And Max felt Liz flinch next to him. He gripped her hand tighter as James stepped between them and the oncoming Tess. Without even looking at Max, James took Tess’ arm firmly and steered her to the back of the little Antarian group. To say Max was relieved was an understatement. There was no way he wanted to have this confrontation in public and James had handled it perfectly. He had made Tess a part of their group without having her too close to Max and Liz.

Furiously tugging to get her arm out of James’ grip, Tess was fuming. "Get your hands—"

"Nice to see you again, Tess," Michael took up position on her other side. "If you promise not to make a scene, we promise not to hurt and humiliate you in public."

He had to fight to keep himself from glancing backwards to see what was going on with Tess, but Max knew he shouldn’t acknowledge her in any way right now as it would only add to the spectacle. So instead, he took a deep breath, pulled Liz closer to him, whispered "my Shani" in her ear, and continued walking towards the Dendar Royal group.

Liz wanted to die. If it weren’t for Max’s arm around her waist, she would’ve run away by now. Tess had managed to make her feel like the "other woman" in Max’s life. The one that stole him from his legitimate wife. She didn’t even want to know what the people of Dendar thought about her already! Then she heard him call her "my Shani", my love, and she realized that the only opinion she cared about was his. Max Evans. Her husband three times over. So she straightened her shoulders and lifted her head proudly. She may not be seen as the true Queen of Antar, but she was the true love of the King of Antar.

The King of Dendar was exceedingly polite to them both, welcoming them to his planet and expressing the wish that Max’s presence would have a positive impact on the peace talks. He also "cordially invited" them to a function in their honor that would be held the following evening.

After saying a few words of thanks, Max motioned his group out of there. He needed to be alone with Liz. And he needed to sort out Tess.

Their suite in the Dendar palace was mansion-like. And the silence that thundered between the members of the group was overwhelming as they waited in the entrance hall for Nick and his men to finish their inspection of the place. Tess had started saying something, but Michael had slapped his hand over her mouth and kept her in pinned to his side. However, he could not stop the glares she was throwing at Max and Liz.

Max had turned his back on his former bride and pulled Liz into his arms so she could rest her head on his chest. He rubbed his hands over her back soothingly. He could feel how tired she was and he just wanted to get her to their room so she could take a nap.

Shilla was stunned yet again. She stood to the side, waiting for instructions and trying to understand the obviously strained atmosphere. She had been amazed when the "fake Queen", as she has started referring to Tess, threw herself at Max during the reception. As far as she understood, Tess had not been bonded with Max, so what was she doing acting like he was hers? Shilla could just imagine how poor Liz was feeling. But at least it looked like Max was aware of that and trying to help her.

"Everything is fine," Nick announced from the top of the staircase and Max turned to Michael.

"Wait here with her, please." He took Liz and Maria upstairs. The rooms that were supposed to be his and Liz’s were magnificent. It consisted of two bedrooms and bathroom and an "informal living area". Max halted in the door of the one bedroom, feeling that dull ache he had learned to associate with the resurfacing of his old memories suddenly pressing down on his temples. He grabbed for something to hold onto, and found only Liz.

Staggering under his unexpected weight, Liz managed to push him against the wall to hold him upright. "Max!" she cried.

"No," he sounded weak. "Get me out of here," his voice got a little stronger. "Please, Liz."

They stumbled out of the room and into the other bedroom, Max started feeling better immediately.

"What did you see?" Liz asked him anxiously when he was seated on the side of the bed.

Max was still taking deep breaths in an attempt to get himself to calm down. "Uh… nothing specific. I just had… this feeling. This awful feeling." He had felt dread and despair while going into that room. And he had seen a brief flash of Tess, grinning up at him seductively. He was betraying someone. His Shani.

"So we’ll just stay in this room then," Liz said firmly. She had a feeling he wasn’t telling her everything, but right now, she didn’t want to know. Because whatever he wasn’t telling was bound to be about Tess.

Pulling Liz onto his lap, he nearly crushed her in a hug. "I have to go talk to her. I have to get her out of our lives for good." He brushed her hair behind her ear. "Why don’t you take a nap until I get back?"

They kissed softly, longingly, lovingly. "I’ll be back," Max whispered as he rested his forehead against hers. "I love you."

"I love you too."

He found Michael downstairs, glaring at Tess who was obviously trying to mind-warp the people in the hall. "Stop that, Tess." His voice was hard and uncompromising.

She whirled towards him. "So Max Evans, King of Antar returns from the dead. Imagine my surprise to see my beloved DEAD husband!"

Max just got more angry at her sarcasm. "I was never you husband in this life, so just give it up. What do you want?"

She sauntered over to him. "Why King Max, I want to be Queen. How many times must I tell you this?"

"That’s not going to hap—"

"I’m not asking you to give up little Lizzie Parker—"

"It’s Liz EVANS now," he broke into her chattering, seeing her falter with satisfaction.

She recovered quickly. "Whatever. You can keep her as your mistress, just let me have the title."

"That is never going to happen and you know it. I will never degrade Liz like that. She is my wife, my mate and my Queen and you better accept it or I WILL announce your scam to the planet."

"Don’t threaten me, Max Evans. I know things about this war that you don’t. You are going to be in way over your head. And you wouldn’t want something to happen to your precious Liz while you are off fighting a war, now would you? You should have just left her at home."

Max started towards her, but was stopped by Michael’s hand on his arm. "So help me, Tess, if anything happens to Liz, I’m coming after you." His voice was quiet, deadly.

"You are so out of your league here. Think about my offer, I want an answer before the celebration tomorrow night."

"You HAVE my answer. It’s NO."

"Then I will just have to make sure that my position is clear during the party," she announced smugly and flounced out the door.

Max was furious. He couldn’t remember ever being this angry in his life. "James…"

"I’m on it," James answered promptly and left to follow Tess.

"What are you going to do, Maxwell?"

"I’m going to make sure she doesn’t attend that party tomorrow night, that’s what."

Michael nodded, he didn’t really know what to say to his friend.

"Michael, have you maybe… started remembering stuff from our life on Antar? Or of being here on Dendar before?"

"No." Michael was looking at him strangely. "Why?"

"I keep getting these-these flashes that I can’t make sense of. Nick can’t help me either. He only told me that I definitely WAS married to Tess and that it was arranged. And that I was miserable."

"So what… are you getting flashes of you and Tess?"

"Only two. The rest are… about Liz."

"What? Maxwell, that’s impossible. Maybe you just have her on the brain—"

"No Michael. I see her wearing these Antar Royal clothes. And I kept calling her ‘Shani’ during these flashes."

"Ooh, calling her someone else’s name is NOT fine."

"It means ‘Beloved’ in Antarian." Max could see that Michael was completely floored.

"Whoa."

"Yeah," Max sighed. "It’s driving me crazy. I don’t know what to tell Liz. I don’t know what the hell happened while I was married to Tess. I don’t know if I knew Liz when we lived on Antar…" He thrust his hands through his hair in frustration.

Michael watched him pace in silence. "Yeah, I was wanting to ask you something too." Why did Michael sound so tentative? "I-I uh… I want to get bonded to-to Maria," Michael was staring at his feet causing Max to grin. This was going to lead to another ear-piercing shriek from the lively pixie. "I need you to help me, you know, plan things."

Wiping the grin off his face so as not to increase Michael’s nervousness further, Max said solemnly: "Sure I’ll help."

The two friends looked at each other. They had come a long way. From bickering and fighting to a place where each of them knew that the other got their back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

James waited around the corner to see which room Tess entered. He also caught a glimpse of a man waiting for her, his back turned to the door. Well, this certainly is interesting. Maybe Shilla can find out who Tess was seeing…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Max found Liz sleeping in their bed and Maria standing at the window. "Hey Maria," he said softly, going over to join her.

"Hey," she smiled up at him before risking a glance at Liz. "Did you get rid of the pest?"

He grinned. "Sort of. Is Liz okay?"

Maria looked over at her sleeping friend again. "I guess so. This pregnancy is not going to hurt her, is it?"

"I-I don’t know. So far she seems fine apart from the glowing stomach and morning sickness."

"This is just killing you, isn’t it?" She stared up at him shrewdly.

"I… I would rather have done this on earth. I don’t like that I’m going to be away from her a lot while I’m here…"

"Well, she has me."

"I know." He hugged her spontaneously. "Thank you for accepting me in her life from the beginning."

"Are you kidding?" Maria was laughing. "I told her you might be like those spiders that ate their mates after having sex when I found you two in Michael’s flat that first time. Boy, you two were all over each other!" Max was blushing. "Not that THAT has changed! Just so you know, I was ready to kick your ass if you did anything that would have hurt her."

"THAT much I knew," he assured her. "Do you think you could let me have some time alone with her? We could all meet for dinner later. Just tell Shilla if you need anything."