Imperial Masquerade (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 11)

by J. Naomi Ay

  The next day, instead of working on his vendor contract proposal, Kell’s mind was drifting through all of his plans; the taxi, the drinks, the dinner, the dessert, Trudy in her sexy black dress with pearls which she had carried in a bag on the morning bus.

  “Kell, is the proposal ready?”

  Kell blinked twice as his supervisor, Lorraine’s face appeared on the screen

  “You had an 11AM deadline. Where the heck is it?”

  “Did I?” Kell stuttered. In all this excitement with Trudy and Rosso, he had forgotten the due date on that report was today. “I’m just finishing it up,” he lied, knowing full well he had several more hours of work to put into it. It didn’t matter. Rosso had promised him riches. Although, he never really laid down the exact price, Kell was certain whatever it was, it would be enough for him to quit his job at SdK.

  Lorraine let loose a rant about how she couldn’t possibly walk into her meeting without the proposal ready, and if Kell wanted to stay off the layoff list, it had better appear in her inbox within the next five minutes.

  “Like that’s going to happen,” Kell muttered under his breath, before turning his lips into a wide smile and insisting that she would momentarily receive her due.

  As it turned out, Kell’s words were surprisingly prophetic. While he quickly wrapped up the vendor contract proposal, not his best example of work by far, Lorraine sat down for a bite of lunch at her desk, instead of heading to the now postponed meeting. She bit into the battered fish sandwich, a favorite from the SdK cafeteria, which had just delivered it fresh.

  As typical during her twenty minute lunch break, Lorraine’s attention was focused on her vid. She was catching up on the latest episode of that game show on that island. This was the one where Princess Angelica was seen attempting to climb a rope ladder into a treehouse before her lower limbs were consumed by a crocodile.

  Lorraine laughed. Princess Angelica had always bothered her. In fact, all the pampered princelings and princesses really got her goat. Even Rent, the new company president, pissed her off, although he had never spoken to her personally or even passed her in the hall.

  As intelligent as Rent was, and he was, Lorraine didn't dispute that fact for a minute, she still didn't think there was any reason why he should lord over anyone. Just because he was the Emperor's son, didn't mean he was special. Rent, if anything, was the least special of the entire bunch. Why should he be entitled to live in that great palace, or be ferried to work and back each day in an Imperial limousine?

  Now, Senya, he was another story. Senya was definitely something else. He proved himself many times over, and he deserved the reverence that everyone felt for him. Katie had earned it, too, to some extent. Lorraine had respected her, admired her, at times wished she was her, and now missed her, or at least missed watching her appearances and activities on the vid.

  Lorraine sighed heavily and took another bite of her sandwich. But, not their sons. She shook her head. No, the Princes did not deserve anyone's obeisance. It was a pity, a tragedy really, that the Empire was now left with only a couple of pampered playboys, and a spoiled, bratty, teenage girl.

  "It's all so sad," Lorraine declared out loud, a single tear threatening at her eye, as she lamented the loss of what once was and might or might not be again.

  As Lorraine took her third and final bite of the sandwich, considering the great mystery of where Senya and Katie had gone off to and whether or not they would ever return, a tiny but extraordinarily hard fish bone errantly left in the battered filet, entered Lorraine's throat and pierced her esophagus. Lorraine gasped and choked, dying only moments later, coincidentally at the exact same time as Angelica pulled her feet into the treehouse, and Kell's proposal landed in her inbox.

  Kell, in the meantime, having hit send and never looking back, was eating his own lunch, peanut butter on rye, and imagining Lorraine's death. He visualized a fish bone, having no clue this was exactly what she was inhaling, and at this exact moment. He imagined her choking, gasping for air, and ultimately, falling over upon her desk, her nose landing squarely in her cup of coleslaw. Kell chuckled to himself and said something along the lines of, "Lorraine is a pain," before switching his vid to that show where Angelica Korelesk was now safely waving from the treehouse.

  Although Lorraine's body was discovered only moments later, too much time had passed and the damage to her esophagus too severe to attempt a revival. She was carted from the office and ferried over to the adjacent SdK Medical Complex where her remains were cataloged, tagged, and stored for three months until her younger sister from Turko arrived to pick her up.

  As for the meeting and the proposal which Kell had so diligently prepared at the last minute, this was all postponed until the following week. Kell jumped at the opportunity to go home early, to shower and shave. He would also sprinkle himself liberally with a manly cologne cleverly named, "Karut Dude," prior to his big date.

  Although his path was crossed by a black cat as he entered his apartment building, a window shattered and cracked above his head while he checked his mailbox in the foyer, and a swarm of locusts, although out of season, accompanied him up the staircase, Kell failed to notice anything different. So intent was he on visualizing Trudy in her dress and then without, Kell jumped into his hot shower and shampooed his head, never realizing that it was flames which poured from the spout instead of water.

  Chapter 12

  Miltan was once again standing in front of the mirror, staring at a pimple which had erupted on her back. It was quite large, nearly the size of a small coin. In addition, there was another spot near her left shoulder.

  "Are you sure this isn't a cancer?"

  "How should I know," Puna snapped. "What do I look like, a doctor?"

  Miltan regarded her with a leer.

  "Actually, you look more like a nurse."

  "Go to hell," Puna responded, not in the mood for any games. She hadn't slept well for several nights, and was contemplating moving out. She was tired of Miltan and her issues, and she was tired of being at Rosso’s beck and call. Most of all, she was tired of worrying about a nuclear war, and all the people who might die.

  "We're already in Hell," Miltan laughed throatily, attempting to put some eyeliner around her sagging eyes. Without her glasses, she couldn't see in the mirror very well, and her hand kept shaking such that she ended up holding the wand with first two hands and then, three. "If I hadn't committed to being President for Life, I might suggest we run away together. I wouldn’t mind camping in a rustic lodge or even a tent out in the forest. I've heard the Second Moon of Lumineria III is lovely this time of year."

  "Camping," Puna snorted, quickly swiping her eyes with her own eyeliner. "As if! Furthermore, we're about to start a nuclear war. It's not like you can just blow it off and go on vacation. Rosso wants his planets, and he wants them now."

  "Oh, that’s nothing." Miltan, now satisfied with her eyes, dropped her robe and headed for the closet. "It's just a pinprick strike. We'll lob a bomb or two. They'll capitulate right away, and we'll be back to our normal business. What are you waiting for? We've got a lot of work to do today. Taking over Lumineria III is an enormous endeavor, and you know, I haven't a clue how to do it."

  "I'll be along shortly." Puna stared at her wan green face in the bathroom mirror. Even with her eyeliner and freshly washed hair, she looked ill. "No, actually, Miltan, I'm sick today," she decided. "I'm going back to my own suite to lie down. Don’t bother me. I want to sleep."

  Puna didn't care that Miltan eyed her suspiciously. She did feel sick, although it wasn't in a physical way. She was sick about this impending war and the cavalier attitude both Miltan and Rosso displayed. It was obvious people were going to die, and a planet might even be destroyed. Yet, both of them were acting as if this were merely a game. The people were nothing more than pawns to be knocked off the board when Rosso saw fit, and, unfortunately, there was no one playing against him in the opposite color.

  "It's not
right," Puna grumbled as she glided down the hall, shutting the door to her oft unused personal suite. She flicked the lock to seal it, knowing full well that Miltan could make Security open it up. Yet, this small action gave Puna a tiny bit of comfort. The truth was, she felt as if she had no control, which actually, was a fact because she didn’t. Rosso was in charge of everything and everybody.

  “Somebody needs to stop him," Puna silently declared, once her head lay upon her hard and musty pillow. “Someone needs to stop this evil before it spreads.”

  Puna tossed and turned for a little while before deciding there was no point in trying to sleep. Instead, she went to her desk and logged on her vid. She was pleased to discover her friends were also awake, and chatting in their Footbook group.

  “Both boys are here,” Luci was saying, her exquisitely polished and pedicured foot waving as she typed. “Of course it took a bit for all of us to get used to Ber-Kie, but now, we’re finding him to be quite the amicable young fellow. In fact, he and Loran are heading into New Mishnah tonight to have some fun clubbing and all that. Ber has a terrible crush on the Imperial Princess Sara and Loran seems to think he can introduce the pair. Apparently, she attends the girls’ prep school next door to his."

  “What?” Anne typed quickly, her dirty, chipped-nailed foot emphatically bouncing up and down. “You’re going to introduce a two-headed Beckwad to Sara?”

  “Well, why not?” Luci persisted. “Diversity and all that. She might like him. His other head, Kie is a rather interesting fellow too, very intelligent and a serious sort. She’ll get two for the price of one. The best of both worlds, as it were. LOL!”

  “No!” This was Anne. "Shika would never allow it."

  "Shika?" Luci gasped. "He's obviously got more important things on his mind with the Empire collapsing around him daily."

  “What’s difference does it make to you, Anne?” Nora asked. "I don’t see anything wrong with it. Are you some kind of racist?”

  “This is ridiculous!” Anne snapped and immediately logged off.

  “What's the matter with her?” Nora replied. “Maybe she really is a red neck bigot."

  "Oh, it's probably just Harvey arriving with some other creature for her to cook." This was Luci. "She's probably getting tired of all that roughing it and taking out her frustrations on us."

  "Well, does anyone really know about her?" Nora persisted. "I mean, both Anne and Harvey sound like a couple of cretins."

  “Does anyone really know about any one of us here?” Now, Delores signed in. “We all could by lying about who we really are and what we really think.”

  “Girls!” Puna interrupted, although her login name read, ‘Kiki.’ This was her middle name, and one she had always liked better. It had become her online presence, as well as a bit of a disguise, although with Rosso spying on her every move, it wouldn’t afford her much protection. “I’ve got something important to discuss and I don’t know where else to turn.”

  “What is it, dear?”

  “What’s the matter, girlfriend?” All of the women ceased their virtual chatter. Their feet stopped wagging, and cursors blinked blankly.

  “My boss…” Puna faltered, fearing that Rosso could see the words even before she committed them to the page. “Something terrible is going to happen and there’s no one to stop him but me.”

  “Stop him from doing what?” Luci typed.

  “Is he hurting you?” Nora asked.

  “Kill him,” Delores suggested. “I certainly would.”

  “No, it’s not me! It has to do with…with another planet.” Puna went silent. She shouldn’t reveal any more. For all she knew, even the sweet grandmother, Luci could be a spy. Yet, Puna was having difficulty keeping this all inside her, for despite giving it to Rosso long before, Puna had somehow retained a tiny piece of her soul. “My boss…he wants us to destroy it. It’s our neighboring planet and my brother, and his family live there.”

  “Oh no!” The girls collectively gasped in typewritten unison while Puna cryptically explained about the bombs, and the task set before her. To spare her virtual friends, she left out a few important words like massive, nuclear, and destruction, but the girls caught the gist of it and were horrified plenty enough.

  “You’ve got to stop him,” Nora cried.

  “Stick the bomb up his own ass,” Delores remarked.

  “If this is true, Kiki,” Luci snapped, “I must speak to you offline.”

  “I can’t,” Puna-Kiki declared. “I’ve already told you girls too much. Thanks for listening, though. It helps to get this burden off of my chest. I really appreciate you all being here for me, but I’m afraid, I’m going to have to drop out of this group. I don’t want him to come after you, or risk telling you anything more.”

  “No!” They all wailed. “Kiki, don’t go!”

  “Tell me what planet you are on!” Luci demanded. “I know people in the Empire. I can help.”

  “You can’t, Luci. I’ve got to do this on my own.” With that, Puna signed off of Footbook, maybe even forever.

  “Too bad the Emperor isn’t around,” Nora typed, as Kiki’s friendly green toes disappeared from her screen.

  “Yeah,” Delores agreed. “He wouldn’t put up with this kind of shit. You should see what he did to Woofie just for playing a few extra rounds of Worf. When that dude got mad, let me tell, everyone needed to duck.”

  “You don’t know half of it,” Luci mumbled, recalling everything about Kiki which she had known. “She was green. She also had three feet instead of just two. I’m going to find out what planet she was from and get my son to take some action. He’s a fool, but we’re very well connected. We’ll find out who Kiki’s evil boss is, and put a stop to his plans before he destroys any more lives. I didn’t want to tell you girls this, but my son is the Duke of Korelesk. My husband was the first duke and the Emperor’s chief of staff.”

  “Right,” Delores scoffed.

  “Oh, Luci, it’s hardly a time to crack jokes,” Nora replied.

  “Well, my husband used to be president of Andorus II,” Delores said.

  “Mhm,” Nora agreed, followed by a few LOLs and a ROFLMAO. “And, Anne and her husband are the missing Imperial Couple. Hey, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we just tell Anne about the bad guy? Maybe her Harvey wants to go find him. She’s always saying how he loves to hunt.”

  “That’s true,” Delores chortled. “I bet he can track down Kiki and her boss. Finding a psychopathic madman with a nuclear device seems like a good job for a couple of retirees in an RV.”

  “And, when they find him, Harvey will eat him!” Nora howled, typing a whole row of laughing emoticons.

  “After he makes Anne cook them over a spit!”

  “Laugh all you want,” Luci retorted. “I’m going to see what I can do.” Then, Luci posted a private message to Anne telling her she needed to talk.

  “Something is going on with Kiki,” she wrote. “Do you recall what planet she was from?”

  Hopefully, it wouldn’t be long before Anne logged again and received the message. Then, signing off from Footbook, Luci dialed Petya at his flat in New Mishnah, where he was busy entertaining a girl half his age.

  “You need to contact Shika right away,” Luci told his voicemail. “Something terrible is about to go down. Tell the girl goodbye and get to the Palace.”

  Petya, Duke of Korelesk, was not particularly inclined to do anything other than exactly what he was doing. He was also quite unable to break free from the leather straps which bound his wrist and ankles. Petya was tied to the four bedposts of his king-sized bed, which was proving to be a bit of a stretch.

  He didn’t mind. In fact, the horsewhip and the nipple clamp weren’t bothering him either. He was enjoying it, or, at least he thought he was, although occasionally, some of those things the girl was doing had started to hurt.

  “Suck it up!” the girl snapped, when for a moment, Petya thought that he might cry.

  “Ow!” He yel
led instead. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “That was nothing. How do you like this?” The whip snapped and for a moment, Petya thought a rather important part of him had died. His eyes rolled back in his head, and all he saw were colored shapes and stars. It was right about then when his mother rang, her voice totally killing the mood.

  “You had better go,” Petya told the girl, although he wasn’t entirely sure that his lips had moved. In either case, she acted as if she hadn’t heard him.

  “Take this!” The whip cracked again. “One for me and every girl you’ve ever fucked.”

  “But, my mom…” Petya gasped.

  “You fucked your mom? Oh man, you Korelesks are messed up.” With that, the girl packed up her tools, and headed for the door.

  “I didn’t mean it that way,” Petya tried to explain. Although, he was happy that the treatment had stopped, he didn’t want her to leave with the wrong impression. “The vid, the call, my mom.”

  “Don’t even try.” The girl waved her hand as she went out. “I don’t want to hear about any kinky shit like that. Goodbye Duke. It was fun for about five minutes.”

  So, there Petya lay tied to the bed with no one in the flat except for the dog. His mom kept ringing on the vid, and the dog started whining to go out.

  “Help me!” Petya called to the empty air.

  No one answered, at least for a little while. The dog messed on the rug, and Luci left a voicemail. Petya’s wrists and ankles were in serious pain but not as bad as where the whip had hit. After an undetermined length of time, a cold, whispery, and unknown voice filled the room.

  “Are you having fun?” It asked, even though Petya thought it quite obvious that he was not. “I can help you. I can cut your bonds and set you free, both physically and metaphorically, if you get my drift.”