by S King
“What do you mean?”
I pointed to my eyes, “normally your eyes are a light pink but sometimes they change to a dark purple. Why?”
He watched the flames, obviously trying to figure out how to explain his changing eyes. In Padrieg only those with a strong bloodline of the society had garnet red eyes and nearly ice blonde hair. For those with any shade of orange, they had bloodlines from Parlan or when there was an earth. But I didn’t know the theory or explanation behind Eikko’s eyes. Even Somsang had a different shade of pink eyes than him and when I was in Parlan everyone had solid pink eyes. No flecks of purple or any other color.
“I have too pure blood in my veins,” he tilted the bottle of snake venom up before he continued. “Only a handful of people in Parlan can call themselves true Parlan citizens and I just so happen to be one of them. Since Pya and Parlan used to be closer than what they are now, the societies used to mingle together.” He swallowed hard as if the thought of his origin nauseated him.
I paused, “what?”
“The red and blue sun used to be civil, believe it or not,” he scoffed and shook his head, “before the scientists got greedy with finding a cure for all of the earthly diseases the Eynos used to be people.”
My mouth fell open in shock. How the hell did he know the back story of the creation between the three suns? But when did the purple sun come into play?
As if he were reading my mind, he continued, “if you put red and blue together, you’ll get purple. One wrong chemical caused a massive explosion between the two societies. As a result,” he spread his arms wide, “Padrieg was created. Since my parents are descendants from the original society, they had different color eyes. My dad has the pink,” he motioned to his own eyes, “and my mom had the dark purple, courtesy of her parents. One and one equals me.” He shrugged, “they change on their own. I don’t have anything to do with it. If anything, I’ve chalked it up to my mother’s side coming out or they change based on my mood.”
Wasn’t that the truth. I thought back on the all of the times that his eyes had change; when Brandr asked me on a date, his eyes changed. When Emric started trying to put him into his place, his eyes changed. When I had kissed him, his eyes changed.
“Your eyes tell on you,” I whispered, staring at the flames.
He laughed softly and turned to me, “tell me something, Ostana Shaye.” Tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, his eyes started changing to that dark purple that seemed to make me want to do any and everything for him.
“What’s that,” I breathed, staring into his eyes.
He leaned closer to me with only the heat from the flames coming between us, “why haven’t you come to Parlan?”
Ok, not what I was expecting. I’d never thought of the blue sun society until he had come into my life and I found my sister. Now, I’d be a damned liar if I said that I didn’t think about Parlan more and more the longer I was around him.
I took a deep breath looking into the flames, “I’ve never had a reason to.”
“Come back with me,” my head snapped around toward him.
The only reason that I knew he was serious was strictly because of his eyes. Gone was the rose-pink, the only thing that remained was the dark iris that seemed to consume me.
“What?” It was hard to catch my breath. How could I leave my grandmother, my squadron, my… everything?
“Come back to Parlan. Theodora is there and…” he trailed his thumb across my jaw, “we can…” He swallowed hard, “just come back to Parlan with me, Ostana.”
I opened my mouth to say something when my communicator beeping in my ear broke the moment. I whispered an apology to Eikko before pressing the communicator and pushing off the floor.
“What’s wrong Orrie?”
“He’s back in Padrieg,” his voice sounded hollow from his usual confidence.
I walked away from the living room, not wanting Eikko to hear the one-sided conversation. When I knew that he was out of earshot I leaned against the wall, “how the fuck did he get back into Padrieg?”
“The same way he got out; the good news is Theodora is still breathing. I was able to check in on her right after Somsang left her district. It looked like he was stopping somewhere to eat and maybe get some skincare things.”
Something was gnawing away at my mind; there were things that weren’t adding up and slowly, I was beginning to think that Somsang had his hand in the wreck and could very well be the driving force behind the reason of why Eikko had been stranded here.
“No, no,” I began pacing back and forth with my hands on my hips. “He’s got to have a different motive. Why go back without the one that is,” I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that Eikko wasn’t nearby before continuing, “Eikko is the one bringing in the money. Why the fuck would he leave Eikko here? It’s not like either of them asked for this or like being kept under lock and key.”
“I’m getting the feeling that there’s something we’re missing,” Orrie fell silent for a moment as he thought through whatever was running around his mind. “Does Theo know anything?”
“Theo?” It was a cute nickname for my sister, but I preferred to call her by her full name.
“Sorry, Theodora. Does she know anything? Like maybe why Somsang is as flighty as he is?”
“Not that I know of,” I picked at the skin of my lip, trying to think of a way to call her. The communicators didn’t have dial pads and were assigned at birth. All anyone with the device would have to do is visualize the person that they wanted to contact, and the communicator would connect to the other person’s device. I wondered if that would work with Theodora’s phone number.
“Well Major, you might want to find out because I find it rather odd that Somsang is coming and going as he pleases from the two societies and Theodora is having to pretend to be MIA because someone is wanting her dead.”
“You think Somsang has something to do with that too?”
“Maybe, I wouldn’t put it past the man.” I thanked him, disconnecting the communication, and leaned against the wall.
What was Somsang’s end game? I closed my eyes trying to think of all of the possible reasons that it could be. Leaving Eikko in Padrieg didn’t make any sense and neither did the assistant’s ability to come and go between the societies.
“You ok?” Eikko’s voice made me open my eyes and look at him.
How was I supposed to tell him that his most trusted friend and manger was able to go home and come back? How was I going to explain that his brother and stepmother hired someone to rig the aircraft for explosion? He was supposed to die in the wreck.
“I’m fine,” I pushed off the wall, wrapping my arms around myself. I needed to get answers before I told Eikko anything and that wasn’t going to be something that I could do without solid evidence. “You wouldn’t by chance have a cellphone on you, would you?”
Slowly, he shook his head, “why?”
“I just wanted to call Theodora. I don’t know how to do it with the communicator so…” I trailed off with a shrug of my shoulders. Pushing my hair away from my face, I gave him a tired smile, “I’m going to go to bed. I’m see you in the jutro.”
“Goodnight Ostana,” he whispered. Instead of kissing me goodnight or pulling me close, he simply went to his room and let the door close softly behind him with nothing more to say.
I debated actually going to bed and going to find Emric. If anything, he’d grill Somsang about disappearing and file a report on the incident. At least, I hoped that Emric would follow the proper protocol, but given his recent behavior I didn’t have too much faith in my right-hand man at the moment.
Making the split decision I put my shoes back on and headed for Emric’s domicile. Like me he had went through the domicile director to get his own unit away from his parents. So, I didn’t have to worry about waking up anyone except for Emric.
Since half of the time for grieving had passed for Xerminara's passing, officers patrolled the co
rridors and stair columns. Emric was three floors above me and off to the right; I pressed the notification bell and stepped back from the door. If he were asleep, it’d take me three more times, but luckily, I didn’t have to wait too long.
“What’re you doing here?” He leaned against his doorframe with his head resting on the panel. His disheveled dark blond hair was standing on end while his sandstone eyes fluttered closed.
“Is Somsang back?”
Now his eyes snapped open and focused on me, “no? Wait,” he waved me into his domicile and closed the door behind us. “Why would you ask me if he’s back yet?”
“Orrie picked him up on the border,” I scanned the living area and kitchen. Like my own domicile, Emric’s color scheme was the same as mine and held the same off-white furniture.
“How did he do that?”
I shrugged not knowing myself how the good mechanic had kept tabs on the Parlan guys. I didn’t ask questions regarding Orrie’s method of getting information. All I knew was he got it and it was accurate, the method was irrelevant.
“So, how did he get out without a trace?” He took his seat on the couch, rubbing his eyes.
I crossed my arms over my chest, “we’re still trying to figure that out. But he has to come back sooner or later and when he does, I need you to let me know immediately.”
He glanced at me, “I will, I don’t need to be reminded how to do my job, Ostana.”
Narrowing my eyes at his attitude, “what is your problem?”
“Nothing,” he turned his attention to his window.
“Bullshit,” I walked around the couch and looked down on him, “what is bothering you so bad? It’s not Xerminara because you two weren’t that close. So, what is it, Emric?”
“Have you slept with him yet?”
“What?”
He hooked his thumb over his shoulder, “the Parlan Playboy. Have you slept with him yet?”
Shocked I couldn’t do anything but sputter, “why would I do that?”
“Because you two seem to be spending a lot of time together lately. In the beginning it was obvious that you loathed him with as much fire as you can shoot out of your hands. Now he’s escorting you to official events and you guys are going on datume. You are aware that the society will never let you run off into the blue sunset with your new toy. You know that, right?”
“I’m going to stop you right there, Emric. First of all, he and Xerminara were friends. That’s why he was at her ceremony and second of all, what I do off base is not yours or anyone else’s concern.” How the hell did he know I went on a date with Eikko? Better yet, why was he getting so offensive over something that would be over in a matter of a tjdena?
He scoffed and shook his head, “you’re unbelievable.”
“Fuck off, Emric. Just tell me when Somsang gets back,” I turned to leave when he shot off the couch and grabbed my arm.
“You don’t realize how much you’ve changed, and the worst part is you’re blind to what is really in front of you. If you’re looking for someone to prepare a proposal agreement, find someone in Padrieg to do it.”
Ripping my arm from his grip I stared at him, “I am not going to enter into an agreement with anyone, including Eikko or you. Watch your step, Emric because my patience is wearing extremely thin with you.”
He stepped close to me and lowered his voice, “the feeling is mutual, Major Shaye. I’m going to suggest that you light a fire under the mechanics asses because the sooner that these Parlan idiots get back to their own society the better. Remember who you are and don’t forget it. A relationship with him is never going to happen, so let it go now.”
I scoffed, not wanting to continue the argument with him. I left Emric’s domicile and headed for the training arena; there was no way I was going to go back to my domicile just to toss and turn in my bed, thinking about everything that Emric had said. Maybe I had changed, and I just didn’t see it. But so, has he. Maybe his jealousy was the driving force behind his cruel words and actions, but he didn’t need to take it out on me.
Turning on the drone lighting and the ATP, I let the white flames I had been holding in since Emric grabbed me come to life on my arms and eat away at the Eynos that came toward me. For five sati I ducked, dodged, ignited, and impaled the holographic adversaries until my body couldn’t take anymore. But the practice killing Eynos didn’t do anything but fuel my mind to go into overdrive and replay my argument with Xerminara, Emric and talk with Fauve on fast forward.
I was dragging myself up the seventh flight of stairs when I heard angry whispers that were all too familiar. Ducking behind a corridor barrier, I strained my hearing to listen in on Emric and Eikko’s conversation.
“You’re out of line to go after Ostana when she’s done nothing but protect all of you.” Eikko was actually defending me? What the hell happened when I was in the training arena?
Emric’s scoff brought me out of my internal debate and made me lean closer to the wall.
“Everything has been fucked up since you and your friend had shown up. Ok? Everything. I don’t know what type of sick little game you’re playing or what your end game is with Ostana, but I’ll warn you right now. You and Ostana will never happen. She’s not going to Parlan and you’re sure as shit not staying here.”
I took the chance to lean out of my hiding spot to look at the two men and bit my lip to stop myself from getting in between the two of them. Both men were toe-to-toe and looked as if their wind and water abilities would determine who would win the physical fight between the two.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Freyer,” Eikko’s voice was low and deadly as he looked at my right-hand man, “you’re not going to say where and with whom Ostana is going to go. You do not own her.”
“And you seek perfection in an imperfect society. Let me tell you something, Kangho, Ostana is not perfect and you’re barking up the wrong tree if you think she is.”
It was Eikko’s turn to scoff, “who the hell are you to determine who is the definition of perfect? Last time I checked, you are nothing more than a First Lieutenant and haven’t even made a proposal agreement to anyone.”
Emric’s eyes flared with rage as he looked at Eikko, “and you’re just a Parlan jackass that doesn’t know the first thing about anything other than fucking skincare routines.”
“Ostana’s going with me to Parlan and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.” Eikko was obviously done with the conversation and started walking away from Emric when he stalled on Emric’s next statement.
“Love cannot exist between the two of you, ever. So, don’t you dare tell me that you love her because you find her to be perfect. I’m telling you right now that she’s anything but.” Emric growled.
Eikko turned and smiled as he narrowed his glowing purple eyes and stepped toe-to-toe with him again.
“Hear me clearly when I tell you this Freyer, Major Ostana Liri Shaye is my,” he pointed to himself, “kind of perfect. Everything you’re saying is the very reason that she is perfect in my eyes. I am in love with her and I will,” he came chest to chest with my best friend, his purple eyes glowing of the ice brewing in his veins. “I will marry her and take her back to Parlan with me, whether you like it or not. If you don’t like it, then doing something.”
It was interesting to see both men squaring off as if they were on the battlefield fighting each other for the same prize.
Emric was the first to relent, saying something so low that I couldn’t hear him before pushing past Eikko and coming toward me. I ducked behind the corridor wall, looking for somewhere to hide. The last thing that I needed was getting caught eavesdropping by Emric.
Throwing myself up to the support beams, I wrapped my body around the rectangle and waited for Emric to storm past me before lowering myself back to the solid ground.
Eikko wanted to marry me. He had said so to Emric. My heart fluttering stalled in its fit when my rational brain spoke up; he could’ve just said that t
o get under Emric’s skin and meant nothing of it. Right? Right. That’s what it was. There was no sense in making an ant hole into a mole mountain, or whatever the expression was.
When the coast was clear, and I knew that both parties had gone their separate ways I trudged my way back to my domicile to face the music. There was no way that I could escape Eikko and his questioning about where I had gone without telling him. Although he’d never said anything in the past, after the nakti we shared, it wouldn’t surprise me if things were headed into new territory for us.
To my surprise, however, when I walked in the door and silenced the holographic woman, everything was silent. The fire had been doused, the drone lights were out, and all was quiet.
I took a deep breath and made my way to my room. It was times like these that I wished I had a mother to talk to; a thought dawned on me as I sat down at my desk and looked at my communicator pad.