Nubian Sun: A Royal Wedding — L.P. Johnson

He saw her for the first time while taking part in his own Coronation, among the warriors who had been selected to begin training for the Royal Palace Guard. From that moment forth it made no difference that by rights, she should have no inkling of his existence, nor that he could not allow even a hint of his interest in Nubia's well protected Princess to be shown, for doing so could bring his execution- Devaleh Knaye was in love. She has noted nonetheless, and after sensing his watchful scrutiny whenever she happens into his sphere of attention, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Their first meeting, to her surprise, leads to her first kiss. Her lifelong Keeper -Kusta -is fervently opposed to her allowance of the attentions of this commoner. Yet his concerns are boldly cast aside for the following year, and her time spent in his company is the setting for future events which will change Nubian History...and, change her life. When the Great War begins, each promises that their love will hold in spite of any circumstance...she even determines to tell her father the truth and seek his approval. Unfortunately the Fates have something different in mind. The King is felled by an arrow and the infection which follows. Devaleh meanwhile is captured and stolen away into slavery. To cope with the utter heartbreak, she employs the use of her innate Psi ability to close off the entire episode from her conscious memory, and although this is for the better part effective, it as well leaves her with a sense of longing which she is unable to account for. And then, he returns, ten years later... Drawn into the forest by his arrival into her focus...shaken to edge with the meeting of his gaze...Knowing. That kiss; sweet, tender, strong, stirring, and more. Kusta is no more pleased to see him than he was to stand aside as the two fell in love the first time, yet Tyelah is ever the less willing to be told what she is allowed to do, now that she is Queen. She discovers that neither those traditions, protocols, nor her own devises have altered her love for him...and is determined that she will not allow anything to keep her from his arms now that his own promise to affect that return, come what may, has now been kept. It is all the convincing she requires. Oddly enough however, she finds that he is not quite the 'boy' who went away so long ago... Devaleh is now very much a man, with his own mind...and, his own intents -for the Union he desires with her, and for the Rulership he expects to share with her. He is also a man with a past which is rapidly catching up, from the Banquet which brings one former lover to their very supper table before they are Wed -a woman who is not quite so prepared to meekly stand aside as he goes on to wed her cousin -to a few other secrets he has not deigned to share with her -until he is caught at them, after their Union. One will nearly destroy them. Another may get him killed. The possibility of peace he seeks so diligently to institute throughout the region seems to be unraveling at a startling pace and, despite the victory against an inner-war, events continue to spiral outwardly...from an act meant to display alliance...until The Royals and those closest to them are pressed to their utter limits to remain friends -and Allies. With the birth of his children and the arrival of the new Prince of Ronia, matters settle some little bit -for a while. Yet all who are wise have learned by now that one never allows their 'guard' down, here In The Land Of Nubia...