Three Suns

by S King

  Eikko laughed under his breath, “lead the way, Captain Shaye,” his snarky tone was something of a miniature version of an Eyno. Always raking my nerves but never getting close enough for me to ruin.

  “Let’s go,” I snapped, taking off at a fast pace and leaving Eikko and Xerminara to follow ten paces behind me.

  The fashion district was easily three districts away from the military and domicile districts; I didn’t like making long trips but without an aircraft our only option was to walk. Internally, I cursed Eikko and Somsang for crashing into us but knew that that wasn’t the real reason why I was irritated.

  Eikko was flirting with another girl and for whatever reason that was eating away at me worse than trying to find out who Theodora was and the who that was behind the wreck. I took a deep breath and calmed my rage at Ingemar and Eikko; I did not need to worry about who Eikko was talking to or flirting with. The only thing that I needed to do was wait for the aircrafts to become mechanically sound, send Eikko and Somsang back, find out who was behind the wreck and then find out who Theodora is and how we are connected, aside from blood. That was the plan and that was what I was going to focus my mind on.

  “Where’s the vehicle?” Eikko stopped on the edge of the civilian district and looked around.

  “A what?” Xerminara and I asked at the same time.

  I pushed him forward as the Parlan holographic man signaled for us to proceed.

  “A car? A SUV? A truck even? Do you not have those?”

  I spread my arms wide as we continued to walk, “do you see those things around here?”

  Eikko genuinely looked around trying to spot whatever a vehicle was and sighed in defeat when he realized that there was no such thing in Padrieg, and he would just have to get better with walking.

  “Had we had an aircraft; the walk wouldn’t have been so long.” Xerminara commented as she looked at her handheld.

  My communicator beeped once as we came closer to the fashion district.

  “Yeah?”

  “Captain Shaye, we got a problem,” Orrie sounded like he was losing his mind.

  I closed my eyes, “what is it?” Stopping next to an eatery that was advertising about something sweet, spicy and everything nice.

  “The good news is another Citlail became available but only for Sif and Isleen’s ceremony.”

  I waved off Eikko and Xerminara, “then what’s the bad news?”

  “You’re…twin?” He said hesitantly, “well she’s…officially missing.”

  “What?” I stood up to my full height and frowned. How could she go from being off the radar to now being officially missing in the Parlan society? “What does that even mean?”

  “That means that they found blood in her condo and signs of a struggle. Now according to the Parlan authority district they’re searching for Theodora and trying to locate the person behind her nab and grab.”

  I leaned against the eatery and rested my head on the mortar building, “so what you're telling me is now on top of everything else that is being thrown at me with the blue sun society. Now my sister, that I didn't even know about in the first place, is officially missing in Parlan and the authorities are suspecting someone behind her disappearance?”

  “Yes,” Orrie didn’t waver in seriousness, “I'm beginning to think that this wreck and Theodora's disappearance are related. I think that the same person who planted the detonation device is the same one behind your sister's…”

  “Yeah. I got it.” I growled, taking a look around. There had to be a way that I could get to Parlan without getting on the bad side of the military officials.

  Orrie sighed, “what do you want to do, Captain?”

  I started walking again, knowing that Xerminara and Eikko were already in the fashion district. “Is the Citlail going to stay on the military base after the ceremony?”

  “Yes,” he said slowly.

  “Here's what we're going to do and this stays between us,” I ran my plan to Orrie, only stopping long enough to answer his questions and fill in any gaps that may or may not present themselves when we carried out the plan.

  When I was done, I waited for Orrie to try and tell me any flaws that he had found in my plan. To my surprise, he started laughing.

  “I knew there was a reason that I liked you, Captain Shaye. I’ll be ready,” he agreed and gave me another round of updates before we disconnected the communication. Leaving me to go into the clothing store where Xerminara and Eikko were eyeing suits.

  I didn’t say anything, watching everything that was going on in and around the shop; as quiet as it was kept away from the civilian of all districts in the Padrieg society, there were still dangers lurking in the shadows and hidden corners of the society. Sure, the crime rate and the murder rate were statistically low, but there were still those bad people that didn’t want to obey the rules or the standards of the society that was set forth. Especially with Eikko and Somsang being in the picture now, I had to keep my sights trained on anything that looked suspicious.

  “Ana, what do you think?” Xerminara held up a dark plum suit with a black shirt and matching tie.

  “It’s nice,” I glanced at the outfit but kept my eyes on several of the shop keepers eyeing Eikko.

  “Try it on, handsome,” Nara shoved the suit to the Parlan eye candy and crossed her arms over her chest as she turned her attention to the row of suits.

  Eikko shrugged, seemingly used to being told what to do by authority figures and took the suit along with a few others to the changing room.

  “What’s wrong?” Nara looked at me from the corner of her eye as she grabbed one suit after another.

  “Nothing,” she didn’t know about Theodora and she didn’t need to. The only thing that she needed to worry about was her ceremony and her new life with Claud.

  She whistled to one of the shop keepers and waved the girl over, “stop lying and tell me the truth.” Her tangerine eyes narrowed as she looked at me after handing the suits to the shop keeper and directing the younger woman to Eikko’s dressing room.

  Finally, I met her gaze, “I can’t tell you and even if I could, I wouldn’t because it would just ruin your ceremony and I’m not in the business of stealing the show.”

  Eikko came out in the suit and I’d be a damn liar if I said that he didn’t look like something out of a wet dream. His blue black hair was a perfect match between the plum of the suit and his rose pink eyes; his olive skin was beautiful under the low lighting of the shop and that knowing smirk that came across his face as he looked at me was next to my undoing.

  “If you don’t make a proposal agreement to him then I’ll be mad at you for the rest of my life.” Xerminara said through her smile as she gave him the thumbs up.

  “You know why I can’t do that, so you might as well get mad.” I looked out the window and scanned everyone that passed by the shop.

  When Eikko disappeared through the curtain of the dressing room again, it was hard not to follow him. How could any woman looking at Eikko not be attracted to him? It was like staring at water when you were on the brink of dehydration or staring at a five-course meal when you’d been starving for the past twenty dana. He was gorgeous and had he not been from Parlan and I hadn’t been from Padrieg, I’d have easily thrown myself at him without so much as a second thought.

  But I lived in the real world and that consisted of being faced with the fact that he was from the blue sun and I was from the purple sun. Together we would never be and unfortunately, that meant giving up on the idea that Eikko and I could ever be more than just a ward and a protector.

  Xerminara took the hint that I didn’t want to continue talking about something that wasn’t going to happen. She sighed, heavily, rubbing my back and going back to looking at suits and things for Eikko.

  Again, Eikko came out in an all-black suit with a black shirt and a rose-pink tie that matched his eyes.

  “That’s what you’re going to wear to the ceremony,” Nara nodded as she
took in Eikko from head to toe.

  In truth, I couldn’t agree more with my best friend, but I’d be damned if I showed anything other than indifference toward the man standing in front of me.

  “Go ahead and ring up the others to this account,” I handed the other shop keeper an official charge slips and nodded to the door, “when you two are done.”

  Xerminara and Eikko nodded, before I left the shop and pressed my communicator to get ahold of Emric.

  “Where are you?” He answered, not bothering to answer with the normal pleasantries.

  I breathed in the večer air, watching everything, “in the fashion district. Eikko needed some new clothes.”

  “You actually went?” Shock laced his tone as he said something to an officer.

  “Haven’t you gotten something for Somsang?”

  Emric mumbled under his breath, “I’ve been too lazy to go to the fashion district and so I’ve just been letting him wear some of my things. Although, looking at him now, I should use some of the budget to go to the fashion district for the sorry sack.”

  I chuckled, “they’re hanging off of him, aren’t they?”

  “To be nice,” he snorted and sighed, “anyway, have you found out anything about your twin?”

  I rubbed my forehead, going to the next shop as Xerminara and Eikko stepped out and followed me. Holding the door for them, I waited until they were out of earshot before answering Emric.

  “Not exactly,” I had realized this jutro that I had told Emric about Theodora and regretted saying anything to my right-hand man. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Emric, it was just that I didn’t want any more people involved in the drama that was quickly becoming my life than there needed to be.

  He sighed knowing me like the back of his hand, “what do you need me to do?”

  I watched Xerminara and Eikko looking through yet another row of suits, these more like the kind that the officials in the military wore.

  “I need to handle something, can you handle Eikko and Somsang for a dana?”

  “Of course, the worst that’s going to happen is I shoot them with a sedation dart and send them to sleep for a nakti.”

  I smirked, knowing that Emric was completely serious; he wouldn’t think twice about shooting either of the two Parlan men with a sedation dart and sit back with a strong glass of snake venom just to enjoy the silence.

  “Thanks,” we disconnected the communication. I was thankful for Emric and his willingness to blindly help.

  After finding Eikko a few more suits and Xerminara's ceremonial dress, we were on our way back to the military district with very few words between us. However, that changed when Eikko and I arrived at my domicile to find that Othala was gone and the home was to ourselves.

  “So, explain to me what happens at a unification ceremony,” Eikko said through his mouthful of chicken and kale.

  I raised my brow at him as I finished off my plate, “aren’t there ceremonies in Parlan?”

  He waved a hand in the air, “they’re called wedding ceremonies in the blue sun and there’s no agreement when a man proposes. It just happens.”

  “Why?”

  Eikko looked at me from across the table at my tilted head, “why what?”

  “Why isn’t there an agreement along with the proposal? How does the other person know what they’re getting into without an agreement?”

  He took our trays, putting them in the recycling compartment and turned to me, “trust?”

  I let a bark of laughter leave me, “trust?” At his confused nod, I shook my head, “so, in Parlan, you’re telling me that when a man proposes to a woman, she’s just supposed to…what?” I spanned my arms wide, “trust that their partnership is going to last on love and mutual respect with a handful of trust and everything is going to be ok after that?”

  “Well…yes,” he frowned, “what’s so hard to believe about that? Don’t you have trust in Padrieg?”

  “No, there’s contracts, agreements, proposals. Nothing in between and nothing before or after.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?” Now I was repeating his words. Great.

  “Why isn’t love and trust a part of these contracts, agreements and proposals?”

  I shrugged, “because that’s not how the society gets anything done. Too many emotions lead to too many rash decisions. Without it, things run smoother.”

  “Like a business?”

  I nodded, getting up from the table and finishing off my protein drink, “exactly.”

  He stood up, moving behind me, and said at my back, “then how do you know that you’re about to make the right decision with someone that sounds good only on paper?”

  “Meaning?” I was not going to turn around. If I did that then I’d come face to chest with him and right now I didn’t know if I could trust myself not to do something stupid. The aftereffects of the snake venom alcohol were prolonged and caused poor decision making for another seventeen sati.

  “Meaning,” he bent down, whispering in my ear, “if you don’t know how that person kisses, makes love to you, holds you, listens to you, comforts you. Then how do you know that you’re making a good decision? The contract can’t tell you any of those things.”

  Damn did he have a point, but my pride and obligation were bigger than my curiosity. I stepped away from him and turned to face him when I was at a safe enough distance away from him.

  “Having a comfortable lifestyle and a secured future is worth more than temporary feelings.”

  The shock on his face was quickly replaced with a sinister smirk as he stepped closer to me, “is that so?”

  Narrowing my eyes, I stared at him, watching those iris flecks swallow the rose-pink, “that is so, Mr. Kangho, now godnat.”

  I turned to go to my room when his hand snapped out, grabbing a hold of my wrist, and spun me toward him. In an instant without thinking his lips met mine while a fire angel met his chest.

  The kiss was too quick for me to be too heart broken by it while he on the other hand, now had a burn hole in the middle of his shirt.

  “You like to incinerate me,” he held the charred fabric away from his chest.

  “Grab me again and I’ll burn you to the bone. Good night,” I quickly walked to my room and hid behind the closed door.

  I’d never been kissed like Eikko had kissed me and I had never felt the things that he ignited in me, but that could not happen again. No matter how badly I wanted it to.

  When I pulled myself together, I got dressed for bed and fell into the hard mattress but sleep wasn’t going to come to me easily after a kiss like that and the only that I could do, without going and making a fool of myself was paperwork.

  I got out of my bed and sat down in my window seat looking at the reports, airstrike requests and ceremonial gift requests under the light of the purple moon. This was going to be a long night, but at least I had some pleasant thoughts to get me through.

  Chapter 7 Face to Face with My Own Face

  My communicator beeping in my ear made me open my eyes on a sigh and stare out my window; I had fallen asleep with airstrike reports in my lap and my pen clutched between my fingers. I answered the communication and rubbed my hands over my face to wake up.

  “What is it?”

  “Ana! This is a nightmare! I don’t know what to do, I’m not ready for this!” Xerminara was beyond frantic and seemed like she was going to go rouge at any moment.

  I flicked the crust from my eyes and looked out the window, “what’s wrong, Nara?”

  “This dress! The suits! Everything!” I could almost see her shaking with nerves and letting her emotions get the better of her.

  Getting off the window seat and sending the completed documents to Kendrick for the final approval through the document locator, I rubbed my forehead.

  “Give me a minuta to get these reports to Kendrick and I’ll be over there. Ok?”

  Relief washed over her voice as she gasped, “really?”


  “Yes, really,” I grabbed the garment bag with my own dress in it and started for the door. “I’ll be there soon.”

  We disconnected the communication but not before she demanded that I bring along Eikko. Of course, I would have to bring along Eikko because if I didn’t, he wasn’t going to be at the ceremony and if he weren’t at the ceremony then Xerminara would lose her mind ten times over and then some. Of course, I would bring along my ward.

  I didn’t bother checking to see if my grandmother had come back sinoć; after that kiss and fire thing with Eikko, I wanted nothing more than to get as far away from him as I possibly could and try to figure things out on my own.