“It’s not fair,” she ground out, blinking the dampness out of her eyes. “I hate you, and I’ll never forgive you for treating me as if I’m an animal that has no control.” As if on cue the urge to melt down in a puddle of frustrated sobbing evaporated as her reaction triggered a dose of seds, and the wave of emotion flatlined, leaving her detached and adrift on a calm ocean where the issue was no longer important.
“You want your revenge, don’t you?” He waited to see if she would take the bait. “Who else can do that for you?” He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. A light careful touch, but his voice hardened. “I told you before to come to terms with the situation in which you find yourself. I have no wish to manacle you, but if that’s what it takes to teach you compliance, that’s what I will do. The choice is yours. There is too much at stake.”
“Lord Rial,” Nagavi’s voice boomed over the tannoy, “General Huijata requests permission to board.”
“Come,” his hand on her shoulder turned her toward the door. “Things will get better. I promise.”
Kia glanced up at the bright lavender sky and pale yellow sun of Emankora, inhaled and blew out a soft breath, the tightness in her chest dissipating as her body recognized the familiar atmosphere of her planet. She was home. The seds sent a light soothing stream through her system, calming the swell of turbulent emotions that rose as she marched level with Nagavi behind Rial. She wondered if the nanobots would mitigate their effects the way Rial said they did for him with alcohol.
Eight Chenjerai guards preceded them as they crossed the spaceport, and eight marched behind. Tamaiko and Arall stayed aboard the Kadaugan running maintenance checks and keeping the ship ready for departure. A slight breeze ruffled the empire’s flag with its red circle on a white background, and the sun glinted off the transport that would take them into Shihon.
Her elation dipped as memories of the previous occasion she was at the spaceport crowded out earlier happier ones of traveling here with her family. Kia focused on her infoscreen, scanning the area, and finding nothing untoward. Not a surprise as all other craft were banned from landing and taking off during the Heir’s transit of the spaceport. She would prove Rial wrong and demonstrate she could do her job, despite his annihilation of her plans to escape. He talked about trust, but it seemed neither of them trusted the other.
On the flight into the capital, signs of occupation were everywhere with flits and ground transport craft marked with the empire’s red circle. The planet she’d known and grown up on no longer existed. Instead of their own chosen Electors, the conquering military ruled, and no matter how she tried, memories of her previous life—her kinfolk, friends, srilao, the precious happy freedoms too swiftly removed—slid in and around her consciousness. She clenched her hands and bit her lip, having no choice but to allow the pacifying medication to do its work.
General Huijata escorted Rial into Emankora’s new royal residence. Formerly inhabited by the head of Shihon’s Electors, it was a single-story white building, simple and plain compared with Rial’s palace on Xarunta.
“The briefing room, General, if you please.”
“But…”
“Do you suppose the emperor sent me here to pass the evening at a banquet with Shihon’s aristocracy?” Rial was cold and clinical. “I have other more pressing issues to deal with besides this small matter. Please forward updated information on location, numbers, troop movements—everything you have—to my commander.”
Huijata’s shoulders slumped the barest fraction. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“Address me as Lord Rial.”
Huijata’s shiny bald egg of a head bobbed up and down. “Yes, Lord Rial.”
For the next hour, Kia stood behind Rial’s chair beside Nagavi. The Chenjerai stood guard, spaced at intervals around the paneled walls, while the local commanders sat around an outsized dark wooden table and gave their reports on the recent uprising on the southern continent. A large vidscreen occupied an entire wall, and seats were rearranged as they studied maps and satellite information on the towns occupied by the rebellion.
Kia listened, calm and distanced from her emotions, as if the names meant nothing, even though she’d visited many of the places countless times.
At last, Rial spoke. “I commend your team for the superb reconnaissance they’ve gathered, General. I’m taking control of the response. We’ll need ten fully-manned class two fighters ready to leave early tomorrow.”
“As you wish, Lord Rial.”
Kia would bet the man’s placid agreeable expression hid a fair amount of resentment. He simply didn’t dare show it.
“I will see you at this evening’s banquet.” Rial stood and strode out, followed by his guards without any acknowledgment of the bowing and scraping of chairs that followed his departure.
He took Kia to the royal suite which was elegant but lacked the opulence of Xarunta. “Our visit here is of short duration, but while we are here, we’ll sleep in the same bed.” He spoke sharply.
“That’s absolutely fine with me.” She recognized it was the seds inducing a docile obedience, but while they were in her bloodstream, she could do nothing.
Rial stared at her for a minute before continuing. “I’m sure there are spies among the servants, and I don’t want Teyrn hearing a single snippet of gossip about us. Whatever happens between the two of us stays between the two of us.”
“I’m in complete agreement,” she responded, wondering why she hadn’t noticed how beautiful his lips were, how broad and enticing his chest was, how good he smelled.
He stepped close and looked down at her. “Obtaining your compliance in this manner isn’t what I require, Kia.” He lifted her chin. “But I must admit, it’s a pleasant change from the usual hard time you give me.”
She batted her eyes at him and thought for a minute he was about to kiss her. In her current laid-back state, the idea seemed very appealing, indeed, but he turned away.
“Tonight you’ll see a different aspect of the duties an heir must perform, but it’s not a role I enjoy.”
After returning from Rial’s official welcome, Kia plopped herself down on a plush red velvet couch the other side of the large lounge from where Rial stood with Nagavi. The team relaxed, sprawled in the sizable lounge's half a dozen such couches. The remnants of the latest rinse of seds faded, making her feel as if she was on a roller coaster. One minute she was calm, detached, but as the medication wore off, her emotions exploded, responding to the knowledge that she’d returned to her homeworld. Whenever she remembered what he was doing to her, it wasn’t long before a further dose was triggered. She was also aware the seds had affected her libido and observed herself acting in a manner that brought to mind her mother’s warnings of how not to behave.
Shaba handed her a glass of sparkling red wine as she parked herself next to Kia.
Kia inhaled the aromatic sweet scent of the purple petaled liljanies standing in elegantly shaped glass vases around the room. They reminded her of the flowers her mother would always fill the house with, but, courtesy of Rial’s sed, no particular memory rose to trouble her. Instead, she sipped the drink, enjoying the bubbles’ fizz on her tongue and contemplating how much her attitude to intoxication had changed since she joined the Chenjerai.
Shaba sighed in appreciation as she drank half the glass in one go. “Interesting evening, eh?”
“Which bit?”
"All of it. Sometimes I find it difficult to believe those people are real."
The banquet hall had been small compared with Teyrn’s in Djem, but their hosts had risen to the occasion and the best of Shihon’s aristocracy attended the lavish feast—those who’d survived the post-annexation slaughter that is—along with the top commanding officers and their wives.
Positioned behind Rial, Kia heard every trivial word the General’s wife uttered as she simpered effusively whenever Rial opened his mouth. A buxom lady of advancing years, her references to her daughter’s impeccable bloodl
ines—on both sides of the family—marriageable age and an upbringing that had prepared her for life among the empire’s most privileged ranks were boringly repetitious. Kia passed the time imagining various comedic scenarios.
The young girl in question, used to being offered as a prize broodmare, blushed and continued to gaze at Rial’s profile with infatuated doe eyes.
Rial had nodded and turned away, engaging Huijata in conversation about the latest weapons development.
After the banquet, hidden by her helmet, Kia smirked as she stood at attention, tracking Rial’s and everybody else’s movements as he danced with every woman in the lavish ballroom. He didn’t flirt with them, yet they all gazed up at him with the same look as the General’s daughter whether they were married or not. For some inexplicable reason, an almost irresistible urge to giggle possessed her. She managed to contain herself.
The Chenjerai were joking about a particular woman with long blonde hair who had pressed herself close to Rial as he danced with her. “She’s clearly not heard the latest from Djem,” somebody cracked with a sideways glance at Kia.
Someone else remarked that gossip about Rial traveled faster than a ship through a wormhole.
Rial smiled at the teasing, not the least bit bothered.
Kia remembered something Teyrn had said when the new recruits had been introduced to the emperor “Tell me, Shaba. Does Rial have a type?” Had she lost her mind? Why was she asking such a ridiculous question? The seds were seriously affecting her judgment.
“A type of what?”
“You know… female… woman?”
Shaba smoothed a few stray hairs back into her topknot as she thought. “I don’t think so, he simply knows what he wants.”
“Does he ever not get what he wants?”
“What do you think?”
“Have you ever slept with him?” Rial’s former consort had been a Chenjerai, and, though it had never bothered her before, she felt a strong urge to find out if he had a habit of sampling the goods, so to speak, of the females in his team. An unaccustomed wave of… it was not jealousy, she told herself, settled somewhere around her heart as she waited for her friend’s answer.
Shaba burst out laughing. “Don’t worry,” she patted Kia’s knee, “my affections are otherwise engaged. You haven’t noticed?”
“Noticed what?” Kia’s smile was mostly relief.
“Toinen and I?”
“Oh!” Kia had seen them chatting, and they sat next to each other when eating, but the Chenjerai were a close-knit team and spent their days in each other’s pockets, consequently, she hadn’t thought anything unusual was going on. “Well, that’s… nice.”
“Yes, it is. Very nice.” Shaba smiled as her eyes roved the room seeking Toinen.
Kia had gradually understood that quite a few team members had occasional sex with each other, and Farih and Ilo, a couple of men from the Urrun star system, were permanent partners. None of which affected their service to Rial or their attitudes and affection for each other, but she hadn’t picked up on Toinen and Shaba. She’d have to be more observant of what was going on around her. Easier said than done when her own relationship with Rial kept her continually off balance. Seeing as Shaba, usually close-mouthed except when asked about weapons, was responding, Kia decided to ask her another question. “How come Tamaiko gets promoted to pilot when there must be others with more experience on the team?”
“He’s gifted. Don’t look at me like that. He came to Rial’s attention when he was young. His parents had entered him into a flying competition when he was around ten years old, and he won. And won every competition he ever entered after, including Xarunta’s junior championships. The truth is he’s better than the more experienced pilots. He also received an offer to join Teyrn’s guard, but he was way too smart to accept that one. Rial paid for his education and his sister’s medical bills and rehabilitation when she had a serious accident.”
Kia watched Rial from under her eyelashes. Among the men and women of the Chenjerai was where he let down his guard the most. With them, he dropped his official persona, and while he would never be one of them, his affection for them and theirs for him was evident. If it wasn’t for the control, freedom, and consort issues, she would like this Rial.
He caught her eye across the room, his glance flicking to the exit.
“My master beckons. See you in the morning.” She ignored Shaba rolling her eyes. No member of the guard would refer to him that way, but Kia expected her friend would put the disrespectful remark down to more arguing between her and Rial.
“Why was everyone teasing you about that woman?” Kia asked as he led her along unfamiliar corridors to their suite.
“Because she was my sexual partner the past few times I was in Shihon.”
“Oh, how fascinating… um… I mean… insignificant.” The uncomfortable tightening sensation around her heart returned. She didn’t care. She wasn’t jealous.
He opened the door and gestured for her to enter.
She stomped into the room, glaring at him. Another stream of seds erased her irritation.
He shut the door and leaned on it, studying her expression. “Rial the Seducer is another of my infamous names along with Rial the Murdering Right Hand of the Emperor and many others. Most have a fragment of truth in them, but as concerns women, the pastime I’m having now is the one I care about.”
“How long will that last, and after you get what you want, you’ll move on to fresh pastures, won’t you?” Oh, dear Goddess. What was she rabbiting on about?
“Why are you objecting if you believe that’s the case? If our relationship will be over quick and you’ll be free, why are you delaying? Of course, I might decide to have lots of nano babies with you, and you’ll be stuck.” He stalked toward her, his lips curving into a predatory smile, his eyes fixed on her face.
She backed up, hit the wall, and stared at the small insignia on his uniform, her heart thudding in her chest. The sedative flooded her bloodstream, and she stared at his mouth, thinking she would enjoy touching his lips and finding out if they were as soft as they looked. “Would you like me to dance for you?” Oh, someone save me, please, she thought. I’ve gone insane.
“I promised you this relationship would be at your pace, and I keep my promises, but a little fun at your expense is to be expected on occasion.” He traced the lined of her jaw with his finger, moving down to her pulse.
Her heart somersaulted in her chest cavity. A flush of seds boosted her defiance. “Don’t you dare say anything about any damn bird.”
“Ah, that’s my girl.” He smiled softly. “Don’t let anything or anyone, not even me, break that spirit of yours. Your hand, please.” He pressed the skin below her wrist, and the transponder rose to the surface.
She watched him lift the small disc free. “If I’d known it was that easy…”
“Yours is keyed to me.”
It would be. Within a minute, as if by magic, her brain cleared, and she sighed with relief. Whoever had taken over her brain and body under the influence of the seds, she hoped never to meet again. She eyed the device lying innocently in his palm. “You’re trusting me not to wear it?”
“Not that much has changed in a day, but I think you’ll manage without the sedative even if the side effects were more interesting than I’d anticipated.” He produced a smaller device, identical to those he and the others wore, pressing gently, watching as it disappeared into her skin. “I’m taking a chance on this,” he tapped her wrist. “Tomorrow we fly south. Sestris was bombed heavily after the population was evacuated. Nothing is left of the city you knew. Can you handle it without the seds?”
“They did help.” It galled her to admit he’d been right. It was even harder to admit to herself that, although she hadn’t fallen to her knees bawling her eyes out and kissing the ground in joy at returning to Emankora, she had come close a few times.
“I’ll keep the other ready, and if you think you need it tomorrow
, tell me the desert winds are tricky during this season, and I’ll slip it to you. Will you do that?”
She thought of trying to perform her duty—what if Shaba or any of the Chenjerai came under attack and she was too emotional to respond? She had nothing left from her former life, but she did have her honor. “If I think I need it to perform my duty, I will.”
“Good.” He leaned in close and kissed the top of her head. “Go to bed, Kia. Tomorrow you will have a taste of revenge.”
After she’d finished, and while Rial was in the bathroom, she used the extra pillows to erect a barrier—wondering if there was a rule that said royal beds had to have loads of pillows as most people didn’t use more than one or two. Okay, he’d behaved himself since the time she’d woken to find him in her bed, and while he might not be the enemy, their goals aligned only up to a point.
“This bed is smaller than mine at home,” he said when he emerged with his hair damp from the shower. “Are those necessary?”
“You don’t trust me, and I don’t trust you.” Crossing quicksand was easier than navigating a safe course with him.
He snorted, but let it lie, throwing himself down and making the bed bounce. As usual, he was asleep within seconds, and whether it was the seds in her bloodstream or not, Kia fell quickly into the deep well of sleep, wondering what price the Goddess would charge for this taste of revenge.
Chapter Ten: Thwarted
The flock of dusky birds of prey flew toward the peach-lined dawn horizon. General Huijata had mustered ten class two fighters armed with kinetic kill rods, pulse laser beams, and three possessed powerful particle beams. At Rial’s request, he’d sent cloaked drones ahead to surveil for any rebel activity. The expedition to the southern continent totaled a thousand soldiers.
Rial briefed the team before they left the house. These rebels had originally helped the empire by betraying their own countrymen, and when the new government didn't award them the land they demanded in return for their aid, they rebelled once more.
Awakening Defiance: (The Saoirse Saga Book 2) Page 8
