Kristar (Bookstrand Publishing Romance)
Page 1
Kristar
Chigaru is captain of the guard and he loves his queen more than he should. He is loyal to the royal family but knows his desire for one he cannot have is an issue. He needs a woman who will distract him before he commits treason.
Kitty is a classically trained dancer turned stripper. Her life is perfect except for the shadows of her past catching up with her. She needs to get away before she becomes a prisoner of her destiny.
Five years ago, Silny enacted a plan to regain her lost memories. The last piece of the puzzle is Kitty, and Chigaru is the only one who can cross dimensions to retrieve her. Kitty is not right for his world. Chigaru is not what she expected. They are soul mates, but knowing that might not be enough to overlook their pasts for a future together.
Note: This book contains adult language used as profanity.
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy
Length: 81,441 words
KRISTAR
D. Reneé Bagby
ROMANCE
www.BookStrand.com
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A SIREN-BOOKSTRAND TITLE
IMPRINT: Romance
KRISTAR
Copyright © 2013 by D. Reneé Bagby
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-834-9
First E-book Publication: December 2013
Cover design by Anne Cain
All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
www.BookStrand.com
DEDICATION
To all the fans of Serenity, thanks for all the patience and prodding. Chigaru’s story is finally here. I hope you enjoy reading Kristar as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
About the Author
KRISTAR
D. RENEÉ BAGBY
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
Five Years Ago – Night Creature Forest
Blue liquid plus red power equaled black flames that spread quickly, burning everything it touched to ash, flammable or not.
Silny blew through her workshop like a hurricane. She upended tables, shattered every glass product within her reach, and shredded every book. None of it made her feel better.
Trent yelled, “Stop this, Silny!”
She ignored him as she threw a giant quartz globe at a cabinet full of bottled powders and liquids. The resulting rainbow of color helped the black flames spread faster and burn hotter.
Trent grabbed Silny’s wrists, forcing her to face him. She struggled against his hold, but he was stronger. Silny sometimes forgot that, even though she was taller.
He said in a low, soothing tone, “Enough, my love. This madness serves no purpose.”
“How am I to end the curse on myself when nothing around me gives me answers?”
“You will find a way.”
“My way resides in the mind of a female who exists in another reality, on another Gezane. I cannot cross the threshold of dimensions. I cannot.”
She stopped struggling. Hopeless tears tracked down her cheeks and she slumped into Trent. He closed his arms around her in a comforting embrace she returned.
Trent said, “Let the curse remain, Silny.”
“Never. I must know. I must.”
“The curse was placed on you for a reason. Only pain can result from breaking it.”
Silny jerked away and paced around the room. The black flames kept her from going far. In another few minutes, the whole room would be a giant fireball. She didn’t care. Let it burn. Nothing in the room had helped her.
Trent walked over to the one surviving glass jar of Silny’s tantrum—the proof she wasn’t incoherent in her rage. The white powder of restoration being unharmed meant she could still be reasoned with.
He opened the jar, scooped out a handful of powder, and then returned to Silny. Holding out the powder to her, he said softly, “If you wish the curse broken so badly, my love, you will find a way. I will not stop you. Know I won’t shield you either.”
Silny cupped her hands and held them in front of her. Trent let the powder sift through his fingers. He stepped into her, cupped the back of her head, and urged her to bend to him so his lips could brush hers.
The tiny kiss and Trent’s show of love and understanding calmed Silny like nothing else. She smiled at her husband then mouthed a thank you after he stepped back.
“Shall I send dinner to you or will you join me in the dining hall this night?”
“I will come down to dinner.”
“Thank you.” He kissed her lips once more. “I shall see you there.” He exited the workshop and closed the door after him.
Silny faced her mess. Black fire engulfed the entire room. Only the spot where she stood and the path to the door remained untouched.
She looked down at the white powder she held. With a sigh of resignation, she lifted her hands in front of her lips and blew. The white powder spread in the air, blanketing the room. Everything the white powder touched extinguished and started mending. The tables and cabinets righted themselves, broken glass melted together and reformed its original shape, and containers jumped onto their respective shelves with their contents following after to be stored once more.
The last thing to be fixed was the last thing Silny broke—the giant quartz globe. The seams fused as though it had never been shattered. The globe bounced into the air and hurtled across the room, planting itself directly in front of Silny.
She blinked at it, not knowing why it reacted this way when she hadn’t cast a spell beyond the restoration powder.
The globe glowed and showed a burnt-orange bhresya male. He spoke to someone outside the globe’s sight. Silny guessed the indi
vidual was much smaller than the male based on the angle of his gaze.
“Why are you showing me this?” She touched the globe and the glow intensified. The image inside changed to a human female. She danced on a stage before a large seated audience. Silny knew the girl.
“She is the one from my dreams, the one who eludes me. Why do you show me her?”
The image of the female became smaller and the image of the bhresya male appeared next to her with a silver cord stretched between them. The sight made Silny stumble and cover her mouth as she stared in shock. “It can’t be.”
She reached for the globe but stopped shy of touching it, not wanting to disrupt the spell with her turbulent emotions. Laughter passed her lips, low at first and then loud and triumphant. Her anguish had enacted a spell that found her solution.
“I have only to get this male to that female and then he will bring her here. She will give me what I need to break my curse.”
The image of the male expanded and filled the globe. As it did, the person to whom the male spoke came into view. It was another human female. She wore the crown of the bhresya queen. A red cord stretched between the two.
Silny screamed, “Why do you show me the solution only to take it away from me? I cannot—”
Her tirade ended when the globe showed a third male entering the conversation. Silny recognized Melchior, king of the bhresyas of Nexeu. She heard he had married a human female to solidify the peace between bhresyas and humans. A silver cord stretched from Melchior to his queen, but Melchior acted distant from her, which seemed to upset the female.
“Why does he deny the cord?” Silny whispered. “If he were to accept their relationship, then the red cord of love would entwine with the silver cord of fate. This other male would be left and I could approach him to retrieve his own true mate and thus break my curse.”
She stared at the three for a long while. No solution presented itself. So long as Melchior denied his true relationship with his queen, her love would remain with the other male.
Silny yelled, “Show me something useful!”
The globe bobbed and the picture changed to a human male. His right arm was in a sling. He spoke to another human male and a red bhresya male who had one missing horn. The first human male spoke in an angry manner, gesturing ever so often to his broken arm.
Silny stared at the exchange. Her ability to read their lips meant the lack of sound didn’t bother her. All three males wanted the bhresya queen dead. A thwarted desire because her guards accompanied her day and night, especially when she left the palace.
The broken-armed male wanted the queen to suffer, but the time required for the amount of pain he wished to inflict upon her was much more than the time it would take Melchior and his guards to track down the queen once she was taken.
An unladylike snort left Silny’s lips. “Is that your only worry?” She placed her finger against the globe above the forehead of the male. She whispered, “Come seek me in the Night Creature Forest, little displaced prince. I will help you, and you will help me.”
He would hear her words as a whispered suggestion most humans mistakenly called inspiration. As such, he would think he had conceived the plan. Silny only had to wait for him to come to her. She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. The globe blanked, returning to its original purple color, before it floated away to return to its rightful place on a pedestal in the middle of the room.
Silny exited her workroom with a new spring in her step. She was the happiest she had been in decades, maybe centuries. At long last the curse would be at an end. Once all the players entered her game, she could set herself free.
* * * *
Present – Nexeu
Chigaru smiled at the sight of his king and queen. Melchior sat at his desk surrounded by his advisors, who awaited his judgments on matters of state. Serenity sat on Melchior’s lap. She had one of her breasts bared so she could feed Nilam, her and Melchior’s daughter and the heir to the Nexeu throne. Mother and father enjoyed the act of nourishing their first and only child.
The wholesome sight didn’t bring happiness to all who beheld it. Chigaru cast his gaze around the room. None would harm the royal family but Chigaru still perceived each person as a threat so long as they showed irritation about Nilam’s lunch arrangements.
Serenity insisted Melchior be a part of every feeding. She sought him out no matter where he was. If Melchior happened to be in the throne room surrounded by his advisors and nobles addressing matters of state, then Serenity fed her child there. She didn’t care if others found the sight of her breastfeeding scandalizing or her interruptions annoying. Melchior didn’t call a stop to it, which meant no one else could complain.
The nobles had to be happy it would end soon. Nilam was four and the feedings happened less and less. Serenity prolonged them. She didn’t want to give up the closeness she shared with her child and husband, but she knew Nilam’s dependency on her for nourishment had ended long ago.
Chigaru had suggested she have another child. The words had tasted bitter as they left his mouth, but he’d said them. Before Nilam, Chigaru had thought Serenity would be his. She had married Melchior to ensure the peace between bhresyas and humans, but her heart had belonged to Chigaru. He hadn’t minded the idea of being a lover. Royals were not expected to be faithful, especially in political marriages.
His assumption had been a mistake. Serenity loved her husband with her whole being. They were a true mated pair—two souls meant to be together. Serenity and Melchior’s marriage had started out rough but Serenity’s near assassination had opened Melchior’s eyes to his true feelings for his wife.
Once reunited, Melchior had declared Serenity a true bhresya queen. The announcement had had a mixed reception, as they all had known it would. Some still grumbled about having a human for a queen and a half-breed as heir to the throne and future regent, but no one acted on the emotions. None would so long as the Hell Hounds—personal royal guards to Serenity and Nilam—stood in the way.
Chigaru clutched at the air where his right arm should be. His motion made Erezion, a fellow Hell Hound, glance in his direction. The younger male had a question in his eyes that Chigaru silenced with a glare and a soft grunt. Erezion returned to scanning the room for potential threats, as he should be. Chigaru didn’t want the male fretting over him like so many others.
He had lost the arm the day Serenity was almost killed. Chigaru had been overpowered, severely beaten, and had his arm ripped off as he lay bound on the floor, helpless to aid his queen as their assailants beat her as well. For his failure, he should have been stripped of his title and cast out of the royal employ. Many called for such a punishment, but Serenity wouldn’t hear of it. Only Melchior’s agreement that Chigaru retain his position quieted all naysayers.
The loss of Chigaru’s arm hadn’t impeded his ability to act as captain of the Hell Hounds. A few of the royal guards, who now professed loyalty to Serenity and hoped to gain positions as Hell Hounds, thought Chigaru remained captain because he held Serenity’s favor. Those who had challenged him, found out otherwise.
He rested his hand on the hilt of the sword strapped sideways across his back at his waist. He hated the weapon. He hated all weapons. They slowed him down. Or they used to slow him down. Until the loss of his arm, he’d never had to use one. He had been deadly with his bare hands. But remaining leader of the Hell Hounds meant proving himself the strongest fighter. Thanks to the weapon on his back, he remained such.
“The room will come to order,” Melchior called.
Chigaru snapped out of his inner musings to focus on his duty. Serenity set Nilam on the ground before resituating her dress so it covered her. After leaning over to kiss Melchior’s cheek, she started to edge off his leg. Melchior pulled her back and whispered in her ear. Whatever he said set Serenity giggling as she played at getting away from the kisses he planted on her neck and shoulders.
Serenity said between her laughter, “Yes, my king. Yes
. Enough.”
Melchior laid one last kiss against her lips and then released her. “I shall see you then, Serenity.”
“Me too,” Nilam said loudly, showing both her parents an annoyed expression. “See me, too, papa.” She balled her fists into her sides.
“Yes, my princess. I shall see you later, as well, though not in the way I plan to see your mother.” Melchior patted his daughter’s head.
“Is it mama and papa stuff?”
“Yes.”
“Ew.” Nilam pushed his hand away. “Never mind.”
Melchior chuckled and forced another head pat on his daughter, ruffling her blue hair that matched his skin so well. He hooked one of his fingers around her short blue horns and used them to wiggle her head side to side.
“Papa, quit it. I don’t wanna shake my head.”
Though she protested, Nilam soon giggled like her mother. Only then did Melchior stop. He leaned forward and gave her loud kiss on her forehead. “I shall see you later, my princess.”
“Yes, my king.” Nilam curtsied, or tried to curtsy. She bent her knees and squatted a little before straightening. Considering she used to jump in place, thinking that was what a curtsy should be, it was an improvement.
Serenity smiled down at her daughter with a mother’s love, making her normal visage look more ethereal and beautiful. The sight caused Chigaru’s chest to ache. Serenity’s happiness was his happiness, but her expressions of love only extended to her daughter and husband now. Whatever love she had once felt for Chigaru had changed to the love shared between close family, not of lovers as he’d hoped it would remain.
He meant no disrespect to his king and knew Melchior had more right to Serenity’s love than Chigaru. That didn’t make the jealousy gnawing at Chigaru’s insides any less painful.