Burning for Love by Evangeline Anderson
44
“Look at them—dancing together. Both of them with the Sheen to their skin and looking like such a lovely Royal couple.”
James dragged his eyes from the dance floor and looked down at Lady Mildew, who had come to stand beside him at the outer edge of the dance floor. The older female had expressed nothing but hostility to him in the past, so he was surprised that she would be civil to him at all, let alone that she would seek him out to talk.
“They do seem…evenly matched,” he said at last, nodding as Ka’rissa and her new suitor spun in a graceful arc in the center of the ballroom’s marble floor.
“Evenly matched? Why, ‘tis a match made by the Goddess of Mercy herself!” Lady Mildew exclaimed. “And him being so young and handsome—her ideal man. I don’t always approve of all the Steward does, but he chose right this time,” she added, nodding her head in apparent satisfaction.
“They may look like an ideal couple,” James said in a low voice. “But the Princess does not wish to marry him.”
“Because she wants to marry you, do you mean?” Lady Mildew looked up at him sharply.
“I do not know if Princess Ka’rissa wants to Join with me or not,” James said stiffly. “I only know that she has told me she loves me.”
“Well, of course she does!” Lady Mildew exclaimed, frowning. “Only look at you—so big and strong and handsome! And a dashing foreigner to boot—what silly young girl wouldn’t lose her head over the likes of you, Kindred?”
James frowned.
“The Princess is not ‘silly.’ She knows her own mind.”
“She would—if you’d give her a chance to,” Lady Mildew exclaimed. “If you’d get out of the way and give her a chance at happiness—true happiness—with a man of her own class who can help her rule Regalia Five as an insider, rather than an interloper.”
“What are you talking about?” James demanded. “I am no interloper—I was asked to come here.”
“As her guard—not as her suitor,” Lady Mildew said severely. “But let’s suppose that the Princess somehow gets the Steward to change his mind so she can marry ‘the handsome stranger who came to guard her from beyond the stars.’ What do you think would happen then?” Her tone was jeering, as though the idea of James joining with Ka’rissa was completely preposterous.
“I think I would do my best to make the Princess happy for the rest of her life,” James said, frowning.
“Yes. And exactly how happy do you think she’d be with half the planet revolting at the idea of a foreign-born man on the throne? Not even a man—a robot!” Lady Mildew demanded. “There’s already a movement to dethrone the Monarchy, you know. And the idea of being ruled by a conqueror from another race—a whole other species—”
“I did not come here to conquer anyone and I wouldn’t try to rule anything,” James protested. “If we did marry, I would be the Royal Consort—not the King.”
Lady Mildew waved away his protests as though they were inconsequential flies.
“Oh, please! Everyone knows that in our society, the man rules the woman! So whoever marries the Princess, will be the ruler of Regalia Five, whether he bears the title of ‘King’ or not!”
James stared at her.
“Is there truly so little equality between your sexes?”
“It seems to me, you have two choices,” Lady Mildew said, ignoring his pointed question. “One, you can try to marry the Princess. If you succeed, she will be shunned by her social class—an outcast at Court. Not to mention the fact that it will probably cause a bloody civil war that may engulf the entire planet and cause permanent ill-will between our people and the Kindred.”
Her words shook James to the core.
“I…never thought of it that way,” he admitted.
“Your other choice,” Lady Mildew continued relentlessly, “Is to let the Princess go. Oh, she may grieve for a little while, but she’s young and her broken heart will mend,” she went on. “And in time, she’ll learn to love the handsome, charming young man the Steward has picked for her. The young man with Royal blood in his veins who will not cause the people to rise up and start a civil war because he is not a foreign robot from another planet trying to rule them! Peace will be preserved and the Princess will make a lovely Queen and a happy wife and mother. Her future of happiness and prosperity will be assured.”
She glared up at James. “Those are your choices—the way Ka’rissa’s life goes is entirely up to you, Sir Robot. Which will you choose?”
James just stared at her for a moment, trying to process her words. He had to admit, he hadn’t thought of the long-term consequences of a Joining between himself and Ka’rissa. Oh, he had considered how it might impact the relations of the Regalians with his own people, the Kindred. But he hadn’t thought about how the Regalian people would feel if they thought a foreign male was ruling them. He had simply taken for granted that they would treat Ka’rissa as their rightful ruler, no matter who her Consort was.
Now he saw that was a misconception. In a society as unbalanced and unfair to females as the Regalian one, it wasn’t at all surprising that they would believe James to be the true ruler if he Joined with Ka’rissa. And of course they would resent him.
“She has a chance at true happiness now,” Lady Mildew said, breaking into his thoughts. She grabbed James by the arm and peered up at him earnestly. “Let her go, Kindred! Let her be happy.”
James looked across the ballroom and saw Ka’rissa dancing in her new suitor’s arms. She was smiling up at him, the way she had smiled up at James himself, when they had danced together. Lord Shammington looked happy, too. He was gazing down at her and laughing at something she had said. Already, he seemed to be halfway in love with the pretty little Princess.
Ordinarily, the sight of another male with his female would have sent James into Rage. But now he had to admit that the Princess wasn’t his female. And he also had to admit that the things Lady Mildew was saying to him made sense—they were logical.
If I had a working emotion damper, I would be able to acknowledge the truth of her words immediately, he admitted to himself. Of course the Princess would be happier with one of her own kind—one her people accept and expect her to marry. Not a foreign interloper like me who is not even completely organic.
“Thank you. I will…think about what you have said to me,” he told Lady Mildew, who was still looking at him expectantly.
“You do that, Sir Robot,” she said, frowning at him. “You think long and hard if you really want to ruin Princess Ka’rissa’s life for her, just as she’s about to ascend to the throne! And then you think about what you’re going to say to her the next time you see her. Because if you tell her you love her, she’ll be as much in love with you as ever—I’m certain of it. But if you tell her you don’t love her, why, that will clear the way to let her love the man she ought to love—the one she’s going to marry.”
And with a final nod, she stumped away into the crowd, leaving James to think about what she’d said.
