Imperial Masquerade (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 11)

by J. Naomi Ay

  "Um, actually, yes," Kell replied. "I'm in Contract Administration. I have a cube on the second floor."

  "I’m the president of the company, but I suppose you know that."

  "Actually, Kell has a new function," Petya interrupted, making his way to the head of the conference table. "Show them, Kell. Show them what you can do, Kell. Make that guy over there choke to death."

  "Which guy?" Kell asked.

  "It doesn't matter. Pick a guy, any one of those fat cat ministers around the table."

  "That one?"

  "Sure. He ought to do."

  "Stop it, Petya!" Shika interrupted. "Just tell me what you want and get out of here."

  "We're here to deliver a message," Petya said, sitting down in Shika's vacated chair. "Our boss, Rosso demands to know where Senya is right now. He wants to have a meeting with your father."

  "We don't know where he is," Rent stated. “Or, at least I don’t.”

  "Do you still want me to choke someone?" Kell asked. "Or, is that on hold?"

  "Who the hell is Rosso?" Shika demanded. "And, what's it to him where the Emperor has gone?"

  "Now, would be a good time for Senya to come back," Eberly mumbled.

  "Actually, two years ago would have been a better time," Kinar agreed. “But, at any point now, I would encourage him to make an appearance, even a brief one, and metaphysically would be fine."

  "Rosso is the one responsible for the destruction of Lumineria III," Petya stated. “And, he’ll be happy to blow up Lumineria II if you don’t comply.”

  “Does anyone know what he’s talking about?” Shika looked around the table, whereupon the ministers shrugged and shook their heads.

  “I need to get back to my office.” Rent grabbed his coat and headed to the door. “Come on, Kell. I have a special project for a Contract Administrator.”

  “Really?” Kell asked, taking a step to follow Rent.

  “You can’t go!” Both Shika and Petya yelled. It was then that the building began to shake, knocking everyone, who had been standing, off their feet.

  “Is that Senya?” Eberly whispered.

  “I dearly hope so,” Kinar replied.

  “It could be Rosso,” Petya suggested, “Or, one of his other friends.”

  "Actually, it was me," Shika declared, "And, and Rent. Right, bro?"

  "Uh, yeah. Right, Steve," Rent agreed, and scrunched up his face in an attempt to appear mean.

  "When Rent and I combine our powers, we have the strength of our dad. Now, all of you get out of here, or we'll do it again."

  "That's totally bogus, Shik," Petya scoffed. "I've known you our entire lives. Your only supernatural power is your ability to guzzle vast quantities of beer. Choke him, Kell. Prove what you can do!"

  "But, Duke, I have a new project I have to get back to at SdK."

  "If we don't get the information," Petya hissed. "Rosso is going to kill us before midnight tonight."

  "Oh, that's right." Kell sighed and apologized to Rent. "Sorry, but I already sold my soul to Rosso. I'm afraid I can't take the job, and instead, I've got to kill your brother."

  "I don't think so," Rent replied and raised his arms into the air. The building shook again, even worse than before.

  "Yeah!" Shika declared, raising his arms, too. They stood like that until the rocking threw them off their feet. "Now, everyone go!"

  All the ministers scrambled to the doors including Rent, who was intent on getting back to his office.

  “No, you don't,” Shika insisted. “You’re coming with me to Karupatani. Kinar, order us a limo right away. We’ll leave right now. I think the both of us had better go there and do some praying.”

  “No," Petya protested, although no one was paying any attention to him. "Kell, do something. You're the one with the supernatural power."

  "Sorry, Duke. Those Princes are obviously much more powerful than me. I don't know about you, but I'm going to go home and hide. Maybe if we get lucky, Senya will wipe out Rosso before midnight tonight." With that, Kell bolted out the door and didn't look back.

  Petya was now alone in the conference room with nowhere to go and nothing to do until he remembered his wife and his estate in Korelesk. Taking out his cell, Petya rang up Marie.

  "Are you busy tonight?" he asked as meekly as he could manage.

  "Not really," Marie replied. "I was just baking a triple layer cake."

  "What flavor?"

  "Chocolate."

  "With cream cheese frosting by any chance?"

  "Uh huh. Do you want me to save you a slice?"

  "Indeed," the Duke replied. "I'll be there as quickly as I can fly."

  As Petya departed the building, it began to shake again even though the Princes had both left several minutes prior. Obviously, it wasn't their powers which had caused the rumbling. In fact, the quaking in the Big House had been due to the collapsing of the neighboring damaged buildings. The entire Palace courtyard was now a mass of charred and burned out marble stones which had tumbled to the ground as the buildings fell apart. This rattled the remaining structures, of which there were a precious few, and ruined the intricate facades which had escaped the fire.

  "It's a tragedy," Lord Eberly remarked, gazing up at the smoldering shell of what had been the most beautiful palace in all creation.

  "It is only the facade which has been destroyed," Kinar replied. "Like a pretty costume at a masquerade, the skeleton behind it has been here all along.”

  Chapter 24

  "Such a busy week it has been," Luci remarked in her Footbook group. "I haven't had a moment to spare for the garden or any of my flowers."

  "Me either," Delores replied. "Woofie has been a terror trying to get out of his chair. Lately, I've had to plug him into the vid just so I can rest. Fortunately, he likes that show with the singing vegetables."

  "I hate that show," Nora put in. "My favorite is that game show that takes place on that island. This season, Princess Angelica is featured, and let me tell you, she's a hoot. I can't decide if I want her to get eaten or win the game."

  "Oh heavens!" Luci declared. "I certainly don't want Angelica to be eaten. Frankly, I wish she'd come home and deal with her sons. They are convinced they need that operation and now neither one of them is going to keep their body. Both of them could die, and they're such good boys."

  "You can't talk teenagers out of anything they set their mind to," Nora replied. "Hey, has anyone heard from Kiki or Anne lately?"

  Kiki was out of the group, Luci noted. In fact, her entire Footbook account had been deleted.

  "I hope she's alright," Luci commented. "I worry about her."

  "We all do."

  As for Anne, the mention of her name, must have pinged her screen. A moment later, the green online indicator dot appeared next to her dirty, chipped-toenail foot.

  "Sorry, guys," she apologized. "We've had to move again. Something terrible happened on the planet below the moon where we were camping."

  "Really?" Nora asked. "You weren't near Lumineria III, were you? I heard Lumineria II started a nuclear war with them."

  "Oh, let's not talk politics," Delores scoffed. "I've had enough of that for five lifetimes. Has anyone collected any new flowers?"

  "I've been so busy," Anne apologized again. "I haven't had a chance to look. Harvey hasn't been feeling very well, so we pulled into a spacebase to let him rest. I don’t mind, as we were running low on provisions and the water pressure in the hotel shower is so much better than the one in our RV."

  "What's the matter with Harvey?" Luci inquired, politely.

  "Oh, he's got an old injury that sometimes causes him a lot of pain. He had been doing really well since we've been on vacation. In fact, he hadn't used his cane in over a year. However, lately, he's become irritable and as stressed as he was back home. I think that's what's causing his leg to start hurting again."

  "Maybe, he should go on a vegetarian diet," Nora suggested. "All those weird things he eats could be inflaming h
is connective tissues."

  "Actually, Harvey's a retired doctor," Anne added. "He ought to know what he should do."

  "Really?" Luci typed, her mind racing again. "What was Harvey's specialty? Was he by chance a Neurosurgeon?"

  Anne's foot blinked for a moment and then, the green dot disappeared.

  "She must have lost her connection," Delores remarked.

  "I just bet she did," Luci murmured.

  "Well, I've got to go back to work. Bye all." Nora signed off.

  "Me too. See ya, Luci." Delores blinked away.

  Now, Luci was left alone, and lonely, all by herself, the solitary foot, and blinking cursor in an empty chat room in virtual space.

  "Why didn't you stop it?" Anne asked, shutting her netbook closed before the IP address could be traced.

  "You already know the answer to that," her husband replied.

  "Billions died. It didn’t have to be that way."

  "It did, and it shall again. ‘Tis the way things have always been and shall always be. Unfortunately, we are too early in the game to reveal our hand.”

  "But you will?" Anne insisted.

  "Of course. When the right time comes, not only shall I unmask, but I shall win. In the meantime, I must continue to hide my cards."

  Will he or won’t he come back? And, who the heck is Arsan? Will Rosso destroy what’s left of the failing Empire?

  On we go to

  Rivalry,

  The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 12

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