“He owes it to us. If he’s not going to show us his family’s bedrooms, then at least we should check out how he lives. Come on.” Tgfhi stepped into Charlie’s living room and gagged. It smelled so much of Tgarus weed that he thought he might get high from breathing the air.
“Gods!” Latsoh exclaimed behind him. The room was filled with a hazy smoke. Several cigarettes had been left burning in various ashtrays around the room and there were cups and bottles of various alcohols scattered everywhere. The wood on the top of the bar to their right was warped, probably from Charlie spilling too many drinks on it and never cleaning them up. There were cigarette holes in the upholstery of a few of his chairs and burn marks on the dark brown rug, which might’ve been beige at one point.
“Unbelievable,” Crystam said, holding her nose. She glanced to the left towards Charlie’s bathroom. There was clothing all over the floor and his sink was running. “Is he even related to Rhen?” she asked, while walking over to turn off his sink.
Ceceta laughed. “Perhaps not.” She picked up a soiled rag from the back of a wooden chair and dropped it, when she realized it was Charlie’s underwear.
“Why doesn’t the palace’s staff clean his room?” Erfce asked.
“He doesn’t let them in here,” Ceceta explained. “He told Rhen that once. It’s his own private retreat and no one’s allowed in.” Ceceta knew Charlie was a slob, because he always left a mess when he visited their apartment at the University, but this was beyond anything she’d ever imagined.
“He’s such an idiot,” Latsoh mumbled.
“I don’t need a picture of this,” Crystam told them, the back of her hand pushed against her nostrils as she turned towards the door. “It’d give me nightmares.”
Tgfhi wondered if Charlie had failed to meet up with them because he’d fallen asleep, so he walked over to the right side of the room and opened Charlie’s bedroom door to check. “Um, Crystam,” he said. “You might want to take a picture of this.”
Crystam and her friends walked over to check out Charlie’s bedroom. The room was immaculate. They could tell no smoke or alcohol had ever passed through the doorway. Charlie’s bed was made with a dark brown comforter and brown throw pillows. The white walls were pristine and decorated with rare portraits of all the Genister Gods. On the bureau and tables in the room were stone tablets with Genister writing on them as well as other Genister artifacts. There was even a gold box that looked like an imitation Genister Magic Box sitting on his night table. The brown rug on the floor had recently been vacuumed and the windows were clearly washed regularly.
“You think he cleans it himself?” Erfce asked.
“Amazing,” Crystam said. “What a difference between the two rooms. It’s like two totally different people live here.”
“Or a psychopath,” Tgfhi mumbled. Crystam hit him on the arm and he laughed. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I don’t want Charlie to know we found his secret stash of treasures.”
Tgfhi went to pull the door closed, but Latsoh wouldn’t move. He banged the wooden door into her shoe twice, teasingly, but she didn’t react.
“What is it?” Erfce asked by her side.
Latsoh lifted her finger to point at the portraits that hung on the side of the window. There, tucked slightly behind brown curtains, was the portrait of Thamber that she’d shown Crystam and Tgfhi earlier.
“Is that your picture?” Erfce asked her.
“You know about that?” Tgfhi asked.
“Of course I know about that,” Erfce snapped. He knew everything about Latsoh, but he wasn’t going to add that fact.
Ceceta stepped into the doorway to look at the picture Latsoh was pointing at and nearly had a heart attack. She’d never seen a more accurate portrait of the Genister God Thamber. The Genisters didn’t want the mortals to know what they really looked like, so they’d altered every painting and sculpture that had ever been done of them. Thellis had told her that they’d done it so they could remain anonymous when they re-lived their lives, but the picture that Latsoh was pointing at looked exactly like Thamber, only now she had short hair.
“That’s an… interesting portrait,” Ceceta remarked hesitantly.
“We’ve had it in our Castle for thousands of years. I know Thamber doesn’t look like that in other pictures, but I like this portrait of her,” Latsoh explained. She stepped forward to go to it but stopped short when Erfce grabbed her arm. “I can’t believe he bought it,” she whispered, staring down into Erfce’s large brown eyes. “Charlie has my picture.”
“I know. Isn’t that fantastic? Now that we know where it is, we can get it back from him,” Erfce told her.
“How?” Latsoh asked. “He paid a fortune for it.” She pointed at the wall to their left. “He even has my brother Aaron’s portrait of Thellis. Aaron loved that picture. We’ll never be able to get them back.”
“But we know where they are, and we can ask him for a fair price,” Erfce told her. He knew he’d do everything in his power to get those pictures back for Latsoh.
“I’ll steal them,” Tgfhi offered.
“Come on,” Crystam laughed out.
“Seriously,” Tgfhi said. “No one will know and if they find out, what’re they going to do? Declare war on us? Surpen is our protector. Do you think anyone’s going to go after us with Rhen as our Emperor?”
The others hesitated. He had a point.
“Stop it,” Ceceta snapped. “Let’s go. We know where Latsoh’s picture is. We’ll get it back.” She needed to warn Thamber about the portrait. She knew the Genister God would want to destroy it.
Erfce pulled on Latsoh’s arm until she moved. Gently, he guided her out of Charlie’s bedroom into the hallway where the others were waiting.
“Well, that was interesting,” Crystam said when they’d shut Charlie’s bedroom door behind them. “I wonder if the others know that he’s got a thing for Genister artifacts. He’s got the biggest collection that I’ve ever seen.”
“We probably shouldn’t tell people we went into his room without being invited,” Ceceta told the others.
“I suppose you’re right,” Crystam agreed, looping her fingers through Tgfhi’s as they headed down the hall.
Chapter 17
Thestran Royal Palace
Rhen returned to the Thestran palace later than he’d hoped. He pulled his arm from Thellis’ grasp and glanced around his bedroom for Ceceta. “It looks like she’s already gone down to breakfast,” he said, walking towards the door.
“Rhen,” Thellis called out. “You might want to keep an eye on your fellow Convention members. There’ve been a few predictions lately that they might start to acquire new planets.”
“Okay, I’ll watch them.”
“Don’t forget. You can always stop them as the Black Angel if they get out of hand,” Thellis added hopefully.
Rhen waved a dismissive hand at Thellis and opened his bedroom door to leave.
“See you tonight,” Thellis yelled as Rhen shut the door.
Humming a tune that was playing in his head, Rhen made his way to the Thestran Royal Family’s dining room.
“Morning,” he whispered to Ceceta in Surpen, while taking the seat beside her. As usual, Ceceta looked beautiful. Her blue cheeks had a light blush, her dark eyes appeared amused, and her blond hair was pulled back on the top of her head with one white clip. Rhen thanked the Surpen God for giving him Ceceta. He couldn’t imagine himself with anyone else.
Over the last week and a half, Ceceta had been covering for him, telling the Royal Family and their friends that he was busy with “Surpen duties.” No one knew that he was leaving the palace every evening with the Genisters, returning only after sunrise the next morning. Last night, Rhen had decided he wanted to give her a gift to thank her. It wasn’t just because she was covering for him. Rhen wanted to thank Ceceta because she did everything for him. She kept him going. He wasn’t sure how he would’ve coped over the last ten years if he hadn’t of
had Ceceta by his side. She was his rock.
Ceceta looked up to find Rhen staring at her. She blew him a kiss, then focused on cutting the slab of meat on her plate. When she looked back up, Rhen was still watching her. “What?” she asked, hoping there wasn’t anything wrong.
“I have a present for you,” he sang out quietly in Surpen.
Ceceta sat up in her chair. Surpen people only gave gifts at weddings and the day you were born. She was surprised that Rhen had gotten her something. “You got me a gift?”
Grinning, Rhen nodded.
His sparkling black eyes warmed her heart. They’d been married for over ten years and she still thought he was the best-looking man she’d ever seen. “You look very cute with your naughty grin,” she told him in Surpen. Rhen chuckled. “Why did you get me a present?”
“To thank you for all your help while we’ve been here,” he replied in Surpen.
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Ceceta said, although she couldn’t wait to see her gift.
“I wanted to. Besides, you’re going to love it.” Rhen pushed his chair away from the table to give himself room.
Ceceta glanced around him. She didn’t see any presents hiding behind him. “What did you get me?” Rhen pointed to her plate. Ceceta turned to find a large slice of three-layer chocolate cake sitting on the plate in front of her.
Ceceta’s heart dropped. Food? He’d gotten her food? Rhen was still smiling beside her. Trying to sound thrilled with her gift, she said, “That looks amazing.” She picked up her fork and got a whiff of cocoa. Chocolate? She couldn’t eat chocolate. The bloodworms she’d eaten on Surpen as a child wouldn’t let her eat anything but meat products. Hesitating, she took a deep breath. There it was again. The scent of chocolate. “Rhen, is it chocolate or meat that smells like chocolate?”
“Chocolate,” Rhen told her with an impish grin.
Before Ceceta could ask him why he’d give her a slice of cake she couldn’t eat, he reached out and placed one of his hands on her throat and his other hand on her stomach. There was a bright flash of white light in the room that forced everyone to close their eyes. When they could see again, they saw Ceceta coughing and grabbing at her neck. For a second, she made a weird, sucking sound and then she quieted down.
“How… how?” she asked Rhen, in a dazed voice, while massaging her neck. “How did you do that? I thought you didn’t know how.”
“I didn’t know how to do it before,” Rhen explained. “But, now I do.”
Ceceta grabbed the slice of cake in front of her with both hands and shoved it into her mouth, smearing the sides of her cheeks with chocolate frosting.
Crystam reached out to stop her. “No! Ceceta stop! You’ll die! The bloodworms!”
In between mouthfuls of cake, Ceceta mumbled, “Thu gne. Thr gn.” Swallowing, she told them, “Rhen found a way to remove my bloodworms. I can eat anything I want to. They’re gone!” She shrieked with joy then grabbed some green beans off Crystam’s plate and potatoes off Latsoh’s plate and shoved them into her mouth, while scanning the platters in front of her for other foods. She couldn’t believe it. Rhen had removed the bloodworms. She could eat anything she wanted to.
Rhen leaned back in his chair as he watched Ceceta stuff herself. He was thrilled that she was pleased with his gift.
Across the table, Lilly opened her mouth to ask Rhen to remove Jet’s bloodworms, but Jet put his hand on hers to silence her. This was Rhen’s gift to his wife. He would wait for his Emperor to offer to remove his bloodworms.
Ceceta pulled food off the platters around her and piled it high on her plate. “You’ve got to do it, Rhen,” she told him, while spooning some vegetable rice pilaf into her mouth straight from the platter. “You’ve got to get rid of your bloodworms. This is amazing. If I die now, I’d never have been happier in my life. I tell you, you’ve really got to do it Rhen.”
“No, love. I’m Surpen, through and through,” Rhen told her in Surpen. Not only did he want to respect Surpen’s culture, but he also didn’t want to have any more differences from his people than he already had. He was still surprised by the fact that they’d wanted him to be their King. After all, he’d been born a Thestran.
“No,” Ceceta insisted. “You’re not Surpen. You’re an elf, a Thestran elf. Try this stuff." She pointed to the vegetable paella. "You won’t believe how amazing it is.”
Rhen flushed with anger at being called a Thestran elf in public. He took a calming breath and reminded himself that Ceceta was simply overjoyed with his gift and wasn’t thinking clearly. In Surpen, he told her, “I can’t do that to my people, Ceceta. It wouldn’t be right. I’ll keep my bloodworms, just as they do. If they decide to give them up, then I’ll join them. Besides you’ve always been more interested in food than I have. This is more your wish than mine.”
Ceceta threw herself on top of Rhen and kissed him repeatedly. She was so happy that she was crying. “Thank you so much,” she whispered fiercely.
Curiosity got the better of her. She wanted to know how he had learned how to remove bloodworms. Rhen had tried to remove them before on multiple occasions with no success. Dropping her lips to his ear, she asked in Surpen, “Where did you learn how to do it?”
“Thellis taught me last night. I wanted to give you a present, so I asked him if he could teach me how to do it,” Rhen whispered back in Surpen.
Ceceta was relieved to hear that. If Thellis had shown Rhen how to remove the bloodworms, he would’ve done it in such a way as to keep Rhen from using his Genister powers. Although Rhen was now allowed to use his powers, the Genisters had never lifted their rule that he refrain from using his full powers. If he used his full, Genister powers, his memories might flood forward, and he’d know he was a Genister. The Genisters who weren’t reliving their lives as mortals, often tried to help the ones who were and the best way for them to do that was to encourage a mortal Genister to refrain from using their full powers. It allowed them to enjoy their mortal life to its fullest extent.
“This is the best present ever!” Ceceta said, hugging Rhen tightly.
"There’s a chance that I might not have to work tonight," Rhen whispered.
“That’s almost as a good a present as this one,” Ceceta said in a soft voice. She kissed him again then turned to snatch a clump of purple grapes from Rachel's plate.
Chapter 18
Thestran Royal Family Library
“You’ve definitely got this,” Tgfhi told Rhen, while closing the history textbook between them. He was glad they were finished. It was really boring to recite historical facts about the Thestran Royal Family to Rhen. They both knew it was information he’d never need as Emperor of Surpen. Sticking his finger out, he jabbed at the one-inch thick white binding of the book to his left and asked, “Do you want to switch to Astronomy?”
Rhen’s upper lip curled at the suggestion. “No, Ceceta and I finished up the Astronomy textbook yesterday. It was stupid.” If he had to guess, he’d say the textbook had been written by a bunch of mousy Thestrans who’d never left their planet.
Tgfhi chuckled at his words and shook his head. “Yeah. Stupid. We shouldn’t have to learn where all the planets are or the distances between them,” he teased Rhen. “We’ve got machines for that stuff.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. The textbook is…”
“Hey guys,” Erfce called out, interrupting them as he entered the library. It was a few minutes before the end of their study session, but he’d hoped to catch Rhen before he took off for the night. “Are you finished yet?”
“Yes,” Tgfhi told him, rising to his feet. “I believe the Surpen Emperor will pass his History of the Thestran Royal Family exam. He may even get the teacher’s bonus question about Max right.”
Rhen laughed. Their teacher always finished his exams with a bonus question on Max, since most Thestrans knew little about him. Being that Rhen was Max — his adoptive father had changed his name — there was no question that
Rhen wouldn’t get it right.
“He’s going to have to change his bonus questions from now on,” Erfce said. “Rhen’s so famous—everyone knows all about him.”
“True,” Tgfhi said. “Where are the others?” Crystam had mentioned something about going swimming later. He didn’t want to miss that opportunity.
“In the Council Chamber. Someone is claiming that they spotted the Black Angel, so the Thestran Council is interviewing them.”
Tgfhi’s eyes flew to Rhen. He was stacking the books they’d been using into a pile, as if Erfce’s comment meant nothing. Tgfhi wanted to ask him if he was rescuing people again as the Black Angel, but he and the others hadn’t told anyone that they’d discovered Rhen’s secret.
Last semester, while they were studying Surpen in Rhen’s apartment at the University, they’d gone into Rhen’s closet to find a pair of his military boots and had accidentally discovered the Black Angel’s clothes lying haphazardly in a pile on the floor. At the time, none of them could believe that Rhen was the Black Angel, but after discussing it, they’d been surprised that they hadn’t figured it out earlier. Being Rhen’s good friends, they’d made a pact to keep his identity as the Black Angel a secret. If Rhen wanted people to know, he could tell them.
“It’s probably another hoax,” Tgfhi said, watching Rhen for a reaction. When Rhen stood up and turned towards them, Tgfhi realized that he hadn’t heard them. He’d been thinking about something else. He wondered what was on Rhen’s mind and realized he missed his friend. They hadn’t spent any time together other than in the library, studying. “Any chance you can hang out with us tonight?” he asked, as Rhen pushed his wooden chair back under the table.
“No, sorry,” Rhen said with a sigh. “I have work to do.”
“We’ve been here almost two weeks and you haven’t hung out with us once.” After the words were out, Tgfhi realized he sounded like a whiny child. Great! he thought, just what I want to do, put more pressure on him.
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