“Why have I not beheld her before?” he murmured, but he seemed to be talking to himself, not to us. “She is most beauteous.”
“Shelongsfor you, Your Majesty,” I said, hoping to play on his vanity a bit. “She made a mirror appear—just like the one you called for—in order to look atyouthe last time I saw her.”
“She did? Truly—you do not lie?” the Emperor demanded, frowning at me.
“I am telling you the absolute truth—you have my word as a La-ti-zal,” I said, hoping that would be good enough to convince him.
The Emperor sighed and shook his head.
“But our peoples have been separated for solong. How can we hope to come back together and heal the Rift that came between us when we first parted?”
“That’s whereIcome in, Your Majesty,” Rylee said, stepping forward. “You see, my La-ti-zal power is that I am a Binder. If only you will go and meet with the Empress, I’m certain I can Bind the two of you together and heal the Rift between your peoples.”
“The two of you are longing for each other,” I said. “The males and females of your kind have been separated for too long. Come back to each other—let Rylee and I help you find your way back.”
The Emperor sat there, staring at the image of the Empress for a long moment and I had the feeling that everything was hanging in the balance. Either he would agree with us and let us go with him to the Court of the Empress—where I could possibly meet up with Vik’tor and Rylee could get back with her guys—or he would disagree and order our heads chopped off.
I held my breath and I could see Rylee’s lips moving—either she was praying or talking to her men. Which way would it go? What would happen to the two of us? Would I ever get back to Vik’tor?
Then, abruptly, the Emperor rose. He made a motion with one hand and the mirror showing the face of the Empress vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.
“I have made my decision,” he said. “Guards, ready my royal star cruiser—we are going to the Court of Empress Shalaya the Twenty-second and one half!”
FIFTY-ONE
VIK’TOR
Isaw relief on both Drace and Lucian’s faces after the long, tense moments when they had been telling me what was happening in the throne room of the Dark Emperor.
“That’s it,” Drace said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “They’re safe. They’re fuckingsafe.”
“The Emperor has agreed to court the Empress,” Lucian explained to me, over the viewscreen. “He’s going at once to the female side of the planet—we can meet our females there.”
“Not so fast,” I told them. “You know you have to have a female to vouch for you, right?”
“Butourfemale is with the Emperor,” Drace objected, frowning.
“Don’t worry about it,” I told them. “I have a connection with the Empress already thanks to a, uh, favor that Natalie and I did for her.”
I was thinking of the “sex lessons” we had given the Empress the night before. I was damn glad I hadn’t refused her Highness. She was happy with me and Natalie, which would make it a damn sight easier to get Drace and Lucian into the Court.
“In that case, we’ll follow your lead,” Lucian told me. “By the way—do you know that your Natalie and our Rylee are related?”
“Really?” I frowned. I had thought the name “Rylee” sounded familiar. “Is your mate the cousin Natalie went looking for when she was first snatched by the Commercians?” I asked him.
Lucian nodded.
“The same. It seems an odd coincidence that they should meet again in this way when the universe is such a wide space.”
“There’s no such fucking thing as ‘coincidence’,” Drace growled. “It’s the will of the Goddess of Mercy—you’ll see.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said. “Let me get in contact with the female side of the planet again and negotiate so that the two of you can land. We’ll be seeing our females again before we know it.”
“We’ll be waiting to hear from you,” Lucian said and the viewscreen went blank as they cut communications.
As I opened a channel to the Empress’s palace on the Female side of Tangella Alpha-Prime, I swore that if I ever got a chance to hold Natalie in my arms again, I would never her go.
FIFTY-TWO