Nightmare Kingdom: A Romance of the Future by Barbara Bartholomew

Author:Barbara Bartholomew [Bartholomew, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Amazon: B00E7TRB48
Published: 2013-07-28T04:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

After breakfast Jamie was given an official tour of the ship, seeing everything but the empress’s private quarters, and was even more impressed.

Isaiah would drool at the possibility of such a ship coming into their possession. At this point the only thing they had were a few aircars, good only for travel in short hops around Sanctuary.

He was treated as a VIP visitor with the greatest friendliness possible. He supposed the Princess Adaeze’s crew was more accustomed to normal speech than most Aremians since they were regularly in the company of the Empress Claire. No doubt Mathiah hadn’t left his wife to live in total silence. Or maybe they were just trying their best for him, concerned that he’d been injured on their watch.

He had seemed to genuinely care for her, even Jamie had to admit that.

After the trip through the compartments of the luxury ship, he had no choice but to excuse himself for a rest period. He still felt weak and sick and the last thing he wanted to do was collapse embarrassingly in front of these tall, strong aliens.

He hoped Claire would come to him, but when he’d lain down long enough to sleep a little and feel considerably stronger, he went looking for her.

He knocked at the door that had been indicated as off limits as the empress’s personal dwelling, half expecting that the imperial guards would come rushing to drag him away.

Instead, the door opened, and the younger fair-haired princess stepped aside to allow him to enter.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he apologized when he saw Claire and the other daughter seated near each other as though in conversation. “I thought we might talk things over.”

The older girl glared coldly at him, but Claire nodded. “We do need to have a discussion,” she agreed, her tone neither friendly or unfriendly. He might have been just another suppliant granted an interview with the all powerful first lady of the Gare.

Nobody invited him to sit down, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to remain standing for long. He was too weak. So he seated himself in a huge, cushioned chair designed for someone considerably larger than himself and prepared to do more listening than talking.

The silence would have become awkward after a few minutes if he had not been somewhat accustomed to the company of the telepaths of Terrainaine. The two girls weren’t even looking at each other, but he had a strong feeling they were saying all sorts of things to each other. Claire sat just as silently, but her forehead was wrinkled with thought.

He waited until she looked directly at him. “What’s going on?” he asked as though they were alone in the room.

“Mr. Jamie Lewis Ward, you presume too much,” the older girl exploded furiously.

“Adaeze, I’m sure he didn’t mean . . .” her sister began apologetically, but Claire interrupted.

“This isn’t the empire, Adaeze, and he is not your subject.”

“Really, Mother,” the girl responded, but stopped when her mother raised a restraining hand.

Jamie was impressed. He wasn’t sure he could have managed a child with the powers this one had.

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