My offering is Evan's Ladies, a book consisting of four novellas describing Prince Evan Sinclair's problems in finding a lady to love. Here's an excerpt:
He
was walking Mother through the high-tech and massively complex Command Center
when Sentinel Chief Savat hailed him. Letting go of her waist just enough to
gesture to the Chief that he would be right back, he saw Mother to his parents’
nearby quarters and settled her on the bed, simply drawing the blankets from
the edge over her.
[….]
Back
in the Command Center, he approached Chief Savat.
“Your
Highness, you are housed on the fifth floor, yes? Please feel free to take your
messages at Station Five off the second node. Just palm the system on; no need
for any special codes,” the Chief said kindly.
“Where
are Father and Zhaiden?”
“The
Emperor is at the emergency meeting of the Ducal Assembly. The Crown Prince is
with their children while Renee is with your mother. They both needed the
break.” The Chief wiped his own frazzled features with one hand.
“And
how many hours have you been awake?” Evan hinted.
With
a snort, the Chief thanked him for the reminder that beds existed in the
universe, bowed, and immediately called across the room for the duty officer to
find the highest-ranking officer who had had any sleep since midnight to take over.
As Evan left, the duty officer drawled, “That would be Ensign Xavier.”
This
reference to the mythical Sentinel, named with various ranks for assigning
levels to information when speaking in code in public, caused chuckles to erupt
all over the room. Although Evan could appreciate the comic relief of the
stressed-beyond-measure Sentinels, he couldn’t seem to shake himself from the
emptiness threatening to overwhelm him.
Locking
himself into Station Five, he began reviewing his vid messages. Several of them
were from ladies whose codes he recognized, tearful laments about the
destruction of the Palace and how grateful they were he had survived, ending
with let-me-know-if-you-need-anything. One code was unknown to him. He opened
the message.
Lady
Nicole Knightley, whom he had last seen heading for a tram, stared out the
screen at him. Clad in his jacket, she remained gravely silent for a long
moment.
“If
you need to get away from it all, come to visit. My parents and I will take
good care of you.” She smiled that sad, wistful smile of hers and palmed off
the recording.
He
called her immediately. Although it was the middle of the night for her, she
answered. Wiping sleep from her eyes, she peered at him. “When’s the last time
you had any sleep?”
“Three
hours, about eleven hours ago.”
Nicole
nodded. “I’m not surprised. When our main activities tent burned down during a
month-long summer training expedition in my junior year, none of us could sleep
more than a few hours a night for weeks, even after we returned home.” A sly
grin crept across her face. “I know a great cure for that, though.”
Evan
laughed a bit. “I’m tempted.” Growing melancholic again, he sighed. “I have to
get through baby Daniel’s funeral first, along with some other duties. What are
your next few weeks like?”
“I
finished my research summary last week, so I have no duties until my next field
assignment in October. It’s nearly spring now, and Knightley Duchy is so
wonderfully green and vibrant and rural, I thought it would be a nice change
from the dire events in the capital.”
The
warmth and thoughtfulness of her gesture felt like lying among the flowers in
the glen of the Imperial Preserve, basking in sunlight to drive away last
night’s horrors. He wondered how much of the laboratory clean-up he could leave
to Stefan and Josef.
They
arranged for him to visit the Knightley Duchy in ten days, and he thanked her
with a sweet smile. “You know, all these other ladies who left me messages
bewailed this and that, but you’re the only one who offered to help in any
concrete way.”
She
blinked at that revelation. “And me all the way over here on the other side of
the planet. That’s a damn shame.”
“It
certainly is. Thank you. I’ll message you once I’ve made the travel
arrangements.” He smiled more firmly before palming the vidphone off.
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