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Prince Rylan of Moravia

Son of King Stefan and His Royal Consort, Prince Vannos

My father cornered me with his plan at first-meal early one morning, while I was still groggy and half-asleep.

In my defense, it had been a long night.

Putting down his cup, my father leaned toward me with a suspicious expression on his face.

I was perhaps a bit the worse for wear from a party I’d been to with Kareb and some of my other friends the night before.

I’d still be tucked up in bed if not for the fact that my omak insisted we all show up for meals together.

Actually, I was still drunk on my ass, and I’d only had about two hours of sleep, so when my father leaned toward me and sniffed at me, it startled the hell out of me.

I lurched back in alarm and didn’t fully realize what was happening until it was too late for me to make some excuse and get out of there.

“You’re still drun k,” he said, his voice disgusted.

“N-no. I mean, not precisely. Maybe a little… Um, what do you mean?”

“You can barely sit up straight! You reek of liquor, Rylan.”

“Oh. I-I just haven’t bathed yet this morning, that’s all. You see, I went to a party last night and Kareb spilled his drink on me.” I shoved my chair back and stumbled to my feet. “Tell you what, I’ll just run back upstairs and take care of that, so I don’t offend…”

“Sit down, boy! Don’t insult my intelligence by thinking I don’t know about the so-called party you and your friends attended last night. It was more like a drunken debauchery, and it took place in the guards’ quarters. It was thoroughly disgraceful from what I heard.”

So much shouting—my head was pounding and why was he still yelling? I was only inches away from him. The sound reverberated through my head.

“You woke up half the household last night stumbling up to your room.”

“About that, Father…I think maybe we should look into getting some carpet on those stairs. Those stone steps are hard on the knees when you fall.”

“Oh, you think so, do you? I’m not made of money, you know.

Perhaps you wouldn’t be falling all over the steps in the middle of the night if you settled down and stopped making a complete spectacle of yourself partying with your friends.

It’s high time you took your duties more seriously, Rylan.

I think maybe it’s time to find you a spouse.

You’ll still be older than your omak was when I married him.

Isn’t that right, Vannos?” he said, looking over at my bearer, sitting on his right-hand side, stirring his tea.

“Weren’t you only about nineteen or twenty when we met? ”

My omak took a sip from his cup and shrugged. “Yes, and you said I was far too young. You got pretty upset about it, as I recall and locked me up after a brutal interrogation in a torture chamber.”

“What?” I said, feigning shock. Actually, I’d heard this story many, many times, but I was glad of the distraction.

It was all hyperbole, of course. The “torture chamber” had merely been a storage room that had some harnesses hanging on the wall, and though it was true that he had been locked up—inside a comfortable bedroom for a couple of days following the “interrogation,” and my father had spent most of that time locked in there with him—it hadn’t been much of a hardship for either of them.

“Oh, you poor thing. You say Father was angry about how young you were?” I asked solicitously, thinking I might stir up an argument and use it to slip out of the room, but it was already too late. My father slammed a hand down on the table, making the dishes rattle.

“It was because of the deception he was trying to pull off, and that’s all in the past now.

A great deal of it was miscommunication, and you both know that.

Besides all that, we’re not talking about me and your omak and ancient history, damn it!

” the king said, addressing us both and getting a cold side-eye glance from my omak in return.

“And for the record, most of that simply isn’t true.

It’s time to put those old lies to rest.”

My omak answered him serenely, without raising his voice.

“I’m sure you’d like that. And pray tell me, if this has nothing to do with me and you, then what difference does it make how old I was when we first met?

And don’t give me that look. You’re the one who started this and dragged me into this. ”

The king looked ready to explode, and I knew an argument was brewing, and I’d just as soon not be there to hear it, because I was bound to be drawn into it. Besides, a lecture from the king would no doubt follow, and those could go on and on.

“You two seem to have a lot to talk about. Maybe I could leave you to it and just circle back to talk about this with you later.” I half-rose from my seat, but my father, who had been busy glaring at my omak, spared me one feral glance that had me quickly dropping back to my chair.

“Don’t you move, boy. I’m not through talking to you yet. It’s time you settled down and started taking your responsibilities seriously.”

My omak picked up his cup to take another sip of his tea, supremely indifferent to the king’s anger. Unfortunately, I was not.

“Father, please,” I appealed to him. My head was pounding way too hard to have this conversation. “I won’t even be twenty-one for a few months yet and besides, that’s not such a vast age. I have plenty of time to settle down.”

“Maybe I should accept the offer I already received for you. I would if I had any sense.”

“Offer? You have an offer? For me?”

“ Who offered for him?” my omak broke in. “Not that person from Thalios, I hope? That King Travon? He’s way too old to marry my boy. That man’s forty, if he’s a day, and he’s not even a nice person. He may be handsome in an oily kind of way, but there’s something creepy about him.”

“What is this ‘creepy?’ I don’t even know what that word means. Nobody is talking about marriage, damn it! But if I did want that for my son, then it would be my decision.”

“I believe you were talking about it, just now. And I agree with Rylan. If he’s not interested in marriage yet, then he shouldn’t be forced into it.

Besides, we haven’t discussed anyone suitable, and what in the four hells do you mean by saying it’s your decision for your son? I suppose I have no say in it.”

“I said I wasn’t talking about marriage!” He banged his hand on the table again to emphasize his point. “What’s wrong with you two this morning? Rylan, you get more like your omak every day!”

My omak raised one eyebrow. “But that’s a good thing, right? I’m sure that’s what you meant to say.”

My father flushed a deep red as he closed his eyes and seemed to be counting to ten. He did that a lot with my omak.

“Of course, it is. But I was talking about him settling down and taking on his responsibilities,” he finally said, in a voice with less volume. “Because I have something I need him to do for me. A simple errand I need him to run.”

“Of course, Father,” I said, making another abortive attempt to escape, “and I’ll be glad to. But if you don’t mind, could we discuss this later? You could give me all the details then. I have a slight headache now, you see, and…”

“I do mind, so sit down and be quiet!”

“All this yelling is completely unnecessary, Stefan,” my omak said, giving the king a long look that made him deeply sigh. “We’re sitting right here.”

“You’re right. I apologize,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I’ll try to moderate my tone.”

“I’d appreciate it,” Omak said.

He turned back to me. “Now then, Rylan, I want you to go to Lycanus 3 for me.”

“Um…you want me to do what?”

“Go to Lycanus 3. Bauxite is manufactured there. Spacecraft are often made from that material.”

“Okay. I know that, but I still don’t understand why.”

“Why what? Why make the spacecraft from bauxite, or why am I sending you?”

I clutched my head and groaned. “Father, please…”

“There’s a shipment there that was intended for another buyer, if you must know, who came up short on funds, and the Lycans are selling it to me at a reduced price.

I need you to pick it up for me. You can leave tomorrow to get there on time, and since it isn’t far, you should be back home late the next day. ”

“You want me to leave tomorrow? But I have plans for tomorrow, and I don’t know anything about bauxite.”

“You don’t have to know anything about the damn bauxite. You just have to go pick it up for me and take my payment to the Lycan officials. And your plans can wait.”

“But why can’t you do it?”

“Because I have a meeting with the council about this alliance with the Coalition of Small Planets. It’s a newly formed organization King Travon has created. We’ve been corresponding, and he feels as if there’s safety in numbers.”

“Safety?” My omak broke in. “What does he think is going to happen? You both have the Axis to defend you now. I find that insulting to my father and brother. Wait a minute—are you talking about those new members of the Axis who wanted to remain independent, but Mikos forced them to join the Axis anyway? They’re the ones who are all still loyal to the Alliance and hate Tygeria, aren’t they?

Troublemakers. Some are still openly hostile.

And King Travon of Thalios is helping them form some kind of coalition? What in the four hells is that about?”