Chapter Eight

Prince Jago

When we’d first walked down the corridor, I’d felt bad for Rakkur, because Tariq was so embarrassed and angry he either couldn’t or wouldn’t speak to him as he held tightly to both our elbows and led us down the corridor. After a moment or two, Rakkur had stopped trying to get away and stopped trying to talk to him and got that mulish expression on his face that I’d seen so often on Blake when he and my grandfather argued.

He tried to jerk his arm away a couple more times, but Tariq held on like grim death and wouldn’t let go. Finally, Rakkur stopped his efforts, and we made it back to the infirmary. Tariq left us just inside the door, with one terse and angry word.

“Stay.”

He turned then and left and Rakkur turned to me incredulously. “ Stay? Does he think I’m some kind of pet to be given orders? Insufferable man!”

“Don’t be so upset. He was angry.”

“He’s not the only one,” he said, beginning to pace up and down. “Try that door and see if it’s locked.”

I did. And it was.

I shrugged and tried to urge him to sit down. He was beginning to look really flushed.

“I’m sure he’ll be back soon or send someone. Don’t get so excited.”

He stopped his pacing and stared at me, and I noticed his skin had gone from flushed to patchy white. He really didn’t look well.

“Jago,” he said softly. “Look, don’t be alarmed, but I need to tell you something.”

Nothing could alarm me more than someone saying “don’t be alarmed, but…”

“What do you mean? What is it?”

“I-I’m bleeding. I just felt a gush.”

“A gush? What? Where? What do I need to do?”

“I don’t know. Help me over to a chair, please.”

I quickly grabbed him around the waist and that’s when I noticed the small dark stain that was rapidly spreading across his robe, like it had splashed there. Fucking splashed , which scared me to death. It had appeared in seconds, like it had come in a huge outpouring, and it was continuing to get bigger. I felt a little faint myself.

“Oh gods, Rakkur! We have to get help.”

“See if there are guards outside the door. If not, use your communicator to call someone. Hurry, though, because I-I think I’m hemorrhaging and I’m going to pass out.”

I got him to the nearest chair and put him down like he was a porcelain vase, and then I ran to the door and began to bang wildly on it yelling as loud as I could for help. Thankfully, the door almost immediately slid open, and two Imperials came in with weapons drawn, looking around the room for the threat.

“It’s Prince Rakkur. He’s bleeding everywhere! Get a doctor in here now!”

The next few minutes were pretty exciting as I ran back over to Rakkur and caught him just as his eyes rolled back in his head and he began slumping to the floor. I held onto him and bore him down, breaking his fall, and very quickly one of the Imperials came to help, picking him up and carrying him over to a gurney.

Excessive bleeding was one of the known dangers to male bearers and from what little I knew about it, I was aware it was always an extreme emergency. I refused to leave him, even after the doctors came rushing in, and it was only when Tariq arrived, his face almost unrecognizable with fear and panic, that I reluctantly gave up my place at his side so Tariq could be with him.

I was worried about the colonel, because I’d never seen anyone look so completely wrecked in my life. I stayed as long as I could, until the doctors said they were taking Rakkur into emergency surgery and asked all of us to leave. I left when the guards did, but Tariq refused and none of the doctors were brave enough to try and make him. I doubt it would have worked anyway.

I was standing outside the doors when Prince Mikol came in and looked at me and my bloodstained robe in horror. “Good gods, Jago, what’s happening? Why are you covered in blood?”

“Rakkur started bleeding out of nowhere. They’re taking him in now for emergency surgery. Tariq’s with him, refusing to leave, and I left while they were all still arguing about it.”

“I-I have to get a message to my grandparents. They’re on the way here now, along with your parents, Jago. If something happens to Rakkur before they get here…oh gods.”

“It won’t. Don’t think that way. Look, I’ll stay here, and you go get the message to them. I hate to worry Blake like this when he can’t be here for hours yet, but if we don’t tell him…”

“I know. It doesn’t bear thinking about. I’ll go now.” He turned and hurried down the corridor headed to the bridge to send a message. Even with the powerful signals of the ship’s communications, it would still take a while. I slumped down the wall and sat beside the door, waiting for someone to come out so we could get some news, though I knew it might be a while. I could only imagine how Tariq must be feeling.

Mikol came back after a few minutes and sent me with an Imperial to find a new robe, because everything I’d had was on the ship that we’d been traveling on. It occurred to me that I didn’t know if that ship even existed anymore or even where it was. Mikol reassured me when he got back that all the crew members were safe. Engineers would be assessing the damage on the ship to see how much of it could be salvaged, and that it was being taken back to Loros.

I was allowed into the clinic again, because Rakkur had been moved into a surgical room by that time. Those beds in the clinic were the only ones available at the moment, and Mikol made me lie down on one to rest after all my adventures.

I agreed to rest, thinking privately that there was no way I’d be able to sleep until I heard some news about Rakkur. But after only a few minutes, my eyes began to droop, and I thought I’d close them for a few minutes.

When I woke up, the lights had been dimmed in the room, and it felt like hours had passed. After waiting for what seemed like hours more, but was probably only about thirty minutes, the door opened, and Mikol came in. He looked tired, but he gave me a small smile.

“Rakkur will be fine,” he said. “He’s had twin boys, and the doctors were astonished. Full of excuses, of course, and explanations, but they simply missed it. Luckily, all of them are fine, and the doctors will be too until Blake gets here. Oh, and both babies are beautiful and healthy. Both have blond hair.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to see them.”

“I know. The doctors are cleaning them up and getting them ready for the nursery.”

“Did you send word to omak-ahn and grandfather?”

“First thing I did.”

“And Tariq? How’s he?”

“Exhausted. A little overwhelmed, but he’ll be fine. Go back to sleep if you can, and you can see them all in the morning. I’ll work on finding you a room. If I can’t, I’ll give you mine. Anarr would have a fit if he knew you were sleeping in here alone and unprotected, though I did post a guard on the outer door.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I’m afraid you take too many risks, Jago. You have to stop or I’m afraid you’ll be compromised one day, like your omak was. My father told me that cautionary tale many times.” He stood thoughtfully for a moment and looked down at me. “Lord Dominiko didn’t harm you in any way, did he? Or touch you inappropriately? I haven’t had a chance to check in with you yet or debrief anyone.”

“I’m not a child, Mikol.”

“Just answer the question. And tell me the truth. Is there anything I need to know?”

Was there? I decided it was my business, and I decided to keep it to myself.

“No,” I said, lying through my teeth. “Not at all. His guards got rough, but Dominiko never touched me. Not at all.”

He gave me a suspicious nod. “All right then. If you say so. I’d have had to address the matter if he had. We’ll talk more about it later but get some rest—this whole thing has been an ordeal, and you handled yourself well. I’m proud of you, Jago. It was brave and selfless of you to volunteer to go with the Pton soldiers to save Rakkur. If this birth had occurred on that alien ship, I’m afraid we’d have been facing a very different outcome.” He left me then with a little bow, and I lay back down and tossed and turned until I finally fell asleep.

****

“Have you ever seen more beautiful babies, Jago? Tell the truth. You haven’t, have you?”

I laughed. “I must admit I haven’t.”

I gazed down at the surprisingly sturdy little boys in the baby bed beside him, who were a bit premature, though they didn’t look it. Then again, they were only a quarter human, so they had the size of Tygerian babies. Except for their hair, which was surprisingly thick and very blond, they could have been fully Tygerian.

Their hair was the first thing Rakkur commented on when I went to see him.

“Tariq said it might darken as they get older, but I hope it doesn’t. I’d like them to look at least a little like me.”

Tariq, who was sitting in a chair beside him, half asleep, shook his head. “I hope they don’t.”

“What? Why not?”

“You’re far too pretty. It’s been a lot of trouble for me.”

Rakkur narrowed his eyes and glared at him, and I quickly spoke up to avoid the explosion.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I said. It was a platitude, but I was trying to soothe him. I didn’t really know what to say in such situations. I thought Tariq would probably get his wish. Both these little bruisers were about as Tygerian as it got, despite their fair hair. They were beautiful though, just like both their dads. I knew Blake would be thrilled when he saw them and no doubt spoil them shamefully.

“Have you decided on names?”

“This one,” Rakkur said, indicating the one on the left, looks more like Tariq, so his name will be Kaden after Tariq’s omak. He was a human, you know, and lived in a large city on Earth. One day I’ll take Kaden there to see it.”

“That’s nice.”

“And the other one,” he said, caressing the head of the absolutely identical baby, “he looks more like me, don’t you think? But I have no idea what goes with Kaden.”

“Does it have to go with Kaden?” I asked.

“Foolishness,” Tariq muttered disapprovingly.

Rakkur rounded on him again, and I tried to head him off. “My father is a twin, you know, and his brother is named Vannos, which is nothing like my father’s name.”

“They’re my brothers, Jago, so of course I already know that. Though I always thought it was an odd thing. These babies are identical, so their names should sound alike or look alike or something.”

Tariq opened his mouth to say something again and thought better of it when he saw the look Rakkur shot his way.

“Maybe they could start with the same letter,” I said.

“Oh, I like that. What about Kay-lee? I’ve heard that name, and it’s human.”

“I think that’s a girl’s name.”

“Really? Oh. Then what?

“If you like a human sounding name, what about Kyle? That’s a ‘K’ name, and I met a human once named Kyle.”

“Kyle and Kaden. That does sound nice. I think I like that. What do you think, Tariq?”

He met my warning gaze over Rakkur’s head and sighed. “It’s fine.”

“Fine? Nothing more to say?”

“No. Nothing at all.”

“Hmm. Good. That’s their names then. Tell the doctors so they can put it on their paperwork.”

Tariq looked up again from his communicator. “Just in time. I received a message that the king has just arrived.”

“So soon? How did they possibly manage that?”

“They must have taken a smaller ship and come ahead of the others. Maybe a striker craft.”

Strikers were small, sleek cruisers with only two to four seats that could move incredibly fast either in space or in a planet’s atmosphere. Used primarily as fighting aircraft, they were capable of traveling immense distances in a very short amount of time. Often the highest officials had them onboard in case they needed to use them to travel elsewhere in a hurry.

Blake had no doubt insisted they use theirs to get to Rakkur as quickly as possible. I took a deep breath and got ready to face them both.