Page 66 of Iron Unicorn

Princess Melody of Maine raised a brow and said, “Anything else, Terry?”

“A stay of execution for failure to go to the gym more than twice?”

“Considering you were keeping Olivia emotionally sound, it’s safe to say you were handling more important business. I would like you to be doing thirty minutes a day in a gym or heavy physical activity. Horseback riding counts for this, but I’d rather you be in the saddle for more than two hours at a time if you’re using riding as your chosen form of exercise. Daphne?”

“I’ll make sure the RPS knows he’s to be putting in two hard hours of horseback riding.”

“I like how you specified the type of riding,” Melody replied, and she grinned.

If I made any comment at all, the women would gang up on me. Depending on their mood, they might give me explicit instructions on what they thought I should be doing. “Will gave me a credit card and instructions to use it to acquire books and other items for Olivia. Can we skip the exam and resume this in a week? I know I’m fatigued, I know I’m suffering from talent exertion, and I’ll take care to watch for symptoms. I just don’t want a five hour examination.”

Maine’s princess came over, leaned down, and considered me through narrowed eyes before pressing the back of her hand to my forehead. “All right. You are fatigued, and I agree with your diagnosis of talent exertion. I have a leaking empathy suppressor with me, and I want you to wear it during waking hours. Take it off at night. You’ll want to monitor Olivia for symptoms. While the suppressor leaks enough to be suitable for Royal empathy talents, we might need to put one on Olivia as well. It depends on how much effort she puts into trying to bust through yours.”

“Perhaps you should give me two if you have two.”

“Sure, I can do that. I trust your judgment when it comes to monitoring empaths. We can work on your side of the empathy bond later. I expect your end of the bond will open up after Olivia fully acknowledges that it exists. You’re probably instinctively blocking it to keep from being overwhelmed, which is fine. I’ll get a trainer to help you control your level of blocking so you can receive more through your end of the bond. Your ability to block is not a bad thing, especially in your situation.”

“I’ll do any training you think is necessary.”

“If only everybody was willing to accept they could learn something new.” Melody heaved a sigh, lowered her hand from my forehead, and leaned close to drop a kiss on my brow. “You need more general affection. You empath types live for affection, and you’re getting a lot less of it than you’re accustomed to.”

Right. In New York, part of my job was to help comfort the New York royals, all of whom suffered from serious levels of trauma. I spent a hefty amount of time teaching half of them how to handle receiving affection. My queen viewed hugs as the ultimate source of comfort, and her support animals likewise needed support.

I tended to be the one to catch on to the needs of everyone in the palace.

Even the aides needed help, and I made certain there were empaths on duty at all times.

“I’ll impose on Eddie,” I promised, betting the young man needed general affection as much as I did.

“I’m sure he will not view it as an imposition. That man is just like his father. I really need to lure him away for a few days to get him a talent evaluation. I don’t think his is right.”

“I think everyone knows his isn’t quite right, and I’m betting his father is to blame for it.”

Melody laughed, smoothed my hair to her liking, and nodded. “I’m sure Pat is responsible in some fashion, but I haven’t figured out how. It’s his empathy talent, for certain, but I’m not surehowhis talent is working. But he’s definitely been meddling with people.”

“Infectious empathy,” I stated, wondering how the talent had taken root in my queen—and might also be modifying my empathy due to extended exposure to her. “And it’s possible my talent has been mutated as well.”

“I’d almost count on it. Pat likes Rachel, and you’re the one responsible for Rachel. Add in that Pat adores Olivia? Yeah, you’ve probably been meddled with, too. I’m going to go ahead and have you and Olivia registered as a Royal empathy pair. The symptoms are definitely present.”

A chill seeped into my chest, as it was one thing to have an empathy talent and another to have a lethal empathy talent. “Which symptoms?”

“That’s why we took so long with Olivia’s appointment. We were reviewing her empathy symptoms. Yours are fairly obvious. The Iron Beast comes out when Olivia is upset. Your comfort with sharing a suite is another symptom. Your current exertion is expected as well. I’ve been surprised by your general acceptance of the situation. Right now, we’re dancing around the subject with her. We were expecting her to be the aggressor in addressing the bonding situation, but I feel the operation scrambled things somewhat. You’re doing what she needs for stability, and you’re having a great time because what she needs plays well with bonded pairs. We’re debating how best to broach the subject with her. I don’t think dropping hints will work, not with the complications from her surgery overriding most everything else.”

The way I saw it, there was nothing for me to be ashamed of. “If she needs time, she needs time. From my understanding of it, she has waited for me. It’s absolutely fair that I wait for her. It’s not like we’re losing anything. I cherish her friendship and always have. And will. For me, nothing changes.”

“Beyond the addition of some additional benefits and possible children. If childrenareon your agenda, you shouldn’t have many problems on that front. While older, she’s upholding the family legacy of staying fertile significantly longer than most women. You may wish to take steps to prevent a herd should a herd not be wanted.”

“I’ll worry about that later.”

“That’s how you end up with the first kid in a hurry,” Daphne warned me.

I looked my friend in the eyes and replied, in my driest tone, “How tragic.”

Melody snickered. “All right. Here’s what you need to know, Terry. She’s physically healthy, although she could use a little more exercise. Her weight is good, although I want to keep an eye on her salt intake. Her blood pressure could become a problem in a few years. Her cholesterol is decent but something to keep an eye on. You’re going to need more physical therapy than you’ll appreciate, but you’re recovering nicely. Pneumonia is no longer a risk, and you emerged from your bout of hypothermia without complication. Daphne, do inform the RPS if they push their luck with Terry again this visit, I absolutely will be inserting my foot so far up their asses that they’ll need my shoe surgically removed.”

“Noted,” Daphne replied, and she saluted the doctor. “We’ll make sure we take better care of Terry.”

Protesting would lead to an argument I would rather avoid. Rather than start a fuss, I said, “Melody, if you can keep an eye on Olivia and her brother, I’ll go run errands.”

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