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“Yes.” He studied her.
“And you will be consort or king?”
“King would be my plan. Joint reign. It depends on how the public sees my role. If nothing else, I will rule you.”
Oh, the excitement rising in her from his words was entirely wrong. She smiled, swallowed. “I see.”
“I sense some skepticism. I’d pin you down and fuck you here, but it might upset people. Not you, but those.” He gestured at the crowd outside.
Her blush roared in. “Drake, you cannot say or do such things. Not in public.”
“You have no idea what is coming.”
She blinked, startled. Luckily, or unluckily the roar of the crowd distracted them both.
They toured the hospital, visiting her favorite maternity ward. From within the ward, behind the viewing glass, Shree blew her a kiss and waved. She was cradling one of the babies.
“Huleons, hmmm? More than I expected.” Drake tapped on the glass with a big finger and appeared to make faces at a child who stood by her mother and a new baby in a cot. Though busy sucking her thumb, the child waved back.
There were many huleon babies this year. The fertility problems were not going away. The human population had dropped. The mauleon too, she’d heard—due to mutations and higher death rate. This planet needed terraforming, as was done in the past, but the techniques were beyond their tech.
Perhaps opening a fertility clinic where it was acceptable to cross human with mauleon should be first on her list of things to do? It was a clandestine industry, if one could call it that. Official would be better.
“You like children?”
“What else could one do except love them?” He smiled.
“So...” The big question, she must ask it. Now. They had space and she asked it softly. “You must know I am infertile.”
“I do.” He took her hand, squeezed it, and they strolled along the corridor, with entourage of guards and matron in tow.
They were holding hands in public. Even this made her wonder if he’d gone too far. Was this what he meant by his words before—that she had no idea what was coming?
“Though I would love children, I think loving you is more important.”
She sneaked him a look. This mauleon was far too good at compliments. And she was far too wounded inside to not doubt his answer.
Trust, remember? She breathed slow and deliberate. “Thank you.”
“That needs no thanks. It simply is how I should feel.”
That was the first time she felt a trawl of something bad cruising through the silent darkness, a murky foreboding.
Drake was too good for her. Something evil was coming. It must be.
The second-to-last place they visited was unexpected.
The coach curved out of the city, still flanked by cavalry, though they’d slowed and had been joined by a mauleon force as well. They entered a forested area, where thin-trunked trees towered to either side. Drake refused to tell her where they were going until a large square building slid into view past the gray bark of the trees.
The coach halted on the road beside a gated entryway. A wire fence topped by spikes surrounded the compound.
He’d slid over to sit beside her for much of the journey and now he squeezed her knee. “I felt it best to show you this. It’s evil but it needs to be seen.”
Her heart picked up speed.
“This is a secret site where General Vass had dissenters tortured. Sometimes to get them to confess, other times just because he liked doing it.”
Horrifying. She gulped down the lump that sat in her throat. “I never liked him. That seems petty now, but I sensed he was bad.”
