Coalition 02.5 - The Kingbird (4 page)

“So are mine.
Ew
.”
Shaina’s
face scrunched even further.

“How do you think you both got here, scalawags?”
Rina
teased.

Califa
turned to look at the children, one arm still draped over her mate’s shoulder.

“Indeed. And we plan on embarrassing you both until we’re old and wizened.”

Lyon and
Shaina
groaned out loud, and
Rina
laughed. She’d been much cheered since they’d decided to do this, and
Shaylah
wished she’d thought of it sooner for the girl’s sake as well as Dare’s.

“
Rina
? About time to plan our approach through the canyon,”
Dax
said.

“I already did,” she said, walking over to the
nav
station. “I studied the chart last night. Just in case
Paraclon’s
new projector didn’t work.”

“Wise,” Dare said, his mouth quirking.

Shaylah
smiled.
Rina
was the first exact navigator she’d ever met, but she’d heard of them for years. People who could hold charts of entire systems in their minds after a mere moment’s study, and who could translate that into minute adjustments in course and trajectory, setting huge ships down in spaces that seemed far too dangerous, and threading smaller ships through the eye of the needle mentioned in the old
Triotian
proverbs.

“Then take her in,”
Dax
said.

Rina’s
eyes widened. “Me?”

“You’ve done it on the old ship, you can do it now. She’s quicker, so you’ll have to go a little easier.”

“But—”

“The controls at the
nav
station are the same, just more precise. You do it as you’ve always done, just set the course in your mind and trust your hands to make the adjustments.”

“But this is your sort of flying.”

“And I would never risk it without you at nav. So you get the honors this time. You get us there, and I’ll set her down.”

She still seemed stunned that he was trusting his brand new flagship to her. “You mean it?”

“She’s all yours. Let’s find out how good she really is.”

Rina
stared at him silently for a moment, but
Shaylah
had learned to read this child of her heart, and she saw the excitement building in her. And then she realized
Dax’s
game. Realized he knew perfectly well that this girl he had loved and guarded from the moment he’d found her hiding from the Coalition in a dark, damp cave, was in pain right now. And he’d done the perfect thing about it. She wanted to hug him for it.

“Aye,
cap’n
,”
Rina
whispered, and turned to the navigation controls.

Dax
seemed to sense
Shaylah’s
gaze and looked over at her. She smiled softly, and with full intent, bowed her head to him. From his friend, the smile was thanks. From his queen, the bow was a salute, a sign of utmost respect.

When she lifted her head again
Dax
had lowered his gaze, but she saw in his face the acknowledgement of what she had done. A moment later she felt her mate’s arm slip around her shoulders, in his own kind of acknowledgement.

“You are,” he said quietly, “a queen worthy of Trios.”

She knew that from him there was no higher praise, and she leaned into him in silent thanks.

Dax’s
faith in
Rina
proved well-placed, although even he drew back a fraction when the girl slid them past an outcropping of rock that seemed to loom far too close to the front viewport. The ship was indeed quick, and before
Shaylah
had time to marvel at the speed with which they were traversing the narrow canyon, they burst into free air above a deep, crystal clear lake ringed by fields of undamaged
Triotian
grass and tall, regal trees.

Dax
whooped. Dare muttered something about next time coming in like a sane person, from above and not through the canyon.
Shaylah’s
chest tightened with the certainty that this had been the perfect thing to do.

Rina
pulled back from the station and grinned, clearly exhilarated.

“Controls to you,
cap’n
,” she said, pride echoing in her voice, and for the moment, the shadow was gone.

“I have the controls,”
Dax
answered.

True to his promise he went for land first. The new Evening Star flared, pivoted—he was seeing that she was ready to take off headed the right direction if that emergency should arise,
Shaylah
realized—and then began to lower.
Dax
set the ship down so precisely and lightly in the field in front of the lodge that it took a moment for
Shaylah’s
sense of motion to assure her they had indeed landed.

Before he’d shut down the engines the children were on their feet, heading for the door.
Dax
grinned at them and hit the lever that released the hatch. With a smooth whoosh, the door opened and lowered. Lyon and
Shaina
were outside before it touched ground, leaping clear and rolling in the thick grass with delight.
Rina
followed, jumping herself even though the ramp was down by then. The laughter of all three of them echoed across the clearing as they headed for the lake to test the water.

“They do know there’s not a screen to be had here, nor
holo
-projectors?”
Dax
said.

“They do,” Dare said. “My father held this place for respite from that, as well as the demands of his position.”

“And respite we shall have,”
Shaylah
said, looking at her mate as he watched the children, a slow, warm smile curving his lips.

“You are ever the wisest,”
Califa
said to
Shaylah
as she looked from Dare to the three who seemed of an age now. “And in present company,” she added, glancing back at Dare again, “that is saying a great deal.”

Shaylah’s
chest tightened again.
Let us have this moment
, she thought.
Just this moment, without shadow, without fear. Let it pass with no urgent call to return, no signal of imminent attack. Let us have this and we shall have the heart to go on, to keep this beautiful world safe, to rebuild her, repair her, and turn her once more into the jewel of a galaxy.

* * *

“I THANK YOU, my queen.”

Dax
dropped down on the grass beside her as she watched the children and
Rina
, and even
Califa
, splash gleefully in the crystal clear, sun-warmed water of the shallows as Dare stood in the warm sun and watched with obvious enjoyment.

“It was a good idea, wasn’t it?” she said, ignoring his teasing form of address.

“It was indeed. But that is not what I offer thanks for. It is a rare ruler who would bow to a
skypirate
.”

She turned to look at him then. His eyes, soft jade compared to Dare’s vivid green, were fixed on her. “I saluted you,
Dax
.
Skypirate
,
flashbow
warrior, my best friend’s mate ... and the man who saw what someone he loves needed, and provided it. I’ve never given you anything you haven’t earned.”

“I would argue that,” he said, his mouth quirking into a wry smile. “But I’ve never forgotten and never will that it was you who turned the tide long ago, when my life was in the balance. It was you who first rose and stood beside us that day.”

“You have repaid me many times over, by saving the soul of my dearest friend, who I feared forever lost to me.”

Dax’s
gaze shifted to the lake, and she saw by the change in his expression when he had focused on his mate. “It was my soul that was saved.”

“That you both came home to us is one of the greatest miracles Trios will ever know.”

From the lake,
Califa
let out a joyous burst of laughter as she helped
Rina
, Lyon, and
Shaina
stack themselves up foot on shoulder, and then dodged as they toppled into the water with squeals of silly delight.

“I think I shall have to build that pool I’ve been thinking about,”
Dax
said.

Shaylah
knew what he meant. It wasn’t simply for the children or play, but that
Califa’s
leg troubled her little in water, and she could swim as well as ever, with no sign of the old injury that sometimes made her limp no matter how hard she worked to keep it strong.

“I know just the spot,” she said. “On the south side of the palace, along the wall. It would get the heat of the sun most of the day, and with the palace wall right there, it would stay warmer longer.”

“Perfect,”
Dax
agreed. “If the royal family will allow it, of course.”

“On one condition,” she said, putting on her most queenly air. “The Defense Minister—or his reckless daughter—must not look upon it as an opportunity to see if it’s possible to jump from the ramparts into the pool.”

Dax
drew back in mock horror. “Are you saying I’m a bad influence?”

“I’m saying she’s her father’s daughter.”

Dax’s
expression changed abruptly. All amusement vanished. And when he spoke, his voice was as dark, as shadowed as she’d ever heard from him. “And because of that, her future will never be what I’d hoped for her.”

This wasn’t the first time she had sensed some darkness in him when it came to his little girl. But before she could probe further Dare joined them, prompting
Califa
to abandon the cool waters to the youngsters and
Rina
.

The four of them sat in companionable silence, watching their family.
Shaylah
sat quietly, enjoying the novelty of the king and the
flashbow
warrior stretched out barefoot in the sun.

Finally even
Rina
gave up on the energetic horseplay and left the water to join them, as Lyon and
Shaina
began a competition.

“I’m getting old,” she said in an exaggerated whine.

“You’re
Triotian
,”
Dax
retorted. “Talk to me in another century or two.”

Rina
laughed and settled down into the grass. Like many
Triotians
, she automatically reached out to pass her fingers over the thick, living carpet.
Shaylah
saw the movement, and remembered Wolf’s reaction when she’d first brought him home and they’d come across a patch of the stuff. It had been her first true inkling of how much every element of this remarkable planet meant to him.

Lyon let out a whoop as he won the short race out to the large rock several yards off shore.

“It’s good to see him play,” Dare said softly. “He’s so serious most of the time.”

“It’s his nature,”
Shaylah
said.

“And he feels the weight,”
Califa
added.

“The weight?”
Dax
asked.

“Of his future.”

Shaylah
saw something flicker in
Dax’s
eyes again, the same thing she’d seen earlier when he’d spoken of
Shaina’s
future. But he looked away, out toward the children, and the moment passed.