In Enemy Territory - Shannon West Page 0,2
beg your pardon, omak, and of course you have my deepest affection. Please forgive me.”
After a moment, Blake opened his arms, and Mikos leaned in to hug him tightly and whisper in his ear, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
Blake sniffed and nodded, patting Mikos’s shoulder. “I know, sweetheart. And I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t nag you about this, but I know it’s been bothering you. I really want this fight with Larz over with, and I think you do too. Then maybe Larz will come back home. At least for a visit.”
Mikos sighed, rising to his feet to go over to the crib to settle Rakkur down and pat his back as the baby sank back into sleep. After a few moments when the baby quieted, he turned and sat back down across from Blake. “Ryan has talked to me about this situation too, and I admit I’m having a hard time with it. I don’t like feeling like this about my little brother. I wish we could work things out.”
He spoke some rapid words in Tygerian, and Blake shook his head. “You know I still have trouble with translating even after all these years when you talk so fast. What exactly did you say?”
“Roughly translated, it means that I wish people could drink their words before they say them and see how bad they taste. I know I said things to Larz I shouldn’t have. And I know I lost my temper with Janos. I believed at the time, and I still do, that Janos should have told us Larz was on his planet. But…it might have been better not to say as much as I did. Maybe I shouldn’t have used my fists, considering Larz’s feelings for him.”
Blake smiled and lifted an eyebrow. “Yes, indeed. But the two of you are brothers, and I know you can work this out, sweetheart. Do it for me, if for no other reason. I am getting older, you know. It would be nice to have all my children around me again.”
Mikos smiled and stood up to drop a kiss on Blake’s completely smooth and unlined cheek. The only sign he was getting older at all were a few silver hairs at his temples and some laugh lines at the corners of his eyes. “You still turn every head whenever you pass by, omak, and you know it. And my newest little brother will follow in your footsteps, I’m sure. We’re going to have our hands full with this baby.”
Blake’s face lit up. “Oh, he is pretty, isn’t he?”
“Tygerian men aren’t supposed to be pretty.”
“Yes, well, like I once said to your father, all the rest of you are.”
Mikos smiled and shook his head. “I really have to go, omak, but Ryan and I will come by to see you this evening, if it’s all right. Mikol wants to tell you about his new school.”
“Oh that’s right. He started that this week, didn’t he? Davos is worried about him not using a tutor here at the palace like you boys did.”
“I know. I agreed to try a school for a short while, though I worry about his security. Ryan thought it would be better for him to be with other children.”
Blake laughed. “Mikol doesn’t share well with others, does he? But then, he’s second in line of succession for the throne, so it’s only to be expected, I suppose.”
“Perhaps, but Ryan thinks the company of other children his age will help his ‘socialization skills,’ as Ryan calls them. He’s been taking Mikol to school each morning in our personal hovercraft and picking him up every afternoon, so I feel better about his travel back and forth.”
“Good. I’m anxious to see him, and all of you, this evening. Come for supper. Maybe we can continue our discussion then?”
“Whatever you want.” Mikos sighed. “It’s hard to fight both you and Ryan. But I really need to go now.”
“What has you in such a hurry anyway?”
“There’s been another political assassination, I’m afraid. The council is meeting about it this morning.”
“Oh no. How many does that make?”
“At least ten over the last two cycles, but there may be more. It took us far too long to figure out what was going on, so now we have to go back and take a hard look at the deaths of all political figures and their family members from all the Axis planets. You can imagine that’s quite a task. This assassination was Justice Callozz from the Imperial