Her eyes flooded him with love and he couldn't resist. He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately.
"It was high time," Arco commented when they told him. "I've just come back from the chalet, Wanda and Moreno are in love too."
"Why did you go to the chalet during the week?" Vorus inquired with a frown.
"I wanted to be on my own," Arco answered vaguely. "Should I start getting ready for a double wedding next spring?"
"We'll see," Vorus said. "What's wrong, Arco? You fought with Lorinda?"
"Fought?" Arco said, thoughtful. "No, not really. It's just that... I changed, she didn't. She's still the spoiled only child everybody loves to hate."
"You can help her change," Vorus replied.
"True." Arco smiled. "But I'm twenty, so I'm not getting married anytime soon, got it?"
***
After the double wedding and a brief honeymoon on Marc'harid – where Lyssa and her boyfriend Yoshio taught Wanda some mind tricks they'd learned from the Sire – Wanda and Moreno settled back on Vilas Lok. As a wedding gift, Vorus had bought her a house outside of town, bigger and more modern than the chalet. It had two bedrooms – in case they wanted children – a real kitchen – in case she wanted to try cooking – and a decent-sized living room where she could invite a few friends or simply curl up on the couch with her husband to watch a movie.
Moreno's seizures were almost gone, and Wanda knew how to help him. Yoshio's advice had been particularly helpful, since he was a telepath but also had some mind controlling abilities very similar to the Sire's. Thus she'd found a way to use her mind to heal him, slowly erasing the worst memories or making them fade away in the background.
Now that he was not obsessed with his past, he proved very eager to learn even more and had a very rich voice.
"You should be a singer," she teased him. "Much like my past idol, Zaphadin."
Moreno stared at her, puzzled, having never heard of the King of Music before. He enjoyed singing, though, and as he caught up with his education, he sang more and more often during the day.
Some nights were still nightmarish, though.
"When will you rid yourself of this obsession?" Wanda chided. She couldn't tamper with his mind too much – she wasn't a Sire, she had never been trained to use her psionics – and she hoped eventually he would overcome his trauma on his own.
"Maybe the day I'll confront and kill the black shadow," he answered, serious.
***
Summer was back and the sun shone on the white house with its well-tended garden. Wanda was pregnant and was ready to go back to town to give birth. Moreno took care of the garden, the house and his wife, still studying whenever he had time. He wasn't going to earn a degree anytime soon, but he already had a full primary education and was almost done with the secondary.
One fine morning, Wanda, seated on the porch reading a book, saw someone reaching their gate.
"Moreno," she called, not recognizing the unusual visitor.
The young man joined her and followed her gaze. His smile vanished and color flushed out of his cheeks. No black cloak, no mask, but the way the man carried himself was the same and Moreno knew that man walking towards them with a propitiatory smile was the black shadow himself.
"Go inside," he ordered bluntly.
Wanda obeyed a little worried. She grabbed the phone and stayed at the window to watch, ready to call for help.
The man had stopped a few paces from the porch.
"Hello," he greeted. "I'm afraid I got lost."
"To go back to town it's down there," Moreno answered, hostile.
"Ah, thank you. God, it's hot today! May I have some water, please?"
"One moment."
Moreno entered the house and went rummaging in a wardrobe, pulling out a weapon Wanda had never noticed before – a chain with two iron bars at both ends.
"Moreno!" she whispered, shocked. "What..."
"I knew he'd come," he replied, determined. "I'm ready to fight him. Don't move."
He went back outside, holding the bars. She followed him, worried.
"Hey, friend, I'm just thirsty," the visitor protested. Wanda saw satisfaction in his mind, though.
"Stop pretending," Moreno said. "I know who you are. With or without the mask, I'd recognize you anywhere."
The other burst out laughing.
"My goodness, asshole, you've smartened up!" he said. "You knew I'd look you up?"
"I felt it," Moreno said, gloomy. "I know Wegans never free their slaves."
Argon Vanasha tortured his rebel slave personally! Wanda couldn't believe her eyes. She glanced at Moreno, fearful he could break down any minute, but he felt stable.
"Your man seems certain he's going to win," the Wegan said. "Maybe he forgot he's a slave and a loser."
"Fighting for your pleasure isn't to my taste, but fighting for my freedom and happiness... that's something else. I won't hold back, Black Shadow. I'm challenging you."
"Excellent." The man licked his lips in anticipation. "My name is Argon Vanasha and I still own you." He dropped his travel bag and pulled out an electrified whip. "It will be a pleasure killing you in front of your bitch, slave."
"Wait, you can't!" Wanda protested. "Moreno is my husband, I'll have you arrested..."
"Wanda, go inside," Moreno ordered again.
"But..."
He turned to look at her. Trust me. She gave up but went back to the window, again ready to call for help or record the murder of her husband.
"Excuse her." Moreno went down the porch's steps to meet his ex-master who backed up with a smirk. Seen under the daylight, he wasn't young anymore, but his muscles proved he was still exercising a lot and probably won a few fights still.
"What happened to Keno?" Moreno asked, letting go of one iron bar that dangled at the other end of the chain, brushing his leg.
"I found him and I killed him, of course. Like I'm going to do with you."
Moreno scoffed. "We'll see." He wasn't intimidated and he attacked.
Hatred, anger, revenge, all channeled into a silent fury that had gathered within him for months. The memory of past humiliations and abuses fueled his rage, making him insensitive to physical pain.
The black shadow fell, panting, face down. Moreno put his foot on the head of the fallen master, like his tormenter had done so often in the slaves' prisons.
"The situation is kind of opposite of what it used to be, don't you think?" Moreno said, sarcastic.
Roaring with anger, Argon Vanasha freed himself and they started wrestling on the freshly-mown grass. Moreno grabbed his weapon and tightened the chain around the neck of his adversary, pulling with all his might. He knew that was the only way to free himself from his nightmare – destroying the black shadow with his own hands and in full daylight. He'd always known it would happen and had exercised in secret, getting ready for that final confrontation.
"Moreno, let him go, he's dead!"
Wanda's voice startled him and he let go, still breathless and a little dazed. She hugged him and burst into sobs and he sighed in relief, holding her tight.
"It's over, beloved, don't worry," he whispered.
"I was so scared," she said through tears.
He smiled and dried her cheeks with his thumbs.
"I wasn't," he said. "If I were, I'd have lost. But I couldn't lose. Not this time."
He put one hand on her round belly, trying to feel the baby inside, then helped her to her feet. One last glimpse to what was left of the black shadow, then he turned his back to the past.
The black shadow had been defeated. The shadow of the cruel master who didn't want to show his face, of a merciless jailor, of rape and abuse during the worst slavery dissolved under the sun, leaving only a vague memory in the mind of the young man who had suffered wrongly.
The black shadow was destroyed. Moreno could start living.
Author's note
Mayumi's story is told both in Star Minds Next Generati
on and SMNG Diaries. The latter has also the story of the end of SETH World. Her cousin Yoshio is the artist who makes Kay-low's tattoos (Kay-low's story is available as single and in Star Minds Chasing Stardom).
Yashvardhan Samara is mentioned fleetingly in King of Music – Zaphadin, also available in Star Minds Chasing Stardom. The story of Hiram and Keith with Master Jacek is in Galaxy Police, which is available both in SMS – Women and Star Minds Snippets.
***
Acknowledgments
Runaway and Psychometrist
Betas (for previous forms of the stories) B-Abby , Fulvio G, Elizabeth C, Camila and Lissa.
everything else
Beta-reader B-Abby and Editor Zoe Markham.
***
About the Author
Barbara G.Tarn had an intense life in the Middle Ages that stuck to her through the centuries. She prefers swords to guns, long gowns to mini-skirts, and even though she buried the warrior woman, she deplores the death of knights in shining chainmail. She likes to think her condo apartment is a medieval castle, unfortunately lacking a dungeon to throw noisy neighbors and naughty colleagues in. Also known as the Lady with the Unicorns, these days she prefers to add a touch of fantasy to all her stories, past and present – when she’s not wandering on her fantasy world of Silvery Earth or in her science fantasy Star Minds Universe. She dabbles into historical fantasy with her Vampires Through the Centuries series and has started post-apocalyptic/steampunk series called Future Earth Chronicles. She’s a writer, sometimes artist, mostly a world-creator and story-teller. Two of her stories received an Honorable Mention at the Writers of the Future contest and one was published in Pulphouse Magazine #5 (March 2019). She writes, draws, ignores her day job and blogs at: http://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com.
For more info on the series or other titles go to Unicorn Productions.
If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on your retailer of choice, thank you.
Did you love Star Minds Interregnum? Then you should read Star Minds Next Generation Diaries by Barbara G.Tarn!
The companion of the next generation novel with the story of how Shan-leo lost his arm, the diaries of Mayumi, Wim, Hiro and T'ymi'chel (or the novel seen from other points of view), and then Dadina five years later. Cover story: S.E.T.H. or Izzy-lee's quest to recover her beloved.
Read more at Barbara G.Tarn’s site.
Also by Barbara G.Tarn
Future Earth Chronicles
Brainwaves (Future Earth Chronicles Book 1)
Wanderlust (Future Earth Chronicles Book 2)
Across Continents (Future Earth Chronicles Book 3)
Himalayas (Future Earth Chronicles Book 4)
Airships (Future Earth Chronicles Book 5)
Silvery Earth
Books of the Immortals - Air
Books of the Immortals - Earth
Books of the Immortals - Ether
Books of the Immortals - Fire
Books of the Immortals - Water
Chronicles of the Varian Empire - Volume 1
Chronicles of the Varian Empire - Volume 2
Chronicles of the Varian Empire - Volume 3
Male Lovers of Silvery Earth
Amazon Spring
Amazon Summer
Books of the Immortals
The Hooded Man
Kilig & Hakeem
Saif & Kilig
Kilig the Sword
The Young King
Firebird
Beautiful
Amazon Fall
The Path of Water (Quests Book 1)
The Path of Fire (Quests Book 2)
Tales of the Northern Kingdoms volume 1
Tales of the Northern Kingdoms volume 2
Male Lovers of Silvery Earth Volume 2
Fairy Tales Revisited on Silvery Earth
Tales of the Queendom of Maadre
More Tales of the Southern Kingdoms (One Volume Edition)
Tales of the Southern Kingdoms (One Volume Edition)
The Path of Air (Quests Book 3)
Quests Volume One: The Paths of Water and Air
The Path of Earth (Quests Book 4)
Quests Volume Two: The Paths of Fire and Earth
Talwar and Khanda - Assassins in Love
Saif's Story
Honorable Assassins
Axelle, Wanderer (Silvery Earth Heroines)
The Complete Chronicles of the Varian Empire Box Set
Assassins Guild of Silvery Earth Box Set
Fall of the Southern Kingdoms
Angelica, Scholar (Silvery Earth Heroines)
Two Stories of the Varian Empire
Male Lovers of Silvery Earth Volume 3
The Sun Sword (Legends of the Moren Empire Volume 1)
Quests Box Set
Star Minds Italiano
Angelo Tecnologico (Star Minds #1)
Mercanti di Schiavi (Star Minds #3)
Star Minds - la trilogia
Stella Cadente
Legame Mentale (Star Minds #2)
Star Minds Frammenti - Donne
Star Minds Frammenti
Star Minds Universe
Star Minds - The Trilogy
Star Minds Snippets
Star Minds Next Generation
Star Minds Next Generation Diaries
Star Minds Chasing Stardom
Star Minds Interregnum
Star Minds Third Generation Snippets
Star Minds Starter
Adventurer (Star Minds Lone Wolves)
Pilot (Star Minds Lone Wolves)
Hacker (Star Minds Lone Wolves)
Thief (Star Minds Lone Wolves)
Mercenary (Star Minds Lone Wolves)
Freelance (Star Minds Lone Wolves)
Star Minds Lone Wolves Shorts
Star Minds Lone Wolves Team - Missions 1-5
Star Minds Lone Wolves Team - Missions 6-10
Star Minds Lone Wolves Team - Missions 11-15
Star Minds Lone Wolves Team - Missions 16-20
Star Minds Lone Wolves Team - Missions 21-25
Star Minds Lone Wolves Team - Missions 26-29
Rogue (Star Minds Lone Wolves)
Terra d'Argento in italiano
Amori Maschili a Terra d'Argento
L'eredità di Saif
Smeraldo e Kyrio
Il giovane re
Saif e Kilig
Vampires Through the Centuries
Charioteer of Buddha
Indestructible
Kaylyn the Sister-in-Darkness
Kristine the Youngest
Norman Blood
Rajveer the Vampire
Shashank the Fledgling
Vampires Through the Centuries Novellas
Standalone
Johnny & Marian
Six Months and Other Love Stories
Best of Friends
Ciaran & Harith
Happiness is...
Choices, Changes and Other Stories
Pat & Babs
Body Switches
Yash and Ryo Lost in the Milky Way
Today People
Soul Thieves
The Fern and The Cross
Otherside
Joint Operations
Relationships (5 Short Stories of Love and Friendship)
Mumbai Dreams
Watch for more at Barbara G.Tarn’s site.
); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
Star Minds Interregnum Page 21