Vankara (Book 1) (20 page)

“Hmm, well he did
seem in a bit of a rush when he came to tell me a little while ago,” Aleksander
made a shrug of indifference.  “I hope you’re not disappointed he asked me.”

“Not at all
Aleksander, you simply took me by surprise.”

Aleksander’s eye
raked over my body with an intensity which made me quite uncomfortable.  I
suppose I should have known then his intimate appraisal of my womanly form was
drawn from a source.

“You look
beautiful this evening,” he murmured, his lips stretching into a suggestive
grin.  “Like the sweetest confection.” 

I instantly
understood his seemingly innocent innuendo and felt my face grow hot under his
perusal.

“Shall we go?” He
held his hand out to me in a gentlemanly fashion even though he had been
anything but a true gentleman thus far.

As we walked
through the palace, Aleksander asked me about the events of the previous night
with Adam Bellas.  I knew I had to tread lightly on the facts of my meeting
with the leader of the Plague-bringers.  Considering the fact Bellas had
accused the Vankaran Royal College of Magic of causing the plagues, I didn’t
think it prudent to divulge such information to the leader of another nation. 
I simply implied to Aleksander that Bellas had provided me with a lead on the
source of the plagues and that I would be looking into it personally.

“If there is
anything I can do to help,” Aleksander said with a seriousness I had not
expected from him, “please let me know.  I would do whatever you asked of me
with no questions asked.  We have all suffered losses from these plagues.  I am
willing to do what needs to be done to bring a stop to them.”

“I will keep that
in mind, Aleksander.  Thank you for the offer.”

He nodded but
didn’t seem completely satisfied with my acquiescence to his heart felt
request.

I admit I was
pleased and surprised to see the king of Chromis did in fact care a great deal
for his people.  It revealed a side of his character I had not expected to
see.   

As we walked down
the marble corridors of the palace, I was thankful Aleksander seemed to know
exactly where we were going.  I hadn’t had time to explore the seemingly never
ending halls of the palace as of yet and wouldn’t have been able to find the
dining hall if my life depended on it.

We turned a corner
at the end of one hallway and were met by a pair of closed double doors made of
crystal designed in a starburst pattern.  Stationed on either side of the
double doors were two male automatons dressed in black suits, white shirts and
black cravats.  As Aleksander and I approached the doors, the automatons opened
them revealing a long lacquered mahogany table within an all glass room with a
cathedral ceiling.  I came to an immediate stop as the aromas of freshly baked
meats, breads and vegetables assailed my nostrils.  Usually, such smells would
bring a sense of comfort to me but it felt like the aromas had taken on a physical
nature.  Their tiny tendrils flew into my nose and down my throat wrapping
around my stomach to squeeze it so hard I knew nothing within it would remain
there for very long.

I immediately
dropped Aleksander’s arm and ran to a set of glass door leading out onto a
balcony.  Thankfully the landing led down to the back gardens where the circus
tent had been just the night before.  The gardens were empty, devoid of any
sign of the previous night’s festivities.  I scurried behind one of the bushes
just as the harsh acidic feel of my lunch making a reappearance over the tender
flesh of my throat occurred resulting in a most unlady like retching noise.

“Emma?”

I heard
Aleksander’s worried voice just as another convulsion racked my body. 
Aleksander’s large, warm hand rested comfortingly on the middle of my back as I
tried to steady my breathing bent at the waist.  As soon as I knew there was
nothing left in my stomach, I straightened to my full height.  Aleksander
withdrew his hand slowly.

“Emma, are you all
right?  Is there something I can do for you?  Has the sickness returned?”

I shook my head. 
“No, I don’t think I’m sick. Other than what you just saw,” I said somewhat
chagrined at having Aleksander see me in such a compromising position, “I am a
bit nauseas but other than that I feel perfectly fine.  I think the worst has
past.”

When I looked up
at Aleksander, I could see a sincere look of concern for my welfare on his face
and felt my heart involuntarily warm towards him. 

“You shouldn’t go
to the dinner if you’re not feeling well,” he said, taking on the role of
protector.  “I’ll take you back to your chambers.”

“No,” I told him,
straightening my shoulders and examining my dress quickly to make sure it was
still clean.  “I won’t have people gossiping about me anymore than they already
do.  I’ll be fine.”

Aleksander wore a
grave expression of uncertainty.

“If you insist on
going, we’ll go,” he conceded, “but if it looks like you need to rest, I
will
take you back to your rooms even if I have to carry you back to them on my
shoulders,” he warned.

I knew I was
supposed to be leery of the Chromis king, considering his real agenda, but the
sincere look of concern for my welfare on his face made me wonder if he might
actually harbor true love for the Queen.  Everyone assumed Aleksander’s true
intentions for marrying Queen Emma stemmed from hunger for power.  But, what if
he truly did love her?  It would make him even more dangerous.

“I’ll be fine,” I
assured him, retaking his arm and steering him back up the steps towards the
palace interior.  “I promise if I start to feel as though I’ll be sick again, I
will voluntarily return to my rooms and rest.”

Seeming satisfied
with my concession, Aleksander and I walked back to the dining hall.  People
were milling about talking to one another in the all glass room awaiting my entrance. 
As soon as we stepped into the room, I heard a man with a deep baritone voice
announce our arrival.  Everyone in attendance turned to us and bowed. 
Aleksander escorted me to the chair at the head of the long table.  Only then
did guests take their seats.  Aleksander sat to my right and Thaddeus Irondale
sat to my left.  I saw no signs of Gabriel or Fallon anywhere and began to
worry if something might have happened to them. 

Once everyone was
seated at the table, the melodic sound of a chime rang out and a legion of male
automatons dressed in black suits with white shirts and black cravats entered through
two doors on either end of the room, presumably from the kitchens.  One
automaton stood behind each guest’s chair.  Not until all the machines were
lined up, did they deposit the bowl of soup each held in their hands in front
of their designated guest.  The precision with which they accomplished this
simple act was eerie to me.  They may have been made with human-like faces but
they seemed far from human.

As if they had one
single mindset, they all turned together and walked back through the doors they
had entered through.

Both Thaddeus and
Aleksander proved to be companionable dinner mates for one another.  They kept
to safe subjects such as the unseasonable cool summer weather we had
experienced during the year and discovered they each had a passion for horse
breeding.  Since I had no knowledge about breeding horses I wasn’t expected to
add much to the conversation, for which I was exceedingly grateful. 

Although prepared
with the utmost delicacy and talent, I wasn’t the least bit interested in the
seven course meal laid out before us that evening.  Each course the automatons
brought out sent my stomach down a spiraling well of turmoil.  I could only
explain my condition away with one explanation:  stress.  It seemed completely
reasonable to me that the culmination of events within the past few days was
causing my body to feel an exorbitant amount of stress manifesting in a
physical response.  My conclusion seemed sound.  How naive I was to think the
answer to my dilemma would be so simple.    

I picked at the
food on my plate hoping no one in attendance would notice how little I was in
fact eating.  But of course, Aleksander kept a watchful eye on me and raised a
questioning eyebrow at me when desert arrived.  I indiscreetly shook my head
and forced myself to eat the lemon tart with raspberry sauce on my plate to
help alleviate his worry.

“So tell me
Thaddeus,” Aleksander said, cutting his tart with the edge of his fork, “anything
interesting up for vote in parliament this session?”

“Quite a few
things,” Thaddeus answered cutting a wary glance in my direction.  I felt sure
Thaddeus understood the Queen’s position on the Population Reconstruction Act
and wondered if he would bring it up in front of me.  Obviously, Aleksander
knew more about Vankaran politics than I could have ever credited him for.

“Is it true you’re
paying your citizens to stay home and make babies?”  Aleksander questioned,
sarcasm heavily ladened in his voice.

“It’s not quite as
crude as you make it sound,” Thaddeus defended lightly, trying to keep the
conversation congenial.

“Well I can’t
imagine it sounding good anyway you put it,” Aleksander replied before looking
over at me.  “So what’s your stand on such a practice taking place in your
country?”

“For one,” I
began, warning myself to tread cautiously through this particular subject, “the
program has only been implemented here in Iron City.  It is not practiced
throughout Vankara.”

“So does that mean
you support it?” Aleksander asked, completely unconvinced I would willingly
endorse such program.

I felt the sting
of being baited into answering and giving away my position on the subject.  It
was almost as if Aleksander wanted me to have a heated public discussion about
the issue.  When I looked down the table at the other guests, almost all of
them were watching and listening intently to our conversation.  I knew I had to
put a stop to things immediately.

“I believe such
matters will be discussed when the bill is voted on.  This is not the
appropriate time or place to have a debate on the matter.”

Aleksander stared
at me as though he were trying to calculate his next move before dropping his
eyes to his plate and cutting another bite from the lemon tart with his fork.

“So tell me more
about your stud, Thaddeaus.”

The rest of the
conversation went smoothly as Thaddeaus graciously offered his stud services to
Aleksander’s mare. 

At the conclusion
of dinner, Aleksander escorted me back through the maze like halls of the
palace to my private rooms.  As we approached the door to my chambers, he
suddenly pulled me into his arms and with no compunction for propriety crushed
his lips to mine in a kiss which literally stole the breath from my lungs.  I
could taste the lingering sweetness of lemon and raspberry on his tongue as it
parted my lips in its quest to coax mine into a dance of flesh.  The experience
left me reeling with contradictory feelings: joy with a dash of curiosity and
trepidation, considering the fact I was experiencing my first kiss.

I could feel
Aleksander’s arms tighten around me, drawing me ever deeper into his web of
slow seduction, a trap I had to will myself to disengage from no matter how
tempting it was to allow things to follow their natural course.

I pushed away from
Aleksander both of us breathing heavily from the shared experience.  His eyes
seemed to glow with a lustful hunger I knew I was incapable of satisfying.

I leaned my back
against the cool wood of the door to my chambers.  I could feel my heart
pounding against my rib cage as I stood there before Aleksander, emotionally
naked.  It was impossible to stay hidden behind the cool veneer of Queenly
confidence I had manufactured to present to the world as his eyes searched my
face for evidence of my true feelings toward him.  In that brief, sweet moment,
I felt like Sarah Harker once again, having just experienced her very first
kiss with a man.

“Emma,” the name sounded
like a growl coming from deep inside Aleksander’s throat.  I felt my legs
tremble slightly as he took a determined step closer to me fully meaning to
continue the kiss he had started.

“Stop,” I begged,
even though the request sounded weak and half-hearted, even to my ears.

Aleksander placed
his hands on either side of me against the door frame with his face slowly
leaning in towards mine. 

“Give me one good
reason why I should?” He asked as if he knew I wouldn’t be able to come up with
one.  “Why can’t we pick up where we left off on your last visit to Chromis?”

The words ‘
where
we left off
’ brought me up short, quickly dissipating the fog of romance
and lust which had completely clouded my mind.

Had the Queen’s
relationship with the king of Chromis gone further than she let on?  Gabriel
had assured me the two weren’t lovers but could she have hidden her
indiscretion from him finding it easier to lie than admit a weakness for
companionship.

“Please,
Aleksander, I still feel ill,” even as the words left my lips I knew it simply
sounded like an excuse.

Aleksander growled
his agitation and roughly pushed away from the door.

“You know I don’t
believe that for a second,” he said not attempting to hide his irritation with
me.  “Why do you insist on acting the part of the widow, Emma?  I thought when
you arrived here yesterday wearing red it meant you were ready to move on with
your life.”  He ran an agitated hand through his wispy blonde hair fanning the
strands around his face as they fell back into place.  “Haven’t you publicly mourned
the loss of my brother for long enough?”   

My mind was a
blank slate.  I had no idea what to say.  No witty comebacks came to mind. 
Without knowing how far the relationship between Queen Emma and Aleksander
Chromis had escalated, I was treading deep waters with no idea which way to
turn the direction of the conversation in order to find safe harbor.