Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,73
a withering look and walked away. To her and the rest of the medical staff he was no better than a eunuch.
“Damn it.” He slapped a hand on the table. “It’s a lie, Keira. A damn lie.”
Gone was the fire in her eyes. Her stare was flat and cold. Heartbroken. “That you are a prince or not isn’t important to me,” she said in a small voice. “I don’t care what you are, only that you lied about it to me.”
He crouched at her side and pulled her hands away from her gown, clasping them firmly. He turned a hand over and traced his finger over the inside of her wrist, following the intricate pattern of her marriage tattoos. She shivered. “I’m sorry I hurt you, Keira.” He spoke softly so that only she could hear. “My title may have been a lie, but my feelings for you never were.”
“You can shake me up like no one else,” she whispered. “You can make me feel what no one else can, but does your true devotion lie with Earth or with me? To move forward in this fight, you must make a choice. Earth or me, your wife.”
“I can’t make that choice. It’s like asking me to choose between cutting off my right hand or my left.”
Her stare didn’t waver.
“Keira…” He wanted her. He loved her. Their marriage had come to mean something, and he wanted to see it through, to watch it grow into something fantastic. Then there was Earth. Billions of people trusted him not to reveal the fact they owned no space force. Doing otherwise would put them at risk of invasion by a society obsessed with remaining more powerful than its mortal enemy. After only a couple of months living on Sakka, Jared knew they had a good reason to be worried too. “I can’t make that choice, Keira.”
“Very well then.” She grasped the armrests of the throne with slender fingers and pushed to standing.
He took her arm and pulled her close as her staff and the crowds looked on. She was still his, no matter what anyone said. To put a barbaric spin on it, he’d mated with her in every way a couple could mate. He’d imprinted himself on her soul, just as she’d branded him with hers. He knew it with one look in her eyes. It was exactly why hers were filled with such heartache now.
“I’m going to get to the bottom of this, Keira. I swear it. I’ll be up to our rooms as soon as I can.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to blow this sterility bombshell out of the water, starting with Rissallen. I’m going to have him pull the records of that sham of a blood test.”
“Bring the security detail with you.” Her eyes bored into him. “Promise me you will.”
He wasn’t helpless, but he agreed so she’d feel better.
As she glided away, trailing streamers of blue silk, he turned toward the prime minister. “You and me—” he jerked his chin toward the suites of offices used by senior parliamentary officials “—we’re going to talk. Now.”
Both Rissallen and Jared stationed their security squads outside the office. It looked like a superhero convention. “A private talk,” Rissallen told them, moving to shut the doors.
Jared stuck out his arm. “Doors stay open.”
“As you wish, Your Highness.”
Jared checked for his weapons and took a seat at a meeting table. The smart-chair put him at a distinctly irritating distance from the table. This chair would have communicated with the ones in Keira’s chambers but Jared had never bothered programming them to save his preferences.
Deep down you always considered your stay here temporary.
He had a sinking feeling it was true. He’d taken the woman he loved, whom he’d never intended to love, and had blown her trust like a bunch of unneeded pocket change. That was wrong, and it was going to change. It had changed.
He flattened both hands on the table. “What the hell was the deal with that test? My sperm count is normal.” He couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. “I demand a retest, several tests by independent sources. And I’m going to do my own tests on myself and my wife.”
“As you wish.”
Jared leaned back in his chair. “No argument?”
“I am not your enemy. I know I may seem so. You are unhappy with decisions regarding the incident on the transport.”
“Damn right.”
“I can’t have panic spread through the Coalition worlds.”
“So you concoct lies to keep people from worrying?”
“Her Majesty has