Awakening Defiance: (The Saoirse Saga Book 2)

by Teagan Kearney

  The Saoirse Saga

  Episode Two

  Awakening Defiance©

  By

  Teagan Kearney

  The right of Teagan Kearney to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchases.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover photo: Shutterstock

  Dedication

  To Tim, as always, for your loving support and help.

  Acknowledgment

  Grateful thanks to my marvelous editor, Lois Dacus.

  To every single one of my readers—a great big heartfelt thank you.

  In particular, I’d like those who generously agreed to read advanced copies and offer feedback. Your support is genuinely appreciated.

  Sign up for the author’s mailing list to receive a free copy of Hekate’s Chalice, Book One in the Adept Solutions Series, and information about new releases, discounts, and advanced reading copies: https://tinyurl.com/yale54pw

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One: Changed Circumstances

  Chapter Two: The Palace

  Chapter Three: The Emperor Teyrn

  Chapter Four: New Factors

  Chapter Five: Djem

  Chapter Six: Betrayal

  Chapter Seven: The Kaudagan

  Chapter Eight: The Wormhole

  Chapter Nine: Emankora

  Chapter Ten: Thwarted

  Chapter Eleven: Encounter

  Chapter Twelve: Attack

  Chapter Thirteen: Ylväs Suq

  Chapter Fourteen: Transit

  Chapter Fifteen: Tajriba

  Chapter Sixteen: An Appointment To Keep

  Chapter Seventeen: A Clean Slate

  Chapter Eighteen: A Surprise.

  Epilogue

  FROM THE AUTHOR

  Saoirse (pronounced sirsh-uh or sear-sha) is the Irish Gaelic word for freedom.

  Chapter One: Changed Circumstances

  The spray of cold water on her face shocked Kia into wakefulness. She blinked. Where was she? A series of images flashed before her in quick succession: a rosy dawn limning the sky and her father slumping to the ground with a hole in his forehead; an explosion in the darkness of Jahanamu’s asteroid mine; standing elated before Rial and his Chenjerai elite guards uttering vows and swearing her life away in service to him as she was accepted into their ranks. Yes, she remembered where she was—in the bed of Lord Rial, Heir to the Nadil-Kuradi Empire.

  She tried to sit up, but someone had poured a large bucket of wet sand inside her skull, and she fell back. The bed was soft, softer than any she could remember sleeping on. Someone dribbled a bitter substance into her mouth. “Ugh.” She attempted to turn aside, to spit it out and prevent more of the nasty stuff sliding down her throat, but the firm hand pressing on her forehead foiled her efforts.

  She cracked her eyelids open, doing her best to limit the amount of bright sunlight making a full frontal assault on her eyeballs, to find Rial a few inches away.

  His eyebrows drew together as he studied her.

  Her fist flew, connected with his jaw, and he stumbled backward, the small bulb of whatever disgusting stuff he’d been trying to force her to drink splattering his uniform with dirty yellow streaks. “You drugged me!” She glared at him, the drilling behind her eyes conspiring with a heavy lassitude in her limbs to make more movement impossible. “You’re no different from those slavers.”

  He rubbed his jaw as he retrieved the container. “I’m protecting you, and if last night’s kidnapping had been a success, they would have sold you to the highest bidder. I’ve also learned what substances the nanobots will and will not reject. This is an antidote to the sed I gave you, and I’d prefer it if you drink it voluntarily because if you keep trying to hit me, I’ll tie you up and force it down your throat.”

  She cursed, the effort of hitting him leaving her too weak to protest. Opening her mouth, she swallowed more of the disgusting liquid, surprised it stayed in her stomach.

  “Give it a minute and you’ll feel fine,” he said.

  The thought she’d never feel fine again crossed her mind.

  “What do you recall of our conversation?” He had the grace to look guilty. “Rest assured, I didn’t take advantage of you. I slept on the couch in the other room. Yes, I did drug you, and I won’t apologize because otherwise, you wouldn’t have agreed to spend the night in my bed, but now I can declare you my consort. You can hate me all you want, but you’ll get over it. If my father gets hold of you, you’ll experience far worse than a restful night’s sleep in a comfortable bed.”

  He sounded almost annoyed that she would protest. “Far worse has already happened.” She pushed down the swell of frustration at her helplessness. “You shouldn’t have done that. You deceived me. What you did was dishonest, and I thought you were honorable.”

  “Enough arguing.” Impatience with her crept in. “It’s done. You have ten minutes to shower before you’ll have to accompany me to breakfast, and I think you prefer to enter the dining hall alone. Afterward, Nagavi will give you and the other new Chenjerai an introduction to your duties.”

  She put her hands over her ears, blocking him out. Her scheme to assassinate Rial had been progressing as she’d intended until the previous night. This morning she was living in a nightmare and crossing a bottomless chasm on the thinnest of bridges as it disintegrated under her feet.

  “I have plans, Kia, and I would like you to be part of them.”

  “What kind of plans?” That’s right, he’d revealed he was Jenèz, her father’s co-conspirator, and Jared, the brother she’d thought was dead, was safe. Her mood lifted. If Rial wasn’t the enemy anymore, the Emperor Teyrn certainly was. “How much power do I have as your whatever you call it?” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word consort.

  His eyes narrowed, and a sly playfulness crossed his face. “That depends on our personal relationship.”

  She tilted her head to the side and studied him. His brown-gold eyes twinkled at her and his mouth wore a teasing smile. He was strong with wide shoulders, narrow hips, his muscles toned, an excellent fighter, and without his usual severe expression, he was someone who would charm her… if she let him. If she became his partner, wouldn’t that mean he’d cast her off if his father chose a bride for him? She’d be a member of the Chenjerai and would have to watch him join his life with someone who would bear his children. No, that wasn’t a road she intended to walk, but she didn’t think keeping him at a distance was going to be easy. Yet, if she could achieve the revenge she sought, she would have to consider what price she was prepared to pay.

  Twelve minutes after a lamentably quick shower—since the mines of Jahanamu it didn’t matter how long she spent in the shower, it was never enough—she sat on Rial’s left, with Nagavi opposite her on his right, at the top of a long table in the dining hall. Her eyes widened as she surveyed the large variety of freshly cooked food provided for breakfast, and breathed in the tempting aromas. One perk of being an elite guard, she thought as she munched on a thick slice of delicious toasted bread topped with a tangy green paste.
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  “What’s today’s schedule?” Rial asked Nagavi.

  “Your father requests you present yourself well before the banquet. Annen will organize transport. General Zakale is due shortly—and we’ll be lucky if he’s gone by lunchtime.”

  Kia kept her gaze down, taking quick peeks at Rial, and noticing how his mouth turned down a fraction when Nagavi mentioned the Emperor. Tonight she’d find out firsthand the reality behind the name that filled the galaxy with dread. She glanced around the table, watching the men and women of the Chenjerai as they relaxed and chatted as they ate. She caught Jalux staring at her with an odd expression. When he realized she was looking at him, he looked away.

  At that moment Rial dumped a generous dollop of colorful fried vegetables on her plate. “Try,” he said, “it’s a specialty of Djem.”

  He was feeding her in public! Was she three years old? Her cheeks flamed, and she stabbed the shiny red and green herb-covered strips, shunting them around, and imagining everyone at the table staring at her. She couldn’t wait for breakfast to finish. It was hard to accept he’d taken no notice of her refusal last night and this morning acted as if they were an intimate couple. She looked up and caught Nagavi eyeing the blooming bruise on Rial’s jaw. He looked at her speculatively and winked.

  That was it. She stood up, shoved her plate aside, and stamped out. The door slid shut behind her, depriving her of the opportunity to slam it. She pressed her forehead against the wall and heard Rial say, “No, leave her. She needs time. Protocol’s not important.”

  She didn’t wait to hear more but set off for the gymnasium where she intended to cool her fevered brain by running circuits.

  Nagavi, with Ohiko, Tamaiko, and Jalux in tow, found her an hour later. Pushing herself hard and pounding around the hall until her muscles ached and sweat ran down her back eased the outrage and frustration, and she achieved a certain equilibrium. Not as much as she’d like, but she was moving forward on the premise that having slept in the Heir’s bed, he would accept it was sufficient to protect her from whatever threats existed, and she would be polite but distant. Tonight she’d sleep in her new living quarters and shove the couch against the door to his rooms. That way she’d have a few minutes’ warning if he tried anything.

  Kia trailed behind the others as they followed Nagavi along a corridor that ran the length of the building and out a door at the opposite end of the palace to the gymnasium. Her emotions veered from elation that her brother was alive to despondency at the latest predicament she found herself in, and her mind was stuck chasing the same objective—what did being Rial’s so-called consort mean for her? When he wasn’t in front of her dominating the space, her attention, and everything in sight, she could think. He’d taken her view of the world, broken it into pieces, and put it back together with all the parts in different places. If she gained his trust and became his confidante, she’d be in a position to influence him, and that was a goal worth aiming for. She sighed. From what she’d learned of Rial, he’d easily detect any deceptions on her part. Swearing her allegiance to him, protecting his life as part of his Chenjerai guards was one thing, but to open her heart to him, she didn’t think she’d manage that. Having sex with him… she wasn’t sure she wanted to handle that part.

  Sestrian women took a number of lovers before they chose a life partner, and while Kia had had a couple of relationships, her experience, and her mother’s advice, taught her that sex complicated matters. Make you my consort whether you want it or not. She’d done nothing to deserve such treatment. Goddess preserve her! The nanobots! Was this what it was about? He’d said she was the sole person whose blood hadn’t rejected them. Did that mean he or the emperor had experimented on other women? But she knew what the problem was. It wasn’t the sex or the fact he might want her to have dozens of nanobot babies, it was that Sestrian women chose their partners, and he’d taken that choice away from her. That was a much more difficult obstacle to overcome. She clung to the one piece of news cheering her up—Jared was alive. It had been beyond any stretch of her imagination to conceive that Rial was Jenèz, the man her father had worked with and trusted.

  “Kia!”

  The warm glow of elation at the thought of her brother disappeared. The others had stopped, and she’d gone traipsing on.

  “I can’t imagine what or who she’s thinking of,” Jalux muttered.

  “What did you say?” She couldn’t believe this sniping from Jalux. Hadn’t their relationship always been friendly? “What? Are you jealous he didn’t choose you?”

  Jalux’s expression darkened.

  “Don’t pay him any attention,” Tamaiko said in her ear.

  Yet more unexpected changes. The one person she’d believed was sympathetic was turning against her, and the one who’d antagonized her the most was offering support. “Behave yourselves, or there’ll be consequences.” Nagavi’s bark silenced them. “These are the medical facilities. Lord Rial runs a small hospital and emergency center for the people who work in the palace or on the estate and their families. They also patch us up when needed.”

  Oh, yes, the hospital. Another place she was more familiar with than she wanted to be. She’d inadvertently saved Rial’s life during a cave-in when he’d been inspecting the slave mines, and woken in a room here after they’d been rescued. She remembered little of the incident and nothing of the journey.

  Nagavi led them into a clean white reception area.

  “Good morning, Commander. You can go straight through.” A woman at the reception desk spoke briskly. “The doctors are ready for you.”

  “Thank you, Harreira.”

  After being measured, weighed, poked, and prodded by doctors, attendants, and various machines, Kia sat in a small separate room, breathing in the customary antiseptic scent of sanitizer as an aide shaved the area around the implant at the base of her skull.

  The other three waited outside.

  “They’ll remove the implant you’ve got in your skull and another device goes in,” Nagavi told her.

  “Why do I have to have one at all?” Wasn’t she controlled enough?

  “You need this one. It’s for coms and is keyed to your helmet for when we’re on public duty, and facilitates our abilities to protect Rial. You’ll see this evening.”

  “Does it hurt?” She’d been unconscious when the control device had been implanted.

  Nagavi grinned. “Tell me, how much pain can you stand?”

  “What?”

  “You have no sense of humor, do you? You should be used to teasing after the past month.”

  “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

  “Snap out of it, Kia. You’re a Chenjerai, and you have a job to do. That’s all you should think about, and it’s microscopic. You won’t feel a thing.”

  She was certainly thinking about the man she’d promised to guard and protect with her life, but it wasn’t in a benevolent way.

  “That’s it,” said the medic.

  Kia thinned her lips.

  “What does that look mean?” Nagavi asked.

  “Nothing.” She’d like to have shown him what it meant, but she wasn’t fast enough to beat him. Besides, he was her commander, and she was supposed to obey his orders, and he was right, she had to snap out of it. Focusing on what Rial was doing to her was getting her in a tighter and tighter knot. “Are we training today?”

  “Yes. Everyone, except you four, is already in the gym. We’ll join them when we’re finished here. Wait in the reception. Tamaiko, get in here.”

  After the session at the hospital, Nagavi sent them to the gymnasium to join the other Chenjerai. Tamaiko and Jalux aimed straight for the armory, chose their weapons, and joined a sword practicing group, while Ohiko headed for the flight simulators in a side room.

  Kia stood for a minute, feeling the tension in her gut lessen as she watched the guards train. Yes, some adrenaline-fueled action was guaranteed to take her mind off her troubles.

  Toinen, one of the olde
r guards, was instructing a small group in wrestling techniques, and Kia decided this was exactly what she needed.

  Toinen was broad, stocky, and heavy with rock-hard muscles. He’d demonstrate a hold, how to get out of it, before making them practice, checking that everybody changed partners frequently.

  It took Kia a while to gain a sense of how the moves differed from srilao. As a beginner, she spent most of her time learning defensive and offensive takedowns and spending far more time being tossed to the floor than she was accustomed to, but when midday came, her mind and her body were more at ease.

  After lunch, when she was relieved Rial didn’t join them, they were given the afternoon off, as they’d be on duty during the evening’s visit to the emperor’s palace.

  Nagavi escorted her along the corridor to the library.

  “The special treatment isn’t going to help me,” she told him as he sat her at a desk and gave her a comunit. Tapping the screen, he brought up a list of names. “These are your fellow Chenjerai. with their backgrounds and special skills. This is information you, as the consort, are expected to know.”

  After the commander left, Kia spent five minutes staring out the window, fretting, trying to remember a life where she had choices, and reluctantly decided to learn what she could about her new companions. Shaba was at the top of the list and Kia saw the woman was one of the longest-serving guards and owned serious knife skills; in fact, she’d never been defeated in a knife fight either before or after she joined the Chenjerai. Kia was new to knife work as srilao was a hand-to-hand martial art depending on evasive and offensive movements, but it would be useful to improve her skills in that area, especially after Shaba had demonstrated her expertise in taking down her would-be captors at the nightclub last night. When she was familiar with the faces and histories of the twelve men and seven other women who comprised the Chenjerai, she pulled up a map of the galaxy and located Emankora. Where could Jared be? If he’d escaped with Rial’s help, he could be anywhere, but she would start by investigating suitable planets, maybe somewhere between her home planet and Xarunta. At least it was a start.