Three Suns

by S King

  “You are aware that I can’t deviate from my structured meal?”

  He raised a cocksure brow, “you realize that you’re in the entertainment district and should act as such, right?”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “It means,” he rested his arms on the table, “Ostana, that you’re on a date, not working and don’t need to follow every single rule, every single day of your life. You’ll have this one meal and then you can go back to the cardboard meal that you’re used to. Ok?”

  “Fine,” I wasn’t unhappy about Eikko dictating what I should eat, I was more upset by the fact that every female that was in the eatery was staring at him like he was something that would melt on their tongues if they just had the chance to dig their claws in him.

  He didn’t notice. Those rose-pink eyes stayed on me though, never wavering or wandering.

  “Why haven’t you and Theodora met face to face?” I blurted out. My sister’s face popped into my mind as I considered every female casting quick glances at Eikko.

  “What?”

  I looked at him, “why haven’t you and Theodora met face-to-face?” I asked again.

  Remembering my sister’s request to get Eikko to agree to a new business deal weighed on my mind. Would the two of them become close once he got back to Parlan? Would they become more than just mere business partners? More importantly, why was I worrying about such a situation?

  Eikko’s sigh brought me out of my jealous thoughts, “Somsang handles all of my business dealings. He meets with the companies, potential partners, directors, advisors, photographers,” he waved a dismissive hand and rolled his eyes, “I don’t have anything to do with the business side of my job.”

  “Why not? Don’t you think that it’s irresponsible of you not to know what’s going on with your money and contracts?”

  “Considering that Somsang has been with me for the past twenty-six years,” he shrugged, “I can trust him with my money and dealings. He wouldn’t do anything to put me or my brand in danger.” Looking at me, he frowned, “why?”

  I thanked the waitress for my…I didn’t know what was sitting in front of me. “I was just…” I kept staring at my plate, “just…” not able to continue the conversation I pointed to the plate of food. “What is this?”

  Eikko was already halfway through his main dish, glancing at my plate, “French burger, steak fries, sweet potatoes and a Caesar salad. Just try it,” he pushed the plate closer to me and nodded, “just try it.”

  Grabbing my fork, I started for the burger when Eikko grunted. “What?”

  “You eat it with your hands, babe,” he pointed to the burger.

  “I’m not a monkey,” I quipped.

  He snorted, pinching the bridge of his nose, “that’s not what I meant. The way you eat a burger is picking it up, with your hands, and then eating it.”

  “With my hands?”

  He nodded, continuing to eat whatever was on his own plate.

  Throwing caution to the wind, I picked up the burger and took a deep breath. If anyone from the military district saw me eating something other than the standard chicken, rice, and kale I’d be as good as done. There was no doubt that I’d be thrown into the disobedient ward of the base to detox. But I’d be a damn liar if I said that the risk wasn’t worth taking. The burger was something like I’d never even dreamed about tasting.

  I closed my eyes relishing in the taste of the food; the other course of the meal was likewise delicious.

  “Hungry there, buddy?” Eikko asked with a humorous raised brow.

  “Don’t judge me,” I said around a mouth full of food. Our meal passed in silence, with my occasional moan of approval for the potatoes, fries, burger, and salad. So much so, that I ended up getting another order of the exact same thing. I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I would get my own aircraft just to come back to the entertainment district strictly for the food.

  When I was full beyond the point of ability to move, I sat back in the chair and watched those coming and going on the street and within the eatery.

  “How many dates have you been on?” Eikko asked, watching me stare out the window.

  Smirking, I glanced at him, “there’s no time for dating in the military district. Relations are common, but relationships,” I shook my head, “only a handful of warriors are able to create a bond outside of the bedroom and more often then not, they end up like Xerminara and Claud…” I trailed off thinking about my best friend.

  “Then you haven’t been on many?” He asked.

  “How many have you been on?” I watched him taking out money from his breast pocket, “where did you get the money from?”

  Glancing at me he handed the waitress enough to cover the bill and the tip, “which do you want me to answer first?”

  “Either or,” I took his offered arm and walked beside him as we headed for someplace unknown to me.

  We crossed the road as he smirked, “I’ve been on a lot of dates and the money was from the budget. Kendrick ended up giving me Somsang’s funds because he had gone MIA.”

  Made sense. If Somsang wasn’t here to use the allotted funds that the military had given him, why not give it to Eikko? I just didn’t know that Kendrick and Eikko were so close. But I was stuck on one thing.

  “How many is a lot of dates?” Watching everything around us, I kept my eyes trained for anything out of the ordinary.

  “More than I care to count,” his tone was void of any excitement or playing. Something told me that even though he had been on so many dates, they never resulted in something worth remembering. Deciding that I wanted to drop the subject altogether, I closed my mouth and stared at the building we were headed to.

  “What is this?” I wasn’t one for bombarding people with questions, but this date was something new to me entirely. Never indulging in the entertainment district, with the exception of the few projections I’d seen, I had no idea what this building was.

  “A club,” Eikko took my hand in his as we walked into the front door to be greeted with flying drone lights flashing different colors across the mass of people in the center of the main room while loud music forced the bodies to thrash together on the dance floor.

  It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to our surroundings, but even I couldn’t help bobbing my head to the music coming from the walls. Glancing at Eikko, I smiled.

  He was within his element; even though he hadn’t said so, something told me that when he was in Parlan he would frequent clubs. His rose-pink eyes were shining bright under the low lighting and he was scanning the crowd for…well I didn’t know why he was scanning the crowd, but still he looked comfortable.

  “Come on,” he dragged me through the crowd toward the center of the room and started dancing with everyone else.

  Taking in all of the movements that was around me, I quickly fell into step with the crowd and with Eikko.

  Spinning around and letting myself go, I let the beat carry my arms and waist. When the tempo changed to something more sensual Eikko took the lead and grabbed my hand.

  “Follow me,” he whispered in my ear before spinning me away from him only to bring me back in with my back against his chest. One hand slid from my waist down my thigh only for him to guide my hips in some sort of salsa sway.

  When we parted again, I looked into his eyes only to see that the rose pink had faded away, replaced with the heart stopping purple that changed with his mood. We came together again, moving our bodies as one with the beat until only the vocals remained.

  His breath was warm against my lips as his hand found its way into my hair, “I’m going to kiss you now so please don’t slap me.” He breathed.

  Slapping him was the furthest thing from my mind as I took the lead, crushing my lips to his just as he held on to my lower back and dipped me. Together we were stuck in an erotic position, in the middle of a club in the entertainment district with our lips fusing as one. Cheers erupted around us, but I didn’t hear them
. I couldn’t hear anything except the beat of my heart.

  Eikko was a better kisser than anyone else I had ever kissed and the way his coiled muscles tighten around my waist told me just how much he was holding back. Reluctantly, I placed my hand on his chest to tell him to bring me back to an upright position before I took him to the floor and had my way with him.

  When we parted, I didn’t know if I was sorry for the loss of contact because we were in a public place or because I hadn’t allowed him to kiss me before.

  “You want a drink?” He breathed, looking at me with those iris eyes. Damn they were gorgeous.

  “Not exactly,” I mumbled and let him lead me to the wet bar. I wanted something alright, but it wasn’t something the bartender could offer me. My hormones were on overdrive and with Eikko’s close proximity, I was a train wreck. Thankfully, my communicator beeped in my ear.

  I pressed the thing, leaning against the bar, “what is it Orrie?”

  The benefit of being in Padrieg when it came to phone calls, as Theodora and Eikko would say, was that our communication devices were implanted in our ears at birth. It allowed for our hands to remain free and not have to strain to hear what the other person was saying. But this was the one time that I wished I did have a cellphone.

  “Major, we have problems.”

  I frowned after thanking Eikko for the chilled glass of snake venom, “what type of problems?”

  “Somsang is back in Parlan.”

  I stared at the dance floor, stunned with the information. Why the hell would the good assistant leave Eikko behind? The better question was, how did he get back?

  “Excuse me?” I didn’t hear Orrie right. That had to be it. The music was loud in the club, I was still coming down from the high of the kiss and add the snake venom, I couldn’t hear straight. Unfortunately, my rationality was shot in the foot when Orrie repeated himself.

  “Somsang is in Parlan,” papers shuffled in the background before he continued, “I think the son of a bitch walked.”

  “How is that even possible?” I waved a hand at Eikko as he gave me a screwed look. When I pointed to my ear, he nodded and turned his attention back to the crowd dance floor.

  “Well, he had to have walked a majority of the way and then catch a flight the remainder of the way.”

  “You’ve got to be shitting me,” I rubbed my forehead, thankful that I didn’t have any makeup on my face or else it’d have come off.

  “There’s more,” he hesitated.

  I closed my eyes, not liking his tone, “what?”

  “Does he have any ties to Theodora? Because it looks like he’s headed toward her place now.”

  My heart stopped as I thought about my sister. Somsang and her worked closely when it came to Eikko’s brand, whatever the hell that was, and so of course he would know where she lived.

  A sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach as I started for the exit of the club without telling Eikko anything.

  “You don’t think…” I couldn’t finish the question to Orrie because I didn’t want to believe what my mind had concluded.

  He stayed silent for a moment, giving me enough time to leave the club and breathe in the warm nakti air. It would take me two sati to get back to the military base, at least, and then another four in order to get my hands on the controls for the ceremonial Citlail. Not to mention the amount of time it would take to get to Parlan.

  “Why, is the question though? Besides that, Somsang didn’t say anything about Theodora when they first came here.”

  “Neither did Eikko.”

  “Touché,” Orrie sighed, “for now let me monitor what’s going on and then I’ll get ahold of you. There was a lot of places in Theodora's vicinity that he could be headed to. We don’t know for sure if that’s where he’s going.”

  True. Theodora lived in the middle of a district that had more shops, eateries, tall buildings, and foot traffic than I cared to remember. Somsang could easily be going somewhere else in the district. Not only that but according to Parlan society Theodora was missing and had yet to be found.

  Nodding and slowing my steps I put a hand on my forehead, “thanks Orrie and get ahold of me as soon as you know more, yeah?”

  “Yes ma’am,” we disconnected the communication, leaving me to focus on the remainder of my nakti with Eikko. Maybe I could enjoy it. Maybe.

  Chapter 13 Perfection Doesn’t Exist

  By the time Eikko and I got back to my domicile, we were spent. Between the alcohol and dancing it was time for bed, but neither of us were tired. Instead, we sat on the soft grey carpet in the living room, telling each other our truths.

  “You’re turn,” he said, tilting the snake venom bottle up.

  I smirked looking into the flames of the fire housed in the hearth. “I’ve never been committed to someone.”

  He raised a brow at me, “Major Shaye, are you telling me that you’re a swinger?”

  “A what?”

  “You have open relations.”

  My eyes went wide as I understood his meaning, “no!” I slapped my forehead, “what I mean is, I’ve never had the kind of relationship that Xerminara and Claud have…had.” I corrected myself softly.

  His hand closed over mine as he looked at me, “why not?”

  I shrugged, staring at our joined hands, “I can honestly say I don’t know.” A small smile fell on my lips as I looked up at him, “your turn.”

  “Mistress of subject changes,” he winked at me, looking into the flames. “I’ve only ever loved one woman in my life.”

  My heart sped up as I watched the shadows of his face closely, “what happened?”

  “She has no fucking clue,” a low chuckle left him. He brought the bottle to his lips, finishing off the thing and tossed it into the recycling compartment next to the window.

  “Why don’t you tell her?” I blurted.

  I didn’t know what had come over me; it wasn’t like Eikko was talking about me or that I had anything to do with his secret love. But something was telling me that he was saying something else within that short answer.

  Grabbing another bottle of snake venom, he handed me one before settling back against the couch and opened his own bottle. “Why would I do that?”

  “Why not?”

  He glanced at me from the corner of his eyes and laughed, shaking his head, “I don’t know, Ostana. Your turn,” he raised his bottle to me, subtly saying that we were done with this line of questioning and to not ask anymore.

  I took a deep breath, turning my attention to the flames, “I’m closest to my grandmother, more than anyone else.”

  “I’ve noticed that,” he agreed.

  “What about your parents?” What better time to ask about his brother and stepmother than sitting in front of the fire and drinking some had liquor, I thought to myself.

  He rubbed his eyes, “let’s see. Mom left right after I was born, haven’t heard anything from her since. My dad remarried and I have an older brother that isn’t worth his weight.”

  I knew in an instance that this was not a good idea because Eikko finished off his third bottle of snake venom and started for another one. But that didn’t stop the next row of questions that was burning on my lips.

  “Why do you say that?”

  Again, he glanced at me with his eyes that were balancing the rose pink and iris colors. I could tell that he was debating whether or not to go down this rabbit hole with me.

  Finally, he sighed and looked back into the flames.

  “I’m the one that made it in my family. Meaning,” he said, holding his bottle up to stop me from interrupting, “I’m the one that is carrying the family, financially. Whenever I get a contract, both my brother and stepmother come up with any and everything that they miraculously need.” He rolled his eyes on the last word and took a hard pull from the bottle. “My dad still works and does what he can, but he’s getting older and in Parlan. The oldest son is the one that is supposed to take care of the
family when he’s able to. However, under special circumstances.”

  He pointed to himself, “if any child, whether it be the middle or youngest or whatever, becomes more successful than the oldest child. The responsibility falls on the successful one.”

  “And I thought that Padrieg had strict guidelines for familial care.” I mumbled, running my fingers through my hair.

  He smirked, “your turn.”

  “Why do your eyes change colors?” I didn’t want to say what I was thinking. Deciding that turning the tables back on him would be better.