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One
Almaluc
– A space station above the planet Jettie
Selene tilted the
cup she held to admire the lovely reddish color of the liquid inside. It really
was the perfect shade. A delight for the eyes and a promise for the palate.
It was amazing how a
love of plants steeped in hot liquid was a universal concept that transcended
boundaries of culture and species.
From the seemingly
infinite variations of tea and coffee you encountered while visiting human
space to the Haldeel's zier, an underwater flower that released a unique
neurotoxin when exposed to hot water that made the lips, tongue, and throat
tingle while stimulating the nervous system in much the same way caffeine did
humans.
And finally, the
Tuann laug, the beverage Selene was currently enjoying.
Closing her eyes,
Selene lifted the cup to her lips, breathing in the steam for a short second
before indulging in a tiny sip.
Yes. Absolutely
perfect.
The taste was unlike
anything else Selene had encountered. It wasn't quite an oolong. Something
about the high and low notes in the tea were a little too spicy for that. If
Selene had to pick a comparison, she would say it was a much more mellow
version of chai. A little bit smoother with a more delicate finish.
It was the kind of
tea you might savor in the quiet moments. Those times when you wanted to bask
in simplicity.
Selene set the
delicate cup on the saucer she held.
"You were
right. This was well worth the experience," Selene told the person sitting
across from her.
The woman finished
pouring her own cup before setting down the pot and straightening. Everything
about her—from her elegant bearing to the floor length robes and the way her
straight black hair was arranged so it cascaded over her shoulder—was a
carefully crafted image designed to put Selene at ease and lower her guard.
Yukina was about as
far from being the refined, gentle creature she was portraying herself as one
could get. As the oldest Face of the Tuann emperor, she was someone who
regularly swam in the shark-infested waters of some of the most politically
dangerous arenas in both the Haldeel and Tuann empires.
She didn’t spend her
time sipping tea while exchanging inane chatter with perfect strangers. Not
unless it served her agenda in some way.
Selene studied
Yukina over the rim of her cup, taking in every shift of the woman's
expression. It wasn’t easy. Yukina didn't give her much to work with.
There was a reason
the forty-three had listed Yukina as one of the top ten Tuann to avoid under
any circumstances. The other used deceit and manipulation the same way most
breathed air. You could never trust what she was showing you on the surface. It
made her a difficult opponent. Even for someone as experienced as Selene in the
art of deception and misdirection.
"I am so glad
you enjoyed it." Yukina paused. "If you were to return home, you
would find many other things to your liking."
Selene hid her smile
behind her cup. No wonder Kira had so much trouble with this one. For someone
as used to saying what she meant as Kira, it would be difficult to play these
subtle word games.
Not that Selene
thought Kira incapable of it. Selene didn't think there was anything Kira
wasn't capable of. But such methods would annoy her youngest sister.
And an irritated
Kira was rather dangerous.
No, Kira preferred
to beat and batter the situation until it took the shape she wanted. She lacked
patience. It was her defining weakness—and sometimes her greatest strength.
Selene was
different. Patience was where she lived. Sometimes for too long. She would
rather the moment pass than risk herself.
In Yukina, Selene
saw a kindred spirit. Each understood that words were a weapon every bit as
dangerous as a blade. That it took a deft hand to shape and mold them to their
maximum potential.
Perhaps had
circumstances been different—had Selene not been kidnapped from the Tuann as a
child and grown up in hell—they might have enjoyed matching wits in this
fashion.
They could have been—maybe
not friends—but acquaintances who regularly challenged each other to a battle
of wits.
Selene thought she
might have enjoyed that.
As she was thinking,
her gaze drifted to the man standing behind Yukina. The armor he was wearing
was distinctive of a Tuann oshota, an elite warrior class responsible for the
protection of their chosen one, the person they called a sword. Known as synth
armor, it was far more advanced than anything humans had created.
Harder than any
metal or alloy, it could stop all but the most extreme ballistic weapons. However,
it wasn’t without its drawbacks, proving weak to en-blades and a few other
types of weapons.
This version was a
matte black darker than the void of space outside this ship.
He was tall,
towering over Yukina with broad shoulders and a wide chest that pointed to a
life devoted to training.
Despite his size, he
was trying not to seem dangerous—and doing a bad job of it.
Selene suspected
that the reason for that was his eyes. They were the first thing you noticed
about him. A gold that was striking against his light brown skin.
He watched Selene
with the kind of intensity that said he was trying to peel back her skin to study
what lay under it.
"See something
interesting?" he asked.
Selene played with
the handle of her cup. The revelation of secrets was a delicate thing.
Too much and you
risked destroying the very thing you hoped to help. Too little and nothing ever
changed.
Selene needed
change. They all did.
Very well. A hint
then.
"I knew a boy
with eyes like yours once." Selene pretended not to notice the subtle
tension that entered the man's stance or the way everything about him
sharpened.
The man tried to
stare Selene down, a predator in that moment before it struck. "And what
happened to that boy?”
Selene occupied
herself with her cup and the liquid inside, done with this topic for now. "Some
stones should be left unturned."
Yukina and the man
exchanged a quiet look before Yukina took the lead in the conversation once again.
"You're very
different from her."
"No one is like
Kira. She is unique."
"You sound
admiring."
"Do I?"
Selene swirled the liquid in her cup. "Perhaps that is because I am. She
is the best of us."
"There are more
then?" Yukina asked, as if she didn’t already know after Selene’s hint
earlier.
“There are.”
“Why won’t they
return to us?”
Selene couldn’t tell
if the ache in Yukina’s voice was real or not. In a sense, it didn’t matter.
The forty-three were
aware that the Tuann yearned for those they lost in an event they called the
Sorrowing. It was a time when hundreds of their children were taken from them
and hundreds more of their people were killed.
It was a devastating
blow for a people who reproduced extremely slowly. The mental bonds the Tuann
made with their loved ones made it doubly so. When those ties were severed in
such a traumatic fashion, it caused the slow decline of those left behind.
Those Tuann who
couldn’t recover perished as they faded away from sorrow.
Selene was sure it
felt like a dream to discover not all of those children had died. It was a gift
the Tuann would never walk away from. They didn’t realize the cost their former
children had already paid for survival. The nightmares they still lived with.
That hell had
tempered the two youngest, Kira and Jin. Like phoenixes, they’d risen from the
ashes of their beginnings.
The rest of the forty-three
weren’t so lucky. They were broken.
Monsters—better left
alone.
Selene feared the
Tuann wouldn’t accept who the forty-three had to become in order to survive—or
what was done to them.
Perhaps because of
their long lives there was a rigidity to their social structure. And the stolen
children would never be bound again.
She blinked at her
tea, dismissing the memories through an effort of will.
Across from her,
Yukina reached for her own cup, taking a small sip as she studied Selene in the
same way Selene had her earlier. “The trip to Ta Sa’Riel will take up to a month.
There will be a lot of time to discover what other things you may have missed
in the intervening years.”
A faint smile graced
Selene’s face.
Clever woman. Yukina
acted like Selene’s accompaniment was already a foregone conclusion.
It was a move taken
out of Selene’s own playbook when dealing with her children. How strange to see
her own tactics used against her.
While she was
considering Yukina, the doorway adjacent to their table dissolved to reveal a
pair of people—a mountain of a man in matte black synth armor in the process of
murmuring something to his companion.
A woman. Tall by
human standards, though still short compared to the man. Gray-purple eyes that
seemed like they’d seen all the pain this world had to offer focused on Selene.
Their owner scanned her quickly as if to assure herself Selene was in once
piece.
Hair the color of
wine framed delicate features. Like Kira, it was untamed. Beautiful in its
disarray.
Warmth filled Selene’s
chest. She’d come.
Against all odds. Despite
any arguments the Tuann would have thrown her way.
Kira’s face revealed
a worry Selene knew she didn’t deserve. Not after all that she’d done. The
wrongs she and the rest of the forty-three had turned their faces from.
Determined not to see. Or feel. Or interfere with.
Despite all the
anger and hurt, Kira had set it aside to come to Selene’s rescue. Willing to
risk everything.
It was why the forty-three
loved her and Jin so much—though they made sure the two never realized.
Kira and Jin were
the sun and the forty-three the planets that watched over them from afar. Only
intervening when the worst possible outcome was assured.
Such as was the case
on Rothchild.
There was a loud
clink in the sudden silence as Yukina set her cup down harder than necessary.
“Why did you bring
her here?” Yukina demanded of the mountain standing next to Kira.
“She’s rather
persistent when she wants to be.” Graydon prowled into the room, his movements
like that of a lion. Someone dangerous and assured of his place at the top of
the food chain.
Kira remained
motionless on the threshold. Her hands moved in an unobtrusive gesture Selene
remembered from their childhood when any form of unauthorized communication would
result in a beating.
Roughly, the gesture
meant, "Do you need assistance?"
Selene ran a finger along
the rim of her ear. "Do not interfere."
Once, her ears had
been as pointed as the Tuann's across from her. Now, like the rest of the
forty-three and Kira, they were docked to allow them to blend in with humans
easier. Just one more scar that separated them from their former brethren.
"I don't care
how persistent she is. Her presence here is not welcome," Yukina said to
Graydon as he sprawled in the seat next to her.
"You're welcome
to try to move her," Graydon rumbled with an amused look that said he looked
forward to the attempt.
It was strange. If
asked, Selene would have said Graydon was far too loyal to his emperor and his
position as the emperor's Face to be here, helping Kira circumvent another
Face’s will.
Yet that was exactly
what he was doing.
Kira stepped into
the room, revealing the man waiting behind her. Selene sucked in a harsh breath
as recognition darted through her.
Taller than Kira,
the man wore a pair of wire-framed glasses that managed to make him seem almost
nondescript.
"Alexander,"
Selene whispered.
Hope was a fragile
concept, and it was one of the first things their masters had beaten out of
them. What was the use of wishes and dreams when your present was filled with nothing
but survival at all costs?
That loss made you
forget that such a thing ever existed in the first place.
She never in a
million years would have hoped for Alexander's interference in this matter.
Life had taught her to be pragmatic.
Something as
innocuous as a prince riding to a damsel's rescue was as far out of reach as
the sky was for a frog stuck at the bottom of a well.
"What is the
meaning of this?" Yukina demanded as Selene experienced the unsettling
sensation of butterflies in her stomach. Something she thought she was much too
jaded to ever entertain.
It took a moment to
understand Kira’s expression, the pinched, almost combative look that made her
seem as bristly as a porcupine.
Kira was worried,
Selene realized with a soft amazement.
She shouldn't be.
She'd given Selene a gift beyond measure by convincing Alexander to come.
Selene had always thought she was done with that fleeting emotion called hope.
Kira had shown her she wasn't.
What a lovely
discovery after all this time.
Alexander spared
Selene the briefest of glances as he entered. Kira shadowed him, keeping to the
edges of the room. As if by doing so, she could keep her presence unobtrusive.
Unlikely, but Selene
appreciated the attempt.
"Would anyone
care to explain why the Tuann abducted a Haldeel citizen from one of our
planets?" Alexander asked, coming to a stop beside Selene.
He reached down,
dragging a chair out from the table with a loud squeal before lowering his bulk
into it.
For such a big man,
he could move silently when he wanted to.
"I'd consider
your next words carefully if you don't want a war," Alexander advised when
Yukina simply stared.
Graydon reached for
a bowl of fruit, snagging one of the blue spheres and popping it into his
mouth.
"She is
Tuann," Yukina finally said.
"She is a
Haldeel citizen. As such, not even your emperor can remove her from our borders
against her will."
Alexander placed a
token on the table before pushing the button at its center. An image with
Selene's face was projected into the air, along with a full set of papers
proclaiming her citizenship of a Haldeel planet.
Yukina studied them
for half a second. "They're legitimate."
"I know."
The smile that touched Alexander's face was sharp and faintly mocking.
"Why do you think I'm here?"
"Why weren't
the Tuann informed that one of us had applied for citizenship?" Yukina
asked.
"You’re our
allies; not our masters. Do you think the Haldeel are required to keep you apprised
of our own affairs?"
The skin around
Yukina's eyes tightened. She didn’t like that question, and it was easy to see
why. Alexander’s argument had the advantage of being legally full proof. The
Tuann would be hard-pressed to come up with a counter that would allow them to
take Selene without her permission.
If she wanted,
Selene could take the hand Alexander was offering and walk out of here free and
clear. The Tuann wouldn't be able to touch her. Their enemies, on the other
hand, wouldn’t be so easily dissuaded.
They were the ones
the forty-three were most concerned with.
The wisest choice
would be to take the exit Alexander procured and disappear. It would take time,
but she could establish another home for herself and the children Kira had
rescued. She would have peace in her life. Far from the threat of danger.
Nothing would
change. Particularly not her.
As if from a
distance, Selene heard herself speak up. "I'll go."
Kira straightened
from the wall.
A balloon built in Selene's
chest. "I'll go with them. I'll accompany the Tuann to their home
world."
Relief replaced the
tight feeling of that balloon. She'd done it. She'd taken that first and
hardest step into the light.
"What are you
doing right now?" Kira loomed over Selene in a manner Selene knew wasn't
meant to be intimidating. Her sister couldn't help her nature. Even as a child,
Kira's stare could make others back down when she was angry. As an adult, that
ability had only grown.
Ignoring the hot
splash of power against her skin, Selene reached for the pot of tea and filled
a second cup before handing it to Kira.
Bafflement showed on
Kira's expression as she took the offered tea.
"They issued an
invitation, and I am accepting," Selene said by way of explanation.
Kira raised the cup
and blew on its surface before taking a small sip. She made a pleased
expression. "You have obligations. Remember?"
"I would never
forget."
The children were
Selene's heart and soul. They were her salvation at a time when she'd contemplated
ending the monotony of her existence.
Selene didn't think
Kira was aware of how close she'd been to the abyss when that first child was
brought to her. Or maybe Kira knew, and the children were her solution.
Selene had taken
that first child and built a life around them and the others that followed.
She would never
leave them in danger.
"I've already
made arrangements for another to take up my duties in my absence."
"Are you sure
about this?"
"Yes."
Selene had never
been surer of anything.
Something inside her
said Kira would have need of her soon. That her presence was necessary for the
other's survival. If that was the case, Selene planned to accompany her—whether
the rest of the forty-three approved or not.
"Much as it pains
me to say—I agree with Kira. It will not be easy to leave later."
Alexander's gaze bored into the side of Selene's face.
Kira continued to
sip her tea, watching the byplay between them with a look of avid interest.
"It is
time," Selene said, facing Alexander.
His disapproval over
this course of action radiated from every line of his body.
Selene channeled the
calm that had served her well in the worst times of her life as she met his
stare. One no less intimidating than Kira’s own.
Selene didn’t let
herself waver, despite the instinct warning her to retreat. That she wasn’t as
powerful as either of the other two. It was one she had practice in denying.
She wouldn’t allow
herself to be swayed. This was her path. She would take it no matter the cost.
Alexander’s eyes
closed in defeat. "Very well. If that is your wish."
Kira gave him an
appalled look. "That's it? That's all you have to say? She tells you she's
going and you're like, okay?"
Alexander glared at
their youngest sister. "She isn't as reckless as some I could name."
Kira's scowl
deepened. "I'm not reckless."
A scoff came from
across the table. The target of Kira’s ire shifted to Graydon.
"Then it's
settled. We'll leave in two days," Yukina said, quick to press her advantage.
To her credit, there
was no sign of smug victory, her expression as calmly poised as it had been
before Alexander and Kira's interruption.
"Not
quite." Alexander gave the emperor’s Face an unamused smile. "I'll be
accompanying Selene to your planet."
A choked sound came
from Kira as she lifted her head to stare. "Is this a joke?"
Alexander ignored
her as he focused on the Tuann.
Yukina gave him a
polite smile that did nothing to conceal her dislike. "As noble as your
offer is, I'm afraid you're not invited."
Alexander lifted a
hand, ki pooling his palm. Before the rest could react, he slammed his
hand onto the table. A concussive wave erupted.
For a split second,
nothing happened. Then the table crumpled as if a giant had smashed it as flat
as a thin piece of paper.
"Whoa."
Kira's expression hinted at a jealousy Selene found amusing.
If her sister
wanted, Kira could do far more than flatten a table.
Faint interest
showed on Graydon's face before he selected another piece of fruit from the
sideboard and popped it in his mouth.
"What about
now?" Alexander asked with a smile as polite as the one Yukina had just
offered him.
Amazing, as always! I can't wait for the book to come out!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited for this book !!!! Thank you for the sneak peak ❣️
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing can't wait!
ReplyDeleteThis chapter brought a smile to my lips. I believe Alexander's, "How about now?" is as humorous as Kira's, "It's his fault." Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI wants the precious
ReplyDeleteThis is both exhilarating and terrifying. I want an ironclad contract that says they can all leave when they want to.
ReplyDeleteYay, it's coming! I've missed Jin a lot and I wonder what lies in store for him. And Raider too.
ReplyDeleteReal quick edit, if you don't mind. When Alexander shows the picture of the documents proving Selene is a Haldeel citizen it's followed by the statement, "they were full proof". I've read that part several times and can't translate it to any statement of actual total proof. I think it should be foolproof. Meaning that the documents were unable to be altered and their existence was accepted evidence.
ReplyDeleteAaa crazy excited! Can't wait to hear about all the shenanigans they get up to!!
ReplyDeletehi! so excited and am looking forward! Am a tad confused though, i though Alexander was described as "tall but lean". How come he's now described as "big man" with "bulk" here?
ReplyDeletePre-ordered via German amazon. Thank you for another certainly amazing book. :)
ReplyDeleteAnother question. Do you think this series might be available in a "special edition hard copy" once it's finished? I was contemplating to reserve some shelf space for it ...... On the other hand: I don't want it to finish soon. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm counting down the days until the release! My husband laughed at me when I said I wasn't working Tuesday so I could read a book. But this way I won't be trying to work while knowing the book is right there.
ReplyDelete