UNWANTED

CHAPTER 22 - M27.3.4 - ILYAAS

Kyrgyztan had the cold of Lesya and the heat of Morocco. I could feel by skin burn as it froze. The sun bore down on us as the empress spoke of green energy, a great talking point for the political climate of the country, but a horrible talking point for those who had less than ten hours of sleep.

The Kyrgyz people were kind and traditional. Out of the two, Lesya only had one down. Although she was kind in the bluntest of ways, she was never much for convention... apparent in her proposals to me.

I shook my head at myself. These thoughts were not for this moment. I had to keep my eyes open, I had to keep them on the guards around me, the people inside our perimeter.

I had to memorize each exit, and the exit we would take if someone were to try something. I had to know what was behind of the curtain-less windows of the buildings surrounding the courtyard. I had to know each intonation, each rise and fall of her voice to know if she needed something, if she needed to leave.

And I had to know who was close enough to kill her. That thought raised the hair on my nape.

There were the thirty, front and second row, with Tino beaming with pride. Theo was there as well, caked with makeup from the bruises he still had. The whole lot was a good bunch, a nice pool of possible kings. Though, I knew some of them were already out of the running.

Nevertheless, they were not threats.

Except for Guinto. He was clean - too clean for someone like himself.

As I checked everything from my mental list, my eyes caught something my mind did not process soon enough. I looked at the blond woman standing right below Lesya. Aside from her vow to do no harm, I had no guarantee she wouldn't kill the empress. But I couldn't think that either. The Pentagon breaks if there is no trust.

But my eyes rolled down her body and saw distinctively how her clothes were looser than usual.

Weapon?

"Ji Su." I said under my breath over the direct comm I had to the eyes of the operation. "She-"

"It's nothing." She quipped. I could almost hear her roll her eyes at me.

But it wasn't nothing.

I found my way to her, Lesya stuttering a little as she saw me move closer to the podium. I locked eyes with her tyrian orbs and reassured her with a look. Everything is fine. I said through them. Lesya knew that was a lie.

She went on, however, as I placed my hand on the woman's back. "Time to switch." I told the guard, keeping my hand behind her, feeling for a gun with the slightest touch.

She nodded.

Natasha turned her back and bowed to the empress above her, and in that second before I pulled my arm back, where I felt her torso against my forearm, I realized she was pregnant.

×+×

In the late afternoon, the sun was still beaming down at the fields of the mighty tower called the Burana. We were taken there by the new president for an afternoon of games and food and dancing.

I sat beside Lesya as she ate the Kyrgyz food she found appetizing; carcasses and liver sausages.

"For your health, soldier!" She said as she tried shoving a lamb's eyeball into my mouth. What was she doing? Just this morning, she was somber, quiet and insecure. Now she was a ball of sunshine... well except her eyes.

I looked at her like she grew a second head. She placed the eyeball back to her setting and leaned in. I gave her my left ear. "If you eat this, I will personally make sure you have front-row seats to the Lesyan fashion show of your choosing."