Read Online Bianca D'Arc by King of Cups - Free Book Online

Alex.
They respect you and they like you. You are a familiar figure from
a world they have trouble leaving behind. They’ve been cast adrift
in a civilian world that doesn’t understand them. In your bar, they
have the opportunity to mingle with some of the civ’s under your
watchful eye. The workers who come into your place after their
shifts are good people who don’t hold the soldiers in fear. They
talk to them. They follow your lead and you treat them
well.”
    “ I’m not running a halfway house
for old soldiers,” he objected.
    Della squeezed his hand. “In a way, you are. But
it’s so natural nobody seems to recognize it. You did that, Alex.
You created that atmosphere. The bar wasn’t like that before you
came.”
    “ How do you know?”
    “ I talk to station personnel too,
you know.” She winked at him and withdrew her hand. Alex seemed to
think about what she’d said, sitting back in his chair.
    “ This is good,” Theos said from
across the table. He had a satisfied gleam in his eye. “Whether
consciously or unconsciously, you have created a haven for your
brethren, Alex. It is the mark of a compassionate soul. Compassion
is something the Zenai cultivates in our novitiates.”
    “ Novitiates?” Della asked. Why
were they talking about novitiates?
    Theos looked from her to Alex and back. He seemed to
grasp for words. “I think it will smooth the way to have Alexander
become a novitiate of my order.”
    “ Why?” She addressed her question
to Theos, but it was Alex who answered.
    “ There are things you don’t know,
sweetheart. Things we need to deal with quietly. Father Theos
thinks this novitiate business is the way to do it.”
    “ So he’s preparing you to become a
priest?” Alarm filled her. What would this mean to them as a
couple? Would Alex be allowed to return home to the Milky Way or
would be he cloistered in some Zenai temple while they sent her on
her merry way? No way was she leaving him behind.
    “ Not a priest.” Theos held up one
hand, palm outward in a gesture of calm. “A novitiate only. As
such, he would be allowed to marry and have a family. Do not fear
for your mate bond.”
    “ I fear for Alex’s freedom,” she
clarified. “I won’t let you keep him here. If you make him stay in
this galaxy, I’m staying too.”
    “ I had not contemplated anything
different,” Theos said obligingly. “Mates are never separated if it
can be helped. I would not consciously send one of you anywhere
without the other.”
    A harshness came into his voice and sent a shiver
down her spine. In his benign priestly guise she had almost
forgotten Theos had once been emperor of an entire galaxy. Even
now, he could snap his fingers and they’d be dead. She bit her
tongue to keep from saying anything that would anger him
further.
    “ Be assured, your future as mates
is safe, wherever you end up living.” Theos was trying to be
helpful but his words only served to worry her more. “Your children
will prosper no matter where they grow up. You have my promise on
that.”
    “ I can’t have children, Father, so
there’s no need to worry on that score.” Alex’s tone was subdued,
his expression resigned. She took his hand wanting to comfort
him.
    “ Why do you believe this?” Theos
asked, frowning.
    “ The genetic work they did on me.
They said it would make me sterile,” he admitted. Della’s heart
wept for him. Alex was a proud man. Admitting such a thing had to
be painful.
    “ Perhaps that was their intent,
but it is not the result. Doctor Terva did a full workup on you
while you were unconscious. You are able to reproduce, which is
what had me concerned about protecting the succession in the first
place.”
    “ Succession?” The word slipped out
of her mouth before she thought better of it.
    “ That’s the stuff you don’t know
about.” Alex’s lips thinned in consternation.
    “ You haven’t told your mate?”
Theos looked appalled, bless his heart.
    “ I wasn’t