“How long have you been doing it?”
“Fifty-three years. Each year has had its own challenges, but I would not trade them for anything.”
Tazzy chuckled, and as they approached the formal dining room, she whispered, “When is the last time you had a day off?”
He grinned as the huge double doors opened. “Fifty-four years ago.”
Sollas came to greet her immediately. He seemed rather disappointed. “You are still lovely, but I preferred your previous clothing.”
“Formal dinners are formal dinners, Your Highness. This is my formal uniform.” She extended her hand, and he kissed the back of her knuckles, flicking them with his tongue.
The three Guardians on the far side of the room drifted over, and Sollas tucked her arm around his forearm, making the introductions.
Quell was the same species as Yuula. His serpentine facial expression was polite and friendly. “Pleased to meet you, Peacekeeper.”
“And you as well, Guardian.”
Flick was the closest thing to a seven-foot squirrel that Tazzy had ever seen. He kissed her hand in Decolian tradition, and the furry feel of his lips on her skin made her giggle.
The final Guardian had an angry twist to his lips. Silver took her hand and kissed it, “Pleased to meet you, Commander Rikkat.”
Tazzy felt her stomach flip when she heard that voice. “Thank you for the greeting, Silver.”
Sollas was snickering. “I just knew you two would have something in common. Silver, isn’t she truly a vision?”
Silver’s lips tightened again. “How did you two meet?”
Sollas laughed, “She picked me up at the Companion club.”
Tazzy winced. “Accurate, but hardly the whole story.”
Sollas patted her hand, and she winced at the exposure to her skin that he was bringing on.
Silver jerked his head toward the king and queen. “You are ignoring your hosts.”
Tazzy blushed. “You are correct.”
She released Sollas’s arm and walked over to the other members of the royal family. She curtseyed deeply before the king and queen and bowed before the princess.
Rusalla was amused. “Welcome to dinner, Imperial Peacekeeper Rikkat. How is it that you can make men so silly over you?” Rusalla smiled while her parents chuckled.
“It is a skill I acquired over time.” Tazzy smiled politely, and when Sollas came up to take possession of her arm again, she didn’t make a fuss.
Contact seduction was never her goal. When Arkenor left her, he was on a stretcher, heading for home, she had wanted the power to stop a man in his tracks. She had filed for secure alteration, and the Nyal Imperium had tried to oblige, but fate had done it for them. Her ability was dependant on contact, but there wasn’t a species in the imperium that she couldn’t sway to her side.
If she wasn’t concentrating on control, the men simply became aroused and wanted to get closer to her. It wasn’t the worst way to live, but the men were never the right man. The right man was glaring at her from across the room.
She was going to have to invest in a new fantasy face for lonely nights. Arkenor was now off the menu.
Shusain rang a chime, and Sollas led her to the table, helping her settle into her chair before he took a seat next to her.
Silver sat across the table from her, which confused matters for a moment. Apparently, there was a protocol, but Quell stepped into the breach.
Dinner was served, and a round of polite questions-and-answers session began.
Tazzy brought out all of her manners and ate as politely as possible, answering the questions that didn’t break protocol or the security veils that were in place around her alteration.
The king and queen saved most of their questions for Silver. They had an intense interest in the work that the Guardians had been doing in the area and his role in it. Tazzy looked from the royals to Silver, and the moment she made the connection that they were acting like his parents, a hand slipped up her thigh.
Sollas kept an impassive face, but his hand was slowly stroking up and down her inner thigh, getting closer to her sex with every trail of his fingers.
Tazzy reached below the table and tried to pry his hand away, but he continued to stroke her as if her strength meant nothing.
Silver was glaring at her from across the table, so she widened her eyes and jerked her head toward the prince. Silver’s lips tightened, and he shifted in his chair.
A moment passed, and then, Sollas jerked his hand away, clawing at his clothing and leaping up, tipping his chair over as he tried to get away.
Tazzy blinked at the wave of liquid silver that was wrapping the prince from ankle to neck.
Quell held up his hand. “Silver, enough! We are guests here.”
Silver held up his hand and the wrapping retreated, returning to him. “I apologize, Your Majesties. Your son was taking advantage of the Commander’s manners.”
Their majesties waved off the disturbance. “Please, return to the table, Sollas.”
Sollas resumed his seat and kept his hands to his self for the rest of the meal.
When the tower of sculpted sugar arrived, they all applauded.
Tazzy was relieved. She wasn’t sure which of the Decolian’s were better at glaring, Silver or Sollas.
Dessert was in the form of a heady wine that Tazzy had trouble finishing. When the king and queen dismissed the diners, Tazzy wasn’t sure that her knees would hold her.
She thanked her hosts, and they smiled at her, their gazes curious.
Tazzy rose to her feet and inclined her head toward Sollas. “Thank you for a fascinating evening.”
He got to his feet and towered over her, swaying slightly. “I wish that we could repeat this experience when there were not obnoxious guests around.”
She didn’t know how to react to that, so she extended her hand again, and he pressed a kiss to it. When he turned her hand over and placed a kiss in her palm, she heard a hiss of warning a moment before Silver launched himself over the table and into the prince of Decolian 12.
Tazzy stood back while the two men fought. Royal guards stumbled into the room, but a short bark from the king and they retreated again.
Tazzy watched them pound on each other fist to flesh for a few minutes, and then, she had had enough. Moving quickly, she touched each man on the jaw and then stood back. “Halt.”
They froze with their fists raised in midair.
“Calm down.”
They lowered their fists.
“Stand up and apologize for being idiots.” She crossed her arms over her breasts and tapped her foot.
Rusalla was laughing, and the Guardians were looking at her with surprised admiration.
The king and queen were just blinking in amazement.
The men bowed and apologized to their hosts.
Tazzy inclined her head. “As I seem to be the cause of the disruption, I thank you for your hospitality and look forward to returning to duty tomorrow morning. This has been an eventful day off.”
The king and queen dismissed her, and Tazzy didn’t waste time. She bolted as decorously as possible.
She retreated to her room in the garrison and got into her comfy clothing. She grabbed her book and crawled back into her window seat.
Tazzy tried to read to keep calm, but she couldn’t concentrate. Arkenor was here, he was a Guardian, and he still sent her pulse spinning. Add that to the fact that she had just outed her talent and she had really had one helluva day.
Life had taken a weird turn, and it looked like her quiet little posting was about to hit the fan.
Yuula laughed as Tazzy worked her way through breakfast. The events of the evening before were spreading throughout the imperial garrison. She finished her meal, returned her tray to the stack and walked to her office. She had to run bodyguard duty for some nobles who wanted to negotiate with the king and queen.
It was time to get back to the tasks she actually enjoyed. She took her skiff and met them at the spaceport, driving them across the city and into the main entryway.
The nobles from Decolian 9 wished to engage in a marriage contract for their son. If Rusalla was amenable, she was the first choice; Sollas was the second.
Their son was a hulk of a man with a surprisingly light step as he walked through the halls. In a mean moment, Tazzy had to think that Sollas might do better with a partner who could simply put him where he wanted him.
It might be character building.
After the polite rejection by the king and queen, stating that their children would follow family tradition and select their own mates, her guests nodded their acquiescence. Under that stricture, there would be no treatise selling their children for political advantage.
They were not invited to stay, and so, Tazzy took them back to the spaceport and kept them under watch until their ship lifted off.
The moment she was free, she hit a street-vendor stall for some charred meat on a stick and headed back to the palace. Getting a snack on the go was better than most of the offerings that she could consume on this world so far from home.
She went back to her office, filed a report about the day’s activity and headed for the gym. It was time for some nice, honest sweat that didn’t involve a fantasy of a man in a mask with brilliantly blue eyes.
She was a third of her way through her workout when a ripple of intrigue ran through the other users of the facility. Tazzy paused and looked to see what the fuss was and saw Silver signing autographs and shaking hands.
Yuula paused in her own workout. “What is he doing here?”
“I have no idea. Don’t the Guardians have their own gym?” Tazzy tried not to stare at the female members of the royal guard who were fawning over Silver.
“I imagine that they do, but it is probably not full of attractive and sweaty women.” Yuula chortled.
She had a point. Every female of compatible specie was lusting after the masked Guardian.
Tazzy returned to her workout, pulling and pushing weights that she would not have been able to lift back home. Enhancements were a wonderful thing in her line of work.
She was on her backbench pressing twice her body weight when Yuula shifted to one side and Silver took the spot.
“You look well, Rikkat.” He looked funny at the peculiar angle, but his expression was also sweet.
She grunted. “It has been a while. They said you did not make it. I am glad to see that they were wrong.”
“As was I. The measures they had to take were extensive. There was no going back.” He muttered his last sentence.
“So I gathered last night. Family rivalry between you and Sollas?”
Silver shrugged. “We have often been attracted to the same women. Last night was no different.”
She let out a blast of air and sat up. Tazzy grabbed a towel and wiped sweat from her skin. “So nice to know that some things don’t change.”
“You are angry with me.” He nodded.
“You think? I thought you were dead for days, and then, you are alive but would not speak to me. I think I am entitled to anger.”
Silver looked around. “This is hardly the place for this conversation.”
Tazzy twisted her lips. “You picked it. I was just engaged in my customary nocturnal activities and you showed up.”
“Oh? I thought your activities involved going to the Companion clubs.” He crossed his arms.
“Special assignment to retrieve Prince Sollas. He likes to be paid for his services, and he didn’t know my face.” She got to her feet and headed for the locker room.
She heard him follow her and did her best to ignore him. She grabbed her long robe from her locker and headed for the showers.
“You mean you were on assignment?”
“Of course I was, idiot Guardian. Sollas was expected for dinner at the palace and was showing no indication that he would attend on his own. I was asked to get him as I am right in his preferred specs.”
“So, you haven’t taken to trolling for strange men on strange planets?”
Fully dressed in her workout gear, she stepped under the shower and let it soak her down. With careful movements, she stripped off her gear and stowed it in a bag along with the towel. It was amazing how it was second nature to have all her workout clothing incinerated. Her sweat had enough strength to induce a fugue state, but without her to control it, it could be dangerous.
She finished scrubbing and looked at Silver through her lashes.
He was staring at her left side with a sick horror. “What happened?”
It was a little surreal to be having this conversation in a shower.
“It’s classified.” She shrugged and finished shampooing her hair. The green, purple and black locks were her crowning glory. Once clean, she stepped onto the drying pad, and then, she slipped on her robe.
With her bag at her side, she headed back to her locker, Silver following in her wake.
“I don’t understand what happened to you, Rikkat.”
She twisted her lips to the side. “I know. You weren’t with me. The replacement I got didn’t make for an effective team.”
He paused. “You were injured because I wasn’t there?”
“I was injured because I depended on a new partner. We didn’t know each other well enough to anticipate the other’s moves. I went right, he went left, and I survived.”
“He died?”
“That’s correct. Now, the rest is classified, and I am sticking to it.”
He blinked behind his mask, his vivid blue eyes wide with surprise.
There was a commotion in the locker room, and Flick came in with his eyes covered. “Silver, we have a mission.”
Tazzy shrugged, “Go ahead. I am not keeping him.”
Silver scowled. “This is not the end of it, Rikkat.”
“Make an appointment, Guardian. I have my duties to the imperium to attend to.” It took all of her focus not to lean into the hand that he placed on her shoulder.
“I will speak to you soon, and I will make an appointment.”
He left her alone, and she waited until he was out of the locker room before she let her shoulders sag. It wasn’t as horrible as she had anticipated. She had stuck to her guns and gone about her business as if he wasn’t there. It had cost her.