Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,36
pass it in the sleeping pod.”
Jared gave the ever-attentive pilot a polite smile. “No, thank you. I’ll stay up. I’m fine.”
“If there’s anything I can do, anything at all, please do not hesitate to find me or anyone on the crew.”
“Thanks.” Jared went back to reading in the luxurious, dimly lit cabin. Soon the protocol attendant would visit him, asking the same questions and the cycle would start all over again. Hadn’t they figured it out yet? He wasn’t high maintenance. They must have him mixed up with his wife.
Although he was traveling with an entourage. A small one, but an entourage all the same. Karl was a veteran of the Secret Service and Han had worked in South Korea’s version of the CIA. Both were borderline geniuses and martial-arts experts. Both were polished diplomats. Earth had wanted additional staff to come along with him—wardrobe experts, dietitians, personal trainers, scientists, soldiers, politicos, spies—but the two men were all the Coalition would allow, citing weight limitations.
Jared cited bullshit. One look around the ship told him it could carry far more than his group of three and their crew of six. But it might have to do with a regulation not to have more bodies than cryopods—the compartments used for hibernation.
When it came to hibernating—no thanks. The trip wouldn’t take more than a couple of days. However, Karl and Han, exhausted by traveling all over the world with their respective leaders, had grabbed the opportunity to pass the trip in peaceful sleep. The second the solar system had disappeared from the portholes, they were snoozing.
Maybe he should have done the same. He tried to concentrate on studying the Agran Sakkara, basically the bible that formed the basis of his new wife’s religion. He wanted to have some understanding of it before he got there—to have some understanding of her.
The goddesses had formed all the stars and planets, and all the living things, more or less in Genesis fashion, but instead of ruling from heaven, they lived among the people in human form. They married, had babies, died, but were worshipped by trillions from their moment of birth until their last breath. He wondered what it was like, knowing you were a goddess.
But he knew life hadn’t been a picnic for Keira. Orphaned at six or so, crowned at an early age, sheltered in a highly guarded palace, she was like a young queen in a hive of killer bees, sending soldiers out to pillage and gather riches while she lounged in decadent luxury, doted on by sterile male attendants in the innermost honeycombs of the palace. But she lacked the one thing he valued most: family.
“God, son, I’ll miss you.” Dad’s words rang in his memory. Even now he could hear the thickness in his father’s voice, could feel how tight he gripped him in his embrace. “I’m sorry. I’m having a tough time of it.”
And then his mother’s tears were even worse.
Jared let his head fall back against the headrest as his attention drifted outside. None of the stars looked familiar. “As soon as I get settled, I’ll arrange either for your visit to Sakka or mine back home,” he’d told his parents. “This isn’t going to be forever.”
Jared held strong to that promise. It was the only thing that had kept him from losing it during the emotional farewells with his family outside the ship just prior to departing Edwards Air Force Base. Eight ships had landed there, not just this one. The others were unexpected gifts. Part of Queen Keira’s dowry, Cavin had explained.
A simple “thank you” communicated Earth’s receipt of the spaceships. They had to play it cool. No one wanted the Coalition to learn the truth: except for Cavin and maybe the REEF assassin nobody knew how to fly the ships. No Earthborn person.
Jared fought a pang of jealousy. Had he not been the one tasked with marrying the queen, he could have been one of the pilots selected to test-flight the shiny new toys. He fully intended to make that dream a reality once he settled in to his new life on Sakka.
As for other goals, he didn’t know what to expect. He could stand many things, but the thing he feared most was loneliness. He valued his bonds with people; he was close to his family. He intended to be close with Keira too.
If she lets you. All he saw in his mind was her throwing daggers.
Restless, he put down the Agran and went for