AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Love.
Yeah. You don’t have that.
Chapter Five
Ardol woke up the next morning feeling as though he’d been hit with a ton of shipping containers. His normally careful, even glamorous, appearance was forgone in favor of racing to his computer and checking for incoming communications.
There was one that stood out.
Father.
Have questions about wedding preparations. Recent outbreak in the far eastern corner of our district. The Archlord is insisting on a six-week quarantine. Respond at once.
Ardol groaned and stumbled into the shower. He’d have to look his best now. He’d have to sound smooth and suave as he spun this situation just the way he wanted it.
There were four or five other communications, but he didn’t even bother looking at them. When his father demanded attention, he received it.
“ARDOL, SON AND HEIR. You look well.”
“Thank you, Father. I’m in good health and reasonable spirits.”
“Excellent. I have not heard from your father-in-law-to-be this cycle. How is your betrothed? What date did you plan to hold the marriage ceremony?” His father flicked a gold stylus across an expensive personal computer, eyes shifting between his paw-written notes and his son’s face.
“I’m afraid I have bad news, Father.”
The older Leopardine tensed. “An outbreak? In the Avian Alliance? How—Never mind. Surely she is vaccinated?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Cala has... Cala has discovered that she is unable to have children. She cannot provide an heir.”
His father’s golden fur, fading to silver in some spots, bristled atop his vibrant purple robe. “Please tell me you had the good sense to diplomatically end the betrothal? For Bastet’s sake, son, tell me you weren’t so foolish as to think you had to honor the agreement made when you were children once she told you the news!” His voice was a roar.
A twinge of annoyance crept down Ardol’s spine. Yes, it had ended, but should his father really be so violent about that request? What if he had loved the girl? What if she was truly the only one?
“Her father is a powerful diplomat. I—”
“Powerful to our Supreme Archlord, but not to me! I have no use for those blasted feathered fiends in the Avian Alliance.” His father pounded a beringed paw on the expensive desk. “Not that you should repeat that, Ardol.”
“No, Father. Father, Cala and I have agreed to end the engagement peacefully.”
Like a puddle of purple silk, his Father sank down in his throne-like desk chair, a weary paw to his face. “You dodged a hot-beam laser blast there, son.”
“Yes. I know.”
“I’m so sorry, of course. I’ve been searching high and low for Queens coming of age for your brothers. There just aren’t any—none that are whole, that is. Can you believe your uncle let all of his young daughters have that radical mutilation? They’re useless now. Of course, they’re only seventeen, and too young anyway...”
“They’re also my cousins,” Ardol snapped. “If they hadn’t had that operation, they might have died in the first wave of the virus—like my mother and sisters.”
The regal voice turned bitter cold. “That was their decision. They knew their value. Let’s not talk of the past, Ardol. It’s your future I’m worried about. Doubtless you’ve heard that the quarries aren’t flourishing, and the demand for our supply is down. Lord Craddix has two sons older than you and twelve younger! He has a considerably larger store of credits, and his district is a hotbed of productivity. He’s not in bonds and credit securities management like I am. Few patrons need our goods, and even fewer need me to manage their wealth. Craddix’s district is towering over ours, earning big with the bioplasma manufacturing—a key component in the vaccines, my boy.”
Ardol frowned. All his life, he could only recall his father boasting and bragging about their wealth and their management of the wealth of other prominent families. “Why does this matter now?”
“If there’s an intact Queen in the galaxy, Craddix will outbid me for her. Now, your younger brothers... They may do well enough on their own. But you— Ardol, I’m sorry. I don’t see a way to broker you a bride.”
“What about other systems? Leonid? Tigerite?”
“Are you joking? They won’t part with their Queens.”
“Out of the galaxy—”
