by J. Naomi Ay
Marik had immediately thought of Hannah. She was one hundred percent Karut as she had descended from one of the original Infidel's dukes. The Karuts ought to look upon that with favor. Maybe they too were getting tired of the de Kudisha's never-ending rule.
Furthermore, she had, albeit briefly, been a princess of the entire realm. It was not too much of a stretch to imagine that again. Hannah might like the opportunity to exact a bit of revenge.
Once Karupatani was settled, the rest of the planets would just fall in line. Of course, none of this could happen until Senya and then, Katie died.
Marik was just about to explain all this to Hannah when her cell rang announcing the patient was aboard and waiting for her.
"Sorry, Captain. Can we talk later?" Hannah jumped up and ran for the door. "I've got to attend to the child who has just arrived."
"Wait," Marik ordered, although he wasn't certain why. Something about Hannah right then had given him pause. She turned and looked at him with her emerald eyes and full red lips. Marik imagined his mouth locked on hers. In fact, he imagined his mouth investigating a whole lot more.
"What is it?" Hannah understood the look that crossed his face. Her heart skipped a beat and her mind raced as she tried to shake away the thought of her and him, and all sorts of wild positions. She loved Lee, and Marik loved Elana, and that was that. There wasn't any more that could happen.
"Nothing." Marik swallowed hard and turned his gaze away, the tension in the room suddenly so thick it could be cut with a knife. "You're dismissed."
Hannah quickly scrambled out the door. As soon as she boarded the lift, she collapsed against the wall.
"Marik," she whispered to herself, running a hand through her dark blonde hair. "Kari-fa, let's not start this now."
But, on the other hand, why the hell not do it? What better way to exact revenge than to screw Shika's hated cousin? As much as she loved Lee, she had to admit, fucking an alien was kind of weird. It would be nice to spend some time with a normal guy.
"Watch this, Sara," Sam was saying.
Hannah entered the bay to discover a young girl perched on a gurney. Her wild blonde curls were flattened against her head and littered with tiny sticks and feathers. A long scratch ran down the side of the girl's face, and there was a deep purple bruise on her forehead. Other than, that she looked in good shape considering she had just survived a spaceplane crash.
Sam was keeping the child occupied by making shadow puppets on the wall. The girl laughed, a joyful tinkling sound erupting from her throat. Hannah smiled too, thinking of her own daughter back home. A surprisingly fierce longing washed over her, nearly bringing her to tears.
"Well," Hannah cried enthusiastically, swallowing her emotions away. "Who did you bring to see me today, Sam?"
"This is Miss Sara." Sam bowed dramatically. "Did you know she's a princess of Karupatani?"
"Really," Hannah feigned a gasp and switched to her own native tongue. She asked the girl about her village, but the girl just shook head, tears threatening at her eyes once again.
"I don't understand what you are saying. I only went there a few times with my dad." Then, she glanced at Sam as if to check for confirmation. Sam, noting the sudden fear that washed across the child's face, climbed upon the gurney and took her in his arms.
"What about Xironia?" Sam asked. "Did you live in a big house there, or did you have a flat in a highrise in the city?"
Hannah listened to their chat while she did a quick examination, confirming her initial supposition that the girl was fine. She dabbed a bit of antiseptic on the scratch and ran a full scan with her handheld unit.
"Why don't you go get something to eat?" Hannah suggested when the unit flashed, and the results scrolled across the tiny screen.
Sam and Sara jumped down from the gurney together, and holding hands, they left the medical bay. Sara was still chatting about her school and friends back on Xironia while Hannah took her probe and went into her office. Without even looking at the DNA, Hannah felt her heart begin to race. This girl who was supposedly half Karupta, half Xironian was registering as entirely something else.
Hannah wasn't sure where to go or what to do with this information. Frankly, it was no one's business but the parents. However, they were both dead and according to the records, the girl was to be delivered to her grandparents' home. But what if, Hannah considered, they weren't her grandparents at all?
Chapter 9
Taner, Duke of Turko, was working in his garden when his granddaughter, Carolie came to fetch him for dinner.
"Ew." Carolie pointed at a snail that was climbing the fence post behind Taner's back.
Being so close to the sea, Taner's garden was always overrun with a host of slimy, furry and winged creatures. Taner never minded any of them. In fact, he developed a strong appreciation for the animals that roamed the vast expanses of his estate. In his retirement, he had acquired a deep rooted communal feeling with nature, despite having been raised in the city.
Considering Taner had spent the majority of his life in the Palace or out in the vast recess of space, Farmer Taner was a surprisingly happy fellow. Taner's favorite part of the day was in the early hours just after dawn when he could sit upon his deck chair and drink his morning coffee.
He would gaze out across his orchards to the western ocean beyond the cliff. On a clear day, even though it was thousands of miles away, Taner believed he could see all the way to Karupatani.
Sometimes in the mornings, Taner would spy the eagles that nested in the tall fir trees bordering his estate. He loved to watch them soar on the wind currents, dipping down to the sea to return only moments later with a fish between their talons. If the fishing was poor, they might go after the ducks, or small animals that roamed his yard. There was one bird in particular that seemed always to be about. Taner watched him with interest recalling another raptor he had known in what seemed like a past life. This eagle was ordinary, though. He wasn't overly large or shiny black. Yet, there was something in the way he hovered over Taner that gave the old man pause.
"Grandpa?"
"Coming."
Taner laboriously pulled himself to his feet and brushed off the knees of his trousers that were caked with the rich maritime soil of Turko. He took off his garden gloves and hung them on the fence rail along with the cap he wore to keep the sun off the back of his head.
Carolie, having done her duty, skipped back up to the house which was a classical manor that Taner had been gifted by the Emperor many years prior. The house, tiny in comparison to the immense Palace of Mishnah, was still far too large for a single man and a small staff.
After the death of his beloved wife, Taner invited her daughter, Joanne, and her family to live there. Now, in his advanced years, without a blood relative of his own, Taner was gifted with a daughter, son-in-law, Sam, and two grandchildren. Often, Sam's uncle, Zem came to stay, as well. Taner enjoyed his company and on a good day, both men kept busy by playing cards or walking about the grounds.
On a bad day, Zem stayed closeted in his room where Joanne tended to his debilities resulting from a spaceplane crash and drowning accident three decades ago.
As Taner approached the house, he wondered how Zem was feeling, and if he'd fancy a bit of pinochle tonight. Alternatively, Taner wouldn't mind a few rounds of chess on the old marble set he had brought from the Palace.
Taner recalled fondly how he had played against the Emperor, always losing, even when the Emperor was still a boy. Only once did Taner remember winning and that was when the boy had been very ill and Taner had been trying to entertain the child whilst he lay in a hospital bed. Senya had half-heartedly moved pieces, making an effort for Taner's benefit, but not really paying much attention to the game.
Taner mounted the stone staircase that lead up to the mud room in order to dispose of his dirty work boots before he made tracks across the floor. He hung his jacket on a peg, reaching into the pocket to extract his cell before realizing he had l
eft it on his bed stand that morning.
No worries, Taner thought, as he never received any important calls. The only ones who rang him these days were either soliciting, or some old pal wanting to chat. His days of managing the Emperor had ended a decade ago.
"Dinner!" Joanne yelled, so Taner quickly washed his face and hands. He combed his thin gray hair and scratched at his beard. He considered he had grown quite old, but overall, he was in excellent health. His heart was stronger now than it had been in his middle age.
Of course, that had been due to the Emperor, Taner thought, as he seated himself at the dinner table. More than twenty years had passed since Senya had put his hand on Taner's heart and cured him of his coronary artery disease.
Taner reached for the carving knife and sliced off a section of the roasted bird. He put some on Carolie's plate and some on Rory's.
"Are you eating tonight, Zem?" Taner asked the old Talasian who smiled as he rocked in his chair.
"Okay," Zem replied. "I love food."
Carolie and Rory giggled, prompting even more rocking from Zem.
"That's enough, children," Joanne snapped, but Taner winked.
"We all love food, old man," Taner replied, "Especially, Rory who will eat anything as long as he can put cinnamon on it."
"And chocolate," Rory added.
After dinner, Taner wandered up to his room. Zem was in no condition to play anything and Taner was tired from working in his garden. Finding the cell on his bed stand, Taner glanced at the screen, fully expecting no missed calls or messages of any sort.
He was surprised to discover that there was an abundance of messages and twenty-seven missed calls all from the Palace area code. His first thought went to Berkan, as the lad's health had declined in recent years. Despite this, he maintained a full schedule, refusing to relinquish the reins as Imperial Chief of Staff.
However, the messages had come from Kinar. Taner's hand began to shake as he rang back. The only reason Kinar would have ever contacted him was if something had happened to Senya. That was absurd, Taner assured himself. Senya was invincible.
"Oh Taner, finally." Kinar greeted Taner with an exasperated breath, holding his hand over the cell as he moved into what appeared to be a closet. Once the door was safely shut although Kinar's face was hidden in the dark, without preamble or prelude, he began to relate what had happened.
"But, I don't understand," Taner protested. "Is it his heart, his brain, his what?"
"We don't know," Kinar shrieked in a stage whisper. "Everything appears to be fine, but he's not there. It's as if no one is home."
Taner arose from the bed, upon which he had been reclining, and began to pace the room, wracking his old brain for memories of when this had happened before.
"Now, now, Kinar," Taner said calmly, his advanced age giving him the benefit or rather inability to react quickly. "Perhaps, he just needs to hibernate for a while. What does Madame say to all this?"
"She has gone quite mad, Taner. She has refused to leave his side, even for a few moments. Just this yesterday, she was claiming that Berkan and even, Shika intend to kill HIM. She is sleeping there with HIM, and her guns are at the ready. The doctors and nurses are afraid to enter, lest they be shot."
"Oh dear," Taner muttered. "Blessed Saint. And, how do Berkan and Shika respond to this allegation?"
"Shika waxes prolifically with declarations of love for his dear father while Berkan questions Madame's sanity. In the meantime, both gentlemen have taken to sitting in HIM's office, each one insisting they are responsible for the Imperial Work. Several times today, Lords Eberly, Garing, and I have had to go in there and pull the two men apart. They fight over every tiny detail, every writ that needs to be signed, and who might listen or attend every meeting."
"Well, what do the Imperial Articles of Operation say in regards to a situation like this? If I recall correctly, Madame is appointed Regent."
"Indeed, you are correct, Lord Taner," Kinar whispered, still in the closet. "However, Madame has no interest in anything but the Emperor's health. She has told every one of us to fuck off, as it were. Both gentlemen think this is an abdication of duties upon her part, which means they are each entitled to step in. We are having a real Constitutional crises, but that's only half of it. Are you sitting down, Taner? If not, you had better, as I am afraid it is getting worse."
Taner stopped his pacing and waited expectantly.
"It is regarding Captain Marik Korelesk," Kinar began again. "My son, Kiman has informed me that the Captain is scheduling meetings with the other captains of the ships in the SpaceNavy. Kiman believes…"
"What?" Taner interrupted.
"The Korelesks are courting them. They mean to launch a coup d'état and if unsuccessful, a full out revolution to take control."
"Arrest them," Taner demanded, nearly tossing the cell against the wall. "That's outrageous. Arrest and charge them with treason!"
"Who is to do it, Taner? Not I. I am merely a secretary, although I was upped. Berkan is the highest ranking duke in the entire Empire."
"Except for me." Taner realized as he spoke the words. Indeed, if there was to be a revolution by the Korelesks, only he, the Duke of Turko would have the power to stop it. "I must come to Mishnah immediately."
"Yes, yes, Taner, please come. We desperately need you here to save the Empire. You must talk some sense into Madame, and disarm her. Between the two of you, you might be able to hold on to the status quo until HIM wakes up. That is if he wakes up."
"Oh, he shall," Taner grumbled, fetching his overnight bag and kit. "That I should have to come there at my advanced age to slap some sense into that lad once again, galls me to no end, let me tell you. He will wake up, I guarantee. As for Berkan and his brood, I shall put them in their place, as well."
Kinar sighed with relief as he rang off. The bloody closet was terribly hot, and he was dripping with sweat. Outside, he could hear Shika and Berkan arguing as they passed into the Emperor's vacant office. Kinar chose to stay where he was, concealed from their wrath and suspicions, even though he was on the verge of passing out.
In the meantime, Taner was ready to depart rather quickly. Although he was no longer Lord Chamberlain, as Duke of Turko, he retained an apartment at the Palace of Mishnah. He rang his personal servant and requested a limo readied, before trotting downstairs to inform Joanne of his imminent departure.
Joanne was lying on the sofa in the drawing room. She had her tablet on her lap and was reading the tabloid news. Zem was sitting at the small table dealing out a deck of cards.
"Taner," he cried. "You've arrived just in time to play."
"Sorry, old man, I'm about to go." Taner was pleased that Zem had recovered so quickly. Sometimes, his infirmities lasted for days, whilst others disappeared within hours. "I'm off to Mishnah, a bit of bad business going on there."
"Really?" Joanne looked up. "Anything important?"
"No." Taner lied, "Just something that requires my attention."
"I'd like to come." Zem rose from the table and straightened his trousers. "I love going to Mishnah. Will we stay in the Palace?"
"Now, Uncle Zem," Joanne scolded. "Don't you impose yourself on Taner. He's going to be busy and have no time to look after you."
"I won't be a bother." Zem fetched his coat. "Come on, Your Lordship. How about if I drive?"
"Zem!"
"It's alright, Joanne. I shall welcome his company." Taner wasn't sure taking Zem along was the correct choice, but, on the other hand, he might be useful when it came to confronting the Empress. "As long as you bring your medicine, Zem, and you must not forget to take it."
"I swear!" Zem jumped up and down excitedly. "Is there a chance, I'll get to see Captain Katie?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I suspect you shall." Taner gave Joanne a kiss on the top of her head before fetching his own coat and heading to the door. "Your captain needs you now, old man. Strap yourself in. We're going for a ride."
Taner and
Zem lifted off from the driveway of the estate and soared out into the star filled sky above Turko. As Taner gazed out the window at his beloved home, he thought he saw a flash of something at the very top of an ancient fir tree. Taner pressed his face to the window of the limo, his old eyes doing their best to focus on the long distance in the dark. It looked like a large bird. Indeed, it was an eagle.
"Get back to work, Senya," Taner muttered under his breath. "I'm far too old to come to your rescue every time."
"What did you say, Taner?" Zem asked, watching the ocean as the soared into the night.
"Nothing," Taner replied. "Nothing at all."
Chapter 10
Angelica Korelesk thought she might be pregnant. She was three weeks late in her cycle without a spot. It could have been the rockstar boy, although he had said he had taken a pill. That meant, it might have been his brother, whatever his name was.
Angelica had never taken any pills herself. She was only fifteen, and this was like, what? Maybe, her fourth time? Actually, it was only her third, but once she had more than halfway done it and so she counted that because four sounded more sophisticated than three.
Now, what to do if she was, in fact, knocked up? Her mother might be cool with it, but her father would probably want to kill someone. Her grandparents, on the other hand, might want to kill her. That would be the only thing they would ever agree on since the Cyganians and the Korelesks never got along.
There was nothing wrong with being pregnant, Angelica decided. After all, it wasn't like she'd have to stay home and take care of the brat. Angelica was a princess with a whole bunch of servants to do things like that.
Actually, Angelica only had one maid who worked part time. Even though, the Korelesks were super rich, Crown Princess Elana was super cheap. Their house was extremely cold, and their speeder was several years out of date. Besides that, Elana never ever spent enough money on her clothes and hair.