The Consort (Tellaran Series) (20 page)

“Of all the stubborn, impulsive,
stupid
—!”

“Sir—” Kyndan began.

“You were supposed represent the Tellaran Realm!” the admiral boomed out.

Behind him, through the window of the admiral’s flagship
The Sundragon,
Kyndan could see the peaceful blue and green of the Az-kye homeworld.  It made him uneasy to be so far away from her. It would be mid-afternoon at the palace now, Alari would be seated in one of the smaller audience chambers and he could almost feel her tension as her advisors and courtiers circled around her for another round of sniping and backstabbing.

“You were supposed to act with restraint, with decorum.” The admiral had been at this for a while but his face was getting redder by the moment now. “With some godsdamned
sense
for once!”

Kyndan kept his eyes front, willing himself to keep his breath even. “Sir, respectfully, the situation—”

“What you have
done
, Commander, is create a diplomatic disaster!” the admiral fumed. “Do you have any idea how serious this is?  There are Council members who are calling for your head! There has been talk of leveling charges of treason against you! For what? Some Az-kye tart that—”

“Father!” Kyndan barked meeting the admiral’s blue eyes, so like his own. “You’re talking about my wife.”

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw your report.” Ryndar Maere shook his head. “I
can’t
believe it.  You, and your sister, both married to festering
Az-kye
.”

“Father.” Kyndan’s voice dropped to a growl. “I’m not going to warn you again. You
will
speak of Alari with the respect my wife is due.”

“Godsdamn it,
both
my children have married . . . married—”

“The enemy?” Kyndan supplied. “The Az-kye aren’t our enemies anymore.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “I’m not sure they ever were.”

Ryndar gave him a disbelieving look. “They raided our ships, they destroyed your cruiser—”

“You sent me out to do a weapons test on their ships!” Kyndan broke in sharply. “Remember my orders? To blow whatever ships I could find straight to hell? To gather enough data to help make our new cannons even more lethal?” Kyndan could feel the familiar cold knot in his belly. “Your orders forbid me to even
warn
them! You wouldn’t even allow them to surrender!”

Ryndar stopped short. “Is that what this is about?” he demanded. “Because you were ordered to carry out a military operation against our enemies?”

“There was no honor in what I did,” Kyndan bit out. “In the orders you gave me.”

“I ordered you to defend our people!”

“Your orders made me a murderer!” Kyndan hands clenched into fists. “Do you know how much it made me hate them? How much it made me hate
myself
?”

Ryndar’s lips went white and Kyndan’s breath was burning in his lungs.  With a conscious effort he slowed his breathing and relaxed his hands.

“No,” Ryndar said hoarsely. “You bear no responsibility here, Kyndan. You had no choice but to follow orders. Any responsibility—any guilt—is mine to bear.”

Kyndan’s eyes stung. “I had a choice. I just made the wrong one.”

“Son—”

“No,” he said roughly. “It’s too easy to do that. To hide behind orders, to shift the blame to someone else.”

A warrior and his honor. Ah, fuck, I
am
turning into one of them.

Kyndan passed his hand over his face. “But no, that’s
not
what this is about. And as for marrying Alari, I had to.”

Ryndar froze. “Wait . . . did they threaten you somehow? If they—”

“No. In fact, everyone—” He gave a short laugh. “And I mean
everyone
, tried to get me out of it.”

“Then
why
?”

Kyndan shifted his weight.

“Son?”

“I just  . . . 
knew
. Like you knew with Mom.” Ryndar stared at him and Kyndan offered an embarrassed shrug. “I think I liked it better when you were yelling at me.”

“You’d known her what—a day?”

“You asked Mom to marry you an hour after you met her.”

“I was crazy,” Ryndar said shortly.

Kyndan gave a quick grin. “Well, now we know where I get it from.” He searched his father’s face, his smile fading. “It’s not just me they’re blaming here, is it? They came down on you too.”

Ryndar looked away. “Get yourself to the medcenter,” his father said shortly. “Get that taken care of, then we can talk.”

“Get—? Oh,” Kyndan said, touching the scar that Jazan had left on his cheek. “I’m, uh, actually keeping it.”

His father’s brow creased.  “Keeping it? Gods,
why
?”

“It honors Alari and—”
This is going to go over really festering well.
“Because I’m an Az-kye warrior now and warriors are proud of their scars.”

Kyndan could count on one hand how many times in his life he’d seen his father speechless but the look on the elder Maere’s face said volumes.

“Alari is Regent of the Az-kye Empire,” Kyndan reminded. “She has to be married to a warrior. So that means—”

Ryndar held up a hand. “Stop. Just stop.”

“I can’t,” Kyndan said. “And as of now I’m officially resigning my commission.”

“You’re
what
?”

“Resigning,” Kyndan repeated.

“No,” his father said flatly.

“Father, you don’t get a vote. I
have
to resign.”

His father took up position at his desk, his arms on the surface, his fingers interlaced. He was the very image of a reasonable officer and had Kyndan been anyone else he would have believed this man a superior willing to listen, one he could win to his way of thinking.

But Kyndan had seen that same posture many times growing up. He knew that, while his father wanted to give the appearance of fairness, he had already made up his mind and a thousand pulse cannons couldn’t dislodge him from his position.

“Explain this decision to me,” his father said. “Help me understand where you’re coming from on this, Son.”

“Okay, how about this? Being consort to the Az-kye regent is going to make it a bit tricky to hit my objectives for the next promotion in rank.”

His father’s mouth tightened. “I wish you would treat this with the seriousness it deserves, Kyndan.”

“I
am
taking this seriously. There are no options here. I have to resign.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not just Imperial Consort now, I’m Imperial Warlord. I’ll be commanding the Empire’s armed forces.”

“What?” Ryndar breathed.

“Imperial Warlord. Commander of the Az-kye military.”

Ryndar was on his feet instantly. “This makes you a traitor!”

“I’m not a traitor,” Kyndan said tightly. “We’re not at war.”

“What if we were?” Ryndar demanded. “What would you do, Son?”

Kyndan closed his eyes briefly. “Let’s just make sure this peace treaty happens. You work on your end and I’ll work on mine.”

His father held his gaze for a long moment then sat and picked up a datapad.

“Commander Maere,” Ryndar began with cold formality. “Your resignation is refused.”

Kyndan passed his hand over his eyes. “You can’t do that.”

“The hell I can’t.”

“Fine, you’ve refused.” Kyndan threw his arms wide. “Now what,
Sir
? Order me to Central Command to answer for the crime of getting married? Keep me from returning to Az-kye by force and hold the Imperial Consort hostage? Take away my holo privileges and send me to my room? What’s the plan here, Papa?”

Ryndar’s nostrils flared. “There’s still the brig, Commander.”

“There are all of
two
Tellaran ships in Az-kye space,” Kyndan said sharply. “And believe me, if you force a confrontation they’ll blow me to pieces along with this ship. A warrior who dies in battle dies honorably. They’ll think they’re doing me a favor.”

“Damn it!” Ryndar burst out. “I didn’t raise you—or your sister either—to be festering Az-kye!”

“I’m just going to pretend you didn’t say that.” Kyndan blew his breath out. “She’s looking forward to meeting you, by the way.”

“Your wife.”

“Her Imperial Majesty, Regent and Heiress to the Az-kye Empire, Princess Alari.” Kyndan folded his arms. “Yeah, my wife.”

Ryndar leaned back in his chair. “When?”

“Accept my resignation and assume the duties as Tellaran representative and—
maybe
—we’ll ask you to the house for dinner tomorrow.”

Ryndar lifted the datapad again, already tapping the screen. “I’m placing you on inactive status—”

“No,” Kyndan groaned. “Father—!”

“For six months,” his father continued. “If, at the end of that time, you have not presented yourself for service, your status will automatically be listed as ‘separated.’”

“I’m not coming back. I
can’t.
And six months to think about it isn’t going to make any difference. You should just accept my resignation now.”

“Well, this way your retirement benefits will be worth an extra fifty creds a month,” Ryndar muttered, tossing the datapad onto the desk. “What time is dinner?”

Alari’s head came up as soon as she heard his footstep in their quarters.  She put down the war leader’s report and hurriedly waved the servants out. Kyndan came into the sitting room then and her heart sank to see that he still wore his Tellaran uniform.

He gave her a smile as she stood up from the sitting room couch to greet him. “Well, I’m all yours.”

She blinked. “You resigned? You are no longer Tellaran?”

“Well, I resigned. I’m afraid you’re stuck with the blue eyes.”

“So”—she clasped her hands—“you—will be Az-kye?”

“Az-kye as I can manage. My father is looking forward to meeting you tomorrow.”

She nodded to the low table where a pot of steaming tea and an assortment of the Az-kye foods he favored waited. “Are you hungry, my mate?”

He shook his head. He looked tired, as if the experience had been a great deal more trying than he wished her to know.

“He was angry?” she asked quietly. “Your father?”

Kyndan’s smile was rueful. “I’d like to say I’ve seen him angrier, but I haven’t.” He sighed. “And angry I could handle but he was . . .”

Alari searched his face, the resignation in his gaze, the slight downturn at the corner of his mouth.

Disappointed. His sire was disappointed and this hurts him deeply.

She swallowed hard. The Az-kye were a proud race and she had been raised to revere the traditions of her people. To be counted among the Children of Heaven was to be blessed and protected by the gods.

But to his sire—and to Kyndan—to be considered Az-kye was to be shamed.

Then Kyndan shook off his melancholy and gave her a quick grin. “Never mind. Anyway, it’s a prestigious assignment so there’s some squabbling back at the capital about who will be posted to the role of Tellaran ambassador but my father will be standing in at least for a few weeks. He pulled some serious strings to get here.”