Born of Legend (12 page)

Sadness choked her over his hyper vigilance. “You ever relax your guard?”

“I'm still breathing.” He didn't even look down at the menu, except in quick glances.

“Hi, Misha.” Ushara smiled at the waiter as he joined them.

“Admiral … you got first shift again, I take it.”

“Do, indeed. This is my friend, Dagger. He's new to our party, so I'm showing him around. I trust he'll be treated well here.”

“Oh absolutely. Any friend of yours is family to us. I'll make sure and tell Petya. I know she'll want to meet him.” He pulled out an e-tablet. “What can I get for you?”

“My usual. Dagger?”

“Unopened bottled water. Uncut canolay fruit.”

Misha hesitated. “And?”

“That's it.”

Ushara scowled at the paltry order. “Breakfast is my treat.”

“Thank you. But that's all I want.” He handed the menu to Misha.

Passing a wide-eyed stare at her, Misha gathered their electronic menus and left them.

Jullien stroked his whiskers before he caught the expression on her face that must have betrayed her shocked thoughts. “What?”

“You can't live on that. No wonder you're so thin. Why didn't you order anything else?”

“Have you
any
idea how many times I've had my food poisoned or tampered with? I'm lucky if they
just
spit in it.”

“You're the tiziran.”

“Yeah. The most hated tahrs in the history of Andaria and Triosa, combined. Remember? They took a poll. I won hands down. Ten years in a row on Andaria. If not for Justicale Cruel and my grandmother, I'd probably be the most hated royal in all Ichidian history. Which is weird given that my cousins committed far worse crimes than I ever did. I mostly assaulted inanimate objects. I never raped anyone or shot someone's dog, but what the hell? Why discriminate based on a belligerent drunk and disorderly criminal history?”

Misha brought their drinks, and, grimacing, set Jullien's unopened water down in front of him.

“Thank you.” Jullien carefully checked the seal before he opened it.

“Thank you, Misha.”

He nodded, then left them alone again.

Even though Jullien had checked the seal, he still smelled the water and placed his finger inside to dip it in a bit of the water to taste for poison or pollution. Then, he pulled a small vial from his pocket and placed two drops in the water and swirled it.

“What's that?”

“It turns purple if there's any poison present. Blue if there's a paralytic. Yellow for hallucinogens.”

Ushara gaped. “You do this every time you eat?”

“Only if I don't prepare it.” He slid the vial back into his pocket and waited several minutes before he finally sipped the water.

“You didn't do this on board my ship.”

“I was too hungry to care, then. Besides, I was already in your custody and at your mercy. Not like you couldn't have thrown me out an airlock had you wanted me dead.”

He had a point, but still … “Were you always like this?”

Jullien shook his head as he continued to study his water. “No. I was suicidal at one time. Didn't care if they killed me or not. A part of me was hoping they'd succeed. The only reason I care now is I'm not about to let some asshole become a millionaire off my back because I laid down and let them cut my throat. They take me in, bastard's gonna earn it and I'm taking an equal amount of his ass to the grave with me.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “I'm a contrary prick that way.”

She leaned back as Misha brought out her food and put it in front of her. He grimaced as he placed the melon in front of Jullien. “Would you like me to bring you a knife for that?”

Jullien pulled his own out, and twirled it open. “No, thanks. I have it.”

Misha beat a hasty retreat.

Ushara suppressed a laugh at Misha's reaction to Jullien's impressive knife skills. “Let me guess … fear of a poisoned blade?”

“That's what led me to you, is it not?”

Yet another very valid point. Ushara watched as he carefully examined the smooth shell of the melon. And by that, she meant
carefully
. “Is something wrong with it?”

“Looking for needle marks. Making sure nothing was injected into it.”

Her heart sank at his matter-of-fact tone. It was a miracle he ever ate anything, given this amount of paranoia. He even smelled the shell, and rubbed his
solution
over it to test if something had been placed on it.

Finally satisfied, he cut up his melon. And as with the water, he still examined each piece before he cautiously ate it.

“You sure you don't want some of mine?”

Jullien hesitated. The hungry longing in his eyes was searing. “I would kill for it. But it's not worth the chance of getting sick.”

Because he had no one to care for him, and no way to seek medical help. First thing any doctor or nurse would do was run his DNA and prints for medical records. And the moment they did that, it would pop up his warrant and notify them that he was a fugitive. They would be required by law to turn him in.

Aching for the way he was forced to live, she took a bite of her bread, then held it out toward him. “I'll be your food taster.”

Jullien paused. Before he could stop himself, he opened his mouth and allowed her to feed him a bite.

She smiled warmly at him, then wiped at his chin. “See? It's delicious, isn't it?”

Honestly? He didn't taste a bit of it. All he could focus on was how beautiful she was and how warm her touch made him feel inside.

She held her fork up and fed him some of her breakfast scramble.

“Thank you.”

Inclining her head, she took a bite herself.

His cock jerked as he watched her eat and his thoughts went to a place he knew they shouldn't. But he couldn't help it. No one had ever been this kind to him. All his life, he'd wondered what it would be like to have someone who was nice to him for the hell of it. Not because they wanted something or a favor from his grandmother.

Nice because they
liked
him.

It was what had made him so mean to others, especially in school. In retrospect, he regretted how he'd treated a lot of his classmates, especially Dancer Hauk. But he still remembered that first day of school when Dancer had shown up and his mother had intentionally sat them together.

“Remember Dancer, this is the tahrs. Be nice to him and he can do a lot of things for you and our family. I want you two to be
best
friends.”

Jullien would give Endine Hauk credit. At least she'd been open about it. Most weren't quite so blatant with their ass-kissing. But then, she was a distant cousin of his mother's. That kind of self-serving, backbiting bullshit ran thick in their genes.

And from that moment on, he'd been hard on Dancer. Suspicious and cold. Never trusting that Dancer was there for any reason other than the fact that Endine had made him tolerate Jullien's presence.

But no one had told Ushara to be nice to him. She had nothing to gain by sitting here. He had no more political ties to use. No strings to pull.

Nothing.

She cut up her ham and held it out for him. When he opened his lips, she playfully jerked it away and ate it instead. “Ha! Fooled you!”

Jullien laughed as her pale eyes sparkled with humor. Shaking his head, he held a piece of melon out to her. “Eat this with it. The juices will enhance the flavor.”

Leaning forward she ate it from his hand. His breath faltered as her tongue skimmed the flesh of his fingers and sent another wave of desire through him unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

Holy gods …

“Mmmm,” she breathed. “You're right. It's delicious. How did you know?”

He shrugged. “I spent a lot of time in the kitchen when I was a kid.”

“Really? Not exactly the place I would imagine for an Andarion tiziran.”

Snorting, he cut more melon. “Haven't you seen the pictures of me when I was Prince Ponderous?”

She choked on her food. “Excuse me?”

“Oh c'mon. You're not going to hurt my feelings. Not like I could miss it. The headlines were in every tabloid and newsfeed the universe over. Tahrs Tub-of-lard. Jiggly Jullien. Prince Jerkllien. Jolt-Head Jullien. And of course my personal fave, Tahrs Junkie eat-it-all Asshole. Whenever I was trying to stay sober, I sought refuge at the bottom of a barrel of cake batter. It was the only safe place I had in the entire palace where no one bothered me.” He licked his fingers.

“Sorry.”

“Don't be. Best memories of my life were sitting in the kitchen with our cook while she worked. I know she didn't really like me either, but at least she wasn't openly mean to me.”

“Then how do you know she didn't like you?”

“Andarion hearing and I moved like a shadow for a fat kid. Heard a lot of things no one knew I did. But at least Karna quit complaining about me after awhile. Sometimes she almost even smiled when I came in. And at least she knew by the girth of my abundant ass that I appreciated her hard work.”

Ushara offered him another piece of ham and this time, she didn't pull it away.

“So what about you?” he asked.

“What about me?”

“Who raised you?”

She tried not to react to something he really shouldn't have to ask. The fact that he was sincere with that inquiry said a lot about his world. “My parents. They're Tavali so I was raised here.” She took a drink of her juice. “They're both still alive and my father continues to make some runs, but not too many. In fact, that's where Vasili is this morning. He spent last night with them after we got home. And he'll be with them all day. We're not letting him out of our sights for days to come.”

“Really?” His voice was filled with disbelief. “He likes them?”

“Most beings like their grandparents, Jullien.”

“Do they?”

She laughed at his genuinely shocked tone. “Yes. I promise.”

But the expression on his face said that he couldn't quite wrap his mind around the concept of it. How tragic for him.

He wiped his hands. “Do you have siblings?”

“A large number of them. Three brothers and four sisters.”

His eyes widened.

“And brace yourself … we love each other. Get along famously, most days. In fact, we live in a cluster together, within walking distance of each other's homes. Two of my brothers were even on board the ship that brought you here. The big giant who scowled at the door of the bar when I entered to get Vasili? That was my brother Dimitri.”

“I have no ability whatsoever to relate to anything you've just said. I believe you spoke in Universal, but really, all I heard was bleh, blar, blurr, blah, bleakly, blar, blar.”

She laughed at his gibberish. “It's true.”

“I kind of, almost believe you. Of course I still believe in St. Daner who uses a pair of magical boots to bring presents to kids on Gal Day, too. So what the hell?” The laughter died in his eyes as he looked past her and his gaze sharpened and fastened on someone behind her.

She turned to see what had caught his attention.
Crap …
Speaking of her family. Her cousin Lev was headed toward them with his crew. They must have just come in from their latest run. And he didn't appear particularly happy.

With his thumbs in his holster, Lev paused beside her and eyed Jullien suspiciously. “
Kyzu
,” he said in greeting. “I wasn't expecting to see you here … with a new … servant.”

Jullien leaned back in his seat. It appeared relaxed, but Ushara recognized it for what it was. He cleared the way for a clean shot at her cousin should he need it, under the table.

“Dagger,” she said quickly, “May I introduce you to my
kyzi
Lev.”

Jullien's eyes narrowed in disappointment before he returned his hand to rest on the table, letting her know that his finger was off the trigger. He passed her an irritated smirk. “Nice to meet you.”

“You look familiar. Do you I know you?”

Jullien shrugged. “I have one of those faces.”

“Lev…” Ushara drew his attention back to her. “Is there something you needed?”

Before he could answer, her link went off. She checked it and cursed. “Sorry. I have to take this.” Scooting out of the booth, she headed toward the bathroom for privacy.

Jullien didn't move as the large, blond Fyreblood Andarion blocked him in. Because Jullien had yet to expose his fangs or stand up and he'd removed his sunglasses while talking to Ushara, Lev thought he was towering over a man and intimidating him. Dumbass.

“Do you know who she is,
schânkefreł?
”

“I know.”

Two other Fyrebloods moved in to flank Lev, while he glared down at Jullien. “We don't like outsiders here. No one encroaches on our females. You don't touch an Andarion,
schânkefreł
. They're off limits to the likes of you. Understood?”

“I'm familiar with the culture.”

The three of them stepped back as Ushara returned. Sighing, she grabbed a quick drink. “Sorry, they need me in my office. I have to go.”

Jullien inclined his head to her. “It's fine. Thank you for the conversation this morning. And for the gifts.”

Her features softened. “Good luck today. Try to make some friends.” Then to his greatest shock, she leaned down and kissed his cheek. Turning around, she eyed her cousin and his crew. “Play nice.”

But as soon as she was gone, they returned to glower at him.

Jullien let out a tired sigh. “Do I really have to kick your asses my first day here?”

“Lev,” the female owner said in warning. “No fire in my restaurant.”

“Don't worry, Petya. I don't need it to teach this piece of human waste a lesson.”