Elizabeth Raines by Their Princess

they’d spent apart and the light-years they’d put between themselves hadn’t dimmed their connection one bit.
    That made him smile even broader as he followed Jake outside.
    They stopped at the old cistern pump and washed their hands in the urn that held the overflow.
    “You got me out here,” Luka said. “So tell me what you couldn’t say in front of Syla.”
    “Do you like her, Luka?”
    “I’d think that little show in the barn would answer that question.”
    “Oh, come off it. You’re a man, and there isn’t a single one of us that will turn down a blow job or a good, hot fuck.”
    Hearing Jake describe what had passed between them in such harsh terms bothered him. A lot. What Syla had gifted him with had been special, something much more than a mere blow job. “It wasn’t just a blow job.”
    “So you do like her.”
    “What’s not to like? She’s kind. She’s beautiful. She obviously loves you. What I don’t understand is where you want me to fit into this little scenario. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I just don’t see the two of you settling down out here in Montana with me.”
    “Syla wants to go back to Trilan.”
    “Already?”
    Jake shook his head. “One day, but not yet. I brought her here to keep her safe. Betinsa and I felt it was the only way.”
    Luka sat down on the back porch and leveled a hard stare at Jake that he hoped made the man he loved realize he needed to tell the whole truth now. “What happened?”
    “Thama—Syla’s stepmother—accused her of treason. If I hadn’t smuggled her out of there, Thama would have had Syla thrown in the castle’s dungeons and ordered her execution.”
    “Castle? Dungeons? God, you make it sound like everyone on Trilan lives in the nineteenth century.”
    “More like eighteenth,” Jake retorted. “They modeled some of their civilization after Earth’s history. It’s why they accept humans so easily. We share enough DNA that we had to have come from the same ancestors.”
    “That’s interesting… How in the hell did human DNA get to Trilan?”
    Jake shrugged. “I’m not a biologist or a geneticist, so beats the shit outta me. I’m sure someone’s making a shuttle full of money exploring it, though.”
    “Why doesn’t her father put a stop to all this? Why isn’t he protecting Syla?”
    “The old man’s nothing but a puppet now.”
    “Old? How can he be old? Syla’s only what…twenty-three, twenty-four?”
    “She’s twenty-six, but her father’s sixty-eight.”
    Luka let out a low whistle. “I assume her mother was much younger than her father.”
    “Yeah. It was kinda romantic. He used to say he searched his whole life for the right woman. Took them a few years to have Syla, and they never had any more children. She’s the next in line to the throne.”
    “Until the king married Thama, right?”
    Jake nodded. “She hates Syla, and she wants the king to change the line of succession so her son is heir apparent.”
    “If they modeled the monarchy after Earth dynasties, that can’t happen. If I remember my history correctly, you had to be of royal blood to take the throne.”
    “Thama has her own agenda. To hell with tradition.” Jake sat down next to him. Dropping his elbows to his knees, Jake rested his head in his hands. “So frustrating. Thama had an arrest warrant issued on some trumped-up charge of treason. If I hadn’t gotten Syla out of there, she would probably already be dead. All I want to do is help her, but there’s not a damn thing I can do. I can’t get to her father to explain. No one can. I honestly don’t even think the old man would listen if I could.”
    Luka wrapped his arm around Jake’s shoulder. “He believes Thama?”
    “She’s got him dangling from strings like some puppet. I don’t know if Syla could even get through to him now. She sure doesn’t think so.”
    “Then I have a solution,” Luka offered. “Stay here. You and Syla stay in Montana. Let her heal mentally and