The Boy who Lit up the Sky (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 1)
Page 11
My cousin, Lydia was said to be the most beautiful girl in all of Mishnah. At one time, when I was in my teens and Lydia gone only fourteen years, I was said to resemble her. Perhaps, it was our common blood, or simply the fact that we were both slight and blond.
Though I called Lydia cousin, it was a distant relationship and Lydia was the Princess Royal while I was nothing more than a Lady and that only because my father was raised when he became Lord Governor of the prison colonies. My mother was always a Lady, being the daughter of an earl, and through her familial ties to the Queen's family. And, never did Mother cease to remind my father of her superior blood.
I was raised in New Mishnah in a boarding school with other ladies of similar background and disposition. We were taught nothing practical as all that was expected of us was to marry someone of sufficient breeding and continue the process of bearing and raising children of superior blood. However, there lived within us the small fear that our blood should be superior enough to suffer the fate of Cousin Lydia whose tale was a legend among us.
Poor Cousin Lydia, the Princess Royal, was tethered to none other than Sorkan de Kudisha. How dreadful it must have been for her, at the tender age of sixteen, the most beautiful and clearly the most superior young lady in the entire planet, to have been forced into marriage with a Karut. Never mind that Sorkan de Kudisha was the Crown Prince of Karuptani and never mind he was exceedingly handsome, with long black hair and black eyes of fathomless depth. Well over six foot tall and built like the warrior he was, he dwarfed tiny Lydia. And, he despised her as much as she despised him. What a thrill it was for us prepubescent girls to whisper at night about that dreadful man. And what a thrill it was for us post pubescent girls to dream at night about him coming to our beds.
Sorkan de Kudisha was a terrible rogue and even on the day of his wedding, a magnanimous state affair, was said to have spent the time leading up to it in bed with a multitude of ladies both Mishnese and Karupta. He was also from thence forth a drunk and was rarely seen in any frame resembling sobriety.
Sorkan and Lydia, the prodigy of kings, were mated so that they in turn would produce a son. This son was to be King of All Rehnor and because the blood of both nations ran through his veins, never again would we suffer the wars that had plagued our planet since it was settled a thousand years ago. Our prince was to be the only direct descendent of the Mishnese Saint, Markiis Kalila and the Karupta Infidel, Karukan de Kudisha.
Lydia and Sorkan did manage to do the deed on their wedding night, and Lydia did immediately become pregnant. She delivered the infant into the hands of her father King Yokaa Kalila, six weeks before his expected arrival, and while everyone was struck dumb by this very strange creature that was destined to become their monarch, Lydia bled out through wounds said to have been caused by the claw-like toenails of the baby. Thus ended the tragic tale of the Princess Royal, only moments after the even more tragic tale of her son, the MaKennah ka Rehnor, had begun.
Of no consequence at all, I was born two months later to my mother, Lydia's third cousin, thrice removed. I was born in the hospital wing of the penal colony residing on the Child Moon, of which my father had only recently taken over the governorship. Unlike her cousin, my mother was genuinely glad to see me and did not die upon my arrival. Had she wanted to, it would have been easy. She simply would have to open an exterior door and step outside without a moon suit.
My parents heralded my arrival with grand announcements throughout the colony, granted one half days rest to all prisoners and issued email alerts to all family members far and wide including the Palace which was still very much in mourning for the loss of Lydia and the infant.
I grew up a relatively happy child although my parents had long ceased to care for each other. My father doted on me intensely and granted me every wish while my mother doted on the various young prisoners who guarded our home. The more handsome they were, the closer they were posted to her bedchamber.
At the age of eight, I was sent to aforementioned boarding school visiting the Child Moon only twice a year, on Saint's Day and my birthday.
Shortly before my twelfth birthday I was woken well before dawn by my mother. “Oh Mariya,” she cried loud enough to wake my roommates in the neighboring beds. “The most incredible thing has happened. The Crown Prince has been found!”
I rubbed my sleepy eyes and glanced at my roommates who could hear every word. What did she mean? The Crown Prince was dead. We all knew that.
“No, no, no!” she cried. “That's not the case at all. Dear uncle, King Yokaa, only told everyone the child was dead so that he could spirit him away from the awful Karuts and raise him solely in Mishnah.” With Lydia dead, she went on to explain, the Karut prince would have been his only surviving parent so of course, he would be unduly influenced. King Yokaa had apparently sent the child away to live with a Mishnese family, but something happened, and he was lost but now he was found. “Turn on the vid,” Mother practically screamed. “You'll see him on the vid now. Oh, Mariya, this could be the most fortunate, wondrous thing to happen to you. You are his own blood cousin. You could be his wife, Mariya! You could be Queen.”
My roommates started to giggle as I signed off on my mother and quickly switched on the vid.
There before our very eyes was the MaKennah ka Rehnor. He was standing awkwardly with the King on the balcony of the Palace looking about as miserable as any twelve year old in a dress uniform could look. The King was waving and smiling at the cheering crowds while the MaKennah remained stone faced.
“Look at him,” Leesa said. “There's your future husband, Mariya.” She burst into giggles.
“He looks just like an ugly Karut,” Patti said. “He doesn't look Mishnese at all.”
I zoomed the vid in on a close up and could not but agree. True, he was much fairer skinned than the Karuts. In fact, he was very pale, but he still had the long black hair and the face of Prince Sorkan. One would not mistake him for a Mishnese. Curiously enough, his eyes were closed as if he were pretending not to be there
“Oh, he's so creepy!” Leesa said.
“Ugly!” Patti agreed.
“He is our next king,” I reminded them and jointly we cried, “Ewww!”
I saw Sehron de Kudisha in person a few months later. Myself, and all the other ladies of blood between the ages of ten and twenty were paraded before him in a giant cattle call at the Palace. My mother had acquired for me a beautiful new gown that had a substantially padded bust to enhance and lift my own not so substantial bust, and she had personally come to the planet to do my hair and chaperone me to the Palace.
We were herded in groups into a great ballroom and then individually walked up to the dais where the boy was standing next to the King. We made obeisance to the King and curtseyed to the Crown Prince, and our names were announced, and then we were quickly ushered away to make room for the next group.
“Did he speak to you, Mariya?” My mother immediately seized upon me as I exited the ballroom. “Did you tell him you are his cousin?”
“No, Mother,” I replied, taking the aching pins out of my hair.
I was one of probably two thousand girls paraded before him that day, and he did not speak to any of us. In fact he stood there practically catatonic, looking as miserable or more so than he did on the first day we saw him on the balcony.
I could say, although I did not repeat it to my mother nor any of my roommates, I found him far more appealing than on that first day. Though he did look very much a Karut and his silver eyes were even creepier in person than on the vid, he was also incredibly beautiful. In fact, I knew as we drove away from the Palace that night, I would spend many future nights curled in my bed dreaming of the day that I might suffer the fate of my cousin Lydia and be mated to this Karut. I wouldn't suffer it though. I would love him passionately for every moment of my life.
Chapter 12
Taner