Prince of Attania, 2

Jet heaved a sigh and slumped down into his seat. Almost there. Was he doing the right thing? He and Doll had talked about it, and she’d given him her blessing, but even now, he wasn’t so sure. What would Lorra think when Jet didn’t give her the kid she was hoping for? It wasn’t that he was not willing to try. He just didn’t think it would work. After all, he and Doll had tried for ten years after Attan without success.

Attan rode in another car with Merrell. Jet smiled wryly as he wondered how that conversation was going. He’d had a similar conversation with Merrell way back when, when all of this had started. He couldn’t help wondering what his life would be like now if he’d never taken that car ride to Darcy with the Enforcer. Attan was upset with him now because he’d changed his mind about Arden. But Arden was the safest place for his son right now. This business with Tom Jadock was safely in Ben’s hands now, as it should be. Attan had done well, but Merrell was right. Attan was still a child. And, selfishly, Jet wanted Attan nearby. If he couldn’t have Doll with him in Darcy—stupid political posturing—at least he could have his son with him. He breathed steadily through his nose. He’d wanted Madelyne. He hadn’t even minded the thought of marrying her to get her. But Lorra was a different story. He liked her well enough, and he knew she liked him, for his power if nothing else, but if Merrell hadn’t insisted it would be a political disaster to marry Madelyne Farley and not secure a formal wife for the capitol city of Darcy, he wouldn’t have gone through with it.

He was setting a terrible precedent. He knew it. Merrell wouldn’t be satisfied with just two other wives. He’d push and he’d push until Jet had a formal wife in every major city in Attania. Just like all the Kings before him. To secure the power, Merrell said. It wasn’t necessary, not with Attan. Not with him being unable to age anymore. What were they, really? The non-family of Attania had reason to distrust them. Maybe they were right in thinking all Family should just return to their elemental states and leave Attania to the physical-bodied.

They were here. Even before the car doors opened, Jet could hear the fanfare outside. If he’d thought Low City had gone to extremes to prepare for this state wedding, then Darcy had gone completely overboard. People lined the streets, shouting and calling his name at the tops of their lungs. Not Roderick, but Jet. King Jet. They weren’t all Family, although in Darcy it was a given that a good portion of its citizens were Family.

This was to be an evening ceremony, as the leave-taking ceremony had been in Low City the night before. Jet touched his jacket pocket where Attan’s carving rested. He’d kept the fire statue made to represent Doll, and she’d kept the multi-hued one which was his. That way, even though they were apart, they had each other. Jet hadn’t had a chance to thank Attan for that.

He saw Attan get out of the limousine with Merrell a few cars down, and regretted that he hadn’t taken the time to merge with him, and Merrell and Daniel too, before they arrived. No one except them would have known. He attributed it to his nerves, and Merrell’s agenda, which he could guess at. Daniel took his place at Attan’s side as they arranged themselves for the procession up to the Capitol steps, where Lorra waited. Jet stood at the front, tall and slender in his black suit which he’d had made for this wedding. He no longer wore the grays, leaving that to his younger brother Daniel and to Attan, who’d proved himself worthy of them.

All Attania watched as the state news cameras captured King Jet’s wedding to his Darcy bride. Jet climbed the steps to where Lorra waited in front of City Hall where Jet had first made his announcement of marriage. She stood alone, pale and beautiful in a powder blue low-cut gown which set off her curves. Some non-family thought that all Family looked alike, and to a certain extent that was true: they all had black, black hair and unnaturally pale skin. But, over the centuries since they’d worn human form and believed it was their own, certain other characteristics had seeped in. Lorra was short, for Family, and curvaceous. Her black hair, which she kept shoulder-length, tended to curl around her face. Today, she had it pulled back, emphasizing her large eyes and long neck, which was circled with glittering diamonds.

“Lorra.” Smiling, Jet took her hand and stood beside her at the top of the steps. He leaned over and whispered so that just she could hear. “Are you ready for this?”

Filing in procession up the steps, the Enforcer, Daniel, and Attan stood two steps below the King. On the other side, Lorra’s younger brother Louis, an older man Jet didn’t recognize, but he was either her father or another brother, and, surprisingly, Sephira, stood for Lorra. Lorra smiled fiercely and whispered back, “Of course. I’ve waited for this moment for a long time.”

This moment. Not for him. Jet knew he shouldn’t feel disappointed. He didn’t love Lorra, either. But to hear it spelled out like that made it suddenly real. Over the years, Lorra and Doll had become friends, not good friends, but they had grown to respect each other. That had gone a long way towards Doll’s approval of this marriage. Jet hoped Lorra hadn’t planned it that way.

The marriage ceremony was brief. A long litany of names was read for both the bride’s ancestry and the groom’s. As expected, there were crosses upon crosses of common ancestors from all the in-breeding among the royals. Jet, using his true name of Roderick Estee, swore to accept Lorra Graves as his wife and Queen to reign in Darcy for the remainder of his reign. Now Jet understood why Sephira had stood for Lorra. Sephira had been his father’s Queen in Darcy. It was a formal hand-over to the new Queen.

However, Jet was more than just Family. He would end the ceremony as he had done in Low City when he wed Doll. Becoming wind, he swept up his new bride high into the sky. Lorra caught on immediately, and transformed as well, merging with Jet above Darcy in a tight spiral. In their Elemental state, there were no words, just impressions, but Jet found the verification he sought in Lorra’s joyful acceptance. In this state, there was no room for ambition, just as there was no future and no past. Jet became light, and Lorra became the rain and together they made a rainbow in the sky.

As if that were the signal, first Attan, then Daniel, then the rest of the Family who had stood witness to Jet and Lorra’s marriage let go of their physical selves and merged with the new bride and groom in a showy display meant to welcome the new couple. The crowd went wild. Lights flashed throughout the evening sky, and tiny ice crystals floated down to coat the steps of City Hall.

It was a very different Lorra who materialized on those steps moments later. Her eyes shone and she clasped Jet’s hand as if it were her lifeline. Merrell spoke to the crowds then. “I give you the King and Queen of Darcy!” Cheers erupted throughout the city, and thanks to the news who broadcast the King’s wedding across Attania, everywhere else too. The televisions mounted on giant screens placed in various places around the city square panned to shots of the celebrations in other Attanian cities.

Afterwards, there was a ball held at the King’s residence in Darcy. No longer was the mansion hidden from public view with shadows. The threats which had plagued the royal Family for several generations had been neutralized when Jet revealed Aylard First, the leader of the rebel group ‘Sons of Men’, was actually Family—or close enough that it amounted to the same thing. Aylard’s Sons of Men now supported Jet.

“Ben, you came!” Jet clasped his old friend’s arm.

Ben Reaves, tall as Family but sandy-haired and starting to look his forty-plus years, pulled Jet into a hug. Now was not the time to speak of business. Tonight was for celebrating. “I wouldn’t miss it!” Ben replied. “Reggie’s somewhere around here, too. So are Ricky and Patrick.” He put a hand on Jet’s arm, knowing the King had to greet his other guests. “Daniel talked to me about Attan and his little friend. I think it would be good for them to spend the summer with me in Parrion. But I don’t want you to be upset with me. If you disagree, I’ll tell them no.”

Jet smiled. “I had time to think about it on the drive up,” he said. “Attan’s coming to Arden for the next few years. He can have his time with the Sons of Men.” He laughed at Ben’s attempt at surprise. “He should learn everything he can, especially if he’s to be King someday.”

Jet broke away when Merrell beckoned to him from across the room. Most of the senior Family from Attania’s biggest cities had come to this wedding, and Jet and Lorra had to greet each one cordially. Even the feast they had prepared for the wedding had to wait, so everybody else got to eat before Jet and Lorra had even sat down. Jet was pleased that so many non-family, at his insistence, had been invited. Many were his personal friends, and he made a point of making conversation with each and every one of them.

He never got a chance to talk to Attan, though he glanced at his son worriedly throughout the evening as various Family personages used the banquet as an opportunity to approach the Prince and speak with him privately. At least Daniel was sticking near Attan, fielding the worst of the questions much like Merrell had always done for Jet since Jet had become King.

Finally Jet managed to grab a dinner plate, and just before he wolfed it down, he realized his new bride hadn’t eaten yet, either. So he made her sit down next to him at the high table in the open garden, and fed her from his own plate. It would be all over the news in minutes, but Jet didn’t care. He squeezed Lorra’s hand underneath the table. “Are you ready to leave?” he whispered quietly. Above, the last of the night stars began to fade as dawn approached.

She squeezed back, and gave him a weary smile. “It’s been a long night,” she agreed.

As the bride and groom, they had stayed until the very end. Most of the important guests had retired already, and just the news crews, the staff, and Merrell’s security remained. Jet took Lorra’s hand, helping her to her feet. A news crew scrambled to get over to them, the announcer already speculating on what was about to occur. “Merrell,” Jet growled, at the end of his patience.

Smoothly, Merrell guided the news cameras away from the King and Queen so that Jet could whisk Lorra out of the banquet hall and down the corridor to the wing where they would have their own sleeping quarters. The public portion of the wedding was officially over.

Alone at last, Jet asked Lorra, “What do you want? A bath? Sleep?” She swayed on her feet, her hair escaping from its pins to curl enticingly around her forehead and neck. He stole a quick peek down her plunging neckline. “Me?”

Lorra chuckled half-heartedly. “It’s been so long I don’t remember why I wanted you anymore.”

Jet thrilled to hear her say she wanted him. “You do? Me, Jet—or me, King Roderick?”

Lorra looked up at him. “They are the same person.”

“No, they’re not.” Jet shook his head stubbornly. He sat at the edge of their new bed, the edges of Attan’s statue poking at him.

Lorra let out an exasperated sigh. “Now I remember. Get over here, husband. You’re too sensitive for your own good. Doll thinks so, too.”

Doll? Startled, Jet glanced at Lorra, and sucked in a gasp. She stood at the foot of the bed, one hand on the remainder of her powder blue gown which pooled around her knees. She let the material go. It slid down to her ankles with a hiss. She wore nothing underneath. With both hands, she undid the pins holding back her hair, and it sprang free around her shoulders.

Fickle body, it betrayed Jet. He stalked towards Lorra, wanting nothing more than to have her right then and there. How could he have ever thought he wouldn’t want this? He was supposed to—that was the reason for this marriage. He didn’t expect to—feel so strongly.

Lorra chuckled again. “Doll said you might need some encouragement.”

Doll again! But when—how? Why hadn’t she told Jet? It should have cooled his physical responses, but instead it inflamed them. He grabbed Lorra and crushed her to him, kissing her deeply. He carried her over to their bed and half-fell with her under him. He remembered that he was still dressed in his wedding finery.

“Let me,” Lorra said. She reached up to unbutton his jacket. Jet could tell she was nervous. He remembered the one time when they were at Arden together when she had pretended to be more experienced than she was. He had scared her badly that time.

When she got to his pants, he took pity on her and turned around, sliding the fitted material down and stepping out of them. When he turned back, her eyes were huge. He eased down onto the bed beside her, and just held her closely, letting her feel his body and letting his hands roam freely across hers. She gasped, several times, though he was careful not to frighten her. This wasn’t at all how he had thought tonight would go. Today. The sun was already up.

“Lorra, Lorra. Look at me.” Jet put his hands on her cheeks and turned her face to his. Gently, he kissed her. When she hesitantly responded, he kissed her again, a little longer, a little deeper. His body was a raging fire, so he let it become one, transforming to fire in an instant, and engulfing her in a flame that did not burn her. He kindled the flame inside her, and as she let her body go to flame, they merged in the Elemental way and he sent reassurance through the merge, which was perfect in every way. So when he took back his physical body and she took back hers, they already knew each other intimately, and it felt natural to merge their physical selves as well. Still, Jet was gentle, and slow until she didn’t want him to be slow any longer, and then, finally, they came together.

“Oh!” she said afterwards, comfortable in his arms. “That’s what it’s like.” She smiled up at Jet. “My husband.”

Jet smiled down at Lorra. “My wife.” He had two now. And it seemed they talked to each other. About him. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “Uh, Lorra. I’m not sure I’ll be able to give you a child.” He waited for her reaction.

She yawned sleepily. “Is that what you’re worried about?”

Yes, that’s what Jet was worried about. The entire Family wanted to see him produce more heirs. Lorra did, too. Didn’t she?

“Well, we’ll just keep trying until we do,” she murmured, snuggling against Jet in a most insistent way.

That, Jet could do.