Victor remembered how much the spot had impressed him on his first morning on Arc-Royal. Over the years the Kell Hounds had managed to bring back specimens of the various plants native to the many worlds where they had served. Little greenhouses dotted the large compound, providing the appropriate atmosphere for flora from planets entirely dissimilar to temperate Arc-Royal. The rainbow display had been impressive enough by day, but the perfume of night-blooming flowers more than made up for what it lacked in color by night.

A sparkling riot of stars filled the black sky overhead. The Milky Way slashed across the sky, north to south. Victor tried in vain to spot a constellation he recognized and could point out to Omi, but he saw none.

Looking back toward her, he saw her shiver. "Are you cold?" He deftly unknotted the sash of his robe and had it half off even before she shook her head. "Are you sure?"

"Quite, Victor." She looked around and then smiled. "I was just remembering the last time we were alone, at night, in a garden like this."

"Outreach, four years ago."

"You and Hohiro were heading off to fight the Clans. I thought I would never see you again. There was so much uncertainty and fear then." She smiled at him. "And fear now."

"Fear?" He looked at her and tried to read her shadowed expression. "What do you have to fear?"

"I fear that I may succumb to my desires and ask you to guide me all the way to my chambers this evening."

Victor's guts twisted in on themselves. Knowing she felt as he did made his spirits spike up through the top of his skull, but then they crashed down as her caution and implied warning came through to him. For the two of them to be together would be utterly wrong and hopelessly irresponsible. It could literally fracture the trust between the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine. That, in turn, could open the way for the Clans to successfully crush the Inner Sphere. What would be a passionate lark for any other two people became, for them, the overture to the downfall of civilization.

You are being overly dramatic, Victor. Not everything leads toGotterdammerung. He shook his head as he realized she was asking him to be strong, and yet, at the same time, she was willing to abide by his decision. His heart ached as his personal desire crashed headlong into his sense of responsibility.

"You know there is nothing in this life I would rather do." Victor, what are you saying? No one need ever know!As part of him screamed at him to stop, the easing of Omi's shoulders told him he was right. "In a garden just like this, four years ago, we asked each other if we were falling in love. We talked of the problems of such a union. While our answers from that time may have changed—mine has, in any event—the problems have not."

She reached out and caressed the right side of his face with the back of her right hand. "There is a legend of a place, a Utopia, in which one person is kept in squalid and torturous conditions so that all the others may live lives of peace and plenty. There are times I have wondered, since my answer to our question changed, whether the universe does not require such anguish to keep it viable."

"And there are times when even the destruction of the universe would seem a worthy price for a moment of ecstasy." Victor reached up and gently pulled her head down toward his. He kissed her lightly on the lips, and then again. She returned his kiss a third time and then a fourth.

Victor's left hand knotted into a fist and he pulled back. "Too close, too fast." He took in huge lungfulls of the night air through his nose, hoping the flower scents would supplant Omi's jasmine perfume. "You and your family trust me far more than you should."

"The Combine owes you the life of the Dragon's heir. If they can trust you with that, they believe they can trust you with my honor." Omi turned away from him. "They are shrewd judges of men. They knew you would be stronger than me."

"Do not rebuke yourself, Omiko." Victor shook his head. "Tonight it was my turn to be strong. I think you will yet have your chance before we leave this world."

"And if I fail?"

"Then the universe can find someone else to make miserable for one night."

10

Arc-Royal

Federated Commonwealth

16 April 3055

As Omi moved off into the darkness, Phelan cleared his throat. "There are times that love seems to bring as much pain as it does pleasure."

Victor whirled on him, his left foot spraying out a fan of crushed white stones as it came down. "How long have you been standing there?" he demanded. Shadows hid the Prince's face, but the anger in his words was loud and clear.

"I only just came to find you. I heard nor saw anything that you would consider a confidence. Moreover, if I had, I would never use it against you."

"Wouldn't you?" Victor folded his arms across his chest. "You're the one who said we of the Inner Sphere were afraid of what you would do to us when the Clans came at us again. Wouldn't you use privileged information against me if we were to face each other in a bidding war?"

"I cannot figure out what you want me to answer, Victor." Phelan ticked the alternatives off on his fingers. "I could say that you are, of course, correct, but that would only confirm the image you cling to so tightly of Clanners being shallow, single-minded death machines. I could tell you that I would not use the information because you are my cousin and I value our blood ties, but you'd laugh yourself silly with that one. Or, as I already have, I could tell you I saw nothing and will have nothing to report if Iam called upon to give a report."

"You have superior officers, Phelan. You willgive a report."

"I am a Khan,Victor. I do what I want. If the ilKhan were to demand a report and I withheld information, no one would know." Phelan held his hands up. "Wait, wait, this is getting out of hand. I didn't come out here to argue with you."

The Prince's head came up. "Then why did you come?"

"To give you a warning."

"It must be an important one if you managed to free yourself from my sister's web." The sardonic note in Victor's voice told Phelan that the Prince was beginning to question why he had let Omi walk off.

"I am like you in that. Because she is a cousin, the incest taboo renders me somewhat immune to her charms. I also seem to remember her at your grandmother's funeral, when she dyed her hair to appear more adult."

Victor's silhouette hunched over as he laughed. "Yes, she went for red hair, like Natasha Kerensky, but ended up with orange. She did look funny."

"And she turned it to her advantage. She turns all disadvantages to advantages. She is very good." Phelan sat down on a concrete and tile bench, and the chill in the tile worked its way straight through his clothes. "I think, if she were a Wolf, I would have her shot."

"If that is your warning, forget it." Victor combed his hair into place with the fingers of one hand. "The death of Romano Liao will be the last regicide in the Inner Sphere if I have anything to say about it."

"Good. I agree." Phelan rested his hands on the bench and leaned back. "That was not my warning, however. I had been wondering why Captain Moran was going after you so hard back at the party. After you walked away, but before you left with the Coordinator's daughter, Michelle caught sight of you. Her face closed snap-shut."