The Star Princess by Susan Grant Read Free Book Online Page A

mouth twitched, telling Ché that his cynicism and biting wit had survived his captivity.
    Ché rubbed his chin. "Then the wedding scheme is truly the doing of an concerned Vedla council. I suppose I should feel relieved. Grateful. Our family cannot afford another scandal. Our father no doubt feels the same."
    "But you said Father didn't tell you of the plans himself."
    "Correct." Ché glanced at Hoe. "He let Toren do the dirty work for him." Then he shrugged. "Perhaps he feared that his feelings for me as a son would interfere with the necessary politics." While his father was often distant and distracted, Ché and the rest of his siblings— a brother and two sisters— had never doubted the man's love.
    A servant glided in with a plate of tock and sweet cakes, a bowl of boiled eggs, and a tray of paper-thin strips of crunchy smoked sea serpent. When the food was dispensed, Ché draped his arm over one bended knee and watched his brother eat. "I'm going to take myself a holiday, Klark," he said after a moment.
    "A holiday, eh?" Klark nibbled on a strip of fried serpent. "A bachelor's last hurrah?"
    Ché grinned. "You might say that."
    "My lord," Hoe interrupted. "I was not advised of this, er, vacation."
    "I have just now decided upon it."
    The picture of efficiency, Hoe took out his palmtop. His hand hovered over the screen. "When and where are we to go?"
    "Not we. I will travel alone. Nothing personal, mind you," Ché added.
    "As you wish." Hoe typed furiously. "I will organize a small security detail. No more than six or seven for bodyguards and general security. Then, your personal chef and valet will accompany you— "
    "No staff. No guards. No one from the palace. I wish to travel alone in anonymous fashion. An entourage will only call attention to my identity."
    Hoe's dismay was obvious. "It will never be approved."
    Ché lifted a brow. "Approved by whom, Hoe?"
    Ché himself approved all palace comings and goings, but Hoe was undeterred. "Leave the entourage at the palace, but take the bodyguards. Traveling without protection simply isn't safe."
    "I am trained in the deadliest form of unarmed combat in the galaxy," Ché replied coolly. "I can well handle myself without a legion of babysitters."
    Seeking support, Hoe turned to Klark, who in turn studied Ché, his expression reflecting not disapproval but concern. Ché knew his brother would do anything for him, die in his place if it came to that. "Have you decided on a destination?" Klark asked.
    "Yes, yes," Hoe piped up. "Where?"
    Ché took a breath. "Earth."
    "Earth! " Hoe practically shouted, and Klark's tock cup hit his saucer with a crisp clink. "Does the king know of this?"
    Ché shook his head. "No. No one knows but the two of you. Tell no one, either, please. Otherwise too much will be read into my visit there when all I desire is an escape. It is a place where I can exist anonymously and in relative comfort until my wife is chosen and a wedding date set."
    Though Ché had delivered his explanation calmly, and it was one that clearly made sense, Hoe's mouth hung open and his hand remained frozen over his palmtop screen. Ché couldn't remember ever seeing his advisor in such a state of shock.
    But Klark's eyes twinkled, and his tone reflected amusement. "I can't imagine you living amongst those barbarians, Brother."
    "Given the choice of hiding in the frontier or staying here to endure the tedious trivialities generated by the search for a wife, which would you choose?"
    Klark's mouth twitched. "I see your point."
    But Hoe was still sputtering. "It's dangerous on Earth. Unstable."
    Ché stretched, flexing the finely honed muscles of his back. He worked hard to keep a fit, warrior's body. Too bad his lifelong advisor thought him incapable of using it. "The political climate there has calmed considerably since Ian Hamilton's engage ment to the princess."
    "But many Earth-dwellers don't like the idea of belonging to the Trade Federation."
    "And some never will,