Tagan's Child (13 page)

He wasn’t what
I had expected at all. What had I been expecting? A wizened old
man, wearing an ermine cloak and crown and holding a sceptre? I
wasn’t sure. I hadn’t had time to give it much thought. He walked
towards me with his hand extended, showing surprisingly strong
looking forearms. So they did shake hands here. I felt relieved
this was the standard formal greeting, I wasn’t sure I’d have been
able to pull off a curtsey.

“Miss
McAllister, I am extremely pleased to meet you.” His voice was deep
and reverberated around the room but instead of the Scottish lilt I
had been half expecting he spoke with the same accent as Ahran. His
eyebrows were darker than his hair and beard and he had beautiful
brown eyes. They struck me as familiar and then I realised why,
Toby had a replica pair. He was an inch or two shorter than Ahran
but he was a handsome man and all in all, rather impressive. I was
more than a little star struck.

I cleared my
throat. “Sophie, please call me Sophie.” I shook the hand he
offered, his handshake was firm and confidence inspiring.

King Halsan
turned his attention to Ahran. He shook Ahran’s hand and clapped
him on the arm at the same time. He was obviously fond of his
nephew.

“Ahran, it has
been too long, good to see you.” Like Sulaan, he spoke in English
in my presence and I was thankful, it made me feel a little less
like a fish out of water.

“Thank you for
bringing Sophie here safely,” the King said, expressing his
gratitude.

“Good to see
you too my Lord, it was the least I could do,” Ahran replied.

“Now I expect
you young people are hungry,” the King said, playing the role of
perfect host.

I hadn’t
thought about food but now he mentioned it, I was starving.

“Yes, food
would be good, my Lord,” Ahran replied. I suspected that the six
pieces of toast he’d had for breakfast were no longer sustaining
him.

“Come then, let
us eat. Sulaan has arranged some lunch for us in the dining
room.”

“How was your
journey?” the King asked as we walked towards the door.

I figured it
probably wasn’t polite to report that I had puked my guts up. “It
was a little shaky but I made it through in one piece,” I
replied.

“I have never
travelled through a portal myself, I leave that kind of travel to
the younger generations but I’ve heard it can be quite
unpleasant.”

“It wasn’t the
most enjoyable experience I’ve ever had,” I confessed.

“No, indeed.
Still, you are in safe hands with Ahran here.”

I glanced at
Ahran who gave me a crooked smile. The King exuded strength and
power and yet he was welcoming and gracious. I started to feel more
relaxed. He pulled the door open and gestured for us to go ahead of
him.

“Leylana will
be joining us for lunch, she is on her way back from the town,” the
King said. “Leylana is my wife,” he explained in response to what
must have been a blank look on my face.

I nodded. There
had been no mention of a Queen. So Toby had a grandmother too. It
made me feel a little easier at the thought of having another woman
around. We started to make our way back down the corridor.

“We will be
celebrating our 100th wedding anniversary soon,” he said with a
hint of pride in his voice. “She has spent the morning in town
making arrangements for the celebrations.”

“Wow! A hundred
years, congratulations!” Was I being too informal? I groaned
inwardly, I felt completely unprepared for meeting Toby’s royal
grandparents.

The three of us
walked back the route we had come with Sulaan.

“So how is my
grandson?” The King said the word tentatively, clearly unaccustomed
to saying it.

For a moment,
it didn’t register who he was referring to. The palatial
surroundings and being in the presence of a King was so far removed
from my life back home I failed to make the connection straight
away. “Oh Toby,” I said after an embarrassing pause. “Yes, he’s
good. He’s at school at the moment.”

“I hope we will
meet him very soon. We cannot guarantee your safety whilst you
remain on Earth.”

Now that I had
at least seen the place, the idea of coming to stay here didn’t
seem quite so bad.

“Here we are,”
announced the King.

We had arrived
at the dining room we had passed earlier. It was as if a banquet
had appeared by magic. I had never seen so much food for four
people. There were plates of cold meat, bowls of colourful and
sumptuous looking salads, about eight different types of bread
rolls and an array of fruit, some of which I didn’t recognise. I
felt my stomach rumble and wondered, with their Ramian sense of
hearing, whether the King and Ahran had heard it.

A servant
pulled out a chair for me. “Thank you,” I said and sat down. Ahran
sat opposite but one leaving a space for the Queen. The King took a
seat at the head of the table and unfolded his napkin, laying it
across his lap. A solemn looking man dressed in a smart grey
uniform appeared as if from nowhere and offered him a selection of
rolls. Suddenly someone appeared at my elbow offering me an array
of cold meats.

“Yes please.”
The girl, in a matching grey uniform, served a couple of slices
onto my plate with a polite smile.

Neither the
King nor Ahran spoke as they concentrated on selecting their food;
it was obviously a serious business. I followed suit and just as I
was about to butter a roll, a tall elegant lady swept into the
room.

“Ah, there you
are, my dear,” the King said, standing up as the woman approached.
She put a hand on his shoulder and kissed the King on the
cheek.

“I’m sorry my
darling, I got held up, it took longer than I thought,” she said in
English, taking her cue from her husband. Everyone so far had
spoken my language flawlessly.

The woman
looked younger than the King. She was tall and slim with rich,
brown, beautifully coiffured hair that fell in thick, soft waves
around her shoulders. She wore a cream trouser suit and was the
epitome of elegance. I could have kicked myself for not giving more
thought to who I would be meeting and dressing more
appropriately.

“Leylana, I
want you to meet Miss McAllister,” the King said.

“Sophie,
please,” I corrected.

Leylana came
around to my side of the table and I stood up. The skin around her
eyes was gently lined but the rest of her face was smooth. She had
large brown, almond shaped eyes and she was gorgeous. Everyone here
was so beautiful and it made me feel like one of the ugly
sisters.

“Sophie, I am
absolutely delighted to meet you,” Leylana said warmly, extending
her hand.

I shook it
gently. “It’s good to meet you too.” By a strange twist of fate,
these people were Toby’s family and so far they had been nothing
but warm and welcoming. Maybe I could actually get to like
them.

Leylana turned
her attention to Ahran and he stood up to receive her hug.

“Ahran, it is
so lovely to see you, why haven’t you been to see us sooner?” she
said, scolding him.

“I am sorry
Aunt Ley.”

It was touching
to hear him use a shortened version of her name; it was so much
less formal than My Lady. Ahran had been polite and respectful
towards the King, but there was obvious warmth between him and his
aunt. “I’ve been concentrating on the purchase of the farm, there
have been various issues.” He frowned.

I listened with
interest. It was the first time I’d heard Ahran talk about his
life. He was buying a farm. That surprised me. He didn’t strike me
as a farmer.

“Has the
purchase gone through now?” Halsan asked as Leylana took her seat
next to Ahran.

“Yes, I
received notification a few days ago.”

“I am pleased
to hear that, it is about time you settled down,” Leylana said,
“And how is Talina?”

I nearly bit my
tongue. I broke off some of my bread roll and listened intently to
Ahran’s answer. Who was Talina? Please let it be his mother or some
elderly female relative. Although why it mattered so much, I wasn’t
sure.

“She is well,”
Ahran replied.

I realised I
was holding my breath.

“Have you set a
date for the wedding yet?”

I felt like I
had just been punched in the stomach. It was worse than I feared. I
felt a surge of anger towards him for not mentioning the fact that
he had a fiancé, but then a small voice in my head questioned why
he would. I didn’t know why I was surprised that Ahran wasn’t
single. He was drop dead gorgeous and in the prime of his life, who
wouldn’t want to marry him?

“No Aunt, no
date has been set yet. We have been waiting for the purchase of the
farm to go through,” Ahran replied.

I mimicked what
he had just said in my head childishly. I was cross with myself for
letting my attraction for him run away with me. Compared to the
beautiful people of Ramia, I was short, with unruly hair and on the
curvy side of slim, nothing like the svelte Elaya or the classical
beauty that was Leylana. Talina was probably just as stunning as
the other Ramian women I had met. Why would Ahran even give me a
second glance?

I kept my eyes
on my lunch. There was a pause in the conversation and I realised
that Leylana had turned her attention to me. Had she just asked me
a question?

“I’m
sorry?”

Leylana
repeated her question. “We are very keen to know what our little
grandson is like. We just couldn’t believe it when we found out
that Tagan had a son.” A shadow of sadness flickered across her
face.

I tensed. Of
course they would want to know what Toby was like, they were his
grandparents. But they were also royal superhumans who lived in a
beautiful parallel universe. I felt dismayed to think how excited
Toby was going to be about all of this, what eight year old
wouldn’t be? How could I possibly compete?

“What are his
interests? I expect he’s a good sportsman, Tagan always excelled at
sport,” she gushed.

“Ley! Give the
girl a chance to speak,” the King said, gently reprimanding his
wife. He leant towards me. “You will have to forgive my wife, she
was desperate for grandchildren and we thought that when we lost
Tagan the chance of us ever having any had passed, so as you can
imagine, ever since we found out about Toby it has caused great
excitement.” He was only just about containing his own.

My heart sank
further.

The King
paused. “My dear, have we offended you?” he asked, a concerned
frown on his face.

“No, you
haven’t offended me,” I replied. “It’s just that I’ve had a lot to
deal with over the last few days and now I face losing Toby no
matter what I decide to do.”

“What do you
mean you will lose him?” The King sounded surprised.

In for a penny
in for a pound. “Because if we stay at home there is every chance
he will fall into Bazeera’s clutches and if we come here you will
want to keep him because he is your heir, which of course is the
best thing for him anyway because he will be safer here...” I knew
I was starting to babble but I couldn’t help it, my misery was
affecting my ability to speak eloquently.

“You are right
it is not safe for you to stay at home at the moment,” the King
said.

It didn’t
escape my notice that he made no attempt to allay my fears about
them wanting Toby to stay here. My main concern was my nephew’s
safety but what frightened me more was that he would prefer to stay
here given the choice. And from what I had seen so far, he would be
treated like the Prince he was. I sighed inwardly at my
predicament. No matter which way I looked at it, I faced the very
real prospect of losing him.

I glanced over
at Leylana. Perhaps, I could appeal to the Queen’s sensibilities.
She was a mother, she would understand. Maybe we could come to an
arrangement where we could share Toby, although I couldn’t begin to
think how this could work across two universes. The situation
seemed impossible.

“Toby is an
adorable little boy,” I sighed, answering the Queen’s earlier
questions. “He is smart, funny, and very good at sport as it
happens. He’s got brown, curly hair and brown eyes.” The Queen was
quite literally on the edge of her seat hanging on my every
word.

Leylana bent
down to pick up her bag and took out a slim leather wallet. She
opened the case of what turned out to be a small electronic tablet.
She tapped the screen and a 3D image of a young man wearing
military fatigues sprang from the screen and hovered in front of
us.

“Wow!” I
exclaimed as I looked at the three inch image. “That’s
incredible.”

“It is our
son.”

Once I was over
the initial shock of the unfamiliar technology I eyed the image of
Tagan with interest. I had hated him with a vengeance for the last
eight years and it was unsettling to see a handsome man, wearing
military fatigues smiling up at me. He looked happy and relaxed as
he leant back against a rock. “Toby is like his father,” I said
slowly, shaking my head at the likeness.

Leylana beamed,
this obviously pleased her. She shook the tablet once and the image
disappeared.

“I’m afraid I
don’t have a photo to show you of Toby, I’ve got a new phone and I
haven’t taken any yet,” I said sheepishly.

The Queen
didn’t look overly disappointed. “No matter, we shall be meeting
him soon. When do you think you will be back?” Leylana asked
excitedly.

“As soon I can
make the necessary arrangements,” I said noncommittally.

The Queen
positively effervesced.

“Ahran tells me
you think it will take you a few days to make arrangements to leave
Earth,” the King said. “I’m afraid I don’t think you have that much
time. Bazeera knows of Toby’s existence. I would urge you to go
back, collect Toby and return as quickly as you can. I will make an
office available so you can make any necessary phone calls from
here and I would like to offer you recompense for the loss of
revenue you will suffer as a result of closing your business for
the duration of your stay.”