The Twisted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 3)

Chapter 18: The Prodigal's Tale

The next morning, Tassan shifted his weight uncomfortably on the edge of Sabrina's bed and blinked in the increasingly bright light. It had been a long night. Darice had slept soundly, but Sabrina had tossed and turned and murmured in her sleep. He had gently shaken her half-awake several times, cutting her nightmares short. They ranged from her father's death to her doubts about her brother to some argument she had evidently had with Imari.

Tassan found that he was angry that, out of the planetful of people she had saved, only he and Darice were trying to look after her. The risks she had taken and the loss she had suffered were enough to break anyone, he thought, without the added strain of isolation and abandonment. He recalled what she had told him of her reasons for taking on the regency. He had thought then that her friends could not truly care for her to accept such a sacrifice; now that she had made fresh ones, they could not even be bothered to acknowledge the fact, much less thank her for it. The injustice of it enraged him.

When he heard the outer door open and someone take slow, hesitant steps in the antechamber, he got to his feet, releasing Sabrina's hand carefully. No doubt they needed her for something else, he thought angrily as he made his way into the corridor. Well, whatever it was, he wasn't going to let them interrupt her much-needed sleep. They could damn well look after themselves for a few hours.

He didn't immediately recognize the man who entered, though he looked vaguely familiar. Then Tassan identified the cool grey eyes and haughty bearing as belonging to a Wayfarer and raised his weapon. "Stop," he ordered. "Identify yourself."

"I might ask you the same thing," Tirqwin said testily. "I am Wayship Khediva's Tirqwin and your Queen's consort. What are you doing in here? If you are Sabrina's bodyguard then you should be in uniform, and you should certainly know me."

Tassan lowered his weapon reluctantly. "I am a volunteer, not a soldier," he said. "How did you know where she was?"

"It was not easy!" Tirqwin replied. "No one seemed to know. Khediva and I had almost decided to scan for ourselves when Subcommander Mukryilla finally responded to our request. Now, if you will kindly move aside, I intend to speak with Sabrina."

"Then you should have come last night," Tassan retorted, "when she needed someone to talk to. Right now she is sleeping, finally, and she is not to be disturbed."

"I have come as quickly as I could," Tirqwin said, gritting his teeth. "I had to wait until Homeworld's fleet left before I could risk Khediva in orbit. I have been out of communication with Praxatillus since just after Commander Rayland's death. I am well aware that I was needed here, and it was not by my choice that I stayed away! But I am here now, and I seriously doubt you have any real authority to keep me from seeing Sabrina."

"Someone has to look after her," Tassan said.

It took Tirqwin a moment to get himself under control enough to speak. "Whoever you are, I appreciate your misguided efforts to do so. Believe me, I am horribly aware of how very desperately my wife and I are in her debt. Now, I know Sabrina quite well, and I am certain she is in need of comfort and reassurance. I intend to give it to her if I have to have you arrested to do it. Move aside."

Tassan glowered for a moment longer, then stepped out of the doorway and followed Tirqwin into the bedroom. Tirqwin stood for a moment, shocked, at Sabrina's bedside. "She looks unwell. Has she had any medical attention?"

"Sir," Tassan said in exasperation, "it was all Darice and I could do to get her to sleep. I doubt she's eaten anything in the past day and a half. Try getting her to drag a doctor away from the critically wounded in the infirmaries!"

Tirqwin cast him a wry look of sympathy. "I can imagine. Do you think you could arrange for someone to bring her breakfast? I will engage to make her eat it."