Page 22 of The Emperor's Concubine

“But you can’t do that!” Nola protested and then, remembering herself, she bowed her head. “Please forgive my rash tongue, Sire, but I was only following Tuk’s orders. The child came with your newest concubine. This is her daughter,” the woman confessed.

His suspicions were confirmed and confusion seeped in. Why would Tuk and Darus bring a child back with them? That certainly wasn’t protocol. But what bothered him the most was that Calliope hadn’t mentioned her daughter.

Hurt rose within his breast. He looked down again at the little girl whose resemblance to her mother was uncanny.

“I want Mama,” she said again.

“Nola, what has the child been doing all this time?”

Not raising her bowed head, the servant woman answered, “Mainly she stays with me while I do my duties. She’s a good girl.”

“Hmm. Take her with you and make sure that some toys are purchased for her at market. I believe little girls like dolls.”

“Yes, Sire. Of course. Come along, London, and I’ll see if cook will fix you a nice treat.” She took the child by the hand and led her off.

He couldn’t get to Calliope or Tuk fast enough for one of them to explain what this was all about. How dare they keep this from him?

When he burst into the harem’s chambers, several of the women who’d been lying around stood up immediately and ranover to him, but he only had eyes for the woman sitting by the window looking out of it so longingly.

“Greetings, Sire. What honor you bestow on us to visit in the middle of the day like this,” Vesta, one of his concubines, cooed.

“Where’s Tuk?” he demanded.

“She’s gone to see to things for tonight’s dinner, but she said she’d return shortly,” another concubine answered.

His eyes never left Calliope who had turned her head to see him. She looked faintly surprised and rose from her spot. Not waiting for her to walk to him, he went to her. “I wish to have a word with you… in private. Come with me. Ladies, you will inform Tuk where Calliope is I’m sure,” he said ignoring the looks of disappointment on his other concubines’ faces.

He grasped Calliope by the elbow and led her out of the room.

“They already hate me. Now they’ll hate me even more,” she said solemnly.

Blaze paused for a moment but continued on. He probably shouldn’t have singled her out in front of the other women like that, but dammit, he’d been so eager to see her, and now he wanted answers. Needed answers.

He led her out to the mechanical garden.

“This is nice. I think it’s the first time I’ve actually been outside since I’ve been here,” she sighed, then took a whiff of air. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen flowers quite like this before.”

Blaze motioned for her to sit on a long stone bench. “During the chemical war, most of the vegetation on this planet was wiped out. Almost everything that grows now is by machine. Some of the crops and flowers are new creations. They’re nice, but I miss the real thing.”

“I can imagine. Why did you bring me out here?”

“I believe I should be the one asking questions, Calliope. And what I’d like to know is why am I just finding out that you have a child?”

A stricken expression crossed her face, eyes widening with what looked like fear. “What would it have mattered? I do all that you ask me to do.”

“No, you don’t. You give me that delectable body of yours, but that’s it. You close yourself off to me, never sharing any other part of yourself.”

Calliope looked away, eyes downcast. “I didn’t realize it was a requirement. What do you think I should do?”

“I don’t want you to hold anything back from me.”

“Whatever it is you want from me, I’ll give it to you, just please don’t send her away. She’s all I have left. It wasn’t Tuk and Darus’s fault either. I refused to leave Adlene without her.”

Blaze sighed. It was obvious that Calliope dearly loved her daughter, but something just didn’t make sense. He’d tried to get her to open up to him on many occasions. There were times after they fucked when he’d hold her in his arms and ask her things about herself, but his questions were usually met with one word responses or something that didn’t have much to do with the subject.

“Do you think I’m such a monster that I would send her away when she obviously means so much to you? I’m not a bad person. I only wish you would have told me about her. There has been ample opportunity for you to do so.”

“I believe you made it quite clear from the first time we screwed that you didn’t want to know about my life on Earth. So why should I share anything with you just to be shot down?”

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