Tagan's Child (19 page)

“Thanks I feel
better now we are actually in the air.” Dammit, my voice sounded
husky even to my own ears.

The sun was
beginning to fade and the dimness in the plane made it feel more
intimate. We were in our own private bay. I reached up and flicked
the overhead light on in an attempt to kill the mood. We were
cruising now, the engines were quiet and the ride was completely
smooth.

I caught Ahran
looking at me.

“Are you okay?”
he asked, his eyes searching mine.

Not quite sure
whether he was referring to my reaction to the speed or his touch,
I plumped for the former. “It’s amazing, you wouldn’t think we were
in the air at all.”

His head was
inclined towards me, his face expressionless but there was a
softness in his eyes. Oh hell! It was so much easier when he was
being prickly.

“Well, we’ve
got five hours to kill. Tell me more about yourself.”

His directness
surprised me. “I’m not sure we should get to know each other any
better,” I replied.

He chuckled.
“We are going to be in each other’s company for a while, it’s going
to be difficult to remain strangers,” he argued.

There was a
hint of a challenge in his eyes. Okay, if he could keep his
emotions in check so could I. Couldn’t I?

“What do you
want to know?” I asked.

“Who was your
first crush?”

I arched an
eyebrow at him. I pummelled down the feelings this stirred in me
and tried to summon a light-heartedness of my own.

“A boy called
James Gardiner who lived down my road.”

“Did you ever
do anything about it?” he quizzed.

“No, he barely
knew I existed. He was five years older than me and I was too shy
to pluck up the courage to speak to him,” I confessed.

“His loss.”

I smiled
philosophically. “That’s what I like to think, although he is a
successful corporate lawyer now with a three million pound house, a
wife and four children.”

“Sounds like a
lucky escape,” he said good-humouredly.

I laughed. “Who
was yours?” I asked, tucking my ankle under my bottom so I could
face him. I was beginning to enjoy myself.

“Petrula
Lassiva.”

I tried to hide
my smirk. She sounded like some seventies Eurovision Song
contestant.

“What?” he
said, trying to sound offended but couldn’t prevent a smile from
creeping across his own features.

“Nothing. So,
who was she?”

“She was…is,”
he corrected, “A very beautiful movie star in Ramia, most men have
a crush on her.”

I pictured a
sultry film star dressed in a floaty Kaftan, seductively draped
over a chaise.

“Have you ever
met her?” I asked.

“No,” he
laughed, as if it was the most ridiculous suggestion ever. “Petrula
is a goddess among women, she rarely lets mortal men near her.”

He had
absolutely no idea that there was nothing remotely mortal about
him. I sent up a little silent prayer and thanked the lord that
they hadn’t met. Petrula wouldn’t have been able to resist him any
more than the rest of us.

I started to
relax. We were on our way to find Toby and I was happy about that.
There was nothing more we could do other than kill time and try and
bring our association back onto a more even keel.

“So judging by
your conversation with Halsan earlier you’ve bought a farm? You
don’t seem like the farmer type, all flat caps and sheep dogs,” I
teased.

He chuckled.
“Cows are more my thing, sheep have a habit of dying.”

“Do you come
from a farming background?” I asked intrigued.

He laughed at
his own private joke. “No, my father is a politician and my mother
was a teacher,” he explained.

I nodded
encouragingly.

“I did a
business degree,” he continued, “and then a veterinarian degree but
I’ve always been interested in farming in a sustainable, animal
centred way. Farming has a much better reputation here than it has
on Earth, Ramians value their local food producers much more. Here,
we understand what damage cheap food, transported thousands of
miles does to the planet.”

The Ramian
ethos was impressive. “Your people seem to have really got it
sussed when it comes to looking after their world.”

“It is one of
the fundamental building blocks of our society.”

I reflected on
what he said for a moment.

“So where do
you think we’ve gone wrong?” I asked interested to get his take on
the failings of mankind.

“It’s simple.
Greed,” he declared.

“Aren’t Ramians
greedy?” I queried.

“Yes but not at
the expense of the world they live in, maybe it’s because we live
longer and live to see the effects of our actions. That’s where
Sapiens go wrong. They think that whatever happens in a hundred
years’ time is irrelevant to them, they seem to care little about
how their actions might affect their ascendants.”

I knew that
everything he said was depressingly true and didn’t want to dwell
on how we were wrecking our planet, so I changed the subject.
“Where is your farm?”

“It’s about an
hour’s drive from the palace.”

“So is Talina
looking forward to becoming a farmer’s wife?” It came out before I
had a chance to filter. I couldn’t quite imagine the immaculately
turned out Talina slugging around in wellies.

Ahran
hesitated. “Talina is more of a city girl.”

“That’s going
to make married life difficult for her isn’t it?” I knew I should
stop but I couldn’t help myself, it was like I had turned into a
rubbernecker morbidly watching the outcome of a car crash.

He shrugged in
a way that didn’t encourage any further probing. As far as I could
see, it was a recipe for disaster, or was I just hoping that was
the case?

“How about you?
What has your life been like?” Ahran said, expertly changing the
subject. I had to chuckle at his turn of phrase. Most of the time
he spoke English like a native but every now and then what he said
didn’t sound quite right.

“It’s not that
interesting, although I suppose that’s changed in the last week.” I
grimaced. “I grew up in Hatherley, did an English Literature degree
at UCL. Before Katie died I had a marketing job in London but after
her death it was kind of a relief to have a good reason to go back
home. I no longer had to prove myself in the city.

“Why did you
work in London if you hated it so much?” Ahran asked.

“I really
wanted to be a writer and after temping at a PR firm after my
degree they offered me a permanent position. I couldn’t turn it
down. I had student loans and rent to pay and so my writing career
never really got off the ground.” I shrugged.

“Do you miss
anything about city life?”

“I was never a
high flyer. Even before Katie’s death, I couldn’t keep up with the
lifestyle and looked forward to my weekends back home too much.” I
took a sip of the drink the overly attentive ‘Clarin’ had just
given us. “I like green. Green trees, green fields. You don’t get
much of that in London. Going back to Hatherley was like putting an
oxygen mask on.” I paused. “I keep in touch with a couple of
friends there and visit once or twice a year and that seems to
satisfy any yearning I have for a faster pace of life.” I looked
across at him. “How about you, have you ever lived in the city?” I
asked

“Yes, although
our cities aren’t like yours,” he pointed out. “After I completed
my military service, I studied in Dortaan for my business degree.
It’s one of the largest cities in Dinara but it is very beautiful
with lots of open green spaces. It was no hardship living there.
Then I did veterinary at Harla.”

“You have to do
military service here?” I asked.

“Yes, everyone
has to do it for at least three years at some point between the
ages of thirty and seventy.”

“Really? What,
even women?”

He nodded.
“Women aren’t expected to get married or start a family until they
have been in the army, navy or air force. It’s very much frowned
upon if they do and their families are liable for a heavy
fine.”

“God, that
sounds archaic. I thought Ramia was a progressive place.”

“It is, but it
helps to reduce the number of girls having babies too young.”

“And increases
the number of back street abortions,” I snorted.

Ahran looked
philosophical. “Maybe.”

I was beginning
to get the impression that Ramia wasn’t as perfect as I had first
thought.

“And after your
military service you did two degrees?” I raised my eyebrows

“I am a little
older than you,” he said with a wry twist of his lips.

“Even so,
they’re demanding degrees.”

He actually
looked slightly embarrassed, it wasn’t a look I was familiar with,
he always seemed so self-assured. “It’s not unusual to do more than
one degree here,” he explained.

“So why did you
go back into the army and not go into business or become a
vet?”

“Because I
liked it and I was good at it,” he said unashamedly. “It was
dangerous and exciting. I’d had a restrained upbringing and the
army provided me with boundaries that I was used to and the freedom
to take risks, and I suppose, the opportunity to go a bit crazy at
times.”

I raised my
eyebrows willing him to expand. I couldn’t imagine Ahran going
crazy. He seemed so in control, restrained even. “Go on,” I
encouraged.

“Maybe I’ll
tell you another time. It’s not good for me to share my deepest
darkest secrets with you,” he said with a wicked smile. “Didn’t you
say we shouldn’t get to know each other too well?” he said,
throwing my earlier comment back at me.

Dammit, I was
dying to know.

“Didn’t you
have a particularly happy childhood then?” I asked, picking up on
his comment about having a restrained upbringing.

He paused for a
moment. “Let’s just say my father was very controlling in a ‘hands
off’ kind of way.” He didn’t elaborate any further.

I wasn’t quite
sure what he meant but I shelved it for the time being. I couldn’t
help it but I was being drawn in, the more he told me, the more I
wanted to know. It was a dangerous game to play.

“Why the
Special Force?” I asked

He took a sip
of his drink. “I impressed them enough to be offered a position. To
be asked is a great honour and I wasn’t ready to go home.”

“And that’s
where you worked alongside Tagan?”

“Yes, from time
to time. We were on a Special Force covert mission when he was
killed.” A dark shadow swept across his face. It was plain to see
that the memories were still painful. I wanted to reach out and
comfort him, to reach up and stroke away the troubled look on his
face but all of a sudden he seemed closed off.

After a moment
or two he continued, his dark expression carefully replaced by a
mask of indifference. “Tagan liked the strategic side of things
whereas I always preferred Reconnaissance.”

“That sounds
dangerous,” I said.

“It was, but at
the time I needed it.”

I couldn’t help
thinking that his life must have been pretty rough if he was
prepared to put it on the line every day. I wondered what had
happened to make him feel like that.

“You enjoyed
risking your life?” I asked.

“I did for a
long time. The Special Force took me to places I had never been
before. It was fast paced and exciting but the reality of what I
was putting myself through hit home when Tagan was killed.”

He seemed to
have better control over his emotions this time and I only saw the
briefest flicker of pain in his eyes before he moved on. “I have
always loved the countryside and wanted to use my degrees so I
decided to buy a farm and when one came up in the location I was
after, I bought it. I had come to the end of my contracted period
and was ready to say goodbye to the military.

“Do you miss
it?”

“Sometimes, but
I grew tired of being rootless. I have different priorities
now.”

The thought of
Ahran and Talina putting down roots together didn’t sit well with
me. Since when had Ahran’s future started to matter so much? Had it
been when he had kissed me? Or when I had met Talina? Or had it
been when I first laid eyes on him standing under my porch? Much to
my dismay, I realised it was probably the latter.

The flight
attendant interrupted our conversation and handed us steaming hot
plates of some sort of casserole and rice. She poured us both a
glass of wine and I took a mouthful of the meaty dish in front of
me. It was delicious and nothing like the aeroplane food I had ever
tasted. It was also preferable to the sweaty baguette I had stuffed
in my bag.

I spent the
time we ate thinking about what Ahran had told me about his life
and I admired his drive to branch out and do something he felt
passionate about. I couldn’t think of anything better than living
in beautiful countryside, building a business based on something
you felt strongly about and doing it with someone you loved. Did
Talina share his passion? From what I had seen of Talina the only
thing that she seemed passionate about was herself.

I looked over
at Ahran’s handsome profile. I wondered what it would be like to
share my life with him. I shook my head slightly, what was I
thinking? I hardly knew the guy, not to mention that he was engaged
to another woman and from an entirely different universe. He wasn’t
technically even the same species. The idea of me and Ahran ever
being together was so utterly ridiculous it was laughable. I needed
to stop these silly daydreams and focus.

“You’ve gone
very quiet. No more questions?” he asked, sipping his wine.

I reached for
my glass and took a large gulp, it was sweet and warming. I
welcomed its soothing effect as it hit my stomach.

“Not for the
moment,” I said as breezily as I could.