Married to Krampus - Marina Simcoe Page 0,35

to keep Nancy and Alcus waiting.”

It was weird and wonderful to watch the snowfall through the glass of the aircraft while I was dressed in a sleeveless summer dress under my shawl. Voranians, as I’d learned early on, loved green grass and flowers. They brought the summer indoors to enjoy it year around, ignoring the winter completely. All living and public spaces were enclosed under humongous glass domes. One didn’t even have to own any winter clothes, as there was no need to go outside at all. Everywhere, the temperature was maintained at pretty much the same level.

I was wearing my booties, however, not wanting to shock Voranians with the sight of my feet.

“That’s the Military Academy.” The Colonel pointed at the rounded glass contraptions gracing the top of a sprawling building we were flying over. “The school where my boys are.”

I remembered what Lievoa told me about the Voranian’s laws in regards to children.

“You don’t get to see them often.”

“At least one weekend a month. Sometimes more often, depending on their educational plan and my work obligations.”

“It must be hard.”

A family I used to babysit for had moved to another town shortly before I had to leave for Neron. I missed the children I’d worked with, and those weren’t even my children.

The Colonel didn’t speak about his sons often, though. This was the first time he’d mentioned them since that unfortunate dinner.

“Do you...miss them?”

He rolled his wide shoulders back then turned away from me, as if to watch the snow outside the glass of the aircraft.

“I do.” His throat bobbed with a swallow. His voice sounded rougher than usual. “I fly over their school to and from work, even though it’s not on the way. It takes me an extra hour each day, but I often catch a glimpse of them doing their exercise in the morning or playing in the evening.”

“When is your next visit with them?”

“This weekend.” He cleared his throat, his tone lifting. “Five days from now.”

I thought back to when he’d told me their full names.

“Olvar Shula Kyradus and Zun Shula Kyradus.”

Both had Shula in them.

“Is it customary to have the mother’s name as a child’s middle name in Voran?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Is Shula, the Governor’s wife, the mother of your children, then?”

There could very well be more than one Shula in the City of Voran, but somehow, I already knew that it was her.

“Yes.”

On the way back from the Governor’s Palace, the Colonel had asked me what Shula and I had been talking about at the ball, and I’d given him a very general reply.

I believed he’d heard me lying about our non-existent sex life to her, and I was afraid he’d bring it up if I told him about Shula’s comments. Frankly, I also felt embarrassed for her, and had no desire to repeat her words to him or anyone else.

Now, everything had come together.

“Let me guess.” I drew in a long breath. “Your sons were not conceived by artificial insemination?”

“No. Shula and I used to be lovers.”

My heart squeezed with a sudden ache. Why would the Colonel’s history with another woman bother me? None of it was my business. It did not concern me at all.

“Was she the Governor’s wife already?” I couldn’t stop myself, needing to know more. All of it. “When you...”

“Of course not,” he glared at me, indignantly. “Drustan has been my friend since the academy. I would’ve never had sex with Shula had she been his wife already. In fact, I met her first.”

“You did?”

His chest rose as he inhaled deeply. “I was the one who introduced her to him.”

“So, the Governor ended up stealing your woman?” I blurted out.

Having met Shula, I wondered if the Colonel actually got lucky by dodging that bullet. But if he was still hurting over her... Compassion for him stirred inside me.

“There was no stealing.” The Colonel shook his head. “Drustan went about it in a fair, honest way—that’s why we’re still friends. He proposed to Shula the same year I did. She chose him.”

“Why?”

I found Governor Drustan pleasant enough, but I remembered how Shula had gazed at the Colonel at the ball, with longing and maybe even some regret.

“It was nearly six years ago, Daisy. I was an Army Captain, about to be shipped off to a war I might not return from. Drustan was a rising-star politician, with brilliant career prospects ahead of him. Shula made her choice.”

“I bet she’s regretting it, now that you’re still very much alive