Evan's Ladies by Eva Caye

Author:Eva Caye
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, friendship, suicide, sexuality, science fiction, autism, futuristic, environmentalism, stargate, entrapment, sense deprivation
Publisher: Eva Caye

Part III:

Breathe

Evan stared at Margarita before shoving off the covers and climbing out of bed.

As he began dressing, Margarita sat up, holding the sheet over her nakedness. “Where are you going?”

“To Mother.” He ignored her other queries, ignored the early-morning hour, and ignored his Sentinel agents when he slammed out the door and headed to his parents’ suite. He had the sense to stop at their door before Colonel Tolovsky, their weekend night-shift Sentinel detail commander, actually had to lay hands on him to keep him from barging in unannounced.

“Your Highness, I recommend you leave them be. Your mother had to leave the salon early for health reasons, and your father only got in just after 01:00.”

“It can’t wait,” Evan assured him, deadly serious. The colonel knocked and entered first before coming out to let him in some five minutes later.

Father was on the front couch, and Mother was just coming down the hall, both in their sleepwear. Evan sat in a chair across from the couch and waited until Mother settled in. With no preliminaries, he said, “Margarita is pregnant.”

Father’s eyes narrowed as Mother drew herself up in indignation. She rasped, “How do you know this?”

“She just told me. I came to you immediately.”

Mother spat out a surprisingly foul word. “I asked her specifically if she had a contraceptive implant, as I always do. And she said yes.”

Standing up to pace a few meters back and forth, she turned sharply back to Evan. “Do you love her?”

“No. Not if she could do something like this to me.”

“You do know the consequences.” Father didn’t even ask it as a question; it was simply a reminder of the Imperial Family’s long-held contingency plan.

“Yes. Do it.”

Emperor Victor Sinclair reached over to press an almost unnoticeable button on the side table. Colonel Tolovsky entered the room.

“Go to Evan’s suite, get Lady Margarita to dress and collect all her belongings, and take her immediately to Sentinel Command’s infirmary,” he commanded harshly. “Don’t let her have any contact with anyone other than Sentinels.”

The colonel bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty.” He left immediately, though they could hear him delegate Mother’s detail leader to take command of the combined details before he closed the door.

Mother sighed and sat back, rubbing her eyes and forehead. “We’ll take care of the political consequences, but perhaps you shouldn’t allow Sara’s marriage to suggest you would actually be satisfied with little more than a deb.”

Evan knew what she meant; his best friend and former love interest, Sara Bonnaire, had recently wed Mother’s computer laboratory manager and his oldest brothers’ great friend and Peer, Charles Strauss, with their eleven-year-gap in ages going mostly unremarked in public.

“Yes.” Father’s voice was stern. “Just because I’m a decade older than your mother and Alex is twelve years older than Sophia doesn’t mean age doesn’t matter. Maturity matters. Emotional compatibility matters.”

Evan nodded, head low, not meeting Father’s gaze. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have latched onto her so desperately, but she just took my breath away. Not just her beauty; it was the way she made me feel, just being around her.

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