Chapter 61

Mica spoke to a man on the other side of the door and then turned back when Dusty spoke again.

“Mica, we are also peckish, a mixture of seafood and salads should do,” she told him and then sauntered back to James’ side and let him wrap his arm back around her as she cuddled up to him.

Mica turned to relay this order and then closed the door. He turned to look at the couple.

James smiled at Dusty indulgently and softly kissed her forehead. He then gave Mica a smile that seemed to surprise the man.

“Wizards have shorter pregnancies than normal humans, so they need to eat a lot. Please be aware that my lovely wife is quite powerful, and it is not wise for a man to cross her.”

“And yes, Mica, I do remember you well since you are married to one of my half-sisters. Although it has been many years since the wedding that I nearly got chucked out of when I kissed the groom in too friendly a manner. I’m surprised to see you here; how did my father get you and Susa to leave Tehran?”

Mica chuckled, “Lots of money and half ownership of this hotel.”

“And Susa, is she well?” James asked and gestured to the seats for them to settle in for the wait.

Dusty prowled over to the fruit bowl to inspect its contents and pick; she really was hungry.

“Yes, very well. She has given me a son at last. He is nearly three, and he is strong and healthy,” he said with pride as he took the offered chair.

He wasn’t going anywhere. He hoped to see that upstart Hiram get his comeuppance, and he was family, after all.

“Good, please be aware I did sustain a head injury when my pod crashed. I remember some things and not others. Donia has told me that it would improve as time goes on. The magical vambrace I now wear has also been helping me,” James informed Mica.

James showed him when Mica’s confused look indicated that he didn’t seem to know about vambraces. James explained where he found it. He then pulled out a bag of coins from his coat pocket and handed them to Mica.

He was dressed in a suit, but it didn’t take a genius to realise that his suit was not cut the same as the modern business suits, and the gold braiding and buttons were more of a military style.

Dusty had thought he was devilishly handsome in the white and gold suit. James was just as happy it was stain proof as white wasn’t his favourite colour because every spot showed on the cloth.

He did have as hard a time keeping his eyes off Dusty as Mica did. The flowing pale green dress she wore did cover everything, but it didn’t hide her magnificent figure very well.

Both men were well aware of where she was in the suite.

James didn’t have to prompt Mica to tell him what had been going on.

Mica just decided to give him the broad picture; not sure what James knew since he hadn’t been around for the better part of three and a half years. Fiaz had not even hinted that his son was still alive.

Mica asked James what he knew about their claim on Terra. James just told Mica to tell him what he knew, as if he knew nothing. So, Mica did. The first thing that James and Dusty learnt was that one of Fiaz’s ships had been one of the first ships to make it to Terra.

Fiaz had claimed one of the smaller continents in the south. This had surprised many. Fiaz had made sure he had a team of geologists and scientists on the ship he sent.

The continent was about the size of Greenland. It had several island nations around it but had what was considered a good distance of sea between it and the nearest continents. It had a similar jagged coastline, many mountain ranges and several long spears of land, giving it more arable areas than desert.

The other reasons they picked it was its mineral wealth and that it would be easy to divide it up between the twelve nations in the Federation. Fiaz’s people had declared ownership of an area on the east coast as his Kingdom.

They were delighted when the borders showed up on the map, declaring it was a country called the Kingdom of Merat on the continent of Persia. They had picked a large deep-water bay with two long flat headlands and a backing mountain range for the capital.

They named the town Cyrus, as Fiaz had instructed them. The settlement ships that had been two weeks behind them turned up, and they let the builders, architects and engineers loosen the planet.

A lot more people had turned up in Persia since and claimed their piece of the pie, but Fiaz had a distinct head start and the advantage. His people already had the centre of their city planned out and being built.

They had roads and market areas set up even if all of their accommodation for the first five months were prefab homes and tents. Most of these were now gone, and modest homes were in their place. They had piped water, a sewage plant and power.

Fiaz didn’t hold back on the money and sent the machinery and components required to get more permanent structures built. He had been planning to go to Harmony but knew he would have to do it by subversive means, as the nations that shared his group, according to Lee, couldn’t agree with her charter.

Just as many of those people didn’t wish to believe in magic or magical people. Fiaz, for all his despotic ways, was a believer. Hasid made sure of that when he used his magic to convince his father that he was untouchable when he came home from America.

When Fiaz heard about Terra, he knew this was the better option for him and the Federation. He recalled many of his freight ships from the other off-world settlements except for Mars. They were then loaded up with people and freight to go to Cyrus.

The five-passenger ships he had built to ship people to Harmony were sent to a meeting point in space and soon loaded with the people he had already selected to go off-world.

He sent miners, builders, farmers and workers. He sold plots of land and mining rights to other companies and people while he concentrated on getting his commerce centre up and running.