The silence between them stretched, a quiet vibrancy that grew until it encompassed them, the cabin, the flagship, the vast empty distances of space, and the entire universe.
He bent and covered her head with kisses, squeezing her to him.
“But you have to wait. I haven’t received all my gifts,” she mumbled into his chest.
“Deal. I agree, and as soon as we leave Tajriba, we’ll head straight to Ylväs Suq. When I make love to you, I want us both to be free of shadows.”
They didn’t wait.
The following morning when Kia woke, she wondered if she was dreaming. Her mother had continually pointed out this young man or that young man, praising their strength or kindness or noble family, but Kia had been too focused on srilao to care. Her mother had warned her that if she wasn’t careful, one of these days she’d meet someone and fall so hard she’d never recover. Her mother’s words had been prophetic—she had literally fallen into Rial’s arms. “Is skin on skin love? At that place where mine and yours touch, do we become one?” she whispered her mother’s favorite love poem, smiling to herself as she watched Rial sleep.
His eyelids flickered, and he murmured the second line of the poem, “We become one and yet simultaneously remain different.”
“I like that.” She snuggled up to him, relishing the newness of being inside her skin, delighting in the intimate closeness, the feel of his skin under her touch, his clean male scent. She thought about them together—and apart. How long did they have before they arrived at the laboratory and he would undergo whatever experiment Teyrn had planned for him? She didn’t want to spoil the moment by asking. Whenever it was, it was happening too quickly. The upcoming separation, even if temporary, already hurt. She wished she could stay cocooned with him and forget the rest of the galaxy. Make their own little nest. Have lots of nanobot babies.
“No regrets?” he asked.
“No,” she replied with a cheeky grin, “but it hasn’t been that long, and you’d better not renege on the gift-giving.”
He rubbed his chin on her head. “Every day I’m with you is a precious gift for me.” He stretched, and she felt the play of muscles moving under his skin. “I have much to arrange today. Finish the ‘Rules of Governance’ and work with Tamaiko on your piloting.”
She groaned.
“How will I consult with you on matters of state if you’re ignorant of what it takes to govern?”
“I know, I know, and I would have learned some of this if I’d studied with my father, but Sestris was a lot less complicated.”
“The basics are the same, and study requires discipline. But to a more pleasant matter, would you care to take a shower with me?”
“That cubicle’s tiny,” she squeaked.
He rolled on top of her, smiling as he pinned her underneath him. “You don’t think pleasure is restricted solely to the bed, do you?”
Kia stayed in the command center, studying and learning over the succeeding days, while Rial had individual meetings with each member of the Chenjerai, giving them personal instructions. The guards who’d been with him longest were used to this custom. Cheydii told her that once it had taken Rial three months to regain consciousness after they’d picked him up from the laboratory and a year to fully regain his memories. Kia was horrified. What had the Chenjerai done for that year, she asked?
The unit had returned to his palace in Xarunta as per his instructions. The medical team at the hospital he had set up was outstanding and accustomed to treating him after his return from Tajriba.
That night Rial had a fit.
She’d fallen asleep in his arms and the trembling in his body woke her. She was shocked to see his muscles shivering, tiny tremors running under his skin, his jaw rigid as he stared at the ceiling. She laid her hand over his heart and felt its rapid dance. “Rial,” she hissed. “Wake up.” She’d seen him have a fit like this once before, after the banquet when the emperor met the newly chosen Chenjerai. Was that when he’d received the instruction to return to the laboratory?
After a minute he came out of it, and the tremors ended. “Hold me, Kia, please.”
She squiggled closer to him. “Turn sideways.”
Even such a small movement seemed exhausting for him, but his arms came around her; she held him tight, feeling his tension ease.
He sighed. “The closer I come to Tajriba the more difficult it is to forget what takes place there, which makes me fight the command to go, and I end up at war with myself. Nothing helps or makes any difference. You being here is the most I can hope for. When these episodes happen during sleep, it’s worse. During the day I can remain conscious, even if controlling my response is impossible. When it happens, hold me as tight as you can. My body will recognize you even if my mind is elsewhere.”
“Sleep now, Rial. I’m here. I’ll protect you.” They both knew she couldn’t save him from Teyrn, but the words comforted.
The paroxysms increased as they approached Tajriba. As he’d said, when they took place during the day, he remained conscious, but whether standing or sitting, his body went rigid as the tremors took over.
Nagavi became his shadow, waiting outside their cabin in the morning and accompanying Rial everywhere. “The convulsions result from his resistance to the implant,” he informed Kia. “It started when they installed the device. You should be prepared for some unpleasantness, Kia. Teyrn enjoys seeing Rial in this state because it’s a visible demonstration of his dominance over his son. If Rial does as his father orders, he’s allowed his freedoms—one of which is you; the emperor won’t touch you—but to his father, Rial is like a trained dog, and he brings him to heel to show him who is the master.”
“There must be something we can do?”
“Protect him from hurting himself when the fits occur, pick him up when he falls, but other than removing the implant, no, nothing we do will change anything.”
The night before they entered Tajriba’s solar system, Kia had very little sleep. Rial shuddered constantly, shaken by tremors, no matter how tightly she held him. “Don’t leave me,” he begged between fits.
“Never. I’ll never leave you,” she said. A month ago she would have fought him every step of the way, but things had changed, she had changed, and despite the problems facing her now, she was glad. She would do whatever she could to help Rial win his freedom from Teyrn. This treatment at his father’s hands was indicative of how the emperor treated every planet and everyone on those planets —a resource to exploit, their sole purpose to serve him. Rial finally fell into a deep sleep, but it took Kia a long time before her mind ceased running an endless maze of doomed options and she drifted off.
The next morning, standing in the control center, she watched the emperor’s flagship, the Kīwala'ō, flanked by a fleet of class two fighters as they approached Tajriba.
“Accepting an incoming communication from the emperor,” Tamaiko announced.
Rial grimaced. “Kia, stand by the door.”
She moved out of the screen’s line of sight. She understood enough of the politics between Rial and Teyrn now to understand he was attempting to keep his father’s attention away from her.
The comscreen flickered and Teyrn’s face appeared. The stone-cold gravel eyes stared out at Rial.
Similar, and yet very different, thought Kia.
“It’s pleasing to see you’re here on time, Rial. The doctor’s shuttle is on its way. Do you need any assistance?”
“Thank you, father, but I am, as ever, compliant with your wishes.”
“Is your lovely consort with you?”
Kia stiffened as Rial continued smoothly. “She is, but she isn’t feeling too well today.”
Teyrn smiled, baring his perfect white teeth, and the hairs on the back of Kia’s neck stood up. Rial had told her no one but Nagavi was ever given permission to accompany him.
“Bring her. The experience will be instructive.”
“That is—” but the comscreen was already
dark. Rial turned to her. “I’d hoped if he didn’t see you, he wouldn’t bother with you. A warning, Kia.” His eyes held hers. “When you are inside the facility, touch nothing, and do not eat or drink anything while you’re there. I don't intend to provide someone with the opportunity to collect a sample of your DNA.”
Kia nodded. “Why does he need me there?” Her voice sounded painfully small. She walked over to where he stood and put an arm around his waist. She studied the real-time viewscreen.
Tajriba was the greenest of planets; the entire three land masses were covered with vegetation without a single sign of human habitation.
“What else is down there other than the laboratory?” she asked.
“An extensive defense system to protect the facility, which is large and self-sufficient. Anything special the doctor requires, all he has to do is send a request to Teyrn and his every wish is fulfilled.” Rial’s tone was bitter. He’d clearly had experience of the doctor’s demands.
“Who is this doctor?” Kia asked.
“Doctor Onde is a geneticist whose specialty is gene manipulation to control behavior. He’s also an expert in cloning, and his goal in life is to achieve the transfer of personality from one body to another. He and Teyrn make a good team, as the emperor’s ambition is to transfer himself into my body or that of a clone.”
Anything Kia could say was inadequate. To live your life knowing your father’s intention was to kill you, waiting for that moment and unable to do anything about it was a horrendous position. She took his hand, entwining her fingers with his.
He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed her fingertips.
“Two shuttles have been launched from the surface,” Tamaiko stated.
“Ready, Nagavi?”
“As always, lad. As always.”
“Tamaiko. I give you charge of the command center.”
“Thank you, and,” Tamaiko paused as if summoning his courage, “return soon, sir.”
Chapter Fifteen: Tajriba
The hot sun beat down on Kia’s head, sweat dripped down her neck, and she breathed in the thick humid air as she waited on the landing field with Nagavi, behind Rial, watching the shuttle, emblazoned with the emperor’s emblem, settle onto its landing pod.
The doors slid open, the stairs extended, and a dozen of the emperor’s personal guard descended before Teyrn emerged into the sunlight.
Her heart danced a mad rhythm.
“Check,” muttered Nagavi through closed lips.
Kia’s ingrained response to the command calmed the stampeding wild animals trampling her innards within minutes.
Before they’d boarded the shuttle, Rial tilted her face upward and kissed her, a gentle lingering of his lips on hers. He told her he wouldn’t acknowledge her once they left the flagship, that it might appear she meant nothing to him. He’d closed his eyes and whispered, “Remember how I’ve been with you. That is who I am.”
She nodded. “I chose you, and I shall not give you up,” she whispered back. “We Sestrians are fierce when we give our love.”
He’d rested his chin on her head for a second and stepped away.
Teyrn strode toward them. Rial dropped to one knee.
Kia and Nagavi followed suit. Heat from the ground warmed her knee as she knelt with bowed head, studying the smooth surface of the landing area.
“Rise, Rial. You are looking well. Come, let’s get started.”
“As you wish, Father.”
The emperor’s voice scraped her nerves, and the weight of his glance was jarring. This situation bore an uncomfortable similarity to when an overseer or a guard in the mines was looking for someone to take their frustration out on. She shrank into herself, focused on her breathing, and hoped her fear wasn’t visible.
Kia and Nagavi walked behind Teyrn and his heir, surrounded by the emperor’s guard. Kia pushed the riot of emotions down hard, back into the box. She was on her own, and Rial trusted her to control herself—he couldn’t help her—and, remembering Rial’s words at the banquet, she wouldn’t give Teyrn the satisfaction of having his guards shoot her for some infraction of his rules.
Two ground flits sat waiting nearby. Rial, Teyrn, and several of his escort boarded one while she and Nagavi traveled in the second, escorted by more guards. Kia copied Nagavi and sat impassively, staring out at the lush green foliage of the tropical jungle surrounding the complex. The laboratory was supposed to have serious security, but she saw no guards or evidence of a missile defense system. Whatever protection existed was well hidden.
Too soon for Kia’s liking, they arrived at the laboratory. A short walk brought them to an extensive functional white single-storied building, surrounded by a high magwire fence. A line of men and women, all wearing white uniforms, waited by the entrance. The instant Teyrn appeared, they dropped to one knee.
Kia admired the uniformity of their movement. Almost as good as a group of srilao dancers.
The leader, a thin-faced man shorter than the rest, rose and preceded Teyrn and Rial inside.
The escorting guards waved their phaserifles to indicate Nagavi and Kia should follow. They did, promptly.
Teyrn halted. “Doctor Onde, I have a guest today.” He gestured in Kia’s direction.
Kia bowed, and her heart made a desperate attempt to leap out of her chest at the unexpected attention.
“I think a tour of your facilities is in order. Come, my dear, we shall pay a visit to Rial’s kindergarten. Lead the way, Doctor.”
The group walked through a series of spotless laboratories filled with white-overalled technicians, as the doctor’s dust-dry voice droned on, explaining technical details that meant nothing to Kia. At the end of one long laboratory was a set of glass-walled rooms sectioned off from the main work area and set up as a nursery. She saw toys, such as young children play with, arranged on shelves along the wall, and a child’s bright green climbing frame. Next door was a bedroom and bathroom.
“They are one-way windows,” the doctor explained with considerable eagerness, “enabling us to observe the child without hindering his play.”
“He never cried much, did he, doctor? Always such a quick learner.”
“Indeed,” Onde murmured in agreement.
Kia felt sick. Rial grew up in this cold, loveless environment with every move recorded and analyzed. She glanced at Rial, who stared at the suite of rooms without expression and seemed bored by the doctor’s words, but she caught the barest twitch of a muscle in his cheek.
“You have made progress, I believe you said, Doctor?”
“Yes, your Excellency. Small but important. This way.”
They marched along more white corridors, breathed in more of the sanitized air before entering a room containing two vertical stasis chambers connected to each other by a number of wires and cables. Inside each coffin-like chamber stood a man connected to the machine with a profusion of wires extending from his head. In front of the units stood a table with an array of dials and data displays. The figure on the left was a normal human of similar height and build to Rial.
Kia stared at the second, not sure what she was seeing, and bit the inside of her cheek as realization dawned that the expressionless gray-tinged figure was a clone of Rial.
“Don’t worry, my dear,” Teyrn smiled at her, a stretching of facial muscles that didn’t reach his eyes. “The doctor has created clones but as yet has not been able to animate them for a sufficient length of time. Whenever you’re ready, Doctor.”
Doctor Onde moved over to the table, adjusting dials and checking his instruments.
“Your Eminence.” The doctor moved aside and Teyrn crossed the floor.
“I enjoy doing this when I visit. It will be delightful to provide Rial with a brother.”
Rial growled low in his throat.
“Now, now, son. You always asked for someone to play with.”
Kia noticed a fine trembling running through Rial’s body but didn’t dare touch him. Nothing she could do
here could offer any comfort, and would probably make things worse.
The emperor pressed a red button, watching the figures avidly.
Nothing happened for a few minutes. Then the subject on the left twitched, sagged forward, and his chin flopped onto his unmoving chest.
“Keep watching the new Rial,” Teyrn ordered.
Kia’s gaze switched from the dead man to the clone. Did he just call the clone Rial?
“Yes, yes. His chest rises and falls, and look! His color begins to change.” The doctor turned to Teyrn, his eyes shining.
“Keep me updated on how long he lasts out of stasis. What’s the longest time?”
“Twenty-four hours, Your Highness.”
“Ah,” the emperor sighed, “let’s visit my favorite room—the clone hall.”
Kia wished she could grab Rial and run as far away as possible. She wanted to lie next to him in the night, feel his closeness, his arms embracing her, hear his voice telling her she was safe and he would protect her, no matter what. But this was the underlying reality of his life; every breath he took was on his father’s sufferance. No wonder he worked to overthrow him.
She hardly noticed how many more pristine corridors they walked down, but when they entered the Hall of Clones, she could no longer ignore her surroundings.
Tall silver metal stasis chambers lined each wall of the long room. Each contained a clone of Rial, but these were pale gray imitations in various stages of development and even less like the original than the recently animated version.
Kia shivered.
“What do you think, Rial?” Teyrn waved his hand at the clones.
“How many copies do you have now?” Rial asked.
Kia noticed the slight tremors shaking his body. How long could he hold out before he collapsed?
“One hundred. What do you say to cloning your consort and making each of these a couple?”
Kia stopped breathing.
Rial turned his gaze away from his myriad duplicates and stepped closer to his father. “You are changing the rules?” His trembling had ceased, and he exuded menace as he stared Teyrn down. “That would be a dangerous thing to do.”
Awakening Defiance: (The Saoirse Saga Book 2) Page 13