It was also sweet how possessive he was, how jealously he guarded their time together. He hated being separated from her, even for a moment. Mayra had explained it was a trait of Vartik men, but it seemed that Cal went beyond even the obsessiveness of his brothers.
She’d seen him lash out at the pages sent to summon him so abusively that his brothers had started coming to the door in pairs to make sure he attended required meetings. He’d taken to getting her up at dawn and secreting her out of the palace so they could spend the day alone together, at least until Marek had revoked his vehicle privileges and set guards to follow them around the palace grounds. Cal had gnashed his teeth for days over that little action.
“If it wasn’t treason to punch the king in his self-righteous face, I’d have some bruised knuckles and my brother would be sporting a black eye right now,” he’d confessed.
Gemma had loved exploring the planet with Cal. He’d shown her sights she’d never dreamed of, the beauty of the natural world, the hum of the central city, the quiet of hidden nooks and crannies he’d discovered on Vartik. Her favorite by far had been the Central Repository.
She’d spent hours poring over data consoles, learning all she could with the freedom of a clear mind. When he’d shown her the library of ancient texts, she’d almost fainted with delight, and he’d had to drag her bodily from the books and scrolls contained there. The day after he’d shown her the repository, King Marek had confined them to the palace complex, and Gemma could have wept for the loss.
They were eating breakfast that day, a much-needed breakfast after a long session of lovemaking, when she rested her chin on her hand. “Do you think your brother would give me a pass to the Repository? I’ve exhausted the data consoles in the palace, but all those texts in the ancient library—”
Cal smiled at her. “Look at my adorable little bookworm. He said we can’t leave the complex, and he’s notoriously stubborn.”
“Notwe,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Me. While you’re in your meetings today, I can go to the library and—”
“Absolutely not.” Cal wiped his mouth and tossed his napkin down decisively. “I’m not spending the whole day separated from you while you dig around in dusty old books.”
Gemma frowned. “But you expect me to be happy just sitting around while you and your brothers plot the apocalypse?”
“We aren’t plotting the apocalypse, just our response to it,” Cal corrected.
“Then plot your response to this,” she said, standing and throwing her own napkin at him, then storming out of the room.
“Sugar, wait,” he called after her, then forced his way into the bedroom and gathered her up into his arms. “I’m sorry. I was being an asshole. Forgive me?”
This was their first real fight as a couple, and she knew the issue was an important one. “Cal, I love you. I’m always going to love you. I’m always going to love spending time with you. But my life doesn’t start and stop when you enter and leave the room. I want to help prepare too.”
“You are helping, darling,” he’d said, trying to reassure her. “You’re invaluable at the strategy meetings. I know we won’t win this war without you on our side.”
“We won’t win this war if we aren’t all prepared to the best of our abilities. That means I need the information those books and ones like it contain. The more data I have to work with, the better our chances.”
Cal buried his face in her neck. “I know you’re right, Gemma. Of course you are. I just fucking hate being separated from you.”
“I know, love. I hate it too. But if we have to do it, we may as well make good use of the time.”
Cal nodded at last. “I’ll ask my brother today. I promise.” He let her go, heading to the closet to dress. “I’ve got an intelligence briefing this morning with the king, in fact.” Looking back over his shoulder, he sent her a smile. “I was thinking that maybe you want to go visit Dawn in her lab? There should be plenty to keep you busy there.”
“Yes!” she said, forgetting her annoyance at his possessiveness. Gemma joined him at the closet and rushed to pull on her garments. She’d only been to Dawn’s lab once, and she’d barely scratched the surface of things. She was ecstatic to be invited back.
Cal had left her at the door to the lab, but not before kissing her thoroughly. Although she hated being separated from him too, she loved the way he said goodbye.
Dawn had been busy tinkering with her newest robotic creation, so Fox-E had shown her in. “Welcome back, Guardian Gemmaline,” the mechanical fox on roller skates said.
“Thanks, Fox-E.” The robot resembled a child’s stuffed animal and was apparently the second one Dawn had built. She’d gotten choked up when she’d talked about losing Ladee, her first robotic companion, and had vowed to get him back someday.
“Dr. Dawn is in the middle of a delicate adjustment and asks that you wait here for her to finish. She said you are free to poke around in whatever you want out here.”
Gemma laughed. Last time she’d been here, she’d nearly pulled things apart trying to discover all the many projects the scientist had been working on. Looking around now, it was clear that Dawn had taken precautions before her next visit.
Still, there was plenty to see and do, so Gemma started exploring, quickly deducing the use of certain instruments and the relevance behind several of the experiments scattered around the lab. She was almost becoming bored with what was on offer when she stumbled upon a small book sitting on one of the lab tables.
Opening it, she was immediately engrossed. It was written in some language she’d never seen before. Paging through it, she wondered what secrets its pages held.
Dawn appeared then, and the pair exchanged pleasantries.
“Tell me about this book,” Gemma requested.
“That is a genuine Territh artifact, given to Mayra by her mother, the late Oracle of Territh. It is of no known language, and believe me, I checked, and in fact, I can’t say for sure that it is written in a language. I think it might be some form of elaborate code, but I couldn’t say for sure.” Dawn leaned back against the lab table. “Nojan thinks it’s a clue to the Guardians and the Seekers, but since we can’t decipher it, it hasn’t done us much good.”
