“I'm just glad you're okay,” I said, kissing the side of his head.
“And I'm glad you're okay,” he said.
He took my face in his hands and examined it carefully, as if he was making sure I wasn't hurt. Somehow, I managed to get out without a single scratch. Of course, I hadn't been in the middle of a wicked, pitched fight like him.
He turned to the guard and said, “May we have a moment alone? Just me and Riley, please?”
The guard nodded and left, taking the others further down on the beach. I wrapped my arms around Jendrish's neck, holding him close.
“What's wrong, sweetie?” I asked, stroking his silky hair away from his face.
“I have some news. Some unexpected news, actually,” he said. “Can we take a walk?”
We made our way back to the shore, my anxiety ratcheting up with every step. I had no idea what was going on, what was going through his mind, or what was wrong. And it worried me tremendously. Jendrish walked me toward a palace overlooking the beach. But we didn't go inside, instead, he took me through a small gate which found us surrounded by trees and exotic flowers, the likes of which I'd never seen before.
The sweet smell was delightful and made me feel good, but the fear of what Jendrish was about to tell me crippled me with fear, making it hard to enjoy the beauty around me. He took my hand in his and walked me through the gardens.
Jendrish blurted out – seemingly randomly – the news he'd been holding inside. He spoke quickly, as if to get it off his tongue and off his heart. Nothing like ripping the Band-Aid off fast.
“My people have asked me to be their king,” he said.
Turning toward him, I gasped, my eyes wide. “That's amazing news, Jendrish. Congratulations, sweetheart. I know how much you want to serve your people. That sounds like the perfect opportunity to do so.”
Yet, he still didn't look happy. Not at all.
“What am I missing?” I asked.
“I don't know what to do, Riley. I've never felt so strongly about any woman before, I think I might be falling in love with you – ”
“I already know I love you, Jendrish.”
Those words brought joy to his eyes for a split second, before he wiped it away, returning to a solemn expression. “And that's what's killing me. I want to be with you, more than anything in the world, I do – ”
“Are you ending things?” I asked, feeling my heart drop into my chest.
“If I'm to be king, I would have to stay here, on Optorio. I couldn't return with you to Earth.”
“Where you go, I go, Jendrish. I meant that.”
“But that would mean – are you willing to do that, Riley? Leave Earth and all you know behind for this far-off planet?”
“Live here, you mean?” I asked.
It was such a serious question, one that should require more time to think. But what did I have back on Earth? I had no family, a dead end job, no friends. Here – well, I had Jendrish. And a chance at a new start, a start unlike any I could've dreamed up for myself. The possibilities were endless, even as scary as they were.
He nodded, not looking me in the eye. I took his chin in my hands and made him meet my gaze. “Yes, yes, Jendrish. I would. In a heartbeat. And you wanna know why? Because I love you and I'm not ashamed to say that,” I said. “I have nothing on Earth that kills me to leave behind. But the idea of leaving you destroys me. Besides, look at this place. It's like a work of art. And I'd get to live here, on this planet?”
“And in this palace,” he said, pointing to the house behind us.
“Here? Really?” I asked, my eyes growing wide. “This is your home?”
“It is now, as king,” he said.
The home was larger than my entire apartment building. A lot fancier too. And it overlooked the beach and the gardens. “I'd be overjoyed to stay here with you, Jendrish. You have no idea how amazing this would be for me.”
The sadness in his eyes dissipated and was replaced by hope and excitement. This was happening. This was possible.
“I love you, Riley,” he said, kissing me before I could say anything else.
One thing led to another, as our kisses turned more passionate, and he started undressing me right there in the royal gardens.
“Are you sure we can do this here?” I laughed.
“It's our home, Riley. “It's completely private and safe,” he said softly, stroking my face. “But if you don't want to – ”
“Well, if you say so.” I unzipped his suit, as I was becoming a real pro at this, and let it fall around us. I let him finish undressing me too.
Jendrish laid me down on the softest ground he could find and cradled my head in his hands as we made love. The sounds of the waves nearby only added to the surreal nature of it all, as he kissed me deeply, penetrating me and taking me as his own. He moved inside of me like the waves rolled over the ocean. He was deep and his thrusting sent bolts of electricity up every nerve ending in my body.
I was his, and he was mine.
And this was my home now.
Or rather – our home.
Together, we rode out the pleasure, climaxing together as he repeated yet again, “I love you, Riley.”
And never before had I believed a man when he said those words, even during sex. But this time was different.
This time was real.
Book 5 – Rebels
Chapter One
Jendrish
The night air was cool and the twin moons of Optorio were mostly obscured by clouds. The world around us was gloomy and dim – perfect conditions for our raiding party. We moved silently and swiftly down the alleyway between two old warehouses. We'd gotten a tip that some of the rebels had been staging operations from a warehouse in one of the older districts in Tochasea – the capitol city on Optorio.
We moved quietly down the alley in a single file formation. Vink, my most trusted friend and commander led the column while I followed closely behind. Another dozen of our finest warriors followed me, their footsteps so soft and quiet, it sounded like nothing more than the soft whisper of a breeze.
Vink held up a hand to halt the column and we all stopped, taking a knee in unison. The Guard was a well run, well disciplined machine and I'd always been proud of my time serving with my brothers. We hunkered down in the darkness as I watched Vink switch on the imaging goggles attached to his helmet – the imaging goggles, or im-go's, as we called them – allowed him to essentially see in the dark and detect the heat signatures of beings inside of buildings.
The rebels were rogue elements of the now disbanded and imprisoned Regent Council. I'd banded together with some of my brothers from the old Royal Guard – an elite unit of warriors tasked with protecting the king and royal family. Once the Regents came to power though, they saw no use for the Guard and had disbanded them.
Some had found employment on the staff of one Regent or another. They had families to feed so I took no issue with them taking money to do a job. My issue was with the Regents who were paying blood wages on the backs of the Optorion people.
In the wake of King Bazarok's abdication, the Regent Council had been appointed to rule our world. They were supposed to make life better and more prosperous for everybody. Instead, they only benefitted themselves. They grew rich and fat while the everyday Optorion struggled to survive.
The deprivation of our people and the decline of what had been one of our planetary system's shining beacons of civilizations had been terrible to witness. And I'd felt entirely powerless to do anything about it. I'd see it every single day, saw the people starving, saw the desperation in their eyes, but didn't think I could make a difference.
That was, until one of my father's old friends came by. Tarkonil was a member of the Regent Council and one of former King Bazarok's oldest and most trusted friends. More importantly, he looked around Optorio and saw what I saw. He was impacted by it in much the same way I was. But unlike me, he had sought to do something about it.
He'
d started collecting information about the various criminal enterprises the Regents were engaged in and was determined to bring them all down. It was an endeavor that ultimately claimed his life – a wrong I was determined to set right. Good men like Tarkonil should not be sacrificed and then forgotten as the world moved forward without them.
I vowed that once my rule was firmly in place and all elements of the Regents had been wiped away like the blot on our society they were, that I would memorialize Tarkonil. I would ensure that nobody ever forgot him or the sacrifice he made to give our world back to us.
“You okay?”
I looked up, shaken out of my reverie by the sound of Vink's voice. He was looking back at me, a look of mild amusement blended with concern upon his face. He wasn't necessarily concerned about me, he was more concerned with focus – or lack thereof – putting our squad in jeopardy. And rightly so.
“Fine,” I said in a low voice. “I'm fine.”
“You know you can hang back,” Vink said. “There's no need for you to go in there. You're the king. You have nothing to prove.”
I shook my head. “I have everything to prove.”
“No. You don't,” Vink said. “I've told you before that I'd rather you not take part in these raids. They're dangerous enough without having to worry about saving your ass on top of it.”
I grinned at him. “I'll be just fine,” I said. “I'm a Guardsman, remember?”
His gave me a lopsided grin in return. “Yeah, you used to be,” he said. “Now, you're just some fancy, candy-assed Royal.”
“Don't make me shoot you.”
“Would you actually do that yourself?” he asked. “Or have one of your staff do it for you?”
“Oh, I'd do it myself,” I said. “And take great pleasure in doing so.”
Vink chuckled softly. “We've got four bodies in that building dead ahead,” he said softly into his comm device. “Endryl, you take Alpha squad through the east entrance. I'll lead Bravo through the front. Move out.”
Endryl and six of the other Guardsmen moved silently around us, moving through the shadows toward their designated entry point. Vink looked at me.
“And you're sure the biosystems net is still inactive?” he asked. “The last thing we need is to walk into a heavily armed group who knew we were coming.”
I nodded. “It's inactive,” I said. “And the details of our raids are being kept off of all systems as a secondary precaution. Only those who need to know the details know them. You deliver the briefings yourself.”
He nodded as well. “I do. My only concern is what's happening with the information before it gets to me. After what happened over in – ”
I held up my hand to cut him off because I knew where he was going. A couple of weeks back, before I'd had the biosystems net disabled, we'd walked into a buzzsaw. The rebels knew we were coming and had staged an ambush. We lost almost a dozen men. Good men.
Obviously, there was a mole working in my administration and he'd fed key information to the rebels.
Since then, I'd disabled the biosystems net. Our artificially intelligent biosystems were something the people of Optorio relied on. An achievement we were proud of. Before the reign of the Regent Council, everybody had access to the implants necessary to engage with their very own biosystem computer. Once the Regents took over, the restricted access to the biosystem net to only those within the Council or those they deemed necessary to the functioning of the government.
Normal, everyday citizens had been banned from the net.
To people like Riley – or anybody not from Optorio, really – people used to living without an implanted biosystem, it was difficult to explain what it meant. We were so used to having it, that we keenly felt its absence. As I hunkered down in that alley, I was very aware that Ozul, my biosystem companion, was not there with me. They became a part of us. And not having them was almost like missing a limb. Or at least, one of our senses.
It was something I'd vowed to change once I took control. The biosystem net was something every citizen contributed to and every citizen had a right to, as far as I was concerned. The biosystem was for the people – and by the people. It wasn't for the ruling class or the elites of our planet.
But given recent events, I'd had to suspend the net once more. Only those I deemed critical had access to their implants and the system. It had sparked outrage of course, but I was doing all I could to assure them that it was a temporary measure. That once all elements of the Regents had been erased, life would go back to normal and everybody would have access to the biosystem net once more.
My assurances did little to quell the unease of the people. And I couldn't necessarily blame them. They had suffered mightily beneath the boot of the Regents.
“It's disabled Vink,” I said. “The only people who know we're coming are those on this mission with us right now.”
He nodded, but I could still see the unease in his eyes. He was concerned for his men – a trait I admired greatly and something that made him an excellent commander.
“Well then,” he said. “Let's get to it, shall we?”
“Indeed.”
He gave me a grin as a nearly crazed light shined in his eyes. Vink lived for moments like this. He was at his best when he was in the middle of the action. He'd once told me he never felt more alive than when he was in the middle of a fight. Of course, given the lack of conflict Optorio had engaged in, those moments were few and far between for Vink – so he tended to really relish them.
He keyed the comm device on his wrist. “Alpha squad, are you in position?”
“Affirmative, sir,” came the hushed reply. “Awaiting your command.”
“Stand by,” Vink said and turned to us. “Let's get into position.”
As one, we stood and moved to the doorway we'd be entering through. I stood with half the remaining squad on one side of the door, while Vink and the rest stood on the other. I knelt down and placed a sonic charge at the base of the door and then looked up at Vink, giving him a curt nod.
“Alpha squad,” he whispered into his comm device. “Set off your charge on my mark. Three... two... one... ”
There was a bright flash followed by a low rumble and then the door simply disintegrated into a small pile of ash. The squad was through the doorway before the last of the ash had even fallen, weapons at the ready.
Pinned between the Alpha and Bravo squad who had entered through the other door were two men and a woman I didn't recognize – but judging by the look of pure hatred and the weapons in their hands, they were without a doubt, Regent rebels. A number of tables were spread around the room and were filled with weapons and what looked like explosive devices. Clearly, the tip we'd received had panned out well.
“Place your weapons on the ground,” Vink said. “And put your hands in the air. By order of the authority of the lawful crown of Optorio, you are to be detained and questioned.”
The atmosphere in the room was filled with a malevolent sense of foreboding. It felt charged. Expectant. It felt like the air just before a particularly wicked storm broke. As I scanned the room, something felt off to me. Something wasn't right.
And then it hit me.
“Vink,” I said. “Where's the fourth?”
He shot me a look. “What?”
“When you scanned the building, you picked up four bodies in here,” I said. “There are only three here. Where's the fourth?”
As if in response to my question, a hidden door in the back wall of the room came crashing open. A man dressed in black from head to toe rushed out, his weapon at the ready and trained on Vink. Moving without thinking, I stepped in front, shoving Vink out of the way just as the man opened up. As Vink fell to the ground, blue lasers erupted from the gunman's weapon, catching me in the chest and stomach. It felt like hammer blows to my body, but with a crackling sound filling my ears and the smell of something burning filling my nose, I stood my ground and returned fire.
As my lasers pierce
d his body in multiple places, I heard the sound of gunfire behind me. Apparently, the other three in the room decided that they weren't going down without a fight. The gunman dropped to the ground and was still. I fell to a knee, trying to catch my breath. My body ached from where his shots hit me. Thankfully, I was wearing my sonic body armor – the very thing I'd argued against but Vink had insisted I wear.
“Are you okay?” Vink said, taking a knee beside me.
I nodded, still struggling to catch my breath. “Fine,” I gasped. “I'm fine.”
Vink looked behind us and then turned his attention back to me. “I told you that you need to stop coming on these raids,” he admonished me. “You're going to get yourself killed out here. This is no place for a king.”
I gave him a lopsided grin as my breath slowly began coming back to me. “I was a Guardsman first,” I said. “I do about as well out of the action as you do.”
“You have bigger responsibilities now,” he said. “You're a king.”
“A king who has no desire to send others to fight my battles,” I said. “I will not send others to do that which I'm unwilling to do.”
Vink looked at me and sighed – but I could see the respect behind his eyes. He may not like it, but he had to understand and respect it. We were Guardsmen. Getting into the fight was what we did. And king or not, it was what I intended to continue doing.
Vink helped me to my feet and scanned the room, looking for any other threats. The rest of the Guardsmen had formed a protective circle around me. Not that they needed to. Everybody in the room who could have been a threat was dead.
“Doesn't look like we're going to have anybody to interrogate,” I said.
Vink sighed. “They gave us no choice.”
I nodded. “I know,” I replied. “I just want to put an end to these rebels. And to do that, we need information.”
“At least all of these weapons are out of circulation,” Vink said.
I nodded. “There is that.”
I turned and looked down at the bodies of the rebels. They hadn't stood a chance and yet, despite that, they'd tried to fight their way out. These people were committed, I at least had to give them that. Of course, they were committed to killing me and seizing control of Optorio, which lessened my sympathy for them tremendously.
Fawks (Dragons of Kratak Book 4) Page 42
