Free The Royal Mate (Space Wars) by April Zyon Page B

out into the her mother’s office and toward the general, who stood waiting with several security officers. The general gave her a nod, then led the way through the marshal’s building and out to the street, where a series of vehicles awaited them with more security at the ready. “Seems to be a bit much, Fintan.”
    The man snorted and shook his head. “Her mother denied me permission to have two squads of tankers covering us from the air. Said it would be too much. I don’t see how it could be, given what is already coming in over the wire.”
    “What is coming in over the wire?” Paisley moved closer to the general to ask that question.
    “I’ll be fine, little one,” Markus told her quietly. Squeezing her to his side, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. He held her hand to help her into the vehicle Fintan indicated, then followed her inside.
    He slipped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her close. “Since it is only you and I in here, I’ll admit to being nervous. Not only about being the only royal heir but about going into Imarian space and down to Imara. I know they are not all like Petr, who is easy to talk to because we have the military in common. These are going to be people who are looking for mistakes, flaws, and will make judgments without ever knowing either of us.”
    “We will both learn while we travel. I’m assuming that Petr will be willing to help us both learn what we need to do to get through all of this. Whatever it takes we will do it, right?” They would learn from Petr and from any of the learning disks that they had so that they could—she hoped—get through this without losing face. So to speak.
    Markus nodded. “Absolutely. I’ll even refrain from mentioning I actually know all the Imarian history and their language.” At her look, he rolled his eyes and shrugged. “I did mention I was a huge procrastinator when it came to reports, if you recall. When I ran out of books to read I decided I might want to learn some actual details about the Imarian people, and I had some info on a data pad, along with the language program. We all know some key phrases in their language, and the implant chips are obviously programmed to translate it, but it’s nice to know it in case the chips fail.”
    “So that’s what you were doing while I was working on swimming and trying to get you naked?” She was grinning when she said it. “I looked a bit up on the data pads but I didn’t go too far into it. To be honest, I was looking at their education system and admiring the way that they had set up for their children to learn in the best environment for them, not just in one forum. It’s actually rather forward thinking and while I don’t approve of all of the males of a certain age being placed into the service of their people, I did like how they treated their children.”
    “Aha! I knew you were up to something while I was running on the mat. And yes, I was doing some studying while you were doing laps and looking amazing in the water. It was distracting, but I did manage to restrain myself on most occasions from attacking you.”
    “I wish you hadn’t,” she teased, glancing up at him and laughing at the shocked look on his face. “Come on, you know that I would love to have you do me as much as possible.” She leaned in just a smidge closer and added, “In fact, I can’t wait to get to your quarters so that we can figure out if it’s going to be large enough and soundproofed enough.” Okay, so maybe she was pushing it a little, but it was so much fun to tease him and it got her mind off of the possible death that awaited them.
    “They are plenty large enough, and they are definitely soundproofed. My quarters are next door to Fintan and Adira along with their two children. Believe me, I was extremely relieved to find out the soundproofing was top notch when Lennox was suffering a bit of colic. That boy can scream. Nothing like his sister, of course. Morgan has some serious