A Mermaid’s Wish (3 page)

He went off the script. “You are of a noble house. Will that affect your life when you are away from the social whirl?”

“I do not whirl, and I rarely prance. While society is very important in a new endeavour, holding onto one’s previous social standing on a new world would create a frustrating environment for all.”

“How will you deal with the hierarchy on Hekart?”

“As best as I can. Until I am in a situation, I cannot judge how I would handle it. I believe I would attempt to deal with all in a fair and direct manner.”

He twisted his lips. “That does not answer my question.”

“Fine, I would attempt to learn all the rules and use points of law to push my ideas through the bureaucracy. A new charter would require study, but I have been known to absorb rules and regulations that few are aware of.”

Nordal muttered, “You don’t say.”

She grinned.

“As part of the colony, you are expected to seek out a life partner of any sex. Are you willing to not only find a partner, but also pursue reproduction at the earliest opportunity?”

Knowing that the question was coming was far different from answering it herself. She blushed. “I believe that given the right partner, I would be interested in pursuing a family situation.”

“Very politic.”

“I cannot make promises without all the facts. I am interested in a life and family on a new world, but I cannot swear that it will happen. I do not wish to be a waste of resources, but at the same time, upon examination of the situation, the colony would be richer for having me in an administrative capacity.”

Nordal nodded and made notes. “How do you feel about carrying a weapon at all times?”

“Favourable.”

“Are you willing to defend yourself against local wildlife?”

“I am.”

He settled back in his chair and asked her something she wasn’t expecting. “We are pursuing land-based agriculture. How are your land legs?”

She gave him a slow smile. “Excellent. I beach walk every time that I am able. The feel of the sun on my skin is a pleasure that I truly enjoy.”

“Really?”

“Really. I have an air hatch in my room. I watch the stars at night.” She smiled and checked the chrono stones. “Is there anything else? I need to get back to work.”

He blinked. “No, that is it. Thank you for your participation in the colony selection. My assistant will be in touch.”

She chuckled. “Well done. I will organize the interviews for the rest of the morning and get you a cup of tea. It is going to be quite the day. You had better brace yourself.”

Taem got to her feet and crossed his office. As she passed the threshold, she turned. “Thank you for your consideration.”

He barked a laugh, and she settled at her desk before the first regular interviewee appeared. Once the woman was in the waiting room, Taem prepared tea and called Dr. Nordal-jak on the com. “Your tea and the first interview is here.”

“Send them both in.”

Taem chuckled and got to her feet, lifting the tray. “You can go in now, Binsar-wel.”

Binsar smiled, “Please, allow me to take the tea. The next appointment has arrived and needs to be checked in.”

Taem surrendered the tray, and the woman held it expertly. It was no wonder. Binsar-wel worked in a dining hall at the university. She had a good practical background and would be an asset to the colony.

With a smug attitude, Taem resumed her seat and began to juggle the women who came in less than four minutes apart. It was going to be a hectic few days.

Sardu came in a few minutes before lunch. He paused next to her desk, and the women in the waiting room perked up.

“Good morning, Your Highness.” She smiled politely at him.

“Good morning, Taem-sah. How are you this bright and joyous day?”

She bit her lip. “I am well. Busy but well. How are you, Your Highness?”

“I have told you to call me Sardu.”

“Sardu-jak. Shall I tell Dr. Nordal-jak that you are here?” She kept to her work persona.

“Please. My parents are meeting us for lunch. In fact, they should be here shortly.”

She paused, and there were three audible gasps from the waiting room. “They are coming here?”

He grinned and nodded. “Yes. You had better warn Nordal.”

Taem contacted the doctor and said, “Pardon me for interrupting, but your brother has arrived to take you to lunch and your parents are expected.”

Nordal laughed into the com. “He is working fast. I will be along presently. Can you ask the women waiting if they will do a group interview?”

“I will offer them the chance to rebook.”

He laughed. “A better idea.”

The door opened, and the interviewee sailed out with a broad grin. She winked at Taem and continued on her way.

Taem offered the ladies a chance to rebook for first thing the following day, and they all agreed.

With that sorted, she started work transcribing the interview notes that Nordal had been passing her throughout the morning. The next two days of interviews were set, and with fifty women already processed in four-minute increments, they would be through her list by the end of the week.

When she read her interview notes, she grinned.
Accepted Candidate
was stamped on the form in large letters. Two other interviews from the morning had also gained immediate acceptance. The rest were separated into rejects and strong possibilities.

She began to write the letters of acceptance for Nordal to sign, and Sardu was still standing next to her desk.

“When you are working, everything else disappears, doesn’t it? I mean, here I am, the most eligible bachelor for two hundred kilometers, and you are busy with your nose in paperwork.”

She set the papers down and looked up at him with limpid eyes. “Is this better?” Taem shaped her expression into adoration, and he wrinkled his nose.

“Fine. Get back to work, Taem-sah. I will simply enjoy the view.”

She paused. “How would you react if I was more attractive?”

He drew his head back. “What do you mean? I like you just the way you are.”

“Would my being more attractive be a problem?” she blurted it out.

Sardu frowned. “Why are you asking me this? Don’t tell me that you are going to a gene witch.”

She shook her head. “I am trying to tell you that I already did. Sixteen years ago, I asked her to make me normal, and she did. Whatever I was supposed to become has been held for me. If I release it, I will regain what was withheld. I need to know if that will be a problem.”

He came around her desk, tugged her to her feet and then hauled her into his lap. “I want you, and I don’t care what you look like. I have become enraptured with you. Not your face, not your body. You. You could turn into a Terror, and I would still want to spend time with you.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but he kissed her, sliding his hand into her hair and holding her so that he could coax her lips into forming to his own.

When a throat cleared, he leisurely raised his head and a bashful grin passed over his features. “Hello, Mother, Father. This is Taem-sah. Taem-sah, this is Her Majesty, Queen Nori-jak, and His Majesty, King Rallo-jak.”

She blushed and tried to get out of his lap, but he held her fast. “Your Majesties, please excuse my inability to show proper respect.”

The king grinned. “I believe your current position is keeping my son from embarrassment, so all is forgiven. Call me Rallo.” He extended his hand, and she placed her palm to his.

“And call me Nori. It is a rare woman that can hold Sardu’s attention. How did you manage it?” Nori held out her hand, and Taem slid her palm across the queen’s hand.

Taem blinked. “As far as I can tell, it was refusing to do anything that he ordered me to.”

Sardu rubbed his cheek along hers. “That was definitely part of your charm. The true infatuation came when I watched you bossing Nordal around. I stand in awe of your talents.”

She blushed furiously.

Dr. Nordal-jak appeared in his doorway, and he clapped his hands. “I have made reservations for five.”

Taem looked at him, and he nodded. “You are coming, too, Taem-sah. We need to go over some of the colony details and things will go faster if you are in on the conversation.”

Rallo and Nori grinned. She said, “It is settled. Come along, Taem-sah. We have a few details to hash out.”

Their group left the institute, and together, they swam to the restaurant that Nordal had chosen. Elegant wraps awaited them, and Taem kept her head high as she walked in on Sardu’s arm. He kept her at his side throughout the meal.

The colony details were over in five minutes, and the talk turned to the fight with the Terror and why more women should learn to fight. They were laughing over a story that Nori was telling when a shadow fell over their gathering. Taem turned, and it was Josnal and Rewma.

Taem got to her feet and made the introductions.

Rewma first looked dazed and then angry as the queen dismissed her, saying that she had to return to the palace for matters of state. Nori rose, and Rallo went with her. The king kissed Taem’s hand and pronounced her delightful while Rewma fumed.

Josnal looked to the empty seats. “May we join you? I have something I would like to discuss with you.”

He was looking at Taem’s breasts under the wrap, and she scowled. “I am not interested in anything you have to say. You have pursued me for years without progress. Give up and go away.”

Josnal smirked. “I don’t give up.”

Sardu got to his feet and stood at Taem’s side. “She has dismissed you. Manners dictate that you follow the lady’s will.”

“Your Highness, you don’t understand the complicated relationship that I have with the lady at your side. She is more than a sister to me, she is a soul mate.”

Taem wanted to throw up the delightful meal she had just enjoyed. It must have shown on her face, because Sardu broke protocol and curled his arm around her. “It seems that her soul must get around, because this woman is mine by her own admission and her parents’ consent.”

Josnal turned purple, and Rewma gripped his arm. He shook her off and took a step toward Taem.

She stiffened her spine and stepped toward him. “Go ahead, Josnal. I want to make a scene. Touch me and I will not only scream the house down, but I will brain you with that chair. Am I clear?”

He blinked in confusion and backed off. “You are only saying that because you have a man to protect you.”

“I am saying it because I don’t need to hide what a repulsive blowfish you are. I have broken the secret with my mother and father, and whether they believe me or not, I am not hiding anymore. There is no shame on my side of things, because there is nothing but avoidance in my past. You have a wife. Get her pregnant and find a willing mistress. Stop pursuing the weak and vulnerable. You will not like it when they grow teeth.”

He drew back his hand to strike, but she ducked and ploughed her fist into his gut, following with a knee to his chin. He dropped like a sack of seaweed. Rewma was standing and flapping her hands, and the restaurant patrons were staring.

Taem turned to Sardu. “Can we leave now?”

Nordal laughed. “You go ahead. I will settle the bill.”

As Sardu offered her his arm, applause broke out in the restaurant. The accolade followed them into the wet entrance where she handed her wrap to an attendant and dove into the water. Sardu was at her side a moment later.

That was impressive.

I took classes but never had the nerve to use them. Something about today just set me off.

I think you are coming in to your own. I will say this. If you want to change your appearance, I will still love you, but if you remain the same, my affection will be unchanged.

You love me?

Since the first time you told me Nordal was busy and I should sit down and shut up until he was off the com.

Well, he was busy.

He was making opera reservations.

She laughed mentally.
Still busy.

Fair enough. The fact that you looked up, recognized me and then reiterated the order captured my undying affection from that moment onward. It grew deeper every time you snapped at me.

That is asinine.

I love you
,
too, Taem.

She swirled and faced him.
I do love you, you know. If you go to Hekart and find a wonderful woman, I will understand.

I will be travelling with my wife.

What?

We are going to be married as soon as it can be arranged. I want you in my house, my bed and my life as soon as possible. I want to start a new life on a new world with you. Only you.

Why me?
She looked in his features and begged him for the answer. She really had no idea why it had been her when he was everything she had ever dreamed of.

Who else could it be?

He kissed her, and she let the world fall away as they drifted together, his hair billowing around them. She reached to the base of her hair, and she broke the charm. Whether it was truly magic or simply a trick of her mind. She felt more beautiful in his arms than she ever had before.

* * * *

The bride was radiant if she did say so herself. Her stunning beauty was returning slowly, and it was at just the right level to pass as a blissful bride.

The palace was lit like a jewel in the darkness. Taem walked down the steps and onto the rich purple carpet waiting to lead her to the dais of the thrones. Her family lined the first two rows of the left side of the throne room, and the entire court took up the rest of the seats.

Sardu was waiting for her at the dais, and he took her hands in his while Rallo performed the ceremony.

It took five minutes for him to recite genealogies on both sides and two minutes for the actual exchange of vows. Once the vows were exchanged, there was the exchange of tokens.

Taem extended a pair of thick wrist cuffs that had been in her family for nine centuries. They were the most tasteful things in the sah-family collection, and now, they were his.

He gestured, and one of his groomsmen brought forward a box that contained a dagger that was not only made of the sharpest obsidian, but it also wasn’t fully encrusted in gems so it was a practical item.

The second groomsman brought out a trident that was slightly narrower but much longer than a standard weapon.

Sardu whispered, “For the next time you fight a predator. I don’t like you getting so close.”

She laughed, and the room at large was scandalized. No one ever gave weapons to a bride. “It is perfect. Thank you.”

She kissed him, and he put his arms around her and her new trident. They parted and it was official. She was now Princess Taem-jak. It was time to celebrate.

Sneaking out of a royal wedding was not for the faint hearted, but Sardu was a man of spirit. He lured his bride onto the dance floor, and after she was draped against him in complete surrender, he lifted her in his arms and simply walked off with the new princess.

Laughter on the wedding night was distracting, but they managed to get beyond it, and when they joined their bodies, Taem saw stars in his eyes and joy in his expression.

He whispered. “You are still as beautiful as the first day I saw you.”

She smiled and curled against him, her body warm from contact with his. “You are still as annoying, but it gives me something to look forward to, so I embrace you with every part of me.”

“Give me five minutes.”

The laughter came back.