a pretty amber color that I thought matched my eyes and slipped it on. It wasn’t scratchy, like I’d feared, because it was fully lined with a soft material. I used the comb I found in a drawer to comb out my hair so it would dry without tangles, and by that time Niko had come back in. He gave me an appreciative look and sat down on the end of the bed.

“You look good enough to eat. I might just do that after I rest here a moment.”

“Promises, promises,” I said and sat next to him.

He angled a look down at me. “I miss the days when you were frightened of me.”

“I was never frightened, and no you don’t.” I leaned in closer and whispered in his ear. “Have you thought yet of what to do? I know we just got here, but we have a problem we came here to solve.”

“ You don’t,” he said decisively. “I told you I want you to stay out of this. To answer your question, I’ve thought of a dozen things, but I haven’t settled on any of them yet. You saw how contentious our relationship is at the council meeting. There’s no question of gaining his trust and insinuating myself into his company. I’ll have to find another way.”

There was a soft knock on the door and the servants came in to set several trays on a table near the window. It was a low affair, with big cushions instead of chairs. They brought us a platter, laden with heaps of what looked like potatoes and green vegetables fixed in various ways. There were large leaves of some kind filled with meat and rice and skewers of roasted meats, all of which smelled delicious. There were also many sauces and gravies in bowls on the table, and I was amazed at how much they’d brought for just the two of us.

When I said as much to Niko, he seemed surprised. “They’ve just brought us a variety to choose from. Don’t you like these foods?”

“I’m sure I probably will, but that’s not the point. It seems like such a waste.”

That didn’t seem to compute in his brain at all, so I finally gave up. I did tell him I hoped the servants would put away what was left over, and he looked at me oddly and uncomprehendingly again. We were finished with our huge meal, and I’d just sat back and said I couldn’t eat another bite, when a servant came knocking softly again.

“Sir, you have a visitor. It’s Lady Melanius, and she says she needs to speak with you.”

“Melanius?” Niko said, getting quickly to his feet. “Send her in.”

I recognized the name as the lady Niko was supposed to have been having an affair with—Linnius’s wife. I’d thought she was in prison—or so she had the last we’d heard. I quickly slipped in the translator device Niko had given me, because I wanted to eavesdrop. It fit neatly inside my ear.

I heard a rustle of fabric and then the lady herself was walking in, with a jangle of bracelets, in the cloud of heavy perfume that surrounded her. She wore a long red robe similar to the one I was wearing, with an embroidered blue coat over that. Her hair was brown, streaked with blonde and hung down to her shoulders, and she had a pale face that was attractive but unsmiling. Her eyes were a little small. She was a bit older than Niko and looked to be around thirty-five or maybe even forty years old in the way I’d been used to counting time.

Perhaps that was a slight exaggeration, but I wasn’t inclined to be kind. This was a former lover of Niko’s, and I was finding that I was a jealous person.

She gave me one quick, scowling look as she came in, with no attempt at civility at all, and then she went immediately to receive Niko’s greeting—one that was entirely too friendly in my opinion.

He kissed her on both cheeks and held her out from him to gaze at her. “I was told Linnius had put you in prison awaiting execution. I heard that he suspected you in the attempt on his life, and I was worried.”

“You heard correctly, but Linnius, that cowardly ( word does not translate, my device told me) doesn’t have the nerve to hurt me. He knows what my family would do to him if he did.”

“Come in and sit down so we can talk. Would you like something to eat or drink?”

“No, tatalus, I’m fine. I rushed here to see you as soon as I heard you had returned.”

That last word she used? Tatalus? My device had translated that as “lover.” I was not pleased, to say the least. I mean, I was standing right there, and I knew she must have heard already that Niko had claimed me. I decided that I truly hated her. She glanced over at me and blanched a little when she saw the look on my face. She turned back to Niko.

“Your hostage is a fierce looking little thing. Is he safe to be around?” She drew closer to Niko, and I think I may have growled a little, which was a mistake, because it only made her grab his arm and get even closer.

“Jago, behave yourself,” Niko said in Tygerian. “Melanius is a friend of mine.”

“Oh, I can see that.”

He took her hand and led her over to where I sat. He reached for my hand too, so that now he had both of us. “Let me introduce you. Melanius, this is Prince Jago of the kingdom of Tygeria. Jago, this is Lady Melanius, one of the consorts of the emperor.”

We looked each other up and down, and I think neither of us were overly impressed. My nostrils were flaring, and she had a look of deep disgust.

“Come and let us sit down,” Niko said, leading us back to a long, cushioned thing by the window, where the two of them sat down. I pulled my arm away.

“I’ve not finished eating yet.” Though I’d just told him I’d had enough. Well, I’d changed my mind. I stalked back over toward the table and sat down where I’d been before, though still shamelessly eavesdropping.

“Can it be true what I’ve heard, tatalus ? Have you truly claimed this little boy or were you only taunting Linnius?”

He took her hand in his. “No, Melanius, it’s true. I’ve claimed Prince Jago.”

She yanked her hand from his. “He’s a boy !”

“He’s male. That much is true, but not a boy, as you call him. I have never claimed not to like men, Melanius. This is not a new development.”

“You’re seriously choosing a boy over me?”

Niko gave a long sigh. “You’re married to the emperor, and I might remind you, you’re not available. Besides, we both agreed there was nothing serious between us, except for friendship. I’d like to retain that if we can, but it won’t be possible if you continue to insult Prince Jago. Besides all that, you know that no one can control the blood lust.”

“Did you even try?” she shouted, jumping to her feet and giving first Niko and then me a poisonous look.

She stalked over toward me and stared down at me, jabbering at me in Pton. “And you—whatever your name is... You should watch what you eat and drink in Pton, you-you little blue-haired, alien freak. People have been known to find our food disagreeable . Take care you don’t do the same.”

I sprang to my feet and faced her. “Are you seriously threatening me to my face?”

I snatched up a knife from the table and with a flick of my wrist, I held it to a spot just below her eye, pressing in the tip just the slightest bit on that white skin. I applied the tiniest bit of pressure to cause a tiny trickle of blood to fall. As she felt the blood falling down her cheek, she gasped in horror.

“Dominiko, he’s scarring me!”

I knew Niko was on his feet and rushing toward us, but I got in one more remark.

“Wouldn’t you like a little something to remember me by, since you seem to be so forgetful of my name?”

“Jago, stop it this instant!” Niko shouted from right beside me, and I reluctantly let her go. She stumbled away and gave me a horrified look before turning to Niko. “I can’t believe you’d let him do this after all we’ve been to each other.”

Without waiting for an answer, she swept past me and out of the room, leaving a cloud of too-sweet perfume behind her.

It was completely silent once she left, except for the gagging sound I pretended to make. I She slammed the door behind her, and I waved my hand in the air. “What kind of scent is she wearing? It’s truly awful. Just like she is.”